Shloka 16
Rajo-guṇa-nirdeśa — Brahmā’s Enumeration of Rajasic Dispositions
कामतृत्ता: प्रमोदन्ते सर्वकामसमृद्धिभि: । अर्वाक्स्रोतस इत्येते मनुष्या रजसा वृता:
kāmatṛptāḥ pramodante sarvakāmasamṛddhibhiḥ | arvāksrotasa ity ete manuṣyā rajasā vṛtāḥ ||
Vāyu dit : «Ceux que seul le désir peut rassasier se réjouissent de l’abondance de toutes sortes de jouissances. De tels hommes, enveloppés par la qualité du rajas, sont appelés “arvāksrotas” : leur courant s’écoule vers le bas, vers les objets et les plaisirs du monde.»
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
A life driven by kāma (desire) and delighting in the plenty of enjoyments is characterized as rājasic: energetic and restless, but ethically and spiritually downward-leaning. The verse warns that such desire-satiation is not true fulfillment; it marks a consciousness oriented toward external gratification rather than inner clarity and higher aims.
Vāyudeva is describing a category of human disposition. He identifies people who revel in sense-pleasures and worldly abundance as being covered by rajas and labels them ‘arvāksrotas,’ indicating their tendency to flow toward lower, outward pursuits.