One craving, seven faces: the portrait of the doer ruled by passion.
This is not a list of separate sins to fight one by one. Every trait named here, greed, harm, impurity, the swing of joy and grief, rises from a single root: a heart staked on the fruit.
The doer who is attached, who craves the fruit of what he does, who is greedy and prone to harm others, who is unclean, and who is tossed between joy and grief, is called an agent of rajas.
The reading read whole, as one unhurried piece
Where it stands
Krishna has just drawn the sattvic doer, free of clinging and unmoved by win or loss. Now he turns to the middle portrait in his three-fold sorting: the doer whose work is colored by rajas, restless passion and craving for the fruit.
The teaching
Look at the list as one connected likeness rather than seven separate accusations. This doer is attached, full of fondness for the people and things he wants. He craves the fruit of his action, set on the result before it arrives. His greed reaches two ways at once: he thirsts after what belongs to another, and he will not part with his own, unwilling even to bear the cost his own undertaking requires. He is willing to cause injury to get what he wants. He is impure in two senses together, careless of the outward cleanness his work calls for, and unsteadied within by anything beyond his own chase. And he is swept by joy and grief, glad when the wished-for fruit comes, stricken when it does not, because his whole inner weather now depends on how things turn out. None of these traits stands alone. Each one grows from the same root, a heart staked entirely on the fruit. Loosen the grip there, and in principle the whole visible tangle, greed, harm, impurity, the swing of moods, loosens along with it.
The doubt that rises
But real work in the world asks for real drive. Where is the line between the ordinary ambition any working life requires and the passion-driven doership this verse is warning against?
Where the paths divide
Read as one composite likeness, not separate faults.
Shankara treats the whole verse as a single portrait, each trait deepening the last. The swing between joy and grief is what finally names this doer rajasic, since it shows an inner life that no longer belongs to itself, but rises and falls with an outcome outside its control. Greed and impurity, inward and outward, are read as branches of that same root.
Read socially, in the public arena of reputation.
Ramanuja casts the same figure as a public one: passionate here means hungry for fame and renown, and greed means unwillingness to spend what the undertaking itself demands. The joy and grief show themselves, in his reading, in action such as battle, elation at victory and dejection at defeat. This is a doer shaken by every swing of fortune's opinion of him.
Named honestly as an absence, not stretched into a full reading.
No comment from Madhva survives specifically on this verse. Rather than invent a Dvaita voice where none is attested, the honest reading is silence here. If one wished to extend his general teaching on the self's dependence on the Lord's sanction to this list of traits, that would be a clearly labeled conjecture, not his own recorded words.
Only a fragment carries over from the shared passage at 18.26.
Abhinavagupta's surviving commentary treats 18.26 through 18.28 together, with its substance given at 18.26. For this verse alone, only his gloss on being 'filled with elation and grief,' as filled with success and failure, carries over directly, since that same phrase recurs here. A fuller Kashmir Shaiva reading of the rest of the list would only be a conditional extension of the school's outlook, not his attested comment on 18.27.
Read as a mirror for self-examination.
Sridhara walks the list plainly, fondness, craving, greed, injury, impurity, joy and grief, and treats each mark as meant to be recognized in oneself rather than merely catalogued in another. His plainness has a devotional aim: hold the list up like a mirror and see how much of it is already present in your own working.
Read as precise diagnostic vocabulary.
Madhusudana gives each term in the list a bounded technical sense. He draws a careful line between the injurious doer, who harms by showing his intent, and the cheat, who harms by concealing it, and ties joy and grief exactly to the success or failure of the fruit sought. Read this way, the verse is less a blanket condemnation than a precise vocabulary for one particular way of acting.
The commentators agree closely on the shape of this portrait and part mainly on where they place their emphasis: Ramanuja on reputation and the public arena, Sridhara on self-recognition, Madhusudana on precise technical boundaries. Two of the six voices on file, Madhva and Abhinavagupta, leave little or nothing attested specifically for this verse, and this page keeps that gap visible rather than papering over it with invented words.
A question to carry
When you push hard toward something you want, can you tell whether you are simply doing the work in front of you, or whether your peace has quietly started to rise and fall with how it turns out?
Where this teaching travels
Verses that sit near this one, each going its own way; follow whichever calls you.
If you find several of these traits stirring in yourself today, do not take them on one at a time as separate enemies. Trace them back to the single root they share, your stake in the fruit, and loosen your hold there.
