Cluster 0583 — BG-17.21 — Rājasic Giving: the gift that wants something back
BG-17.21
यत्तु प्रत्युपकारार्थं फलमुद्दिश्य वा पुनः । दीयते च परिक्लिष्टं तद्दानं राजसं स्मृतम् ॥२१॥
"But that gift which is given for the sake of a return-favour, or with a view to its fruit, or grudgingly — that gift is held to be rājasic."
This is the middle term of the Gītā's three-fold classification of giving (sāttvic at BG-17.20, rājasic here, tāmasic at BG-17.22), itself sitting inside adhyāya-17's larger sorting of faith, food, sacrifice, austerity, and gift by the three guṇas. The verse names three ways the outward act of giving stays perfectly intact while its inner ground rots: giving to get a return (pratyupakārārtham), giving to purchase a result (phalam uddiśya), and giving grudgingly, with inner pain (parikliṣṭam). Jñāneśvar's nine ovis pour out a battery of everyday similes — the cow you feed only for its milk, the wedding-gift you give with one eye on what comes back, the moneylender who ties up the interest before lifting a finger, the cowrie that buys off a whole clan's sins, the gift you surrender as though a thief had stripped you — and close on the diagnosis that decides everything: it is the manovṛtti, the giving-mind, not the gift, that makes dāna rājasic.
Ovi 17.285
Original (Marathi): परी मनीं धरूनि दुभतें । चारिजे जेवीं गाईतें । का पेंव करूनि आइतें । पेरूं जाइजे ॥२८५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (chapter-17 guṇa-classification instruction; the chariot-frame default, confirmed by the Arjuna-vocatives later in the cluster)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| परी मनीं धरूनि दुभतें | but keeping the milch-yield (दुभतें) in mind |
| चारिजे जेवीं गाईतें | just as one grazes / feeds the cow |
| का पेंव करूनि आइतें | or having made ready the seed-pit / sowing-bed (पेंव) |
| पेरूं जाइजे | one goes out to sow |
Literal translation
English: But keeping the milk-yield in mind, one feeds the cow [for that]; or, having prepared the seed-bed, one goes out to sow [for the harvest].
मराठी (आधुनिक): पण दूध मिळेल हे मनात ठेवून जसं गाईला चारलं जातं; किंवा पेरणीची तयारी करून पीक यावं म्हणून पेरायला जावं — तसं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Feeding the cow while keeping the milk-yield (दुभतें) in mind | Pratyupakārārtham — giving whose real motive is the return it secures; nourishment as investment | Doing a favour while privately logging it as a debt the other person now owes you |
| Preparing the seed-bed and going out to sow | The gift as a planted seed expected to yield a harvest back to the giver | "Putting in" effort or money as a deposit you intend to withdraw, with interest, later |
Metaphor-family: agrarian investment (cow-and-yield, seed-and-harvest). The opening of the cluster's reward-seeking imagery: outwardly the act looks like care (feeding) or labour (sowing); inwardly it is calculation. The crucial word is मनीं धरूनि — holding [it] in mind — which plants the corruption in the mind from the very first ovi.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The cow-and-yield and seed-and-harvest images are agrarian-economic, not cakra/kuṇḍalinī esotericism; reading suṣumnā or bindu into a milch-cow simile would be fabrication.
Cross-references
- Internal: Ring-companion to 17.293 — the मनीं धरूनि ("keeping in mind") that opens the cluster is answered by the मनोवृत्ति ("mental-attitude") verdict that closes it; both locate the rajasic corruption in the giving-mind.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi — the inverse-pole parallel arrives at 17.292)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.21 — प्रत्युपकारार्थं ("for a return-favour"); the दुभतें (milch-yield) + पेरणी (sowing) images render the reciprocity-gift as agricultural investment, Jñāneśvar's elevation of the laconic Sanskrit.
Modern application
- When a "favour" is silently logged as a debt. You help a colleague move, recommend someone, cover a shift — and a quiet ledger opens: they owe me now. The cow is being fed for its milk. The act is generous; the मन (mind) holding the दुभतें is not.
- When you give to a person or cause as a deposit. Donating to the right charity, mentoring the promising junior, being kind to the boss's favourite — "sowing" where you expect the harvest to land back on you. The seed-bed is prepared with the harvest already in view.
- When networking dresses up as generosity. "I'm just helping people out" — while every introduction is tracked against future reciprocation. The पेरूं-जाइजे ("going out to sow") reflex of relationship-as-portfolio.
Sādhanā
Today, catch one thing you "gave" — a favour, an introduction, a kindness — and ask honestly whether a return-ledger opened in your mind the moment you gave it. Don't undo the gift; just see the दुभतें you were quietly keeping in mind.
Arc
17.285 opens the reward-seeking gift with two agrarian similes; 17.286 develops the same return-motive through two social-ceremonial similes — the wedding-gift and the vow-dish given because a counter-gift is owed back.
Ovi 17.286
Original (Marathi): नाना दिठी घालुनि आहेरा । अवंतुं जाइजे सोयिरा । का वाण धाडिजे घरा । वोवसीयाचे ॥२८६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (continuing the guṇa-classification instruction)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नाना दिठी घालुनि आहेरा | or, casting an eye (दिठी घालुनि) on the [return-]gift (आहेर) |
| अवंतुं जाइजे सोयिरा | one goes [invited] to a relative's [wedding/celebration] (सोयरा) |
| का वाण धाडिजे घरा | or one sends the ceremonial dish (वाण) to the house |
| वोवसीयाचे | of the vow-keeper (ओवसा / व्रत-keeper) |
Literal translation
English: Or — casting an eye on the gift to come — one goes to a relative's wedding; or one sends the ceremonial dish (वाण) to a vow-keeper's house [expecting its return].
मराठी (आधुनिक): किंवा परत मिळणाऱ्या आहेरावर नजर ठेवून सोयऱ्याच्या लग्नाला जावं; किंवा ओवसा करणाऱ्याच्या घरी वाण पाठवावं — परतफेडीच्या अपेक्षेनं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Casting an eye on the gift (दिठी घालुनि आहेरा) at a relative's wedding | Pratyupakārārtham in its social-ceremonial form — the gift embedded in an economy of obligatory return | The wedding cheque sized to match what you expect to receive at your own; gift-giving as social bookkeeping |
| Sending the वाण (ceremonial dish) to the vow-keeper's house | The ritual exchange where a counter-gift is socially guaranteed | The "thank-you" gift sent because etiquette will compel one back; reciprocity disguised as warmth |
Metaphor-family: social-ceremonial reciprocity (āhēr-and-return, vāṇ-exchange) — continuing 17.285's investment-frame into the folk economy of obligatory gift-exchange. The phrase दिठी घालुनि ("casting an eye") makes the calculating glance explicit and unmistakable.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. These are folk-ceremonial customs (wedding-āhēr, vow-vāṇ), not esoteric yogic referents.
Cross-references
- Internal: (none confidently identified beyond the linear cluster chain)
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.21 — प्रत्युपकारार्थं ("for a return-favour"); the आहेर (wedding-gift) + वाण (reciprocal ceremonial dish) render the socially-obligatory return-gift, Jñāneśvar's culturally specific elevation.
Modern application
- When gift-giving is really gift-accounting. The wedding present priced against what you'll get back; the holiday gift sent to the family that always sends one. दिठी घालुनि आहेरा — one eye already on the return — is the unromantic engine under a lot of "tradition."
- When a kindness is sent because etiquette will force one back. The thank-you basket, the reciprocal dinner invitation, the gift that exists mainly to trigger its counterpart. The वाण goes out because the social ledger demands the return-वाण.
- When you only give to people who can give back. The guest list, the favour, the introduction — all quietly filtered by capacity-to-reciprocate. The सोयरा (relative/connection) worth cultivating is the one whose return-आहेर is assured.
Sādhanā
Today, look at one upcoming gift or invitation and ask: would I still give this if I were certain nothing came back? If the honest answer wavers, you've found the दिठी — the calculating glance. Just notice it; you needn't change the gift.
Arc
17.286 gives the social-ceremonial reciprocity-similes; 17.287 sharpens the same motive into its starkest mercantile form — the moneylender's interest-knot and the healer's fee-before-relief.
Ovi 17.287
Original (Marathi): पैं कळांतर गांठीं बांधिजे । मग पुढिलांचें काज कीजे । पूजा घेऊनि रसु दीजे । पीडितांसी ॥२८७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (continuing the guṇa-classification instruction)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पैं कळांतर गांठीं बांधिजे | indeed, one ties the interest (कळांतर) up in a knot (गांठ) |
| मग पुढिलांचें काज कीजे | then one does the other person's work |
| पूजा घेऊनि रसु दीजे | taking the worship-fee (पूजा) first, one gives the juice / relief (रस) |
| पीडितांसी | to the afflicted / suffering |
Literal translation
English: Indeed — one first ties up the interest in a knot, and only then does the other's work; or, taking the worship-fee first, one gives the healing-juice to the afflicted.
