Shloka 43
तम:सत्त्वरजोयुक्तस्तासु तास्विह योनिषु । नियते प्रतिबुद्धित्वादबुद्धजनसेवनात्,प्रकृतिके संसर्गवश ही वह सत्त्वमुण, रजोगुण और तमोगुणसे युक्त हो जाता है तथा अज्ञानी मनुष्योंका संग करनेसे उन्हींकी भाँति अपनेको शरीरस्थ समझनेके कारण वह उन- उन सात््विक, राजस, तामस योनियोंमें जन्म ग्रहण करता है
tamaḥ-sattva-rajo-yuktas tāsu tāsviha yoniṣu | niyate pratibuddhitvād abuddha-jana-sevanāt prakṛtike saṁsarga-vaśaḥ hi saḥ sattva-guṇaṁ rajo-guṇaṁ tamo-guṇaṁ ca yuktaḥ bhavati; ajñānī-manuṣya-saṅgāt teṣām iva ātmānaṁ śarīra-sthaṁ manyamānaḥ saḥ tāsu tāsu sāttvika-rājasa-tāmasa-yoniṣu janma gṛhṇāti ||
Vasiṣṭha said: Under the compulsion of contact with Prakṛti, the embodied self becomes associated with the three guṇas—sattva, rajas, and tamas. By keeping company with the unwise, and by the fixed habit of imagining itself to be lodged in the body, it comes to take birth again and again in corresponding wombs—sāttvika, rājasa, or tāmasa—according to that association.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Association shapes consciousness: under Prakṛti’s influence the self becomes colored by sattva, rajas, and tamas; keeping company with the unwise strengthens body-identification, which in turn leads to rebirth in corresponding sāttvika, rājasa, or tāmasa forms.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation and conduct, Vasiṣṭha explains to his listener how the jīva’s entanglement with the guṇas—especially through bad company and mistaken self-identification—drives repeated births in different kinds of embodiments.