The mode of nature that keeps the mind active and restless. In Gita 3.37 desire and anger are said to be born of it.
12 results
Read the glossary entry for रजस् →
Article
When life feels too heavy, what should you drop and what must you keep? The Gita's answer in plain words: let go of the grip on results, keep your duties and the habits that keep you clean, and do what is needed because it ought to be done.
Level: Simple English 6 min Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action
Article
You promise to stop and then do it again, knowing better. Arjuna asked the same question, and the Gita names the push behind it, how it covers what you know, and the order in which to meet it.
Level: Simple English 6 min The Enemy Called Desire
Article
Eight verses on why a person acts against his own will: Arjuna's question, the enemy named, how it covers knowledge, where it sits, and the order in which it is met. Each verse in plain words.
Level: In Depth English 11 min The Enemy Called Desire
Article
What does the Gita ask us to give up, and what must stay? Gita 18.1–12 verse by verse: renunciation and relinquishment defined, the duties that are not to be dropped, three reasons for giving up, and why only the fruit can be let go.
Level: In Depth English 13 min Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action
Article
Is Gita 2.62–63 a law of the mind or a warning? Three streams of commentary, six objections and the questions the verses raise, answered from the Gita and the tradition.
Level: Deeper English 17 min From Thought to Ruin
Article
Gita 18.1–12 read closely: Arjuna asks for renunciation and relinquishment apart, the Lord defines both, then shows that duty stays and only the clinging goes. The argument, the commentators, four objections and five further questions.
Level: Deeper English 16 min Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action
Article
Does the Gita name an outside force or a state of the person as what drives us against our will? Three streams of commentary, seven objections and the questions Gita 3.36–43 raises, answered from the Gita and the tradition.
Level: Deeper English 14 min The Enemy Called Desire
Quick summary
How does dwelling on a thing lead a person to ruin? The seven steps are in two verses of the Gita (2.62-63), and here also the place where the chain is most easily broken.
English 8 min From Thought to Ruin
Quick summary
By Gita 18.1 to 18.12, what is the difference between renunciation and relinquishment, what is to be given up and what is not? Why sacrifice, giving and austerity are not given up, and how action done as duty is clear relinquishment.
English 10 min Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action
Quick summary
Why does a person do wrong even when he knows what is right, as if someone were dragging him? In Gita 3.36 to 3.43 the Lord answers this and shows in what order this enemy is to be met.
English 8 min The Enemy Called Desire
Hub
What exactly does the Gita ask us to give up, and what must we keep? Start here: renunciation drops desire-driven acts, relinquishment drops the claim on the fruit, and duty stays.
Hub
Why do we do what we do not want to do? Arjuna's question and the Lord's answer in Gita 3.36–43: desire and anger as the enemy that covers knowledge, and the order in which it is met.