Shloka 16
तमोगुण-निरूपण
Analysis of Tamas and its Marks
सर्व एते गुणा वृत्तास्तामसा: सम्प्रकीर्तिता: । ये चान्ये विहिता भावा लोके5स्मिन् भावसंज्ञिता:
sarva ete guṇā vṛttās tāmasāḥ samprakīrtitāḥ | ye cānye vihitā bhāvā loke 'smin bhāvasaṃjñitāḥ ||
Vāyu said: “All these dispositions and traits that have been described are proclaimed to be tāmasic in nature. And whatever other states of mind and modes of conduct are prescribed and recognized in this world as ‘conditions’ or ‘dispositions’—they too are to be understood within this same classification.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral-psychological classification: the traits under discussion are identified as tāmasic—arising from tamas (inertia, confusion, heedlessness). It also broadens the scope by saying that other worldly ‘states’ (bhāvas) recognized or prescribed can be understood through such guṇa-based categories, encouraging discernment about the quality behind one’s conduct.
Vāyu (the Wind-god) is speaking in a didactic passage, explaining how certain behaviors and mental states should be categorized. He concludes that the described qualities fall under tamas and indicates that other recognized dispositions in the world likewise fit into this framework of classification.