यजन्ते सात्त्विका देवान् यक्षरक्षांसि राजसाः । प्रेतान् भूतगणांश् चान्ये यजन्ते तामसा जनाः ॥
yajante sāttvikā devān yakṣa-rakṣāṃsi rājasāḥ | pretān bhūta-gaṇāṃś cānye yajante tāmasā janāḥ ||
Sāttvic worship Devas; rājasic worship Yakṣas/Rākṣasas; tāmasic worship pretas and bhūta-hosts.
Word by word (3)
- yajante sāttvikā devān
- — sāttvika people worship (yajante) the Devas (devān) — the shining ones, the luminous cosmic forces; sattva naturally aligns with light and order
- yakṣa-rakṣāṃsi rājasāḥ
- — the rājasas worship Yakṣas and Rākṣasas — Yakṣas (nature-spirits, treasure-keepers, sometimes ambiguous); Rākṣasas (powerful, desire-driven beings); both fit rajas's power-orientation
- pretān bhūta-gaṇāṃś cānye yajante tāmasā janāḥ
- — and the others (anye), the tāmasic people (tāmasā janāḥ), worship (yajante) pretas (departed spirits) and hosts of bhūtas (elemental spirits) — the tamas orientation toward the obscure and the dead
Those of sāttvic nature worship the Devas; those of rājasic nature worship Yakṣas and Rākṣasas; others — the tāmasic people — worship departed spirits and hosts of elemental beings.
A modern analogy
The spiritual company you seek tells you about your inner state. Those whose inner light (sattva) is active are drawn to luminous beings; those driven by power and desire (rajas) are drawn to powerful, ambiguous beings; those in confusion and inertia (tamas) are drawn to the murky, the deceased, the pre-conscious. Like attracts like — your śraddhā gravitates toward what resonates with your guṇa.
V4 gives the first observable expression of V3's principle (yo yat-śraddhāḥ sa eva saḥ): the type of beings one worships reveals one's śraddhā-guṇa. The three worship-categories map onto the three guṇas precisely. This is not a value hierarchy of beings (Devas are 'better' than Yakṣas) but a map of inner dispositions: what we worship reveals who we are, and who we are is what we worship.
The Yakṣa-Rākṣasa pair for rajas is psychologically accurate: Yakṣas are wealth-guardians (lobha/desire-connected) and Rākṣasas are power-hungry violators of boundaries (krodha/force-connected) — exactly the rajas-profile of V12's kāma-krodha-parāyaṇa. Pretas (trapped spirits) and bhūtas (elemental forces) represent the tamasic orientation toward what is confused, unresolved, and pre-rational.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Sattvic men worship the Gods; Rajasic, the Yakshas and the Rakshasas; the others — Tamasic men — the Pretas and the hosts of Bhutas. [1]
Sattvika men worship the Devas; Rajasika, the Yakshas and the Rakshasas; the others — the Tamasika men — the Pretas and the hosts of Bhutas. [4]
Sattvic people worship the gods; rajasic, the Yakshas and Rakshasas; the others, the tamasic people, worship departed spirits and the hosts of Bhutas. [9]
They that are of the quality of goodness worship the gods; they that are of the quality of passion, the Yakshas and the Rakshasas; other people that are of the quality of darkness worship departed spirits and hosts of Bhutas. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Equal in honor and disgrace, equal to friend and foe, abandoning all undertakings — he has gone beyond guṇas.
Śraddhā of the embodied is threefold — born of svabhāva (one's own nature): sāttvikī, rājasī, tāmasī. Hear this.
Those who practice ghora tapas without śāstric sanction, driven by dambha, ahaṃkāra, kāma and rāga — āsurī tapas.
Of all yogis, the one whose inner self is merged in Me, worshipping with śraddhā — that one I hold to be most united.
This divine māyā of Mine, made of the guṇas, is hard to cross — but those who take refuge in Me alone do cross it.
Whatever form a devotee seeks to worship with śraddhā — that very faith I make unwavering.