Those grounded in sattva worship the gods. Those moved by rajas worship yakshas and rakshasas. Others, the people sunk in tamas, worship departed spirits and troops of elemental beings, including the band of mother-goddesses and such. So, where the scriptural rule has been set aside, one's standing in sattva and the rest is settled by what one worships. Among thousands, only a rare person is devoted to worshipping the gods and grounded in sattva; for the most part beings are grounded in rajas or in tamas.

Those abundant in the quality of sattva, joined with sattvic faith, worship the gods. So it is said that the faith whose object is the worship of the gods, the cause of surpassing happiness unmixed with pain, is sattvic. Rajasic people worship yakshas and rakshasas. Other tamasic people worship the departed spirits and the troops of elemental beings. Rajasic faith is the begetter of slight happiness mixed with pain; tamasic faith is mostly pain, the begetter of exceedingly slight happiness. This is the meaning. Thus, even among scriptural sacrifices and the rest, when joined with faith, there is a difference of fruit by quality. But in unscriptural giving, austerity, sacrifice, and the rest, since they are contrary to My command, there is not even a particle of happiness; rather, only calamity. Holding this in His heart and making it plain, the Lord says.

This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.

Krishna speaks by dividing up the question who is of sattvic faith, and the rest, with 'they worship' and so on.