Devanagari
सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च ।
प्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च ॥ १७ ॥
Verse text
sattvāt saṣjāyate jṣānaṁ
rajaso lobha eva ca
pramāda-mohau tamaso
bhavato ’jṣānam eva ca
Synonyms
sattvāt
—
from the mode of goodness
;
saṣjāyate
—
develops
;
jṣānam
—
knowledge
;
rajasaḥ
—
from the mode of passion
;
lobhaḥ
—
greed
;
eva
—
certainly
;
ca
—
also
;
pramāda
—
madness
;
mohau
—
and illusion
;
tamasaḥ
—
from the mode of ignorance
;
bhavataḥ
—
develop
;
ajṣānam
—
nonsense
;
eva
—
certainly
;
ca
—
also.
Translation
From the mode of goodness, real knowledge develops; from the mode of passion, greed develops; and from the mode of ignorance develop foolishness, madness and illusion.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
17. Knowledge arises from sattva. Greed arises from rajas. Inattention, confusion and ignorance arise from tamas.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
17. Knowledge arises from sattva. Greed arises from rajas. Inattention, confusion and ignorance arise from tamas.
Purport
Since the present civilization is not very congenial to the living entities, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is recommended. Through Kṛṣṇa consciousness, society will develop the mode of goodness. When the mode of goodness is developed, people will see things as they are. In the mode of ignorance, people are just like animals and cannot see things clearly. In the mode of ignorance, for example, they do not see that by killing one animal they are taking the chance of being killed by the same animal in the next life. Because people have no education in actual knowledge, they become irresponsible. To stop this irresponsibility, education for developing the mode of goodness of the people in general must be there. When they are actually educated in the mode of goodness, they will become sober, in full knowledge of things as they are. Then people will be happy and prosperous. Even if the majority of the people aren’t happy and prosperous, if a certain percentage of the population develops Kṛṣṇa consciousness and becomes situated in the mode of goodness, then there is the possibility for peace and prosperity all over the world. Otherwise, if the world is devoted to the modes of passion and ignorance, there can be no peace or prosperity. In the mode of passion, people become greedy, and their hankering for sense enjoyment has no limit. One can see that even if one has enough money and adequate arrangements for sense gratification, there is neither happiness nor peace of mind. That is not possible, because one is situated in the mode of passion. If one wants happiness at all, his money will not help him; he has to elevate himself to the mode of goodness by practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When one is engaged in the mode of passion, not only is he mentally unhappy, but his profession and occupation are also very troublesome. He has to devise so many plans and schemes to acquire enough money to maintain his status quo. This is all miserable. In the mode of ignorance, people become mad. Being distressed by their circumstances, they take shelter of intoxication, and thus they sink further into ignorance. Their future in life is very dark.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Having described the various results of the guṇas, the guṇas are described as causes. From sattva is born knowledge characterized by revelation or knowledge. Thus, happiness [Note: The previous verse mentioned that sattva resulted in pure happiness. The present verse says sattva results in knowledge. There is no contradiction, since both are the results of sattva. One will include the other.] with an abundance of knowledge is the result of activities in sattva. From rajas comes greed, a particular thirst, which cannot be satisfied by indulgence in millions of sense objects. Because that is a cause of sorrow, the result is a little happiness with plenty of grief from doing those activities. From tamas arise inattention, illusion and ignorance. The result of doing such activities is sorrow with almost total unconsciousness. [Note: The results of rajas and tamas are correlated with the statements of the previous verse.]