Rajasic Action.
यत्तु कामेप्सुना कर्म साहङ्कारेण वा पुनः ।
क्रियते बहुलायासं तद्राजसमुदाहृतम् ॥ २४ ॥
yattu kāmepsunā karma sāhaṅkāreṇa vā punaḥ .
kriyate bahulāyāsaṃ tadrājasamudāhṛtam .. 24 ..
But the action which is done by one longing for pleasures, or done by the egotistic, costing much trouble, that is declared to be Rajasic.
Read the commentary
Pleasures: as fruits of action. The Egotistic: not as distinguished from one who has realised the true nature of the Self (who is absolutely free from egotism), but as distinguished from one who is free from pride in the sense in which an ordinary srotriya (a devotee of the Vedic Religion) of the world is expected to be free from egotism. For, he who is absolutely without egotism, i.e., one who has realised the Self, cannot even be imagined to long for the fruit of an action; or to do an action costing much trouble. Even the doer of a Sattvic action is ignorant of the Self and is egotistic; much more so are the Rajasic and Tamasic doers. In common parlance, a srotriya who is ignorant of the Self is said to be free from egotism; we say “He is a modest (unegotistic) Brāhmaṇa.” It is only from this class of persons that the doer of a Rajasic action is distinguished as being egotistic.