Shloka 13

तमोगुण-निरूपण

Analysis of Tamas and its Marks

Devanagari script

अस्मृतिश्नचाविपाकश्च नास्तिकयं भिन्नवृत्तिता | निर्विशेषत्वमन्धत्वं जघन्यगुणवृत्तिता

Transliteration

asmṛtiś ca avipākaś ca nāstikyaṁ bhinnavṛttitā | nirviśeṣatvam andhatvaṁ jaghanyaguṇavṛttitā

Translation

Vāyu-deva dit : «D’une telle voie naissent la perte de la juste mémoire et du discernement, un résultat des actes encore vert et sans fruit, l’incrédulité, et une conduite brisée, incohérente. On tombe dans l’indistinction morale et l’aveuglement, vivant selon les qualités et les habitudes les plus basses.»

Word by Word

• अस्मृतिः: forgetfulness, lack of memory
• अस्मृतिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्मृति
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• श्नच: and (enclitic particle; reading uncertain)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: श्नच

• अविपाकः: non-maturation; lack of ripening (of intellect/understanding)
• अविपाकः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अविपाक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• नास्तिक्यम्: atheism; disbelief
• नास्तिक्यम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नास्तिक्य
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• भिन्नवृत्तिता: deviant conduct; having a different (improper) mode of life
• भिन्नवृत्तिता: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: भिन्न-वृत्ति-ता
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• निर्विशेषत्वम्: lack of distinction; non-discriminating state
• निर्विशेषत्वम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: निर्विशेष-त्व
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• अन्धत्वम्: blindness
• अन्धत्वम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अन्ध-त्व
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• जघन्यगुणवृत्तिता: base/low-quality conduct; conduct characterized by inferior qualities
• जघन्यगुणवृत्तिता: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: जघन्य-गुण-वृत्ति-ता
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu-deva

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse warns that abandoning dharma and steady right conduct leads to inner collapse: forgetfulness of moral truth, disbelief, confused and inconsistent behavior, loss of discrimination, and a descent into base qualities.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva is speaking as a moral instructor, listing the degrading mental and ethical consequences that follow from a wrong path—portraying how adharma produces spiritual blindness and low conduct.