Each school is voiced from the commentators named above. Their full words, every translation, and where the schools agree and differ wait in the reading desk just below. Open the commentary desk.
Having just drawn the sattvic doer free of clinging, Krishna now turns to the middle portrait, naming trait by trait what a heart ruled by craving makes of the one who acts.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
The traits form one connected likeness, not seven unrelated faults, each deepening the same portrait of a heart set on its own reward.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · Śrīdhara · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 2 others’ words
The verse paints one composite portrait of the doer colored by rajas, and the commentators walk it trait by trait rather than treating it as separate accusations. Attached, craving the fruit, greedy, injurious by nature, impure, swept by joy and grief: each mark deepens the same figure rather than adding an unrelated one.
Greed here reaches two ways at once: hungry for what belongs to another, yet unwilling to spend even what the doer's own undertaking requires.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · Śrīdhara · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 2 others’ words
Greed is read as double-faced rather than vague. This doer thirsts after what belongs to others, and at the same time will not part with his own, unwilling even to bear the cost his own undertaking requires. He grasps outward and clenches inward at once.
Impurity, too, is doubled, outward neglect of the cleanness the act calls for and an inward heart not yet steadied by anything beyond the chase.
Across Advaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · ŚrīdharaIn Śaṅkara and Śrīdhara’s words
Impurity is read as a double lack, outer and inner together. Outwardly he neglects the cleansings his act calls for; inwardly his heart is unwashed as well, missing the very steadiness that would let him act without being ruled by the result.
The swing between joy and grief is the surest sign: a peace that rises and falls with results has already been handed over to what cannot be governed.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · Śrīdhara · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 2 others’ words
The closing mark, being swept by joy and grief, is read as the direct and inevitable consequence of having staked the heart on outcome. He is glad when the wished-for fruit arrives and stricken when it does not, and this oscillation, more than the labor or its scale, is what the commentators treat as the true diagnostic of rajasic doing.
Loosen the grip at the root, the craving for the fruit, and the whole visible tangle of greed, harm, and unrest loosens together.
Across Advaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · ŚrīdharaIn Śaṅkara and Śrīdhara’s words
Every trait in the list is read as flowing from one center: the doer's stake in the fruit. Loosen the grip on the fruit and, in principle, the whole tangle of craving, greed, injury, and impurity loosens with it, since none of them stands on its own.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is. Below is where they differ.
Where they differthe divergence
Viśiṣṭādvaita, in their fuller words
Ramanuja gives the same traits a social and martial cast: passion here is hunger for fame and renown, greed is refusal to spend what the undertaking itself requires, and the joy and grief are illustrated by the elation and dejection of victory or defeat in action such as battle. The rajasic doer is, on this reading, a public figure shaken by the swings of reputation.
Dvaita, in their fuller words
No comment from Madhva survives on this particular verse; the honest report is that this school's distinct reading is absent here, not merely brief. Any extension of his general position on the self's dependence on the Lord's sanction to this verse's traits would be a labeled conjecture, not an attested Dvaita reading of this text.
Shaiva, in their fuller words
The extant commentary treats 18.26 through 18.28 as one passage, with its substance anchored at 18.26; for this verse specifically only a fragment carries over, the gloss on being 'filled with elation and grief' as filled with success and failure. Beyond that one phrase, a fuller Kashmir Shaiva reading of greed and injury here would be a conditional extension of the school's outlook, not an attested comment on 18.27 itself.
Bhakti, in their fuller words
Sridhara's reading stays close to the bare list, naming each trait, fondness, craving, greed, injury, impurity, joy and grief, as something meant to be recognized in oneself rather than merely observed in another. His plainness serves a devotional aim: the mirror is held up so the reader checks his own working against it.
A modern reading, in their fuller words
Madhusudana gives each term a bounded technical sense, most notably distinguishing open injury, where intent is shown, from cheating, where it is concealed, and tying joy and grief precisely to the success or failure of the fruit sought. Read this way, the verse is less a moral condemnation than a careful diagnostic vocabulary for a particular way of acting.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
For a second sitting
Carry this with youwhat stays
Notice, without judgment, where in your own working today joy and grief have already begun to rise and fall with how things are going. That swing is not a flaw to punish. It is simply a signal pointing back to where your grip on the fruit has tightened. Loosen there, at the root, rather than at the branches.
Where you find any of these traits rising in your own working today, do not fight it at the surface. Trace it back to the one root, and loosen your hold there.
Read deeper
Everything a full study holds, folded below.
