Chapter 17 Shloka 18

सत्कारमानपूजार्थं तपो दम्भेन चैव यत्।

क्रियते तदिह प्रोक्तं राजसं चलमध्रुवम्।।१८।।

That tapas which is performed as a

pretence to gain renown, honour or worship,

such tapas is unstable and capricious.

It is known as rajsic tapas.

Chapter 17 Shloka 18

सत्कारमानपूजार्थं तपो दम्भेन चैव यत्।

क्रियते तदिह प्रोक्तं राजसं चलमध्रुवम्।।१८।।

The Lord says, Arjuna!

That tapas which is performed as a pretence to gain renown, honour or worship, such tapas is unstable and capricious. It is known as rajsic tapas.

That tapas which is performed superficially to augment pride and hypocrisy is rajsic tapas.

First understand the word Dambh (दम्भ)

1. Dambh is deceit.

2. Dambh is the utilisation of fraudulent means.

3. Dambh connotes pretence.

4. Dambh creates an illusionary world.

5. Dambh projects the unreal as real out of a false sense of pride.

6. Dambh seeks self praise.

7. Dambh prompts arrogant speech.

8. A life of sin with a noble and innocent face is a play of dambh.

9. Dambh further strengthens the egoistic attitude.

10. Dambh seeks to rob the world and shield itself. Even though one may have no laudable attributes, dambh weaves a fabric of pretence and gains recognition from the world; thus one could say that such recognition and renown is in fact stolen. One did not deserve it since one had no matching qualities.

11. Those who inhere the attribute of dambh are unaware of their duty.

12. When such a one seeks to fulfil some desire, he often uses duty as a ‘front’ for his selfish designs.

13. These are artificial people who live in the unreal.

14. They are exhibitionists.

15. They are untrustworthy and unreliable.

The tapas practised by such people is also artificial, fraudulent and fraught with pride.

1. These are people hungry for recognition and renown.

2. These are people who wish others to worship them.

3. These people perform tapas for their self-establishment.

4. They endure many travails merely to establish themselves.

Such delusory and depraved souls who abide in rajas are veritable hypocrites.

Rajsic Tapas

1. Such people undertake several fasts.

2. They undertake several modes of worship.

3. They endure many physical travails and hardships.

4. They stand in water for hours.

5. They refuse food for several days at a time.

6. They stand out in the sun for hours.

7. They endeavour to brave the cold without adequate clothing.

8. They repeat countless mantras or scriptural verses.

9. They participate in continuous recitation of the Scriptures.

However, they do not let this tapas affect their inner being. They tolerate no opposition. They are afraid to fulfil the requirements of duty and flee from the very thought of having to serve another. In this way they indulge in rajsic tapas.

This tapas is neither practised in continuity for a substantial period of time, nor is it momentary. It is subject to change with the vagaries of the practicant’s mind. Once his desires are fulfilled, he undertakes a temporary practice of tapas as a thanksgiving. If, on the other hand, his desire is not fulfilled, he renounces any such practice. This tapas requires the unison of the mind and the intellect and in this case, it is unfortunately the intellect that follows the mind like a servant. This tapas does not involve the union of the intellect with the Truth because it is devoid of selfless thoughts and acts.

The tapas of the rajsic being is full of hypocrisy. Such a one engages in tapas while clinging to the desire for the fruits of actions in his mind. He seeks respect for his mind, praise for his life, his speech, and worship of his body-self. Such tapas is both temporary and unstable.