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Chapter 14 · Verse 17
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 14, Verse 17

सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च। प्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च॥

sattvātsañjāyate jñānaṁ rajaso lobha eva ca | pramādamohau tamaso bhavato'jñānameva ca ||

Word by Word 11 words
सत्त्वात्
sat being, real, good tva the quality of

from sattva, from the calm, bright quality

सञ्जायते
sam fully, together jan to be born, to arise

arises, is fully born, springs up

ज्ञानम्
jñā to know

knowledge, clear understanding

रजसः
raj to be coloured, to be stirred, to be excited

from rajas, from the restless, passionate quality

लोभः
lubh to crave, to be greedy

greed, grabbing, wanting more and more

एव
eva indeed, surely

indeed, surely

ca and

and

प्रमादमोहौ
pra forth, fully mad to be careless, to be heedless muh to be confused, to be deluded

carelessness and confusion, heedlessness and a muddled mind

तमसः
tam to be dark, to grow dim

from tamas, from the heavy, dark quality

भवतः
bhū to be, to become, to arise

the two arise, the two come to be

अज्ञानम्
a not jñā to know

not-knowing, ignorance

gives a simple map of where each quality leads inside the mind. From , the calm and bright quality, clear knowledge grows: you understand things. From , the restless quality, greed grows: you keep wanting and grabbing. And from , the heavy quality, two dark things grow together: carelessness and confusion, plus a deeper not-knowing. The weather of your mind decides what fruit it grows.

कथा

Three Afternoons with the Same Book

An original story

Aaji had given Jeeva a small book about the stars, and over three days he discovered something strange: the very same book felt completely different depending on what kind of day he was having.

On the first day, a calm and easy morning, Jeeva sat on the cool veranda with the book open in his lap. His mind was quiet and clear, like the still pond by the temple. He read slowly, looked up at the sky, traced the shapes of the constellations with his finger, and asked Aaji gentle questions. By evening he understood how the Pole Star stays put while the others wheel around it. "I actually *get* it," he said, eyes shining. "It makes sense now."

The second day was a buzzing, restless one. There was a market, and Jeeva wanted everything — sweets, a kite, a clay whistle, a turn on his cousin's new cart. He grabbed the star book too, but only to race through it. "How many stars do I know now? How many pages have I read? More, more —" He flipped pages without reading them, hunting for the next thing, then tossed the book aside to chase something else. At day's end his head was full of wanting and his hands were empty of any new understanding.

The third day was heavy and sleepy, a thick grey afternoon. Jeeva flopped on his mat with the book on his chest, but his eyes kept sliding shut. He forgot he was even reading. He couldn't be bothered to turn a page, and when Aaji asked what the book was about, he blinked, confused. "I... don't really remember," he mumbled.

That evening Aaji sat beside him and tapped the little book. "Same book, my Jeeva. Same boy. Three different harvests. When your mind was calm and bright, it grew *understanding*. When it was restless and grabby, it grew only more *wanting*. When it was heavy and foggy, it grew *forgetting and muddle*."

She smiled. " said it just so: from calm comes knowing, from restlessness comes grabbing, from heaviness comes forgetting. The book never changed. Your weather did. So when you really want to learn something, first find your calm morning."

चिन्तनम्

Jeeva read the same book three ways: calm and learning, restless and grabbing, sleepy and forgetting. Which 'weather' is best for learning something new? Next time you sit down to learn, how could you find your calm-morning mind first?