Lord Krishna discusses the nature of action in depth.
The are three causes of action:
1. Knowledge
2. Knowable object
3. Knower
And there are three bases of action:
1. The means to act (eg, senses, limbs)
2. The action itself
3. The doer
In addition to knowledge of and desire to act, there must be the ability to act and a person to achieve the action.
There are three kinds of knowledge, action, and doers, according to the three gunas:
1. Sattwic action: knowledge (seeing) that all beings are eternal and are a part of the One Soul. (In essence, there is no diversity, since we are all the same Soul.)
2. Rajasic action: seeing the separateness in all beings (and not the common Soul)
3. Tamasic action: seeing and clinging to one single thing as if it were everything and missing its true eternal essence
An example of rajasic distinctions is seeing the media portray how two groups are different from one another (eg, red states and blue states; creating dramatically sharp distinctions between sides to allegedly make a story more engaging), or governments who divide groups or religions to conquer both groups. On the human level, fighting with friends or relatives over property or things is rajasic.
Tamasic actions include doing anything in a wholly attached manner; never reasoning whether it is valid; unfounded in truth; clinging onto a person, idea, philosophy, herb, drug or anything material, instead of letting go and embracing the eternal spirit or Soul.
Sattwic actions: following one’s duties (responsibilities) without attachment, like/dislike, or desire for the rewards of the action. These people do not seek work; rather they take the work that comes to them in the form of responsibility.
This behavior has no sense of I: the person works as a Divine instrument.
Rajasic actions: acting on the desire that fame, fortune, power, or glory will come to you from your actions. This type of action depletes energy. Those who act rajasically constantly work, run, develop, create, fix, and so on.
This behavior is greedy, passionate, violent, unclean, easily excited by joy or sorrow, success, or failure.
Tamasic actions: when work is done blindly, without forethought as to reasons, ability, consequences (who if anyone benefits or is harmed by the action).
This behavior shows itself as undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn, knavish, indecisive, lethargic, procrastinating, arrogant, or dishonest. [Verse 18–28]
Actions ordained, performed without desiring the rewards of the action, unat- tached, without craving or aversion, is purity (sattwic). [23]
Actions performed while desiring the rewards of the action, with egotism, or with much effort, is rajasic. [24]
Actions done under delusion, without considering one’s own ability, consequence, loss, and injury is tamasic. [25]
Free from attachment, without egotism, endowed with perseverance and enthusi- asm, unaffected in success or failure, is one who works with purity (sattwa). [26]
Those whose have passions and desires for reward, greed, malicious, impurity, who are easily moved by joy or sorrow, are overly active (rajasic) workers. [27]
Those who are unqualified, vulgar, arrogant, deceptive, overbearing, lazy, de- spondent, and procrastinating, are ignorant (tamasic) workers. [28]
People often say that the work they did got them off the track, ie, off their spiritual path. They often ask, should I do A or B; should I build my company or spend more time in meditation? But as we see from Krishna’s discussion, it is not what you do but how you do it, or more specifically, the spirit of the choice is the key.
A person can work long hours on a project, and it can be sattwic or rajasic. If the work feels like it is what they were born to do; if it feels like it is their responsibility; if by helping others the person feels humbled and grateful to be allowed to participate in this action, and when the unpleasant aspects of the work are done in the same spirit, then it is sattwic work.
However, if a person is working on a project to become rich, famous, or powerful; working to avoid their family or social life, then this is rajasic work. It is a very subtle point, but a little focus on the distinction makes a world of difference in how a person lives their life.
While discussing this point, a common question is raised, ‘I choose to work to support my family. Is that not sattwic action?’
This is a most important question. There are two parts to the answer. By working to support others, this is seen as selfless work, ie, you are not working for your own personal gain, but for others.
Still, within this context, a person must choose a respectable job, and not merely do anything, even if it is unethical, all in the name of supporting a family.
Doing tamasic or rajasic work requires self-aggrandizement and in- volves ego, either because of a lack of self-worth or by seeking self-contentment.
When a person realizes they have done some work that was rajasic or tamasic, often after things fall apart, they some- times realize the errors in their ways. The tendency is to swing to the other extreme self-deprecation.
One begins to sulk or dwell in guilt or self-pity. Instead of acting from the point of view of being a good person, the person dwells on how bad they have been. The key here is that the person is still stuck in ‘I.’ Often people wait for punishment or punish themselves or give up on life for some time. Then they swing back to self-aggrandizement and start the cycle all over again.
It is helpful to know that since both are ego-born (ie, rajasic and tamasic), if a person changes their intent and does something from a sattwic point of view (a selfless act), in that instant, things change for the better.
Often one’s greatest growth comes after hitting the bottom, when things are darkest. It is only then that a person becomes motivated to make a change. We see this in people who wait for the last minute to do their homework or study for tests.
On a larger scale, we see this in government when nothing gets done until a tragic disaster occurs. Or in personal growth, such as when a person becomes ‘sick and tired’ of being sick and tired, they finally forgo all the mental chatter, fears, and doubts, and just move ahead in uncharted areas of their life.
So one value of rajasic and tamasic acts is even though they destroy one’s plans and result in embarrassment and humiliation, one must go on. In this way, these less than perfect behaviors sometimes act as a catalyst to the sattwic way of life. Eventually, a person may come to realize that they do not have to wait for a disaster to make positive changes and can begin to implement positive actions sooner.
This shift from waiting until something goes wrong to correct it marks a change for the positive. By respecting oneself enough to say ‘I am worth living a Divine life,’ one chooses more harmonious options in the direction of the Divine.