मराठी (आधुनिक): खरं तर आधी व्याज गाठीला बांधावं, मग दुसऱ्याचं काम करावं; आधी पूजा (मोबदला) घेऊन मग पीडितांना औषधाचा रस द्यावा — असं हे देणं असतं.
Sanskrit-root note
kaḷāntara (कळांतर) — from kalā (a fractional part / unit) + antara, the Marathi word for accrued loan-interest; the mercantile register is deliberate, naming the gift as a transaction whose return is secured in advance.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Tying up the interest (कळांतर) in a knot before doing the work | Pratyupakārārtham at its most explicit — the return locked in before the service is rendered | Getting the contract signed, the fee escrowed, the credit guaranteed before you'll help |
| Taking the worship-fee (पूजा) first, then giving relief (रस) to the afflicted | The "help" that is really a sale; compassion released only on payment | The relief that arrives only after the donation is confirmed, the rescue conditional on the thank-you |
Metaphor-family: mercantile transaction (interest-knot, fee-before-service) — the third and sharpest rendering of pratyupakārārtham. The shocking detail is पीडितांसी (to the afflicted): even relief to the suffering is metered — the fee comes first, the mercy second.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. कळांतर (loan-interest) and पूजा-as-fee are economic/transactional, not yogic.
Cross-references
- Internal: (none confidently identified beyond the linear cluster chain)
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.21 — प्रत्युपकारार्थं ("for a return-favour"); the कळांतर (interest-knot) + पूजा-घेऊनि (fee-first) render the gift as a secured transaction, the return locked in before the help is given.
Modern application
- When help is conditional on the deal being closed first. "Sign here and then we'll start." The कळांतर-गांठीं reflex — interest knotted up before a finger lifts. Legitimate in business; corrosive when it colonises every act of giving.
- When even compassion is metered. The care that flows only once the invoice clears; the "I'll be there for you" that turns out to have terms. पूजा घेऊनि रसु दीजे पीडितांसी — taking the fee before relieving the suffering — is the verse's sharpest indictment, because the recipient is the afflicted.
- When you withhold the good you could do until your return is guaranteed. The mentorship offered only to those who can advance your standing; the generosity that arrives strictly C.O.D. The return is tied in the knot first.
Sādhanā
Today, notice one moment you make your help conditional on a guaranteed return — a confirmation, a credit, a reciprocal promise — before you'll act. Ask: could I give this one thing with the knot untied? If you can, do it once, today.
Arc
17.287 gives the mercantile reciprocity-similes; 17.288 draws the summary-thread of all three preceding ovis — whatever is given is given so the giver may again enjoy the fruit of that same return-seeking attitude.
Ovi 17.288
Original (Marathi): तैसें जया जें दान देणें । तो तेणेंचि गा जीवनें । पुढती भुंजावा भावें येणें । दीजे जें का ॥२८८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the vocative गा, "O [you]", marks the direct address to Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तैसें जया जें दान देणें | so, whatever gift anyone gives |
| तो तेणेंचि गा जीवनें | by that very [giving-as-]livelihood, O [Arjuna] |
| पुढती भुंजावा भावें येणें | to enjoy again — with this very feeling (भाव) |
| दीजे जें का | whatever indeed is given |
Literal translation
English: So, whatever gift a person gives — by that very giving — with the feeling that he will enjoy it again, whatever is given [in that spirit, is the rajasic gift].
मराठी (आधुनिक): तसं, ज्याला जे दान द्यायचं ते याच भावनेनं की पुढं याचा परत उपभोग घ्यायचा — अशा वृत्तीनं जे काही दिलं जातं [ते राजस दान].
Sanskrit-root note
bhāva (भाव) — from √bhū "to be/become"; the inner disposition or felt-orientation behind an act. The cluster's doctrinal pivot: the gift's guṇa-status is decided by its भाव, not its outward shape. This is the conceptual twin of मनोवृत्ति in 17.293.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. 17.288 steps out of the simile-stream of 17.285-287 to state the principle plainly: the corruption is the भाव — the return-seeking feeling — itself. The earlier images are now named as instances of one inner disposition.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closely paired with 17.293 — भावें ("with this feeling") here and मनोवृत्ति ("mental-attitude") there are the two namings of the same inner locus that the whole cluster diagnoses as the seat of rajasic giving.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.21 — प्रत्युपकारार्थं ("for a return-favour"), stated directly as the summary of 17.285-287; पुढती भुंजावा ("to enjoy again") + भावें ("with this feeling") name the return-seeking disposition as the corrupting ground.
