Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender
Verse 18.31
यया धर्ममधर्मं च कार्यं चाकार्यमेव च।अयथावत्प्रजानाति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ राजसी।।18.31।।
yayā dharmam adharmaṁ cha kāryaṁ chākāryam eva cha ayathāvat prajānāti buddhiḥ sā pārtha rājasī
Word Meanings
yayā—by which; dharmam—righteousness; adharmam—unrighteousness; cha—and; kāryam—right conduct; cha—and; akāryam—wrong conduct; eva—certainly; cha—and; ayathā-vat—confused; prajānāti—distinguish; buddhiḥ—intellect; sā—that; pārtha—Arjun, the son of Pritha; rājasī—in the mode of passion
Translation · English
That by which one wrongly understands dharma and adharma, and also what ought to be done and what ought not to be done—that intellect, O Arjuna, is rajasic (passionate).
Deep Meaning · English
In this verse, Krishna describes the 'Rajasic' or passion-driven intellect (buddhi), which acts as a veil of distortion over the soul's perception. Unlike the Sattvic intellect that perceives the eternal Truth, the Rajasic intellect is characterized by an agonizing ambiguity; it knows the existence of right and wrong, but its judgment is clouded by desire, ego, and the pursuit of personal ambition. It suffers from a chronic misalignment, where righteousness is often viewed through the prism of what serves one’s own project or agenda, rather than what is objectively aligned with Dharma. This intellectual confusion is a state of spiritual turbulence. In the context of Arjuna’s hesitation on the battlefield, Krishna highlights that a passion-fueled mind cannot settle into clarity because it is constantly oscillating between competing desires. When one’s intellect is dominated by Rajas, the ability to discern the ultimate good is compromised by the desire for specific outcomes. True wisdom requires the quietude of detachment, but the Rajasic mind remains trapped in the shifting sands of moral relativism, unable to distinguish between the superficial 'duty' born of impulse and the higher, divine duty that transcends self-interest.
The Rajasic intellect is marked by a distorted sense of values, where the clarity of truth is sacrificed at the altar of personal desire and emotional entanglement.
Connected Verses
This is the essential counterpart, defining the Sattvic intellect which correctly perceives what is to be done and what is to be avoided.
This illustrates the delusional mindset of those whose lives are consumed by pride and desire, perfectly embodying the confusion mentioned in 18.31.
Krishna identifies desire and anger as the consuming fires that cloud knowledge, which are the root causes of the Rajasic confusion described in 18.31.
This verse describes how the intellect is stolen by the attachment to pleasure and material power, preventing one from establishing a focused, resolute mind.
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