Bhagavad Gita 17.10
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 10 of 28
यातयामं गतरसं पूति पर्युषितं च यत् । उच्छिष्टम् अपि चामेध्यं भोजनं तामसप्रियम् ॥
yāta-yāmaṃ gata-rasaṃ pūti paryuṣitaṃ ca yat | ucchiṣṭam api cāmedhyaṃ bhojanaṃ tāmasa-priyam ||
Tāmasic food: stale, flavorless, putrid, overnight-old, others' remnants, impure — dear to those immersed in tamas.
Word by word (3)
- yāta-yāmam gata-rasam pūti paryuṣitam ca yat
- — that which is stale/cold (yāta-yāma = whose time has passed), devoid of taste (gata-rasa = rasa gone), putrid/stinking (pūti), and cooked overnight/leftover (paryuṣita)
- ucchiṣṭam api cāmedhyam
- — and also (api ca) the remnant-of-another's-meal (ucchiṣṭa), and what is impure/ritually unfit (amedhya) — both nutritionally and spiritually compromised
- bhojanaṃ tāmasa-priyam
- — this food/eating (bhojanam) is dear (priyam) to the tāmasic — tamas naturally gravitates toward what is inert, depleted, decayed
Food that is stale, flavorless, putrid, old/left over from the previous day, remnants of others' meals, and impure — this is the food dear to the tāmasic.
A modern analogy
Tāmasic food is like eating yesterday's garbage — literally depleted, spiritually impure, carrying others' prāṇic residue. Tamas (inertia, confusion, decay) resonates with food that has already passed its prime. The tāmasic person, lacking the clarity to discriminate or the energy to prepare fresh food, drifts toward whatever is available — regardless of its quality or age.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
The food which is stale, tasteless, putrid and rotten, refuse and impure, is dear to the Tamasic. [1]
That which is stale, tasteless, stinking, cooked overnight, refuse, and impure, is the food liked by the Tamasika. [4]
Food which is cold, has lost its taste, is putrid and stale, is the remnant (of another's meal), and is impure, is liked by the tamasic. [9]
The food which is cold, without savor, stinking and corrupt, and which is even refuse, and filthy, is dear to men of darkness. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Daivī wealth begins: abhaya, sattva-śuddhi, jñāna-yoga, dāna, dama, yajña, svādhyāya, tapa, ārjava.
Greed, restless activity, and longing surge — know that rajas is predominant and karma-saṅga is binding.
When the seer sees only guṇas as agents and knows what is beyond them — he attains My being.
Śraddhā of the embodied is threefold — born of svabhāva (one's own nature): sāttvikī, rājasī, tāmasī. Hear this.
Speech tapas: non-disturbing, true, agreeable, beneficial words — plus daily svādhyāya (sacred study).
Tāmasic tapas: done with foolish delusion, self-torture, or to destroy another — declared tāmasic.
Verse 10 of 28 · back to Chapter 17