मुक्तसङ्गोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वितः।सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योर्निर्विकारः कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते।।18.26।।
रागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुर्लुब्धो हिंसात्मकोऽशुचिः।हर्षशोकान्वितः कर्ता राजसः परिकीर्तितः।।18.27।।
अयुक्तः प्राकृतः स्तब्धः शठो नैष्कृतिकोऽलसः।विषादी दीर्घसूत्री च कर्ता तामस उच्यते।।18.28।।
[Ast. introduces this verse with ‘Idanim kartrbhedah ucyate, Now is being stated the distinctions among the agents.’-Tr.] The agent who is free from attachment [Attachment to results or the idea of agentship.], not egotistical, endowed with fortitude and diligence, and unperturbed by success and failure is said to be possessed of sattva.
The agent who has attachment, who is desirous of the results of actions, covetous, cruel by nature, unclean, and subject to joy and sorrow, is declared to be possessed of rajas.
The agent who is unsteady, naive, inflexible, deceitful, wicked, lazy, sullen, and procrastinating is said to be possessed of tamas.
Osho’s Commentary
And finally, the three kinds of actor. The sattvic actor is free from attachment, free from the sense of “I am doing.” He is full of fortitude and enthusiasm, and he is untouched by success or failure. The rajasic actor is full of passion, desire, greed, and violence. He is a pendulum swinging between the excitement of joy and the misery of sorrow. And the tamasic actor is unsteady, vulgar, stubborn, deceitful, lazy, and always full of despair and procrastination. These are not just three types of people. These are three possibilities within you. You are a crowd. Sometimes you are sattvic, sometimes rajasic, sometimes tamasic. The art of yoga is to become aware of this inner drama, and to slowly, patiently, move from the darkness of tamas and the fever of rajas to the clear, silent light of sattva—and ultimately, to become a witness even to that.