Shloka 10
Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga — Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga
यातयामं गतरसं पूति पर्युषितं च यत् । उच्छिष्टमपि चामेध्यं भोजनं तामसप्रियम् ॥ १७.१० ॥
yātayāmaṃ gata-rasaṃ pūti paryuṣitaṃ ca yat | ucchiṣṭam api cāmedhyaṃ bhojanaṃ tāmasa-priyam || 17.10 ||
യാമങ്ങളോളം വെച്ചിരിക്കുന്നതും രസഹീനവും ദുർഗന്ധമുള്ളതും പുഴുങ്ങിയതും പഴകിയതും, ജൂഠവും അശുദ്ധവുമായ ഭക്ഷണം താമസർക്കു പ്രിയമാണ്.
जो भोजन याम-याम पर रखा हुआ, रसहीन, सड़ा हुआ, बासी तथा जूठन और अपवित्र होता है, वह तामस पुरुषों को प्रिय है।
Food that is stale (kept too long), tasteless, foul, left over, and impure is preferred by those of tamas.
‘Yātayāma’ is interpreted as ‘stale/kept for a watch (yāma) and beyond’ and can be contextually linked to loss of freshness and vitality. ‘Amedhya’ ranges from ritually unclean to generally unwholesome, depending on interpretive tradition.
FAQs
The verse links neglectful, low-attention consumption with tamasic inertia, suggesting that such choices can reinforce dullness and reduced sensitivity.
Tamas, as obscuring modality, is illustrated through preferences that diminish vitality and clarity, thereby veiling insight and ethical responsiveness.
It completes the threefold dietary schema that grounds the chapter’s broader analysis of how guṇas shape religious and ethical life.
It can be applied as a general caution about chronically low-quality or unhygienic intake and the ways such habits can correlate with low energy and diminished focus.