Modern application
- When you realise the pattern is one attitude, not many acts. The favour-ledger, the wedding-gift-accounting, the conditional help — 17.288 says these are not three problems but one भाव: I give so that I will enjoy the return. Naming the single disposition is more useful than policing each act.
- When generosity is a way of consuming the future. पुढती भुंजावा — "to enjoy again later" — is giving experienced as deferred self-gratification: I plant now to harvest myself later. The gift never actually left the self's orbit.
- When "I'm a generous person" is the identity-return you're really after. Sometimes the भाव isn't a material return but a self-image to enjoy. The fruit harvested is the feeling of being the giver.
Sādhanā
Today, write one sentence completing: "When I give, the return I am quietly hoping to 'enjoy again' is ___." Name it — money, status, the favour back, the self-image. You are looking for the भाव, not condemning it. One sentence is enough.
Arc
17.288 closes the pratyupakārārtham block by naming the return-seeking भाव; 17.289 opens the second corruption — phalam uddiśya, giving with a result aimed-at — with the extended kavaḍī-prāyaścitta road-parable.
Ovi 17.289
Original (Marathi): अथवा कोणी वाटे जातां । घेतलें उमचों न शकता । मिळे जैं पंडुसुता । द्विजोत्तमु ॥२८९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the vocative पंडुसुता, "O son of Pāṇḍu," directly names Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अथवा कोणी वाटे जातां | or, someone going along the road (वाट) |
| घेतलें उमचों न शकता | unable to carry (उमचणें) the load he has taken up |
| मिळे जैं पंडुसुता | when, O son of Pāṇḍu (पंडुसुता = Arjuna), he meets |
| द्विजोत्तमु | a best-of-brahmins (द्विज-उत्तम) |
Literal translation
English: Or — someone walking the road, unable to carry the burden he has taken up, when, O son of Pāṇḍu, he meets a best-of-brahmins...
मराठी (आधुनिक): किंवा, वाटेनं जाणारा कोणीतरी, उचललेलं ओझं पेलवत नसताना, जेव्हा हे पंडुसुता, त्याला एखादा श्रेष्ठ ब्राह्मण भेटतो...
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The traveller on the road, unable to carry his burden (घेतलें उमचों न शकता) | The soul weighed down by its own accumulated load (here, the clan's sin-burden it cannot bear) | The person walking around carrying guilt, obligation, or liability they're desperate to offload |
| Meeting a best-of-brahmins on the way | The chance encounter with a worthy recipient — about to be misused as a dumping-ground for merit-purchase | Running into the "right person" and seeing them instantly as a way to discharge your problem cheaply |
Metaphor-family: the road-parable (traveller-and-brahmin) — a two-ovi sustained narrative (17.289-290) that renders phalam uddiśya (giving with a result aimed-at). This ovi is the set-up; 17.290 is the payoff. The भार (burden) the traveller can't carry is what he is about to "give away."
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The road-traveller-meets-brahmin is a folk-parable frame, not a yogic suṣumnā-journey; reading the "road" as the inner path would over-claim against the plainly ethical-illustrative context.
Cross-references
- Internal: (none confidently identified beyond the linear cluster chain — this opens the 17.289-290 parable-pair)
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.21 — फलमुद्दिश्य ("with a result aimed-at"), amplified into the opening of the kavaḍī-prāyaścitta parable; the road-traveller-meets-brahmin frame is Jñāneśvar's narrative elevation. The पंडुसुता (Arjuna) vocative confirms the Krishna-to-Arjuna voice.
Modern application
- When you carry a burden you're aching to offload onto the first taker. Guilt, a liability, an awkward obligation — and someone "right" appears. The उमचों-न-शकता ("can't carry it") pressure is exactly what makes the next ovi's cheap transaction tempting.
- When meeting the right person instantly becomes "how can they solve my problem?" The encounter that should be a meeting becomes, in a blink, a means. The द्विजोत्तम is seen not as a person but as a slot for your discharge.
- When you outsource your conscience. The traveller's "burden" is his own clan's prāyaścitta — his accountability. The setup is the universal move of looking for someone to take the weight for you, for as little as possible.
