“As is one’s faith, so is one”

Arjuna asks about those who worship with faith but without following scripture. Krishna replies that faith (shraddha) itself takes three forms according to the three gunas: “The faith of each is shaped by their nature… a person is made of their faith; as is their faith, so are they” (17:3). What we trust and revere, we become.

Threefold living

Krishna then shows how every dimension of life divides along the three qualities:

• Food — sattvic food is fresh, wholesome and life-giving; rajasic food is bitter, sour and over-stimulating; tamasic food is stale, impure or lifeless.
• Sacrifice — sattvic worship is offered selflessly, as duty, without desire for reward; rajasic worship seeks results and display; tamasic worship is careless, faithless and empty.
• Austerity — true austerity is of body, speech and mind: reverence and purity; truthful, kind words; and a serene, controlled heart. When done for show it is rajasic; when done to harm oneself or others, tamasic.
• Charity — sattvic giving is offered to the worthy, at the right time and place, expecting nothing in return; rajasic giving is grudging or self-interested; tamasic giving is disrespectful or misplaced.

Om Tat Sat

The chapter closes with the meaning of the sacred formula “Om Tat Sat” — the threefold name of the Absolute, with which the wise begin all acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity, dedicating them to the Divine so that they bear spiritual fruit.

For the Kriya yogi

This chapter invites a gentle self-audit of daily life — what we eat, how we worship, how we give — and encourages us to raise each into sattva, and ultimately to offer all to God with the sacred Om. Return to the Bhagavad Gita overview.

This is part of our complete Bhagavad Gita summary of all 18 chapters.