सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रजः कर्मणि भारत । ज्ञानम् आवृत्य तु तमः प्रमादे सञ्जयति उत ॥
sattvaṃ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata | jñānam āvṛtya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayati uta ||
Sattva binds to happiness; rajas to action; tamas veils wisdom and chains to heedlessness.
Word by word (3)
- sattvaṃ sukhe sañjayati
- — sattva chains/attaches (sañjayati = ties, fastens) to happiness (sukha) — the golden rope
- rajaḥ karmaṇi sañjayati bhārata
- — rajas chains to action (karma) — the red rope of passionate activity, O Bharata
- jñānam āvṛtya tamaḥ pramāde sañjayati
- — tamas, veiling/shrouding wisdom (jñānam āvṛtya), chains to heedlessness (pramāda) — the dark rope of obscured awareness
Sattva attaches (chains) the self to happiness. Rajas attaches it to action. But tamas, veiling wisdom, attaches it to heedlessness, O Bharata.
A modern analogy
Three roads leading back to prison: the silk road (sattva's happiness), the highway of ambition (rajas's activity), and the foggy dead-end (tamas's ignorance). All three end at the same place — saṃsāra — until the traveler finds the guṇātīta path that goes beyond all three.
V9 is the clean summary of V6-V8: three guṇas, three binding mechanisms, stated in one tight verse. The pattern is: guṇa → its medium → sañjayati (chains to). V9 adds a crucial detail for tamas: jñānam āvṛtya (first veiling wisdom) before binding — confirming that tamas operates by COVERING the discriminative faculty before the attachment takes hold.
sañjayati (from the root yaj = to constrain, bind) is more binding than mere attraction — it fastens tight. The triad: sukha (sattva's bait), karma (rajas's bait), pramāda (tamas's state after jñāna is obscured). Note the asymmetry: tamas doesn't attach to a positive thing — it attaches to heedlessness AFTER veiling wisdom. This is tamas's unique mechanism: it operates by subtraction (removing awareness) rather than addition (adding attraction).
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Sattva attaches to happiness, Rajas to action, O Bharata, while Tamas, enshrouding wisdom, attaches, on the contrary, to heedlessness. [1]
Sattva attaches to happiness, and Rajas to action, O descendant of Bharata; while Tamas, verily, shrouding discrimination, attaches to miscomprehension. [4]
Goodness makes one attached to happiness, passion to action; but darkness, veiling knowledge, attaches to heedlessness. [9]
Goodness unites the soul with pleasure; Passion, O Bharata, unites with work; but darkness, veiling knowledge, unites with error. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Sattva — luminous and stainless — yet binds the jīva through attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge.
The fruit of sattvic action is pure; the fruit of rajas is pain; the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
Knowledge, action, and agent are each three-fold by guṇa-distinction — as declared in the guṇa-science. Hear them.
The duties of Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Śūdras are distributed by the guṇas born of their own nature.
Supreme bliss comes naturally to the yogi whose mind is fully at peace, passion quieted, stainless — Brahman-become.
Where yogeśvara Kṛṣṇa is, where archer Pārtha stands — there abide fortune, victory, flourishing, and steadfast dharma.