Sādhanā
Today, name one "burden" you are quietly hoping to hand off to the next willing person — an apology you owe, a task, a guilt. Just identify it and the person you've half-cast as the taker. Notice the offloading-impulse before it acts.
Arc
17.289 sets up the parable (traveller, burden, brahmin); 17.290 delivers its punch — for a single cowrie the traveller dumps his whole clan's expiations into the brahmin's fist.
Ovi 17.290
Original (Marathi): तरी कवड्या एकासाठीं । अशेषां गोत्रांचींच किरीटी । सर्व प्रायश्चित्तें सुयें मुठीं । तयाचिये ॥२९०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the vocative किरीटी, "O Kirīṭī [Arjuna]," directly names Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तरी कवड्या एकासाठीं | then, for a single cowrie (कवडी) |
| अशेषां गोत्रांचींच किरीटी | of the entire clan (गोत्र), O Kirīṭī [Arjuna] |
| सर्व प्रायश्चित्तें सुयें मुठीं | he thrusts all the expiations (प्रायश्चित्त) into the fist (मुठी) |
| तयाचिये | of that one [the brahmin] |
Literal translation
English: Then — for a single cowrie's worth — O Kirīṭī, he thrusts all his entire clan's expiations into that [brahmin]'s fist.
मराठी (आधुनिक): मग एका कवडीसाठी, हे किरीटी, अख्ख्या गोत्राची सगळी प्रायश्चित्तं तो त्या ब्राह्मणाच्या मुठीत कोंबतो.
Sanskrit-root note
prāyaścitta (प्रायश्चित्त) — prāyaḥ (penance/austerity) + citta (resolve/mind); the ritual expiation that clears incurred sin. The point of the parable: this whole sin-clearance, properly a grave and costly thing, is being discharged for one कवडी — a cowrie-shell, the smallest coin — i.e., as cheaply as possible, purely to buy the result.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| For a single cowrie (कवड्या एकासाठीं) | Phalam uddiśya — giving aimed squarely at the result, made as cheap as it can possibly be | Buying the cheapest possible indulgence; the bargain-basement "donation" that's really a payment for an outcome |
| Thrusting all the clan's expiations into the brahmin's fist (सर्व प्रायश्चित्तें सुयें मुठीं) | Offloading a whole accountability onto a recipient treated as a vending-slot for merit | Paying someone the minimum to take a liability off your hands; the gift as sin-laundering |
Metaphor-family: the road-parable (traveller-and-brahmin), completed. The कवडी (cowrie) versus अशेषां गोत्रांचीं प्रायश्चित्तें (a whole clan's expiations) is the deliberate, grotesque mismatch — maximum result sought for minimum gift. This is phalam uddiśya at its most naked.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The कवडी / प्रायश्चित्त economy is ritual-transactional, not esoteric-yogic.
Cross-references
- Internal: Completes the 17.289 parable-setup — the two ovis function as one sustained illustration of the result-aimed gift.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.21 — फलमुद्दिश्य ("with a result aimed-at"), rendered as the merit-purchase punchline: a whole clan's प्रायश्चित्त discharged for one कवडी. The किरीटी (Arjuna) vocative confirms the Krishna-to-Arjuna chariot-frame voice.
Modern application
- When you want the result for the smallest possible price. The token donation that's really buying a clear conscience, a tax receipt, or a named line on a plaque; the cheapest gift that still "counts." कवड्या एकासाठीं — for one cowrie — the whole result purchased on the cheap.
- When a recipient becomes a vending-machine for outcomes. The charity, the priest, the cause treated purely as the slot you put the कवडी into to get your merit out. The person on the other side disappears behind the transaction.
- When giving is sin-laundering. The donation after the harm, the gift that buys back reputation, the philanthropy that offsets the exploitation. सर्व प्रायश्चित्तें सुयें मुठीं — the whole accountability stuffed into someone's fist for as little as it'll take.
Sādhanā
Today, find one "gift" or donation you make mainly for what it buys you — the receipt, the image, the cleared conscience. Calculate its real कवडी-to-प्रायश्चित्त ratio honestly: how little are you giving for how much return? Don't judge it yet; just see the mismatch.
Arc
17.290 closes the phalam uddiśya merit-purchase parable; 17.291 opens the third corruption — parikliṣṭa, grudging giving — by pairing the many otherworldly fruits desired with the reluctance so total that not one hungry mouth is fed.
