यत्तु कामेप्सुना कर्म साहङ्कारेण वा पुनः ।
क्रियते बहुलायासं तद्राजसमुदाहृतम् ॥ १८.२४ ॥

yat-tu kāmepsunā karma sāhaṅkāreṇa vā puna: |
kriyate bahulāyāsam tad-rājasam-udāhṛtam || 18.24 ||

Action – the rājasika kind

Now Krishna describes the rājasika type of activity:

That action which is motivated by desires, performed with ego, causing a lot of stress and strain, is said to be rājasika in nature.

Passion for anything, secular or religious, is destructive. It has the effect of disturbing the mind, leading it even to infatuation and extremely harmful sensory indulgences. When such passion motivates an act, it is rājasika. Rājasika action will have no place for others’ sentiments or views. It may hurt others; interfere with them and their activities even. So also, the ego display will be quite evident.

Another factor in rājasika act is that it does not wait for any kind of gentleness and thoughtfulness for improving the performance physically or otherwise. As a result, the exertion, stress and strain it causes will also be enormous.