Chapter 17

The Threefold Faith

Faith Takes Three Forms

Faith follows nature

Arjuna asks about people who worship with faith but set the scriptural rules aside — where do they stand, in clarity, passion or darkness?

Krishna answers by turning the three qualities onto faith itself. "Each person's faith," he says, "matches their own constitution." And then a line that carries the whole chapter: "A person is made of their faith — as the faith, so the person."

Extreme austerity, and food

Before the threefold analysis, Krishna condemns one thing outright: those who take up fierce austerities not enjoined by scripture, driven by hypocrisy and ego, torturing the elements within the body — and him seated within them too. "That," he says, "is demonic resolve, not discipline."

Then he sorts food by its effects. Some food strengthens life, health, cheer and vigour, and is mild, firm and pleasant. Some is sharp, sour, salty and burning, and brings pain and sickness. Some is stale, tasteless, half-rotten, left over, unfit to offer.

Sacrifice, austerity, giving

Each of these Krishna sorts the same way, by motive. Sacrifice performed as a duty, mind settled, no eye on the reward, is of the highest kind; performed for show or for a result, the middle kind; performed with no rule, no food for the guests, no sacred word and no faith, the lowest.

"The austerity of speech," he says, "is speech that is truthful, kindly, beneficial, and does not agitate the one who hears it." Giving is highest when it is given simply because it is right to give — to a fit person, at a fitting time and place, expecting nothing back.

Om Tat Sat

Three words — Om, Tat, Sat — stand as designations of Brahman, spoken over acts of sacrifice, austerity and giving to fix them in place and connect them back to the source.

And whatever is done without faith, Krishna says — sacrifice, gift or austerity — is *asat*: without true spiritual worth, here or in what comes after.

Note: Chapter 17 does not name onions or garlic; later traditions place those within its quality-scheme. Austerity here is not self-punishment — ego-driven bodily torture is condemned at the start of the chapter — but the discipline of body, speech and mind. The verses classify food by its qualities and effects; detailed culinary lists are commentarial and cultural additions.

Source: Mahabharata — Bhishma Parva, The Threefold Faith

Now — how much stayed with you?

Who said it?

"Where do people stand who worship with faith but set the scriptural rules aside?" — who asks this?

  • Arjuna
  • Krishna
  • Sanjaya
  • Vyasa
Read the whole story — Faith follows nature

Krishna answers by turning the three qualities onto faith itself.

Each person's faith matches their own constitution.

And then a line that carries the chapter: a person is made of their faith — as their faith, so they are.

Fact

What does Krishna condemn outright at the start of Chapter 17?

  • Recitation of the Vedas
  • Household life
  • Charity
  • Fierce austerities not enjoined by scripture
Read the whole story — Extreme austerity, and food

That, Krishna says, is demonic resolve, not discipline.

Then he sorts food by its effects — some strengthens life, health and vigour and is mild and pleasant; some is sharp, sour, salt and burning, and brings pain; some is stale, half-rotten, left over.

Austerity here is not self-punishment but the discipline of body, speech and mind.

Riddle

I am the Gita's line that says: you are what your faith is. Which chapter is built around this idea?

  • Chapter 9
  • Chapter 17
  • Chapter 12
  • Chapter 4
Read the whole story — A person made of their faith

Verse 17.3: "this person is made of faith; as a person's faith is, so are they."

So faith is not a surface thing — it shapes a person's character.

And that faith too comes in three kinds, by the three qualities — clear, driven, dull.

Fact

What is "the austerity of speech," according to Krishna?

  • Staying silent
  • Speech that is truthful, kindly, beneficial, and does not agitate the hearer
  • Reciting mantras loudest
  • Speaking only in Sanskrit
Read the whole story — Sacrifice, austerity, giving

Krishna sorts sacrifice, austerity and giving the same way, by motive.

Sacrifice done as a duty with no eye on the reward is of the highest kind; for show, the middle; with no rule and no faith, the lowest.

Giving is highest when it is given because it is right to give — to a fit person, at a fitting time and place, with nothing expected in return.

What happened?

What three words does Krishna give at the end of Chapter 17 as designations of Brahman?

  • Sat, chit, ananda
  • A, U, M
  • So'ham
  • Om, Tat, Sat
Read the whole story — Om Tat Sat

And whatever is done without faith — sacrifice, gift or austerity — is *asat*: without true spiritual worth, here or hereafter.

So the chapter's conclusion is that faith is what gives an act its meaning.

It returns to the chapter's central idea — a person and their action are both made of faith.

Who am I?

I am associated with onions and garlic in Chapter 17 — but the verses never name me. What am I?

  • The classification of food
  • Mental austerity
  • The austerity of speech
  • The classification of giving
Read the whole story — Not named

Verses 17.8–10 classify food by its qualities and effects — life-promoting and mild; or sharp and burning; or stale, left-over.

Onions and garlic are not named among them — that classification is a commentarial and cultural addition.

In the same way, calling "sattvic food" a full legislation of vegetarianism is an overreach.

Why is that?

Why does Krishna sort food, sacrifice, austerity and giving all in the same way — through the three qualities?

  • Because they are all worthless
  • Because Arjuna asked about food
  • Krishna sorts each the same way
  • Because the three qualities are easy to remember
Read the whole story — Motive sets the level

The same sacrifice can be sattvic done as a duty, rajasic done for show, and tamasic done with no rule.

For food the test is what it does to body and mind; for sacrifice, austerity and giving the test is the motive behind them.

This connects Chapter 17 to Chapter 18, where the same guna-analysis is applied to the whole inner life.

The texts disagree

"The Gita bans onions and garlic in Chapter 17" — is this right?

  • Yes, they are named in 17.8–10
  • No
  • Yes, Krishna calls them tamasic
  • No
Read the whole story — Qualities, not a list

The verses call food "life-promoting," "mild," "firm," or "sharp, sour, salt, burning," or "stale," "kept overnight," "left over."

No specific vegetable is named.

Detailed culinary lists are commentarial and cultural additions — the text itself makes no such list.

Put it in order

In what order does Chapter 17's teaching move?

  • Om Tat Sat → food → Arjuna's question → the condemnation of fierce austerity
  • Food → Arjuna's question → Om Tat Sat → sacrifice-austerity-giving
  • The condemnation of fierce austerity → Om Tat Sat → Arjuna's question → food
  • Arjuna's question (faith versus scripture) → faith follows nature, "as their faith, so they are" → the condemnation of fierce austerity and the three kinds of food → the three kinds of sacrifice, austerity and giving → Om Tat Sat, and action without faith is *asat*
Read the whole story — From faith to *asat*

The chapter opens on a question and closes on a conclusion: action without faith is worthless.

In between, food, sacrifice, austerity and giving all pass the same test — what was the motive?

And three words — Om, Tat, Sat — that connect an act to the source.

Later tradition

"Austerity means physical self-punishment" — does the Gita say this?

  • Yes, the harsher the austerity, the better
  • Yes, torturing the body is austerity
  • No
  • No
Read the whole story — Discipline, not torture

Verses 17.5–6 call fierce austerity, not enjoined by scripture and driven by ego, "demonic resolve."

Then 17.14–19 define austerity ethically — of body, of speech and of mind.

Mental austerity is serenity, gentleness, silence, self-control and purity of intention — no torture at all.