Word by word
All the commentary, woven together
The commentary, woven together
machine-assisted draft, pending review
Convergence
he verse paints one composite portrait of the doer colored by rajas, and the commentators walk it trait by trait rather than treating it as separate accusations. Attached, craving the fruit, greedy, injurious by nature, impure, swept by joy and grief: each mark deepens the same figure rather than adding an unrelated one.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Greed is read as double-faced rather than vague. This doer thirsts after what belongs to others, and at the same time will not part with his own, unwilling even to bear the cost his own undertaking requires. He grasps outward and clenches inward at once.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Impurity is read as a double lack, outer and inner together. Outwardly he neglects the cleansings his act calls for; inwardly his heart is unwashed as well, missing the very steadiness that would let him act without being ruled by the result.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī
The closing mark, being swept by joy and grief, is read as the direct and inevitable consequence of having staked the heart on outcome. He is glad when the wished-for fruit arrives and stricken when it does not, and this oscillation, more than the labor or its scale, is what the commentators treat as the true diagnostic of rajasic doing.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Every trait in the list is read as flowing from one center: the doer's stake in the fruit. Loosen the grip on the fruit and, in principle, the whole tangle of craving, greed, injury, and impurity loosens with it, since none of them stands on its own.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
Shankara reads the verse as a unified likeness of the rajasic doer, with the swing between joy and grief serving as the surest outward sign of an inner life mortgaged to results. Greed and impurity are named as inward and outward failures growing from the same root, the craving for the fruit that opens the verse.
Śaṅkarācārya
Viśiṣṭādvaita
Ramanuja gives the same traits a social and martial cast: passion here is hunger for fame and renown, greed is refusal to spend what the undertaking itself requires, and the joy and grief are illustrated by the elation and dejection of victory or defeat in action such as battle. The rajasic doer is, on this reading, a public figure shaken by the swings of reputation.
Rāmānujācārya
Dvaita
No comment from Madhva survives on this particular verse; the honest report is that this school's distinct reading is absent here, not merely brief. Any extension of his general position on the self's dependence on the Lord's sanction to this verse's traits would be a labeled conjecture, not an attested Dvaita reading of this text.
Madhvācārya
Kashmir Śaiva
The extant commentary treats 18.26 through 18.28 as one passage, with its substance anchored at 18.26; for this verse specifically only a fragment carries over, the gloss on being 'filled with elation and grief' as filled with success and failure. Beyond that one phrase, a fuller Kashmir Shaiva reading of greed and injury here would be a conditional extension of the school's outlook, not an attested comment on 18.27 itself.
Ācārya Abhinavagupta
Bhakti
Sridhara's reading stays close to the bare list, naming each trait, fondness, craving, greed, injury, impurity, joy and grief, as something meant to be recognized in oneself rather than merely observed in another. His plainness serves a devotional aim: the mirror is held up so the reader checks his own working against it.
Śrīdhara Svāmī
Modern
Madhusudana gives each term a bounded technical sense, most notably distinguishing open injury, where intent is shown, from cheating, where it is concealed, and tying joy and grief precisely to the success or failure of the fruit sought. Read this way, the verse is less a moral condemnation than a careful diagnostic vocabulary for a particular way of acting.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
A Seeker Asks
I have real ambitions and I work hard for them. Does this verse mean my drive itself is a fault, or only something about how I hold it?
The verse does not name effort or ambition as the fault. It names a particular relation to the fruit: craving it, staking your peace on it. You can work with full energy and still not meet the description here, if the craving for the result is not what is driving you.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya
The verse's own diagnostic is the swing of joy and grief. If success elates you and failure crushes you in equal measure, that swing is telling you where the grip has tightened, regardless of how worthy the goal itself may be.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Notice, too, that the traits cluster together: craving pulls greed, injury, and neglect of what would steady you in behind it. Watching the craving early, before it recruits the rest, is more useful than trying to police each trait on its own.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Contemplation
Notice, without judgment, where in your own working today joy and grief have already begun to rise and fall with how things are going. That swing is not a flaw to punish. It is simply a signal pointing back to where your grip on the fruit has tightened. Loosen there, at the root, rather than at the branches.
Sit with this · sonnet-5-authored
All the translations and commentary
Pull up a chair.
You have come to sit with this verse. When you are ready to hear the translators and the commentators in full, open a tradition in the doorways below, or add a voice by name above.
Also hear this verse, tradition by tradition.