Shloka 31

Devanagari script

यया धर्ममधर्म च कार्य चाकार्यमेव च । अयथावत्‌ प्रजानाति बुद्धि: सा पार्थ राजसी,हे पार्थ! मनुष्य जिस बुद्धिके द्वारा धर्म और अधर्मको* तथा कर्तव्य और अकर्तव्यकोः भी यथार्थ नहीं जानता, वह बुद्धि राजसी है?

Transliteration

yayā dharmam adharmaṁ ca kāryaṁ cākāryam eva ca | ayathāvat prajānāti buddhiḥ sā pārtha rājasī ||

Translation

Arjuna said: That intellect by which one fails to discern correctly what is dharma and what is adharma, and likewise what ought to be done and what ought not to be done—such an intellect, O Pārtha, is of the rajasic (rājasa) kind.

Word by Word

ययाby which

धर्मम्dharma, right conduct

अधर्मम्adharma, wrong conduct

चand

कार्यंwhat ought to be done, duty

चand

अकार्यंwhat ought not to be done, forbidden act

एवindeed, just

चand

अयथावत्not correctly, improperly

प्रजानातिknows, understands

बुद्धिःintellect, understanding

साthat

पार्थO Partha (Arjuna)

राजसीrajasic (of rajas)

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Arjuna (Pārtha)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A rajasic intellect is marked by confused moral discernment: it misjudges dharma vs. adharma and duty vs. forbidden action, leading to ethically unreliable decisions driven by passion, bias, or self-interest.

What is happening in the narrative?

Within the Bhīṣma Parva’s battlefield instruction context, the discourse classifies types of intellect by the three guṇas; this verse defines the rajasic type as one that cannot correctly distinguish right from wrong and what should or should not be done.