Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 14: The Three Qualities of Nature

Bhagavad Gita 14.16

karmaṇaḥ sukṛtasyāhuḥ sāttvikaṃ nirmalaṃ phalam | rajasastu phalaṃ duḥkhamajñānaṃ tamasaḥ phalam ||

The fruit of good action, they say, is pure and full of clarity. The fruit of passion is pain, and the fruit of inertia is ignorance.

Modern context

Each guna has its own harvest. Good action done in clarity yields pure fruit. Action done in passion yields pain. Action done in inertia yields ignorance. 'The fruit of passion is pain' is a sobering line. It suggests that much of the stress and exhaustion of modern life is not bad luck but the natural harvest of restless, grasping effort.