Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 14, Verse 7

रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम् । तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसङ्गेन देहिनम्

rajo rāgātmakaṃ viddhi tṛṣṇāsaṅgasamudbhavam | tannibadhnāti kaunteya karmasaṅgena dehinam

Translation

Know thou Rajas (to be) of the nature of passion, the source of thirst and attachment; it binds fast, O son of Kuntī, the embodied one by attachment to action.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

rajaḥ

mobility

rāgātmakam

desire, self, whose, it

viddhi

know

tṛṣṇāsaṅgasamudbhavam

thirst, and, attachment, and, them (two), the source, from which, that

tat

that

nibadhnāti

binds

kaunteya

O Kaunteya

karmasaṅgena

of action, by the attachment

dehinam

the embodied

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Rajas is of the nature of passion, colouring the soul like a piece of red chalk. Know it to be that from which arise thirst and attachment — thirst after what has not been attained, attachment or mental adherence to what has been attained. It binds fast the embodied Self by attachment to action, by making Him attached to actions productive of visible and invisible results. Though the Self is not the agent, Rajas makes Him act with the idea 'I am the doer.'