रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसङ्गिषु जायते । तथा प्रलीनस् तमसि मूढयोनिषु जायते ॥
rajasi pralayaṃ gatvā karma-saṅgiṣu jāyate | tathā pralīnas tamasi mūḍha-yoniṣu jāyate ||
Dying in rajas, one is born among the action-attached; dying in tamas, one is born in irrational wombs.
Word by word (3)
- rajasi pralayaṃ gatvā karma-saṅgiṣu jāyate
- — dying (pralayam gatvā = having gone to dissolution) when rajas dominates — one is born among the karma-saṅgin (those attached to action)
- tathā pralīnaḥ tamasi
- — similarly (tathā), one dissolved (pralīna = merged into) in (dominant) tamas
- mūḍha-yoniṣu jāyate
- — is born in the wombs of the mūḍha (deluded, irrational — mūḍha = foolish, bewildered; including animal species and subhuman rebirths)
Dying while rajas is predominant, one is born among those who are attached to action (karma-saṅgina). Dying while tamas is predominant, one is born in the wombs of the deluded/irrational (mūḍha-yoni).
A modern analogy
The guṇa dominant at death is like the last address in your GPS — it determines your next starting point. Rajas → reborn in a restless, action-driven environment where you'll have more of the same. Tamas → reborn in a deeply deluded environment or body where it's even harder to wake up.
V14-V15 together give the cosmological map: sattva → pure worlds of knowers; rajas → rebirth among karma-attached humans; tamas → rebirth in mūḍha-yoni (deluded or subhuman species). This is not punishment but AFFINITY — the soul's guṇic coloring at death draws it toward a corresponding environment for its next embodiment. The system is mechanical, not moralistic: guṇa magnetizes like-guṇa circumstances.
karma-saṅgiṣu jāyate (born among the karma-attached) suggests not just individual rebirth but the ENVIRONMENT — a rajasic soul goes into a community of similarly driven people, perpetuating the guṇic tendency. mūḍha-yoniṣu is traditionally interpreted as lower species where consciousness is too tamasic to discriminate, plan, or pursue liberation — making escape from tamas very difficult. This reinforces Ch.14's urgency: don't let tamas consolidate.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Meeting death in Rajas, he is born among those attached to action; and, dying in Tamas, he is born in the wombs of the irrational. [1]
Meeting death in Rajas he is born among those attached to action; so dying in Tamas, he is born in the wombs of the irrational. [4]
Dying in passion, one is born among those attached to action; and dying in darkness, one is born in the wombs of the irrational. [9]
Dying in the midst of Passion, (one) is born among those attached to action; dying in Tamas, (one) is born in the wombs of the deluded. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The fruit of sattvic action is pure; the fruit of rajas is pain; the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
Rajas — passion, thirst, attachment — binds the embodied one specifically through attachment to action.
Sattva, rajas, tamas — three guṇas born of Prakṛti — bind the indestructible ātman in every body.
From all wombs all bodies arise — but the great Brahman is the womb and Krishna the seed-giving Father.
The sāttvic tyāgī: neither hates difficult action nor clings to pleasant — sattva-pervaded, wise, doubts severed.
Tāmasic karma: begun from delusion, ignoring consequences, waste, injury to beings, and one's own capacity.