Ovi 17.291
Original (Marathi): तेवींचि पारलौकिकें । फळें वांछिजती अनेकें । आणि दीजे तरी भुके । येकाही नोहे ॥२९१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (continuing the guṇa-classification instruction)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तेवींचि पारलौकिकें | likewise, otherworldly (पारलौकिक) |
| फळें वांछिजती अनेकें | many fruits (फळें) are desired (वांछिजती) |
| आणि दीजे तरी भुके | and if it is given at all, [yet] the hungry one (भुके) |
| येकाही नोहे | not even one [is satisfied] |
Literal translation
English: Likewise, many otherworldly fruits are desired — and yet, if anything is given at all, not even one hungry person is fed by it.
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे पुष्कळ पारलौकिक फळांची इच्छा धरली जाते — आणि दिलंच तरी इतकं कद्रूपणे की एकही भुकेला तृप्त होत नाही.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. The contrast is stated directly — much fruit craved (फळें अनेकें) versus not one hungry mouth fed (भुके येकाही नोहे) — as the bridge from the result-seeking corruption into the grudging-manner corruption. The image proper (the thief) arrives in 17.292.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: (none confidently identified beyond the linear cluster chain — pairs with 17.292 to render परिक्लिष्ट)
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.21 — परिक्लिष्टं ("grudgingly / with affliction"), set up by pairing the many फल craved (पारलौकिकें फळें अनेकें) with the grudging act that feeds not one hungry mouth (भुके येकाही नोहे). The mismatch between great-reward-wanted and mean-gift-given renders the grudging manner; the अनेक-फल craving also echoes फलमुद्दिश्य.
Modern application
- When you want a huge return on a gift you give as meanly as possible. Craving the full credit, the karmic payoff, the reputation — while the actual gift is so grudging it changes nothing for anyone. वांछिजती अनेकें / भुके येकाही नोहे: maximum want, minimum effect.
- When charity is sized to your reluctance, not the need. The donation calibrated to the smallest amount that still lets you claim the deed; the help so hedged that no one is actually helped. Not even one hungry person fed.
- When the "generous" act accomplishes nothing because the heart wasn't in it. A gift given through clenched teeth tends to be given in a clenched amount — enough to discharge the obligation, never enough to do the good. The grudging spirit shrinks the gift to uselessness.
Sādhanā
Today, pick one thing you give grudgingly — a tip, a donation, time, an apology — and ask: am I giving the amount the need calls for, or the amount my reluctance allows? If they differ, notice the gap. That gap is the परिक्लिष्ट.
Arc
17.291 names the grudging giver who feeds not one hungry mouth despite craving many fruits; 17.292 completes the परिक्लिष्ट image with the thief-simile — the recipient sent off as though everything had been plundered by a robber.
Ovi 17.292
Original (Marathi): तेंही ब्राह्मणु नेवो सरे । कीं हाणिचेनि शिणें झांसुरें । सर्वस्व जैसें चोरें । नागऊनि नेलें ॥२९२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (continuing the guṇa-classification instruction)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तेंही ब्राह्मणु नेवो सरे | even that brahmin is made to go away / be done with |
| कीं हाणिचेनि शिणें झांसुरें | as with a deceitful (झांसुरें) fatigue of loss (हाणि-शिण) |
| सर्वस्व जैसें चोरें | as if everything (सर्वस्व) by a thief (चोर) |
| नागऊनि नेलें | were stripped bare and carried off (नागऊनि नेलें) |
Literal translation
English: Even that brahmin is sent packing — [the giver feeling] a deceitful, vexing fatigue of loss, as though everything he owned had been stripped and carried off by a thief.
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्या ब्राह्मणालाही कसंबसं वाटेला लावलं जातं — नुकसानीच्या खोट्या शिणवट्यानं; जणू चोरानं सर्वस्व लुटून नेलं असं त्या देणाऱ्याला वाटतं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| As if everything were stripped and carried off by a thief (सर्वस्व जैसें चोरें नागऊनि नेलें) | Parikliṣṭa — the gift parted with in inner affliction; generosity experienced as loss/robbery | Writing the cheque or handing over help while wincing as though you've been mugged |
| The brahmin sent packing with a "deceitful fatigue of loss" (हाणिचेनि शिणें झांसुरें) | The recipient hurried off, the giver privately resentful — the manner that poisons the act | The grudging "here, take it" that makes the receiver feel like a burglar for accepting |
Metaphor-family: the thief-simile (giving-as-being-robbed) — the cluster's single most vivid figure for parikliṣṭa. The genius of the image is the inversion: in giving, the giver casts himself as the victim and the recipient as the thief. Generosity has so curdled that handing over a gift feels like being plundered.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The thief-plunder simile is an emotional/ethical image, not a yogic referent.
