14.16
Chapter 14, Verse 16
कर्मणः सुकृतस्याहुः सात्त्विकं निर्मलं फलम्। रजसस्तु फलं दुःखमज्ञानं तमसः फलम्৷৷
karmaṇaḥ sukṛtasyāhuḥ sāttvikaṅ nirmalaṅ phalam. rajasastu phalaṅ duḥkhamajñānaṅ tamasaḥ phalam৷৷
Translation
They say the fruit of a meritorious action is spotless and full of purity; the outcome of Passion is misery, and of Ignorance darkness.
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
कर्मणः of action, सुकृतस्य (of) good, आहुः (they) say, सात्त्विकम् Sattvic, निर्मलम् pure, फलम् the fruit, रजसः of Rajas, तु verily, फलम् the fruit, दुःखम् pain, अज्ञानम् ignorance, तमसः of inertia, फलम् the fruit. Commentary: Good action Sattvic action. The fruit of good action is both happiness and,knowledge.They The wise.Rajas means Rajasic action as this verse deals with action. The fruit of Rajasic action is bitter. Rajasic action brings pain, disappointment and dissatisfaction. Rajasic activity leads to greed. When the Rajasic man tries to gratify his original desires, new desires crop up. This opens the door to greed.Tamas Tamasic action, unrighteous deeds or sin (Adharma). There is no knowledge within and no foresight.
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.