Shloka 8
Rajo-guṇa-nirdeśa — Brahmā’s Enumeration of Rajasic Dispositions
संताप, रूप, आयास, सुख-दु:ख, सर्दी, गर्मी, ऐश्वर्य, विग्रह, सन्धि, हेतुवाद, मनका प्रसन्न न रहना, सहनशक्ति, बल, शूरता, मद, रोष, व्यायाम, कलह, ईर्ष्या, इच्छा, चुगली खाना, युद्ध करना, ममता, कुटुम्बका पालन, वध, बन्धन, क्लेश, क्रय-विक्रय, छेदन, भेदन और विदारणका प्रयत्न, दूसरोंके मर्मको विदीर्ण कर डालनेकी चेष्टा, उग्रता, निष्ठुरता, चिल्लाना, दूसरोंके छिद्र बताना, लौकिक बातोंकी चिन्ता करना, पश्चात्ताप, मत्सरता, नाना प्रकारके सांसारिक भावोंसे भावित होना, असत्य भाषण, मिथ्या दान, संशयपूर्ण विचार, तिरस्कारपूर्वक बोलना, निन्दा, स्तुति, प्रशंसा, प्रताप, बलात्कार, स्वार्थबुद्धिसे रोगीकी परिचर्या और बड़ोंकी शुश्रूषा एवं सेवावृत्ति, तृष्णा, दूसरोंके आश्रित रहना, व्यवहार- कुशलता, नीति, प्रमाद (अपव्यय), परिवाद और परिग्रह--ये सभी रजोगुणके कार्य हैं ।। २ --७ || संस्कारा ये च लोकेषु प्रवर्तन्ते पृथक्पृथक् । नृषु नारीषु भूतेषु द्रव्येषु शरणेषु च,संसारमें जो स्त्री, पुरुष, भूत, द्रव्य और गृह आदिमें पृथक्-पृथक् संस्कार होते हैं, वे भी रजोगुणकी ही प्रेरणाके फल हैं
saṁtāpa-rūpa-āyāsa-sukha-duḥkha-śītōṣṇa-aiśvarya-vigraha-sandhi-hetuvāda-manaḥ-aprasāda-titikṣā-bala-śaurya-mada-roṣa-vyāyāma-kalaha-īrṣyā-icchā-paiśunya-yuddha-mamatā-kuṭumba-pālana-vadha-bandhana-kleśa-kraya-vikraya-chedana-bhedana-vidāraṇa-prayatna-para-marma-vidāraṇa-ceṣṭā-ugratā-niṣṭhuratā-krośana-para-chidra-kathana-laukika-cintā-paścāt-tāpa-matsaratā-nānā-saṁsāra-bhāva-bhāvitatā-asatya-bhāṣaṇa-mithyā-dāna-saṁśaya-pūrṇa-vicāra-tiraskāra-pūrvaka-vacana-nindā-stuti-praśaṁsā-pratāpa-balātkāra-svārtha-buddhyā-rogī-paricaryā-vṛddha-śuśrūṣā-sevā-vṛtti-tṛṣṇā-para-āśraya-vyavahāra-kuśalatā-nīti-pramāda-parivāda-parigraha—etāni sarvāṇi rajoguṇasya kāryāṇi || saṁskārā ye ca lokeṣu pravartante pṛthak pṛthak | nṛṣu nārīṣu bhūteṣu dravyeṣu śaraṇeṣu ca ||
Vāyu said: ‘Heat and distress, outward show, exertion, pleasure and pain, cold and heat, lordship, conflict and reconciliation, contentious reasoning, a mind that cannot remain content, endurance, strength, heroism, intoxication with power, anger, physical training, quarrel, jealousy, desire, backbiting, waging war, possessiveness, maintaining one’s family, killing, imprisonment, affliction, buying and selling, cutting, splitting, and the urge to tear apart—indeed, the attempt to pierce another’s vulnerable points—harshness, cruelty, shouting, exposing others’ faults, anxiety over worldly matters, remorse, envy, being driven by many kinds of worldly emotions, speaking falsehood, giving in a deceptive way, doubtful and wavering thought, speaking with contempt, blame, praise and flattery, display of might, coercion, even nursing the sick and serving elders when done from self-interested motives, thirsting craving, dependence on others, worldly cleverness, policy, negligence and waste, slander, and acquisitiveness: all these are functions of the rajas-guṇa. And the various ‘conditioning impressions’ (saṁskāras) that operate differently in the world—among men and women, among beings, in possessions, and in dwellings and refuges—these too arise from the prompting of rajas.’
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse classifies a wide range of human behaviors—especially those driven by agitation, desire, rivalry, display, and acquisitiveness—as effects of rajas (the passionate, activating guṇa). It also states that the diverse social and personal ‘saṁskāras’ seen across people, beings, possessions, and dwellings arise from rajas’ prompting.
Vāyudeva is speaking as a teacher, explaining guṇa-based causality: he enumerates many traits and actions and attributes them to rajas, then extends the point by saying that the differentiated patterns of conditioning (saṁskāras) observable in worldly life are likewise rajas-born.