Question 1
What framework does Krishna introduce in verse 18.19? A Knowledge, action, and the doer are each threefold according to the three gunas. B Only food and charity are affected by the gunas; knowledge and action are not. C The gunas apply only after liberation, not to ordinary decision-making. D Every person has a fixed outer label, so inner qualities do not need examination.
Krishna begins a detailed self-audit. The gunas shape how we know, act, perform, decide, persist, and seek happiness.
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Question 2
How do verses 18.20-18.22 distinguish sattvik, rajasik, and tamasik knowledge? A Sattvik knowledge sees one imperishable reality in all beings; rajasik knowledge focuses on separateness; tamasik knowledge clings to one narrow fragment as the whole truth. B Sattvik knowledge clings to one narrow idea, rajasik knowledge sees unity, and tamasik knowledge calmly understands all beings. C Sattvik knowledge avoids all analysis, while rajasik and tamasik knowledge are praised as more practical. D All three kinds of knowledge see the same truth; the difference is only the language used to describe it.
The first test is vision. Sattva sees unity within diversity, rajas stops at division, and tamas mistakes a partial, unsupported view for total truth.
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Question 3
What separates sattvik, rajasik, and tamasik action in verses 18.23-18.25? A Sattvik action is obligatory and detached; rajasik action is desire-driven and ego-heavy; tamasik action ignores consequences, harm, loss, and capacity. B Sattvik action is done for display, rajasik action is done without attachment, and tamasik action carefully examines consequences. C Sattvik action requires avoiding duty, while rajasik and tamasik action are the only active forms. D All action becomes sattvik if it requires great effort, regardless of motive or impact.
Krishna judges action by duty, attachment, ego, desire, and awareness of consequences. Effort alone does not make an action pure.
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Question 4
How is the doer classified in verses 18.26-18.28? A The sattvik doer is detached, humble, steady, and enthusiastic; the rajasik doer is greedy, result-hungry, harmful, and emotionally tossed; the tamasik doer is undisciplined, stubborn, deceitful, lazy, gloomy, and procrastinating. B The sattvik doer is gloomy and lazy, the rajasik doer is detached and humble, and the tamasik doer remains balanced in success and failure. C The doer is classified only by social role, not by motive, steadiness, attachment, or conduct. D The rajasik doer is praised as best because greed and emotional swings create spiritual urgency.
The doer category turns the teaching inward. Krishna is not just classifying deeds, but the temperament and motive of the person performing them.
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Question 5
What new pair does Krishna begin classifying in verse 18.29? A Buddhi, the intellect or discernment, and dhriti, firmness or resolve. B Food and sleep as the two causes of all karma. C Yajna and charity as the only disciplines worth preserving. D Body and speech as the only parts of action affected by the gunas.
After knowledge, action, and doer, Krishna examines the inner instruments that guide life: discernment and sustained will.
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Question 6
How do verses 18.30-18.32 describe sattvik, rajasik, and tamasik intellect? A Sattvik intellect discerns action and restraint, duty and non-duty, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation; rajasik intellect is confused about Dharma and duty; tamasik intellect reverses right and wrong. B Sattvik intellect reverses right and wrong, rajasik intellect sees liberation clearly, and tamasik intellect reliably identifies duty. C Sattvik intellect is measured by quick success, while rajasik and tamasik intellect are measured only by memory. D All three forms of intellect are equally clear, because motive has no effect on moral judgment.
The key distinction is moral clarity. Sattva discerns, rajas clouds, and tamas inverts the understanding of what is right.
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Question 7
How do verses 18.33-18.35 distinguish the three kinds of dhriti, or resolve? A Sattvik resolve steadies mind, breath, and senses through yoga; rajasik resolve clings to duty, pleasure, and wealth for results; tamasik resolve refuses to release sleep, fear, grief, despair, and vanity. B Sattvik resolve clings to fear and despair, rajasik resolve disciplines the senses through yoga, and tamasik resolve acts without attachment. C Resolve is sattvik whenever it is stubborn, even if it preserves harmful habits and dark moods. D Krishna says resolve is outside the gunas because willpower is always spiritually pure.
Resolve can purify or bind. The question is not whether a person is persistent, but what that persistence holds onto.
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Question 8
What is the central contrast in Krishna’s threefold teaching on happiness in verses 18.36-18.39? A Sattvik happiness may feel difficult at first but becomes nectar; rajasik happiness feels like nectar first but turns poisonous; tamasik happiness deludes from beginning to end through sleep, laziness, and negligence. B Sattvik happiness is instant sensory pleasure, rajasik happiness ends suffering through practice, and tamasik happiness is born of clear self-knowledge. C All happiness is judged only by how pleasant it feels at the start. D Krishna rejects happiness as a spiritual concern and discusses only external duty.
Krishna asks the learner to look at the full arc of pleasure. The start and the end may tell very different stories.
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Question 9
What does verse 18.40 conclude about the reach of the gunas? A No being on earth or even among celestial realms is free from the three gunas born of Nature. B Only human beings are affected by the gunas; the rest of Nature is untouched by them. C The gunas apply only to harmful actions, not to knowledge, happiness, or resolve. D A person becomes free from the gunas by pretending they do not influence daily choices.
This conclusion explains why Krishna has classified so much of inner and outer life. The gunas operate across embodied existence.
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Question 10
What recurring pattern should a learner notice across this whole section? A Sattva clarifies and steadies, rajas agitates through desire and attachment, and tamas narrows, confuses, delays, or harms. B Sattva, rajas, and tamas are random labels that change meaning in every topic. C Rajas is always the highest state because it produces the most activity and effort. D Tamas is useful for discernment because it reverses right and wrong with confidence.
The section is a diagnostic map. It helps the learner identify the quality behind knowledge, action, personality, judgment, persistence, and pleasure.
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