The five sources of action

Tats_9

[Base sūtra:] The five wombs of action (karmayonis).

Tats_9.c1

[Verse:] Steadfastness (dhṛti), faith (śraddhā), desire for pleasure (sukhecchā), the wish to know (vividiṣā), and the absence of that [wish to know]—these five, generally stated, are the wombs of action.

Tats_9.c2

[Verse:] That by which conviction in speech, in action, and in volition is colored [i.e. firmed]—being grounded in it and established upon it—this indeed is the mark of steadfastness (dhṛti).

Tats_9.c3

[Verse:] Freedom from envy, chastity, sacrificing, officiating at sacrifice, austerity, receiving [gifts], and oblation—[these] are remembered as the mark of faith (śraddhā).

Tats_9.c4

[Verse:] One who seeks pleasure would resort to pleasure: learning, [ritual] action, and austerities, ever devoted to expiation—this is proclaimed as "the pleasure[-seeking]" (sukhā / sukhecchā).

Tats_9.c5

[Verse:] Like one stupefied by poisonous smoke, the wish to know (vividiṣā) is the womb of wisdom for meditators—[knowing] both unity and separateness, the eternal [and] the unconscious [prakṛti as] knowable;

Tats_9.c6

[Verse:] that subtle, [already] existent effect which can be agitated [into manifestation] is to be known [as the object of] the wish to know; the wish to know, which makes [one] fit for [discerning] effect and instrument, is a function of prakṛti.

Tats_9.c7

[Verse:] Steadfastness, faith, the wish to know, and pleasure-[seeking]—this tetrad is to be known as bondage; [but] the wish to know is also ordained for liberation. Thus the nature of the wombs of action has been proclaimed in detail.