Bhagavad Gita · 17.9 · Yoga through Discerning the Three Divisions of Faith·9 of 28
कट्वम्ललवणात्युष्णतीक्ष्णरूक्षविदाहिनः।आहारा राजसस्येष्टा दुःखशोकामयप्रदाः ॥
kaṭv-amla-lavaṇāty-uṣhṇa-
tīkṣhṇa-rūkṣha-vidāhinaḥ āhārā rājasasyeṣhṭā duḥkha-śhokāmaya-pradāḥ
Sanskrit recitation
Food, effort, and giving · 17.7–17.22 · Teaching
Translation
The foods that are bitter, sour, salty, overly hot, pungent, dry, and burning are liked by the Rajasic and are productive of pain, grief, and disease.
Meaning
Excessively This qualification should be taken to apply to each of the seven alities -- thus, excessively saline, and so on.Food of a passionate nature produces restlessness in the mind, evil thoughts, excitement, craving now for one thing and then for another, pain, trouble and disease. The Rajasic man always plans to prepare various kinds of preparations to satisfy his palate. He takes salt, chillies, mustard, cloves, condiments, pungent pickles, etc., in excess. Tears flow from his eyes and water dribbles from his nose and yet he will not leave the hot and pungent articles. The palate remains unsatisfied until the stomach is completely filled with pungent things, till the tongue is burnt with chillies. Ladysfinger, Puri, Kachori, pungent condiments, meat, fish, eggs, sweets, potato, fried bread, curd, brinjal, carrots, blackgram, onions, garlic, lemon, Masur, tea, coffee, betels, tobacco are Rajasic artciles of food.
After Swami Sivananda
Food, effort, and giving· 17.7–17.22→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 17.7The food that is dear to each is threefold, as well as sacrifice, austerity, and almsgiving. Hear the distinction of these.
- 17.8The foods that increase life, purity, strength, health, joy, and cheerfulness (good appetite), which are savory, oily, substantial, and agreeable, are dear to the Sattvic (pure) people.
17.9The foods that are bitter, sour, salty, overly hot, pungent, dry, and burning are liked by the Rajasic and are productive of pain, grief, and disease.
- 17.10That which is stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten, rejected, and impure is the food liked by the Tamasic.
- 17.11That sacrifice which is offered by men without desire for reward, as enjoined by the ordinance (scripture), with a firm faith that doing so is their duty, is Sattvic or pure.
- 17.12The sacrifice that is offered, O Arjuna, seeking a reward and for show, know that to be a Rajasic Yajna.
- 17.13They declare that sacrifice to be Tamasic which is contrary to the ordinances of the scriptures, in which no food is distributed, and which is devoid of mantras, gifts, and faith.
- 17.14Worship of the gods, the twice-born, the teachers, and the wise; purity, straightforwardness, celibacy, and non-injury are all called the austerities of the body.
- 17.15Speech that causes no excitement, is truthful, pleasant, and beneficial; the practice of studying the Vedas is called austerity of speech.
- 17.16Serenity of mind, good-heartedness, self-control, and purity of nature—this is called mental austerity.
- 17.17This threefold austerity, practiced by steadfast men, with the utmost faith, desiring no reward, is called Sattvic.
- 17.18The austerity that is practiced with the aim of gaining good reception, honor, and worship, and with hypocrisy, is said to be Rajasic, unstable, and transient.
- 17.19That austerity which is practised out of a foolish notion, with self-torture, or for the purpose of destroying another, is declared to be of the Tamasic nature.
- 17.20That gift which is given to one who does nothing in return, knowing it to be a duty to give in a suitable place and time to a worthy person, is held to be Sattvic.
- 17.21And, that gift which is given with the intention of receiving something in return, or expecting a reward, or begrudgingly, is considered to be Rajasic.
- 17.22The gift that is given in the wrong place and at the wrong time, to unworthy persons, without respect or with insult, is declared to be of a Tamasic nature.
Word-by-word→
- kaṭu
- bitter
- amla
- sour
- lavaṇa
- salty
- ati-uṣhṇa
- very hot
- tīkṣhṇa
- pungent
- rūkṣha
- dry
- vidāhinaḥ
- chiliful
- āhārāḥ
- food
- rājasasya
- to persons in the mode of passion
- iṣhṭāḥ
- dear
- duḥkha
- pain
- śhoka
- grief
- āmaya
- disease
- pradāḥ
- produce
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