Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 14, Verse 12: Krishna to Arjuna — Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga
When rajas grows strong, five signs appear: greed, restless activity, compulsive new undertakings, loss of inner quiet, and craving.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
When rajas (the guna of agitation) intensifies, five signs arise: lobha (greed — coveting another's wealth), pravrtti (general restless activity), arambha (initiating karma-laden projects), asama (absence of quietude — the surge of harsaraga), and sprha (craving for all objects indiscriminately). Sankara reads each term diagnostically: these are linga (marks) that expose which guna dominates, not moral failures in themselves. For the jnana-marga aspirant, recognising these as rajasic signatures is the first move toward niskama-karma and ultimately toward viveka-vairagya that prepares the chitta for brahma-jnana.
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
Ramanuja distinguishes the five signs with precision: lobha here is atyaga-silata (the disposition never to release what one holds), pravrtti is the nature of motion even without a purpose (purposeless restlessness), arambha is udyoga (energetic initiative) toward karma that is treated as the means to a desired fruit, asama is indriya-anuparati (the senses' refusal to withdraw), and sprha is visayeccha (desire for sensory objects). When these appear, one should know that rajas has grown dominant. In Ramanuja's frame, rajas-bondage prevents the soul from orienting its action as kainkarya (service) to Bhagavan; recognising the linga is the beginning of reorienting every act as an offering.
- Madhvadvaita
*Lobha* (greed), *pravṛtti* (activity), *ārambhaḥ* (undertaking of actions), *aśamaḥ* (absence of inner stillness), and *spṛhā* (craving) — these arise, O best of the Bharatas, when *rajas* (the quality of agitation and drive) grows dominant. Each sign marks the *paratantra* *jīva* (the eternally dependent individual self) falling under the sway of *prakṛti* rather than resting in its natural condition of subordination to *svatantra* Hari (the independently real Lord). *Rajas* is a *guṇa* of *prakṛti*, real and distinct from the *jīva* and from Hari — *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction) is not suspended when the *guṇas* operate; it is precisely what makes their operation on the *jīva* intelligible. When *rajas* is *vivṛddhe* (swollen, increased), these five surge outward: greed redirects the *jīva*'s longing away from Hari; restless activity and repeated undertakings substitute *karma* born of desire for *karma* offered in *bhakti* (devotion as ontological subordination to the Lord); the loss of *śama* (inner quietude) scatters the *jīva*'s dependent being into *prakṛti*'s momentum; *spṛhā* anchors the self to the objects of the lower order rather than to Hari's *anugraha* (grace). Recognition of these five in oneself is not cause for despair but for redirection: the *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy) remains in place, and Hari's sovereignty over *prakṛti* and *jīva* alike is uncompromised even when *rajas* holds sway.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Vallabha's bhashya is terse and reframes the terms devotionally: lobha is karpaṇya (mean-spiritedness, the soul's petty clinging), pravrtti is the intrinsic nature of the conditioned soul to keep moving even without aim, and arambha is udyoga (the impulse to initiate projects). In Suddhadvaita, even rajasic energy belongs to Krsna's lila-prasada; however, when the soul mistakes its rajasic momentum for self-generated agency rather than Krsna's gift, bondage arises. The five signs are not simply to be condemned but to be returned — surrendered back to Krsna as the only real agent, transforming rajasic agitation into the energy of pushti-bhakti.
- Śrīdharabhakti
Sridhara Svami, reading bhakti-philologically, gives the richest phenomenological description: lobha is the craving that keeps growing even when wealth repeatedly arrives; pravrtti is the state of always-doing, the inability to be still; arambha is the drive to build houses and undertake large projects; asama is the ceaseless inner chatter of 'I have done this, now I will do that' — the mental stream of sankalpa-vikalpa that never pauses; and sprha is the darting desire to grab at objects high and low the moment they come into view. When rajas (rajo-guna) intensifies, these five linga appear together — and conversely, their presence is itself evidence that rajas is dominant. For the bhakta, naming them clearly is the act of discrimination that opens space for Bhagavan's grace to enter.
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
Madhusudan Sarasvati synthesises both registers with philosophical precision and devotional warmth. Lobha is the craving that intensifies with every large acquisition rather than diminishing — it is a special form of iccha (desire) that no fulfilment can extinguish. Pravrtti is the state of ceaseless striving (nirantaram prayatamanata). Arambha is the drive to undertake large, costly, effortful projects — kamya (desire-driven) and laukika (worldly) — the building of mansions and grand enterprises. Asama is the unbroken stream of sankalpa (resolve-and-revision) — 'having done this, I will do that' — which never rests. Sprha is the acquisitive gaze at others' wealth — the desire to obtain it by any means. When rajas (ragaatmaka, the guna of attachment-drive) intensifies, these ragaatmaka linga arise. O Bharatarsabha, through these signs one should recognise the growth of rajas — and, in Madhusudan's synthesis, one should turn precisely this rajasic energy toward Krsna-bhakti, where it becomes the fuel of loving seva rather than the chain of samsara.