Austerity (tapas) which is performed for the sake of honor, respect, and worship, and even with hypocrisy (dambha), That is declared here to be of passion (rājasa), unstable and impermanent.
Wavering and unstable, performed with hypocrisy, to gain respect, honor, and worship, that penance is called passionate.
(18) Some mortify themselves to win respect, honor, and reverence, or from sheer hypocrisy: here [on earth] this must be called [penance] in Passion's way,—fickle and unsure.
17.18 That austerity which is undertaken for earning a name, being honored and worshipped, and also ostentatiously,-that is spoken of as born of rajas, belonging to this world, uncertain and transitory.
17.18 That austerity, practiced with ostentation for the sake of gaining respect, praise and reverence, is here said to be Rajas. It is unsteady and impermanent.
17.18 The austerity which is practiced with the object of gaining good reception, honor and worship, and with hypocrisy, is here said to be Rajasic, unstable and transitory.