Cross-references
- Internal: Completes the 17.291 grudging-giver pair — together they render परिक्लिष्ट (the much-craved / mean-given giver, then the giver who feels robbed).
- Tukaram parallel:
- Abhang 2782 — inverse-pole of rajasic dāna. Tukārām's character-test names the exact affirmative pole this verse negates: कांहीं न मागे कोणांसी । तो चि आवडे देवासी ("one who asks nothing from anyone — he alone is loved by Deva") and भूतदया ज्याचे मनीं । त्याचे घरीं चक्रपाणी ("whose mind has bhūta-dayā, creature-compassion — Chakrapāṇi dwells in his house"). Where 17.292's giver parts with his gift in grudging pain — as if robbed by a thief — and the whole cluster's frame is the reward-seeking, reciprocity-expecting giver, Tukārām inverts every term: the non-grasping, expectation-free, compassion-driven giver is the one Deva loves and in whose house the Lord resides. The two texts mark the same axis from opposite ends — same act of giving, opposite inner ground.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.21 — परिक्लिष्टं ("grudgingly / with affliction"), rendered through the thief-simile (सर्वस्व जैसें चोरें नागऊनि नेलें) — the giver experiencing his own grudging gift as robbery; Jñāneśvar's vivid elevation of the single Sanskrit participle.
Modern application
- When you give while feeling robbed. The donation, the loan, the help handed over with a wince and a private sense of loss — सर्वस्व जैसें चोरें. The act looks like giving; the feeling is being mugged. The verse says this manner alone makes the gift rajasic, whatever the amount.
- When you make the receiver feel like a thief for accepting. The grudging "fine, take it," the sigh, the hurry to be done with them (ब्राह्मणु नेवो सरे) — generosity that punishes the recipient for receiving. The gift is given and the relationship is damaged in the same motion.
- When resentment is the real cost of your giving. You did give — but you've been quietly nursing the loss ever since (हाणिचेनि शिणें). The grudge outlives the gift. Better, the verse implies, to give cleanly or not pretend to give at all.
Sādhanā
Today, recall one recent gift you gave with an inner wince — a sense of loss or resentment. Ask: did the receiver feel like a thief? Then, with one small thing today, practice the opposite — give it and deliberately drop the loss, the way you'd set down a bag. Notice how different the same act feels without the thief in it.
Arc
17.292 completes the परिक्लिष्ट thief-simile; 17.293 closes the whole cluster with the verdict — whatever is given with this mental-attitude (मनोवृत्ति) is, in the three worlds, rājasic.
Ovi 17.293
Original (Marathi): बहु काय सांगों सुमती । जें दीजे या मनोवृत्ती । तें दान गा त्रिजगतीं । राजस पैं ॥२९३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the vocatives सुमती, "O wise one," and गा, "O [you]," directly address Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| बहु काय सांगों सुमती | what more shall I say, O wise one (सुमती) |
| जें दीजे या मनोवृत्ती | what is given with this mental-attitude (मनोवृत्ति) |
| तें दान गा त्रिजगतीं | that gift, O [Arjuna], in the three worlds (त्रिजगती) |
| राजस पैं | is rājasic indeed |
Literal translation
English: What more need I say, O wise one — whatever is given with this mental-attitude, that gift, throughout the three worlds, is rājasic.
मराठी (आधुनिक): आणखी काय सांगू, हे सुमती — या [अशा] मनोवृत्तीनं जे दिलं जातं, ते दान तिन्ही लोकांत राजसच होय.
Sanskrit-root note
manovṛtti (मनोवृत्ति) — manas (mind) + vṛtti (turning/modification/mode); the mode of the mind, the same vṛtti of Yogasūtra 1.2's citta-vṛtti-nirodha. Here it names the giving-mind whose mode — reciprocity-seeking, result-chasing, or grudging — is what stamps the gift as rajasic.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. This is the verdict-ovi, rendering the Sanskrit tad dānam rājasam smṛtam directly and naming मनोवृत्ति (mental-attitude) as the decisive criterion. No image — the cluster's similes have done their work and Jñāneśvar now states the principle bare.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. मनोवृत्ति here is used in its plain sense of "mental disposition," not as a technical yogic citta-vṛtti undergoing nirodha; reading the yoga-technical sense into this ethical-verdict ovi would over-claim.
