Krishna now completes the inner framework by explaining धृति (willpower or determination). Intelligence decides direction, but determination decides whether the journey continues. Not all perseverance is noble—some steadiness liberates, some exhausts, and some traps a person deeper in illusion.
Again, the distinction lies in the three guṇas.
Business Insight
In entrepreneurship, willpower shows up as how long and how cleanly a founder can stay the course:
- Sāttvik Willpower (Integrated Determination)
This determination is rooted in faith and inner alignment. The entrepreneur maintains a healthy body and a calm mind, keeps the spirit uplifted, and channels all senses toward the long-term goal. Focus is steady, distractions are managed, and effort is sustained without inner conflict. This is endurance born from purpose, not pressure.
- Rājasik Willpower (Reward-Driven Persistence)
Here, determination exists—but it is conditional. The entrepreneur holds on to duty, pleasure, and wealth simultaneously. Effort continues as long as rewards, recognition, and material comfort are visible. Emotional attachment to both work and its outcomes creates inner tension. When rewards slow down, motivation weakens.
- Tāmasik Willpower (Stagnant Stubbornness)
This is not true determination but inertia disguised as persistence. Such entrepreneurs avoid learning, prefer ignorance, and substitute dreaming for action. Fear of failure dominates thinking. When setbacks occur—which is natural in business—they grieve, complain, and sink into despair instead of fixing problems. Hollow pride and impatience for instant results coexist with chronic inaction.
Leadership Lesson
Krishna’s insight is subtle yet powerful:
Real determination releases energy; false determination consumes it.
Sāttvik willpower creates momentum without burnout. Rājasik willpower sustains effort only while rewards flow. Tāmasik willpower locks a founder into cycles of fear, fantasy, and frustration.
Entrepreneurial longevity depends not on intensity, but on the quality of resolve.
Key Takeaways
- Willpower determines whether clarity becomes continuity
- Sāttvik determination aligns body, mind, and senses with the goal
- Rājasik determination is tied to rewards and material satisfaction
- Tāmasik determination confuses dreaming with discipline
- Enduring success requires faith-driven, not reward-driven, resolve
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