Skip to content

Bhagavad Gita 17.21

यत्तु प्रत्युपकारार्थं फलमुद्दिश्य वा पुनः।दीयते च परिक्लिष्टं तद्दानं राजसं स्मृतम्॥

yattu pratyupakārārthaṃ phalamuddiśya vā punaḥ |dīyate ca parikliṣṭaṃ taddānaṃ rājasaṃ smṛtam ||

And, that gift which is given with the intention of receiving something in return, or expecting a reward, or begrudgingly, is considered to be Rajasic.

Translation by Swami Sivananda · Public domain in India (translator d. 1963)

That which is given for the sake of the results it will produce, or with the hope of recompense, or grudgingly—that may truly be said to be the outcome of passion.

Translation by Shri Purohit Swami · Public domain in India (translator d. 1941)

Our plain-language meaning of this verse is waiting for scholar review.

Edition: Common 700-verse recension. Arjuna's opening question in chapter 13, absent from that recension, is kept as 13.0.

Transliteration in IAST, generated from the Devanagari text.

Source: Sanskrit text via gita/gita (Unlicense), from the Gita Supersite, IIT Kanpur. Sanskrit text public domain.

Bhagavad Gita 17.21 · Vidya