Shloka 3
Rajo-guṇa-nirdeśa — Brahmā’s Enumeration of Rajasic Dispositions
बल॑ शौर्य मदो रोषो व्यायामकलहावपि । ईष्येप्सा पिशुनं युद्ध ममत्वं परिपालनम्
balaṁ śaurya-mado roṣo vyāyāma-kalahāv api | īṣyā-īpsā piśunaṁ yuddhaṁ mamatvaṁ paripālanam ||
Vāyu said: “Strength, the intoxication of valor, anger, exertion and even quarrelling; jealousy and grasping desire; slander; warfare; possessiveness; and the impulse to guard and maintain what one calls ‘mine’—these are the forces that arise and drive beings.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse lists inner drives—pride, anger, jealousy, covetousness, slander, possessiveness—that spill outward into conflict and war. Ethically, it points to the need for restraint and discernment: unchecked passions turn even strength and valor into causes of harm.
Vāyu (the Wind-god) is speaking and enumerating a set of human impulses and behaviors. The statement functions as a diagnostic catalogue of forces that propel beings toward quarrel, aggression, and the urge to defend ‘mine,’ setting a moral frame for the surrounding discussion.