Chapter 17 · Verse 12·Spoken by Krishna
अभिसंधाय तु फलं दम्भार्थमपि चैव यत्।इज्यते भरतश्रेष्ठ तं यज्ञं विद्धि राजसम्
abhisandhāya tu phalaṁ dambhārtham api chaiva yat ijyate bharata-śhreṣhṭha taṁ yajñaṁ viddhi rājasam
But the sacrifice offered with an eye on the fruits, and for show, Arjuna, know that to be rajasic.
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
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Convergence
his verse defines the rajasic sacrifice, the second of the three grades of yajna. Yajna is any sacred offering or rite. Rajas is the quality of restless passion and craving. Krishna names two marks that turn a rite rajasic. The first is abhisandhaya phalam: performing the rite with an eye fixed on its reward. The second is dambha-artham: performing it for show, for ostentation. A rite stained by either of these motives, or by both together, is to be known as rajasic. Notice that the outer act may be exactly the same as a sattvic rite; what changes its grade is the inner aim driving it.
Braided from 13 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
The first mark, aiming at the fruit, means performing the rite to secure some desired gain. The commentators spell out what these gains are: heaven (svarga) after death, and worldly goods such as a son, wealth, a good family, health, honor, and fame. The deeper point is that this fruit-seeking is the exact inversion of the sattvic sacrifice, which is offered with no longing for any fruit at all. Where the sattvic offering rests in the simple sense that the rite ought to be done, the rajasic offering reaches outward, hungry for return.
Braided from 7 commentators
Dhanapati Sūri · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
The second mark, dambha or ostentation, is the wish to be seen and praised. The commentators describe it as the proclaiming of one's own righteousness in the world, making one's greatness known abroad, so that people will regard the doer as pious, learned, disciplined, and great. This display motive is what drives rajas in every department of life, and here it bends the sacred rite to the service of reputation. The rite becomes a stage for the ego rather than an offering.
Braided from 8 commentators
Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas
Several commentators read the verse as offering three distinct combinations of these motives, drawn from the verse's own words 'tu' (but), 'api' (also), and 'cha eva' (and even). A rite may be done aiming at the unseen heavenly fruit yet also for show; or for show alone, without any thought of heavenly fruit; or for both the heavenly fruit and worldly display at once, the motives accumulated together. In every case the inner organ is not being purified, and that loss of inner purity is what marks the rite as fallen from the sattvic grade into the rajasic.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Puruṣottama
Krishna addresses Arjuna as bharata-shreshtha, best of the Bharatas, and the commentators read this address as deliberate. It signals Arjuna's fitness for the higher teaching: he is not the kind of person fit for rajasic worship, and the honor in the title quietly tells him so. The whole instruction is given so that the rajasic sacrifice may be recognized and abandoned, not adopted.
Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri
Divergence
Bhakti
Read from within a path of loving devotion, the verse is a warning aimed at the devotee, steering the bhakta away from the rajasic shape of worship. The rajasic yajna is not the absence of yajna at all; it is the very same rite-form as the sattvic, only diverted by its aim. Three aims do the diverting: the aim turned toward heaven, the aim turned toward display, and the aim turned toward proclaiming one's own piety in the world. Because the rite looks identical from outside, the devotee must watch the heart, not the form. One source presses this further: worldly craving (kamana) is itself the very root of birth and death, so the imperative 'know this' (viddhi) lands as a special caution to the seeker to be watchful exactly here, where a holy act can secretly serve the ego.
Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Swami Ramsukhdas
Advaita Vedānta
The decisive failure of the rajasic rite is stated in terms of inner purity. What the sattvic offering quietly accomplishes is purification of the inner organ (antahkarana), the mind-and-heart instrument through which a person knows. The rajasic rite, aimed at seen and unseen fruits and at display, does not aim at this purification, and that is precisely why it is rajasic. The teaching is given for the sake of abandoning such worship, so that one is freed for the rite that cleanses the inner instrument and opens the way to knowledge of the Self.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Ānandagiri
A Seeker Asks
If the outer rite is identical and even scripturally correct, why should wanting heaven or a son from my worship be counted a fault at all?
Because the grade of an act is set by its inner aim, not by its outer correctness. The commentators stress that the rajasic rite can be performed exactly according to scripture and still be rajasic; in fact, when a reward is wanted, the rules are often kept most rigorously, since any lapse would reduce the hoped-for fruit. The fault is not in the form but in where the heart is reaching.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Puruṣottama · Swami Ramsukhdas
What the higher sacrifice quietly does is purify the inner instrument, the mind and heart through which you know. A rite aimed at heaven, a son, or applause is not aimed at that purification, so it leaves the inner organ uncleansed even when the outer act is flawless. The wanting is the fault because it points the rite outward toward gain instead of inward toward clarity.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Ānandagiri
And the seeker is being warned, not condemned. The teaching exists so that this grade of worship can be recognized and set aside. Worldly craving is itself the root of repeated birth and death, so naming it here is a kindness: it shows you the exact point where a holy act can quietly become a bargain for reward or a stage for reputation, and invites you to keep the act and drop the craving.
Śrī Ānandagiri · Swami Ramsukhdas
Contemplation
Watch your motive more closely than your method. There is a telling sign worth noticing in your own practice: where a rite is performed to fulfill a craving, the rules are kept with great care, because any slip would reduce or even reverse the reward you are hoping for. But where the rite is mere show, the rules are treated lightly, because the audience, not the truth, is what matters. So look honestly at why you keep a practice rigorously or carelessly, and you will see what your heart is actually serving. The deeper caution is this: worldly longing is itself the very root of birth and death, so the seeker must be especially watchful right here, at the place where a sacred act can quietly become a transaction for gain or a performance for praise.
Sit with this · Swami Ramsukhdas
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