The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

╭ chapter seventeen
ity. It is good to have faith; yet faith can be of different kinds,
different qualities. Sattvic faith is the most evolved, the most
pure. Rajasic faith is dynamic, evolving, yet tainted with selfish
motives. Tamasic faith goes astray in a spiritual desert.
To illustrate this, Krishna tells Arjuna that sattvic people
worship the devas – the gods of heaven, of light. The rajasic
worship yakshas and rakshasas . The yakshas are servants
of the god of wealth; rakshasas are powerful, fearsome spirits
driven by the lust for power and pleasure. Finally, tamasic
people worship the spirits of the dead and ghosts.
In a practical digression, Krishna describes the different
kinds of food liked by the sattvic, the rajasic, and the tamasic.
Then he applies the three gunas to the act of worship and sacrifice
or selfless service ( yajna ).
Verses 14–16 turn to the important question of tapas or
sadhana, the disciplines undergone for the sake of spiritual
growth. The Gita holds that no lasting progress is possible on
the spiritual path without self-discipline. The root of the word
tapas is tap, to be hot or to suffer pain; and in fact tapas can
also mean heat or suffering. When certain spiritual practices
are mastered, they create a feeling of heat in the body, which
is a sign of increased spiritual potency. Tapas also refers to the
power gained through spiritual austerity. Krishna dispels the
mistaken belief that tapas means mortifying or torturing the
body, and points out that spiritual disciplines can be sattvic,
rajasic, or tamasic. The sattvic kind of tapas is offered for a
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