Shloka 54
तृष्णाक्षय-उपदेशः
Instruction on the Cessation of Craving
नैर्गुण्यमेव पश्यन्ति न गुणाननुयुञ्जते । तेषां तम:शरीराणां तम एव परायणम्
nairguṇyam eva paśyanti na guṇān anuyuñjate | teṣāṃ tamaḥśarīrāṇāṃ tama eva parāyaṇam ||
Kapila dit : « Ils ne regardent que ce qui est dépourvu de qualités supérieures et ne poursuivent pas la culture des vertus. Pour ceux dont l’être même est imprégné de ténèbres (tamas), les ténèbres deviennent leur refuge suprême et leur ultime recours. »
कपिल उवाच
Educational Q&A
Kapila warns that people dominated by tamas dismiss disciplines like self-control and the pursuit of knowledge and virtue; when one refuses to cultivate higher qualities, one’s ‘refuge’ becomes tamas itself—habitual ignorance and inertia.
Within Kapila’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, he characterizes a class of persons who neither value nor practice the cultivation of guṇas (especially sattvic virtues). He explains their psychological condition: being tamasic in constitution, they naturally cling to tamas as their support.