कर्मणः सुकृतस्याहुः सात्त्विकं निर्मलं फलम् | रजसस्तु फलं दुःखमज्ञानं तमसः फलम् ||
karmaṇaḥ sukṛtasyāhuḥ sāttvikaṁ nirmalaṁ phalam rajasas tu phalaṁ duḥkham ajñānaṁ tamasaḥ phalam
Translation
The fruit of good action, they say, is sattvic and pure; the fruit of rajas is pain; the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
Interpretation
The fruits of the three gunas reveal their essential natures. Sattvic action yields purity and clarity — the natural joy of aligned living. Rajasic action, despite its drive and excitement, ultimately yields pain — the exhaustion of endless striving, the grief of unfulfilled desire, the hollowness of achievement without inner peace. Tamasic action yields ignorance — the compounding of confusion, the deepening of delusion. These are not arbitrary punishments but natural consequences: we reap the nature of what we sow at the level of guna.