Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 17, Verse 2
श्री भगवानुवाचत्रिविधा भवति श्रद्धा देहिनां सा स्वभावजा।सात्त्विकी राजसी चैव तामसी चेति तां श्रृणु।।
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
tri-vidhā bhavati śraddhā dehināṁ sā svabhāva-jā
sāttvikī rājasī caiva tāmasī ceti tāṁ śṛṇu
also searched as "trividha bhavati shraddha dehinam sa svabhavaja"
Translation
The Lord said, "The faith of embodied beings is threefold, born of their own nature and constituted of Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Now, listen to me about it."
Vāṇi's rendering
Faith comes in three kinds, each born of a person's nature — clear, restless, or dark. Listen.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| श्रीभगवान्śrī-bhagavān | Krishna, the blessed one |
| उवाचuvāca | said |
| त्रिविधाtri-vidhā | of three kinds |
| भवतिbhavati | is, comes to be |
| श्रद्धाśraddhā | faith; what a person trusts and gives their heart to |
| देहिनाम्dehinām | of those who wear bodies |
| साsā | that faith |
| स्वभावजाsvabhāva-jā | born out of one's own nature |
| सात्त्विकीsāttvikī | the clear kind |
| राजसीrājasī | the restless kind |
| चca | and (from caiva) |
| एवeva | indeed (from caiva) |
| तामसीtāmasī | the dark kind |
| चca | and (from ceti) |
| इतिiti | so, thus (from ceti) |
| ताम्tām | about that |
| शृणुśṛṇu | listen |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17 Verse 2 mean?
Krishna says faith itself comes in three grades. It is not a single thing people either have or lack. Śraddhā takes its quality from the nature it grows in — clear, restless, or dark — so two people can believe with equal intensity and be in entirely different places. Then he tells Arjuna to listen, because the sorting is about to begin.
What does trividha bhavati shraddha dehinam sa svabhavaja mean?
Threefold is the faith of the embodied, born of their own nature. The word svabhāva-jā is the weight of the line: faith is not chosen fresh each morning. It grows out of what you already are — your habits, your appetites, the grain of your temperament. Change the soil and the faith changes with it.
If my faith is sincere, isn't that enough?
Krishna does not say so. Sincerity measures how much of yourself you have given, not what you have given it to. A restless faith is sincerely restless; a dark faith is sincerely dark. That is why he asks you to look at the quality, not the quantity. Intensity alone proves only that something has your whole attention.
How can I tell which kind of faith I have?
Krishna spends the rest of this chapter answering exactly that — by what you eat, what you give, what you worship, how you speak. Faith leaves fingerprints on ordinary things. You need not interrogate your beliefs directly. Watch where your money goes, and what your food is for, and you will have your answer.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Arjuna asked about people who worship with faith but ignore the rule books. Krishna does not answer yes or no. He asks a different question: what kind of faith? Faith is not one substance that some have more of. It takes the color of the nature it grows in — clear, or restless, or dark. This means faith is not proof of anything by itself. Sincerity is not enough; the sincere can be sincerely dark. And it means your faith can be examined, the way you would examine a fever. Before you defend what you believe, look at what it is made of.