Bhagavad Gita 14.8
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 8 of 27
तमस् त्व् अज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम् । प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस् तन् निबध्नाति भारत ॥
tamas tv ajñāna-jaṃ viddhi mohanaṃ sarva-dehinām | pramādālasya-nidrābhis tan nibadhnāti bhārata ||
Tamas — born of ignorance — deludes all beings and binds through carelessness, laziness, and sleep.
Word by word (3)
- tamas tu ajñāna-jam viddhi
- — know tamas to be born of ignorance (ajñāna-ja = born of ajñāna); the most fundamental guṇa, rooted in nescience
- mohanam sarva-dehinām
- — it deludes (mohana = causing delusion/stupefaction) all embodied beings (sarva-dehinām — no exception)
- pramāda-ālasya-nidrābhiḥ nibadhnāti bhārata
- — it binds through pramāda (heedlessness/recklessness), ālasya (laziness/indolence), and nidrā (sleep/torpor) — O Bharata
Know tamas to be born of ignorance (ajñāna). It deludes all embodied beings. It binds fast, O Bharata, through heedlessness (pramāda), indolence (ālasya), and sleep (nidrā).
A modern analogy
Tamas is the deepest sleep of the soul. Unlike rajas (which is restlessly awake) or sattva (which is peacefully awake), tamas is like sedation: the person acts, but without awareness; lives, but without real wakefulness. Depression, addictions, chronic procrastination — these are tamas working in the mind.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
But, know thou Tamas to be born of unwisdom, deluding all embodied beings; by heedlessness, indolence and sloth, it binds fast, O Bharata. [1]
And know Tamas to be born of ignorance, stupefying all embodied beings; it binds fast, O descendant of Bharata, by miscomprehension, indolence, and sleep. [4]
Darkness, know, is born of ignorance, and deludes all embodied beings. That binds by carelessness and indolence and sleep, O descendant of Bharata! [9]
Darkness, however, know, is born of ignorance, and bewilders all embodied soul. That binds, O Bharata, by error, indolence, and sleep. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Sattva, rajas, or tamas — each can become dominant over the others, alternating in every mind.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
The fruit of sattvic action is pure; the fruit of rajas is pain; the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
The guṇātīta neither hates light, activity, or delusion when present — nor yearns for them when absent.
Guṇa-fed branches spread everywhere; in the human world, karma-roots grow downward entangling further.
Holding that nihilistic view, ruined selves of limited mind and fierce action, they rise as enemies of the world.
Verse 8 of 27 · back to Chapter 14