Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 17, Verse 2

श्रीभगवानुवाच । त्रिविधा भवति श्रद्धा देहिनां सा स्वभावजा । सात्त्विकी राजसी चैव तामसी चेति तां शृणु

śrībhagavānuvāca | trividhā bhavati śraddhā dehināṃ sā svabhāvajā | sāttvikī rājasī caiva tāmasī ceti tāṃ śṛṇu

Translation

Threefold is that faith born of the individual nature of the embodied — Sāttvic, Rājasic, and Tāmasic. Do thou hear of it.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

trividhā

threefold

bhavati

is

śraddhā

faith

dehinām

of the embodied

sā

this

svabhāvajā

from own nature, born

sāttvikī

sāttvic

rājasī

rājasic

ca

and

eva

even

tāmasī

tāmasic

ca

and

iti

thus

tām

that

śṛṇu

hear

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Faith, of which thou hast asked, is of three sorts. It is born of the individual nature (svabhāva): i.e., the saṃskāra or tendency made up of the self-reproductive latent impressions of the acts — good and bad, Dharma and Adharma — which were done in the past births and which manifested themselves at the time of death. Sāttvic: faith in the worship of the Gods (Devas) which is an effect of Sattva. Rājasic: faith in the worship of the Yakṣas and the Rākṣasas, which is an effect of Rajas. Tāmasic: faith in the worship of the Pretas and the Piśācas, which is an effect of Tamas.