Krishna:
33: The sattvic will, developed through meditation,
keeps prana, mind, and senses in vital harmony.
34: The rajasic will, conditioned by selfish desire,
pursues wealth, pleasure, and respectability.
35: The tamasic will shows itself in obstinate ignorance,
sloth, fear, grief, depression, and conceit.
36: Now listen Arjuna: there are three kinds of happiness.
By sustained effort, one comes to the end of sorrow.
37: That which seems like poison at first, but tastes
like nectar in the end – this is the joy of sattva, born
of a mind at peace with itself.
38: Pleasure from the senses seems like nectar at first,
but it is bitter poison in the end. This is the kind of
happiness that comes to the rajasic.
39: Those who are tamasic draw their pleasures from
sleep, indolence, and intoxication. Both in the beginning
and in the end, this happiness is a delusion.
40: No creature whether born on earth or among the gods
In heaven is free from the conditioning of the three gunas.
The Bhagavad Gita
Translation by Eknath Easwaran
Chapter 18: Freedom and Renunciation
|