Shloka 35
कोन्वेतद् बुध्यते साधु कोन्वेतत् साधु पश्यति । अतत्त्वे तत्त्वदर्शी यस्तमसस्तत्त्वलक्षणम्,जो अतत्त्वमें तत्त्व-दृष्टि रखनेवाला है, ऐसा कौन-सा मनुष्य इस विषयको अच्छी तरह देख और समझ सकता है? यह विपरीत दृष्टि ही तमोगुणकी यथार्थ पहचान है
ko nv etad budhyate sādhu ko nv etat sādhu paśyati | atattve tattvadarśī yas tamasas tattvalakṣaṇam ||
Vāyu said: “Who, indeed, can rightly understand this, and who can rightly perceive it—this condition in which one mistakes the unreal for the real? Such inverted vision, seeing ‘truth’ where there is no truth, is the true mark of tamas (darkness and delusion).”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse defines tamas as a reversal of discernment: taking the unreal as real and misperceiving truth. It warns that ethical and spiritual clarity depends on correct discrimination (seeing things as they are), and that delusion itself can masquerade as ‘certainty’ or ‘insight’.
Vāyudeva is speaking, reflecting on how difficult it is for people to truly understand and perceive a subtle moral-spiritual point. He characterizes the state of confusion—where one confidently ‘sees truth’ in what is not truth—as the hallmark of tamas.