Shloka 54
तृष्णाक्षय-उपदेशः
Instruction on the Cessation of Craving
नैर्गुण्यमेव पश्यन्ति न गुणाननुयुञ्जते । तेषां तम:शरीराणां तम एव परायणम्,वे शम-दम आदि साधनोंको सदा निष्फल ही देखते और समझते हैं। ज्ञान, ऐश्वर्य आदि सदगुणोंकी जिज्ञासा नहीं करते हैं। उन तमोमय शरीरवाले पुरुषोंका तमोगुण ही सबसे बड़ा अवलम्ब है
nairguṇyam eva paśyanti na guṇān anuyuñjate | teṣāṃ tamaḥśarīrāṇāṃ tama eva parāyaṇam ||
カピラは言った。「彼らは高き徳を欠くものばかりを見つめ、徳を養い育てようとしない。身そのものが闇（タマス）に染まった者にとっては、闇こそが至上の拠り所となり、最後の帰着となる。」
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.