Commentary

Commentary

Rajasic action is the kind of work most people in the material world are engaged in. It has three defining characteristics: it is driven by desire for results (kaamepsunaa), performed with ego and false pride (saahankaarena), and involves great strain and struggle (bahulaa-yaasam).

The person acting in passion is constantly thinking about what they will gain — wealth, recognition, power, pleasure. Their sense of “I” and “mine” pervades every action. “I am doing this. This success is mine. Look at what I have achieved.” This egoistic identification turns every action into a source of anxiety, because the ego is always threatened by the possibility of failure.

The phrase bahulaa-yaasam — “with great struggle” — is significant. Rajasic action is exhausting precisely because the person is working against the natural flow. When action is sattvic, there is an ease to it, a sense of being carried by something larger than oneself. But rajasic action is all personal effort — the burden rests entirely on the individual ego.

A person driven by passion may achieve great things materially, but the inner cost is enormous. Such action cannot bring lasting peace. It binds the doer more tightly to the cycle of birth and death, always hungry for the next result, never satisfied with what has been gained.