Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 14, Verse 7
रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम्।तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसङ्गेन देहिनम्।।
rajo rāgātmakaṁ viddhi tṛṣṇā-saṅga-samudbhavam
tan nibadhnāti kaunteya karma-saṅgena dehinam
also searched as "rajo ragatmakam viddhi trishna sanga samudbhavam"
Translation
Know, O Arjuna, that Rajas is of the nature of passion springing from thirst and attachment. It binds the embodied self with attachment to action.
Vāṇi's rendering
Restlessness is craving itself — born of thirst and clinging. It binds you through attachment to doing, doing, doing.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| रजःrajaḥ | rajas — the restless quality; appears as rajo before the next word |
| रागात्मकंrāga-ātmakaṁ | made of passion; craving is its very substance (rāga + ātmakam joined) |
| विद्धिviddhi | know it as |
| तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम्tṛṣṇā-saṅga-samudbhavam | born out of thirst and clinging |
| तत्tat | that (rajas); appears as tan before nibadhnāti |
| निबध्नातिnibadhnāti | ties down, binds fast |
| कौन्तेयkaunteya | Arjuna, son of Kuntī |
| कर्मसङ्गेनkarma-saṅgena | by attachment to action, by the need to be doing |
| देहिनम्dehinam | the one who wears a body |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Verse 7 mean?
Krishna identifies rajas, the restless quality, as craving in its very substance. It rises from tṛṣṇā, thirst, and from saṅga, clinging. Its rope is not action but attachment to action — the compulsion to keep doing. That compulsion holds the embodied one in place while looking, from outside, like a full and admirable life.
What does rajo ragatmakam viddhi trishna sanga samudbhavam teach?
It teaches that restlessness is not a mood you happen to be in; it is made of wanting. Thirst comes first, then the object appears to justify it. Krishna asks Arjuna to know this — viddhi — because a force you can name stops running you from underneath.
Is Krishna telling Arjuna to stop working?
No. The whole Gītā refuses that escape. What binds is karma-saṅga, attachment to doing, not the doing itself. The same hands can move without the frantic need behind them. Krishna wants Arjuna to fight — but not because he cannot bear to sit still.
How do I recognise rajas in my own life?
Look for the reluctance to be idle. Rajas rarely feels like a fault; it feels like drive, ambition, responsibility. Its signature is the small dread that arrives in an unscheduled hour. When rest feels like loss rather than relief, thirst is running the day.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice what Krishna does not say. He does not call rajas evil, or forbid it. He names its root: thirst — tṛṣṇā, the wanting that arrives before there is any particular thing to want. Rajas dresses itself as productivity. It looks like commitment, ambition, the full calendar. But the binding is not in the work; it is in the clinging to work, karma-saṅga — needing to be doing in order to be someone. Arjuna's agitation on the field has a name and a cause. So does yours. Watch what happens on the day nothing needs doing, and see who panics.