Shloka 4

तमोगुण-निरूपण

Analysis of Tamas and its Marks

Devanagari script

तमो रजस्तथा सत्त्वं गुणानेतान्‌ प्रचक्षते । अन्योन्यमि थुना: सर्वे तथान्योन्यानुजीविन:

Transliteration

tamo rajastathā sattvaṃ guṇān etān pracakṣate | anyonyamithunāḥ sarve tathānyonyānujīvinaḥ ||

Translation

Vāyu dit : «L’obscurité (tamas), l’activité (rajas) et la clarté (sattva) — ces trois-là sont appelés guṇas. Tous s’opposent les uns aux autres et pourtant dépendent les uns des autres, se soutiennent, se suivent et demeurent mêlés.»

Word by Word

• {'tamas (tamaḥ)': 'darkness, inertia, obscuration', 'rajas': 'passion, activity, restlessness, drive', 'sattva': 'clarity, balance, lucidity, goodness', 'guṇa': 'constituent quality of prakṛti

• binding strand/attribute', 'etān': 'these (accusative plural)', 'pracakṣate': 'they are declared/called

• one designates', 'anyonya': 'mutual, one another', 'mithuna': 'paired

• in combination (here: mutually conjoined/entangled)', 'sarve': 'all (of them)', 'anyonya-anujīvin': 'living by/depending on one another

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• tamas
• rajas
• sattva
• guṇas

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that the three guṇas—tamas, rajas, and sattva—define the constitution of embodied nature and are not isolated forces: they oppose one another yet remain mutually dependent and mixed, shaping conduct and moral disposition.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva is instructing the listener in a doctrinal explanation of prakṛti’s three guṇas, emphasizing their mutual rivalry and mutual support as a framework for understanding behavior and inner states.