Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 17: The Yoga of the Distinction between the Three Kinds of Faith

All 28 verses of Chapter 17 of the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit, with English translation, per-word meanings, and Adi Shankara's commentary.

• Verse 17.1 — Whoso worship, setting aside the ordinance of the scripture, endued with faith — what…
• Verse 17.2 — Threefold is that faith born of the individual nature of the embodied — Sāttvic, Rājasic…
• Verse 17.3 — The faith of each is in accordance with his nature, O Bhārata. The man is made up of his…
• Verse 17.4 — Sāttvic men worship the Gods; Rājasic, the Yakṣas and the Rākṣasas; the others — Tāmasic…
• Verse 17.5 — Those men who practise terrific austerities not enjoined by the scripture, given to…
• Verse 17.6 — Weakening all the elements in the body — fools they are — and Me who dwell in the body…
• Verse 17.7 — The food also which is dear to each is threefold, as also worship, austerity and gift. Do…
• Verse 17.8 — The foods which increase life, energy, strength, health, joy and cheerfulness, which are…
• Verse 17.9 — The foods that are bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot, pungent, dry and burning, are…
• Verse 17.10 — The food which is stale, tasteless, putrid and rotten, refuse and impure, is dear to the…
• Verse 17.11 — That worship is Sāttvic which is offered by men desiring no fruit, as enjoined in the…
• Verse 17.12 — That which is offered, O best of the Bhāratas, with a view to reward and for ostentation…
• Verse 17.13 — They declare that worship to be Tāmasic which is contrary to the ordinances, in which no…
• Verse 17.14 — Worshipping the Gods, the twice-born, teachers and wise men — purity…
• Verse 17.15 — The speech which causes no excitement and is true, as also pleasant and beneficial, and…
• Verse 17.16 — Serenity of mind, good-heartedness, silence, self-control, purity of nature — this is…
• Verse 17.17 — This threefold austerity, practised by devout men with utmost faith, desiring no fruit…
• Verse 17.18 — That austerity which is practised with the object of gaining good reception, honour and…
• Verse 17.19 — That austerity which is practised out of a foolish notion, with self-torture, or for the…
• Verse 17.20 — That gift which is given — knowing it to be a duty to give — to one who does no service…
• Verse 17.21 — And that gift which is given with a view to a return of the good, or looking for the…
• Verse 17.22 — The gift that is given at a wrong place or time, to unworthy persons, without respect or…
• Verse 17.23 — "Oṃ, Tat, Sat": this has been taught to be the triple designation of Brahman. By that…
• Verse 17.24 — Therefore, with the utterance of 'Oṃ,' are the acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity, as…
• Verse 17.25 — With 'Tat,' without aiming at the fruits, are the acts of sacrifice and austerity and the…
• Verse 17.26 — The word 'Sat' is used in the sense of reality and of goodness; and so also, O Pārtha…
• Verse 17.27 — Devotion to sacrifice, austerity and gift is also spoken of as 'Sat'; and even action in…
• Verse 17.28 — Whatever is sacrificed, given, or done, and whatever austerity is practised, without…