रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम् | तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसङ्गेन देहिनम् ||
rajo rāgātmakaṁ viddhi tṛṣṇā-saṅga-samudbhavam tan nibadhnāti kaunteya karma-saṅgena dehinam
Translation
Know rajas to be of the nature of passion, arising from thirst and attachment; it binds the embodied soul, O Arjuna, by attachment to action.
Interpretation
Rajas is the guna of passion, desire, and restless activity. It springs from longing and craving — the perpetual thirst for experience, achievement, pleasure, and possession. Rajas binds through attachment to action and its fruits: the inability to rest, the compulsion to acquire and accomplish, the identification with roles and achievements. The rajasic person is ever driven, ever seeking, ever becoming — but never arriving. Action done with ego-driven attachment perpetuates the cycle of karma and rebirth.