14.9

Sanskrit

सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रजः कर्मणि भारत । ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तमः प्रमादे सञ्जयत्युत ॥

sattvaṃ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata jñānam āvṛtya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayaty uta

Translation

Harmony attacheth to bliss, Motion to action, O Bhârata. Inertia, verily, having shrouded wisdom, attacheth on the contrary to heedlessness.

Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain

Explanation

A condensed restatement of verses 6-8 into a single refrain: sattva attaches to happiness, rajas to action, tamas — by first shrouding wisdom — to heedlessness. This kind of compression, restating a three-part definition as a quick single-verse formula, marks a hinge in the argument: the definitions are done, and the chapter now turns from what each guna is to how they behave — competing for dominance (verse 10) and producing visible symptoms (verses 11-13).