Chapter XVIII · Śloka 34
यया तु धर्मकामार्थान्धृत्या धारयतेऽर्जुन |
प्रसङ्गेन फलाकाङ्क्षी धृतिः सा पार्थ राजसी ||
प्रसङ्गेन फलाकाङ्क्षी धृतिः सा पार्थ राजसी ||
yayā tu dharma-kāmārthān dhṛtyā dhārayate 'rjuna |
prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasī ||
prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasī ||
But that steadfastness by which one holds fast to dharma, pleasure, and wealth, O Arjuna, with great attachment and craving for results — that steadfastness, O Pārtha, is rājasic.
Rājasic resolve pursues the legitimate aims of life — dharma, artha, and kāma — but does so with grasping and outcome-hunger. The energy is real but it is in the service of the ego's projects, not of liberation.