The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

Freedom & Renunciation ╯
23
Work performed to fulfill one’s obligations,
without thought of personal reward or of whether
the job is pleasant or unpleasant, is sattvic. 24 Work
prompted by selfish desire or self-will, full of stress,
is rajasic. 25 Work that is undertaken blindly, without
any consideration of consequences, waste, injury
to others, or one’s own capacities, is tamasic.
26
Sattvic workers are free from egotism and selfish
attachments, full of enthusiasm and fortitude in
success and failure alike. 27 Rajasic workers have
strong personal desires and crave rewards for
their actions. Covetous, impure, and destructive,
they are easily swept away by fortune, good or
bad. 28 Tamasic workers are undisciplined, vulgar,
stubborn, deceitful, dishonest, and lazy. They are
easily depressed and prone to procrastination.
29
Listen, Arjuna, as I describe the three
types of understanding and will.
30
To know when to act and when to refrain
from action, what is right action and what is
wrong, what brings security and what insecurity,
what brings freedom and what bondage:
these are the signs of a sattvic intellect.
259 ╯