Shloka 8
Adhyāya 41 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Gurv-anumati and Strategic Counsel (युधिष्ठिरस्य गुर्वनुमतिः)
तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम् । प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत
tamas tv ajñānajaṁ viddhi mohanaṁ sarvadehinām | pramādālasyanidrābhis tan nibadhnāti bhārata ||
Sabe que tamas nace de la ignorancia, el poder que extravía a todos los seres encarnados. Oh Bhārata, ata al ser por la negligencia, la pereza y el sueño, nublando el discernimiento y debilitando la firmeza ética.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Tamas is identified as arising from ignorance and as a universal deluding force for embodied beings; it binds by producing negligence, laziness, and sleep, which obstruct clarity, right effort, and ethical steadiness.
In the teaching on the three guṇas, the speaker explains the nature of tamas and how it operates psychologically—describing the concrete modes (heedlessness, sloth, sleep) through which it fetters a person’s agency and discernment.