Shloka 17
Adhyāya 39 — त्रिगुणविवेकः (Discrimination of the Three Guṇas) and Avyakta-Doctrine
स्थावरेषु तु भावेषु तिर्यग्भावगतं तम: । राजसास्तु विवर्तन्ते स्नेहभावस्तु सात््चिक:,स्थावर प्राणियोंमें तमोगुण अधिक होता है, उनमें जो बढ़नेकी क्रिया है वह राजस है और जो चिकनापन है, वह सात्त्विक है
sthāvareṣu tu bhāveṣu tiryagbhāvagataṃ tamaḥ | rājasās tu vivartante snehabhāvas tu sāttvikaḥ ||
Vāyu said: “Among beings in the immobile condition, darkness (tamas) predominates. The impulse by which they grow and develop is of rajas, while the quality of unctuousness—cohesion and smooth nourishment—is sāttvika. Thus even in the lowest or most inert states of life, the three guṇas operate in distinct functions, and one should discern their workings rather than judge merely by outward form.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches discernment of the three guṇas in all forms of life: immobile beings are tamas-dominant, their growth expresses rajas (activity), and their cohesive/nourishing unctuousness expresses sattva (harmonizing clarity). Ethical insight comes from recognizing how qualities function rather than condemning a being’s station.
Vāyudeva is explaining a doctrinal point about the guṇas—how tamas, rajas, and sattva manifest even in ‘sthāvara’ (immobile) existence—within a broader instructional discourse in the Aśvamedhika Parva.