Shloka 5

तमोगुण-निरूपण

Analysis of Tamas and its Marks

Devanagari script

अन्योन्यापाश्रयाश्चापि तथान्योन्यानुवर्तिन: । अन्योन्यव्यतिषक्ताश्च त्रिगुणा: पज्चधातव:,सत्त्व, रज और तम--इन तीनोंको गुण कहते हैं। ये परस्पर एक-दूसरेके प्रतिद्वन्द्दी, एक-दूसरेके आश्रित, एक-दूसरेके सहारे टिकनेवाले, एक-दूसरेका अनुसरण करनेवाले और परस्पर मिश्रित रहनेवाले हैं। पाँचों महाभूत त्रिगुणात्मक हैं

Transliteration

anyonyāpāśrayāś cāpi tathānyonyānuvartinaḥ | anyonyavyatiṣaktāś ca triguṇāḥ pañcadhātavaḥ ||

Translation

Vāyu dit : Les trois guṇa—sattva, rajas et tamas—demeurent dans une dépendance réciproque. Ils s’opposent l’un à l’autre, et pourtant se soutiennent et se suivent, restant enlacés et mêlés. De même, les cinq grands éléments (mahābhūta) sont constitués de ces trois guṇa. Cet enseignement mène au discernement éthique : ce qui paraît être une nature unique et stable n’est en réalité qu’un mélange mouvant de qualités ; la conduite du sage consiste à reconnaître ce mélange plutôt qu’à s’attacher à une vue unilatérale.

Word by Word

• {'anyonya': 'mutual

• one another', 'āpāśraya': 'dependence

• mutual support (āśraya = support, refuge)', 'anyonya-anuvartin': 'following one another

• mutually consequent', 'anyonya-vyatiṣakta': 'interwoven with one another

• mutually entangled/mixed', 'triguṇāḥ': 'the three guṇas (sattva, rajas, tamas)', 'sattva': 'clarity, balance, luminosity

• tendency toward knowledge and harmony', 'rajas': 'activity, passion, restlessness

• tendency toward desire and motion', 'tamas': 'inertia, darkness, dullness

• tendency toward ignorance and heaviness', 'pañcadhātavaḥ': 'the five constituents/elements (pañca-mahābhūta understood)'}

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• triguṇa (sattva, rajas, tamas)
• pañca-dhātu / pañca-mahābhūta (five great elements)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That sattva, rajas, and tamas are not isolated forces: they mutually oppose yet mutually depend on, follow, and interpenetrate one another; therefore all material constituents—including the five great elements—are mixtures of these guṇas. Ethical discernment comes from recognizing this blended causality behind behavior and experience.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva is instructing the listener in a philosophical explanation of nature (prakṛti): how the three guṇas relate to each other and how they underlie the composition of the five great elements, framing a doctrinal teaching within the Ashvamedhika Parva discourse.