But the knowledge which is confined to one single effect as if it were the whole, without concern for the cause, without grasping the real and narrow – that is declared to be Tamasic.
Sattvic:
That knowledge which can recognize the flux of things, which can feel the harmony underlying the unity in the diversity of forms and behaviors, which can live in the awareness of the One Life that pulsates in every living being i.e. Brahman or the Supreme Reality is the genuine achievement of a Sattvic intellect. Through this knowledge one Imperishable Being is seen in all existences. Though the body, mind and intellect equipments take different forms in different living creatures, the Sattvic knowledge recognizes all of them as the expressions of one and the same Non-dual Truth, Atman, which is the Essence in all of them.

Rajasic:
That knowledge which looks upon other living entities as different from one another is passionate or Rajasic. An intellect to which the world is an assortment of various types, behaving under various moods differently, an intellect that recognizes the world as made up of an endless incomprehensible plurality has Rajasic knowledge. Finding creatures happy or unhappy, wise or ignorant, ugly or beautiful, a man endowed with Rajasic knowledge thinks that different souls dwell in different bodies.

Tamasic:
That knowledge which regards without any reason and understanding a particular path or view as the sole end and sticks to that opinion with arrogance and egoism, that knowledge which considers the entire world of things and beings as meant for its owner and his pleasures alone and which does not recognize anything beyond its ego is Tamasic. This knowledge is of the lowest type of spiritual seekers which ignores totally the Divine Presence.
Thus the knowledge of the Sattvic perceives oneness underlying the universe, that of the Rajasic recognizes the plurality of the world and that of the Tamasic is egoistic with a perverted view of the world.

It has to be noted that this categorization and that which will follow in this Chapter is not for judging others but to evaluate oneself and take corrective steps for self-improvement when wrong tendencies are observed

THREE KINDS OF WORK

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But tat, that knowledge; is udahrtam, said to be; tamasam, born of tamas; yat, which is; saktam, confined; ekasmin, to one; karye, from, to one body or to an external image etc., krtsnavat, as though it were all, as though it comprehended everything, thinking, ‘The Self, or God, is only this much; there is nothing beyond it,’-as the naked Jainas hold that the soul conforms to and has the size of the body, or (as others hold) that God is merely a stone or wood-, remaining confined thus to one form; ahaitukam, which is irrational, bereft of logic; a- tattvarthavat, not concerned with truth-tattvartha, truth, means some-thing just as it is; that (knowledge) which has this (truth) as its object of comprehension is tattvarthavat; that without this is; a-tattvarthavat-; and which, on account of the very fact of its being irrational, is alpam, trivial, because it is concerned with trifles or is productive of little result. This kind of knowledge is indeed found in non-discriminating creatures in whom tamas predominates. Now is being stated the threehold division of action: