A core teaching · reflective in mood · a little context helps
“Action carries its own flavor of result.”
The result of wholesome action is pure and clear; the result of rajasic action is suffering; the result of tamasic action is ignorance and delusion.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyof action · of well-done, wholesome · they say · sattvic, pure · stainless, clear · fruit, result · of rajas · but · fruit, result · suffering · ignorance · of tamas · fruit, result
Wholesome action leads to a clear, pure result. Restless action leads to suffering. Dark, confused action leads to ignorance and delusion.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga" (The Three Modes of Material Nature).
Verse 16 sits in Chapter 14 of the Bhagavad Gita — Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga, "The Three Modes of Material Nature". The chapter has 27 verses in total.
Two cooks run the same dhaba: one cooks carefully and sleeps well, the other cuts corners for quick money and lives in worry. Krishna points at the results each kind of action carries with it.
Did you like this verse?
Krishna judges actions by their fruit: sattvic acts bring clarity, rajasic acts pain, tamasic acts ignorance.
What this verse means
Wholesome action leads to a clear, pure result. Restless action leads to suffering. Dark, confused action leads to ignorance and delusion.
Context & commentary
Krishna explains the three gunas to Arjuna, who is frozen before war. After showing how the gunas affect rebirth, he now teaches how they color the fruits of action itself. The point is to see what kind of result each kind of action creates.
What it looks like today
Two cooks run the same dhaba: one cooks carefully and sleeps well, the other cuts corners for quick money and lives in worry. Krishna points at the results each kind of action carries with it.
“Your actions shape the kind of life you inherit from them.”
Explore related themes: gunas (47 verses), sattva (26 verses), rajas (21 verses)