A core teaching · reflective in mood · easy to enter
“A gift can become degrading when respect is missing.”
Charity given at the wrong place and time, to an unworthy recipient, without respect and with contempt, is called tamasic.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyat an improper place and time · which · to unworthy recipients · and · is given · without respect · with contempt · that · tamasic · is said to be
A gift given at the wrong time and place, to the wrong person, without respect, is a low form of giving.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga" (The Three Kinds of Faith).
Verse 22 sits in Chapter 17 of the Bhagavad Gita — Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga, "The Three Kinds of Faith". The chapter has 28 verses in total.
A beggar comes to the shop counter and the owner tosses a coin without looking up. Krishna would count that as tamasic giving: the coin changes hands, but the contempt spoils the gift.
Did you like this verse?
Krishna calls a gift tamasic when it comes at the wrong time, to the wrong person, with contempt.
What this verse means
A gift given at the wrong time and place, to the wrong person, without respect, is a low form of giving.
Context & commentary
Krishna is classifying kinds of charity for Arjuna, and each kind shows the state of the giver's heart. After praise of pure and self-interested giving, he now names the lowest form: giving badly, to the wrong recipient, with disrespect.
What it looks like today
A beggar comes to the shop counter and the owner tosses a coin without looking up. Krishna would count that as tamasic giving: the coin changes hands, but the contempt spoils the gift.
“Even generosity loses its value when it is careless or contemptuous.”