Arjuna said: Those who, setting aside the injunctions of scripture, worship with faith — what is their standing, O Krishna? Is it sattva, rajas, or tamas?

Arjuna's question is precise and practically important: what about people who are genuinely devout, who worship with real faith and sincerity, but who do not follow scriptural prescriptions — perhaps because they don't know them, or belong to traditions outside the Vedic mainstream? The previous chapter ended with scripture as the supreme authority. Arjuna now presses: does sincere faith without scriptural grounding count for anything? This question is not hypothetical — it touches the real lives of millions of seekers across every tradition, in every age, who approach the Divine with full hearts but without formal religious education. Krishna's answer in this chapter will show that faith itself is a force shaped by one's inner nature — and that the quality of faith determines the quality of everything that flows from it.