Cross-references
- Internal: Ring-companion to 17.285 — the मनीं धरूनि ("keeping in mind") that opened the cluster's first image is answered by the मनोवृत्ति ("mental-attitude") verdict that closes it; the corruption is located in the mind at both ends. Also the doctrinal twin of 17.288's भाव.
- Tukaram parallel: (the cluster's inverse-pole parallel sits at 17.292, where the thief-simile most sharply contrasts Tukārām 2782's non-grasping giver)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.21 — तद्दानं राजसं स्मृतम् ("that gift is held to be rājasic"), rendered as the verdict; मनोवृत्ति precisely names the inner-disposition the cluster has diagnosed as the locus of corruption. The सुमती (wise-one) vocative confirms the Krishna-to-Arjuna instructional voice.
Modern application
- When you finally accept it's the attitude, not the act, that's the problem. You can give the same rupee, the same hour, the same favour with a clean heart or a calculating one. 17.293 says the ledger that matters is the मनोवृत्ति. The audit is internal.
- When you stop asking "did I give enough?" and start asking "how did I give?" The verse moves the whole question off the amount and onto the mode of mind. A small gift given freely outranks a large one given to get, to gain, or grudgingly.
- When you want a single test for your own generosity. Not what did I give, not how much — but with what मनोवृत्ति? Reciprocity-seeking, result-chasing, or grudging → rajasic. Owed-because-it's-right, expectation-free → sāttvic (BG-17.20). One question settles it.
Sādhanā
Today, before one act of giving — large or small — pause for five seconds and silently name your मनोवृत्ति in a single word: expecting? buying? grudging? free? Don't change the gift; just label the mode of mind. The labelling alone begins to loosen the rajasic grip.
Arc
17.293 closes the cluster by ring-completing 17.285's मन-image with the मनोवृत्ति verdict; the next śloka (BG-17.22) completes the gift-triad by descending to tāmasic giving — the gift given at the wrong place and time, to the unworthy, without respect and with contempt — the lowest rung before the chapter turns to the OM-TAT-SAT formula.
Cluster summary
Core teaching: BG-17.21 classifies as rājasic any gift given for a return-favour (pratyupakārārtham), with a result aimed-at (phalam uddiśya), or grudgingly and in inner pain (parikliṣṭam). The outward act of giving stays intact in every case; what rots is the inner ground. Jñāneśvar renders the three corruptions across nine ovis with a dense battery of everyday similes — the milch-cow fed for its yield and the seed sown for its harvest (17.285), the wedding-gift given with an eye to its return and the reciprocal vow-dish (17.286), the loan-interest tied in a knot and the healer's fee taken before relief (17.287) for pratyupakārārtham; the extended road-parable of the traveller who dumps his whole clan's expiations into a brahmin's fist for one cowrie (17.289-290) for phalam uddiśya; and the giver who craves many fruits yet feeds not one hungry mouth (17.291) and parts with his gift as though robbed by a thief (17.292) for parikliṣṭa — before closing on the verdict that it is the manovṛtti, the mode of the giving-mind (17.293), and not the gift itself, that makes dāna rājasic.
Chapter arc position: BG-17.21 is the middle term of the three-fold gift-classification (sāttvic 17.20 → rājasic 17.21 → tāmasic 17.22), the dāna-section of adhyāya-17's larger śraddhā-traya-vibhāga, in which faith, food, sacrifice, austerity, and gift are each sorted by the three guṇas. The cluster applies to generosity the same sattva/rajas/tamas triage already run on yajña and tapas — exposing how rajas keeps the form of a virtue while hollowing its substance with expectation and reluctance. Read against Tukārām's character-test (abhang 2782 — the non-asking, creature-compassionate giver whom Deva loves and in whose house Chakrapāṇi dwells), the verse's negative diagnosis and the bhakti tradition's positive ideal mark the same axis from opposite ends.
Connects to BG-17.22: अदेशकाले यद्दानमपात्रेभ्यश्च दीयते — असत्कृतमवज्ञातं तत्तामसमुदाहृतम् — completes the gift-triad by naming tāmasic giving: the gift given at the wrong place and time, to the unworthy, without respect and with contempt. Where rajasic-giving is still active generosity merely corrupted by reward-seeking, tamasic-giving sinks lower into the disrespectful, misplaced, contemptuous disbursement — the bottom rung of the dāna-classification, after which the chapter pivots to the OM-TAT-SAT formula (BG-17.23-28).