Shloka 1
Abhimanyu’s Assault on Bhīṣma’s Screen; Banner-Felling and Reinforcements (सौभद्र-भीष्म-समरः)
भीष्मपर्वमें चालीसवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ ॥/ ४० ॥। ऑपन--माजल बछ। अकाल २. अपने धर्मका पालन करनेके लिये कष्ट सहन करके जो अन्त:ः:करण और इन्द्रियोंको तपाना है
arjuna uvāca | ye śāstravidhim utsṛjya yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ | teṣāṃ niṣṭhā tu kā kṛṣṇa sattvam āho rajas tamaḥ ||
अर्जुन उवाच । ये शास्त्रविधिमुत्सृज्य यजन्ते श्रद्धयान्विताः । तेषां निष्ठा तु का कृष्ण सत्त्वमाहो रजस्तमः ॥
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral and psychological inquiry: faith alone is not a sufficient measure of spiritual quality; Arjuna asks how to evaluate non-scriptural religious practice by the three guṇas—whether it tends toward clarity (sattva), passion-driven desire (rajas), or delusion and harmful error (tamas).
After hearing that ignoring śāstra leads to no true spiritual fruit, Arjuna raises a practical doubt: many people worship sincerely yet do not follow scriptural injunctions. He asks Krishna to classify their ‘standing’ (niṣṭhā) in terms of sattva, rajas, and tamas, setting up the teaching of the seventeenth chapter on faith and its types.