Step 4 of 7 · 5 min

Study a Verse

Pick any verse to see what it means and how to use it in your life.

  1. 1Tap a chapter, then a verse
  2. 2Read what it means
  3. 3Try the practice
700 verses37 detailed
Or browse by chapter
Chapter

Chapter 18 · The Perfection of Renunciation · 78 verses

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778

Deep profile← → keys move between verses

Nature & guṇasChapter 18 · The Perfection of Renunciation
18.2618.28

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 18.27

Knowledge, action, determination and happiness in the modes

रागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुर्लुब्धो हिंसात्मकोऽश‍ुचि: ।

हर्षशोकान्वित: कर्ता राजस: परिकीर्तित: ॥ २७ ॥

rāgī karma-phala-prepsur

lubdho hiṁsātmako ’śuciḥ

harṣa-śokānvitaḥ kartā

rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ

Translation

The worker who is attached to work and the fruits of work, desiring to enjoy those fruits, and who is greedy, always envious, impure, and moved by joy and sorrow, is said to be in the mode of passion.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

The Worker in Passion

  1. 1A worker in passion is attached to work and its rewards, greedy, envious, impure, and moved by joy and sorrow.
  2. 2Prabhupāda explains that such a worker seeks material comfort, not higher elevation, and ignores whether earnings are pure or impure.
  3. 3Notice whether attachment to results makes you very happy in success and deeply distressed in failure.

Where we are

In the story

Chapter 18, The Perfection of Renunciation: knowledge, action, determination and happiness in the modes.

What it teaches

Theme summary

The modes of nature condition behavior.

2

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: prakṛti, guṇa.

3

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 18.27 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to nature & guṇas?

Practice

Observe which mode shaped your last decision.

4

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 18.19Knowledge, action, determination and happiness in the modesBG 18.20Knowledge, action, determination and happiness in the modesBG 7.14Crossing beyond māyā

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

Ask the study guide

Ask about BG 18.27 — get a simple answer linked to related ideas and verses.

Back to step 3The key ideasNext · Step 5 of 7 · 5 minLive the teachingsBring it into your day with a practice and a question, straight from Prabhupāda's purports.