Shloka 5

तमोगुण-निरूपण

Analysis of Tamas and its Marks

Devanagari script

अन्योन्यापाश्रयाश्चापि तथान्योन्यानुवर्तिन: । अन्योन्यव्यतिषक्ताश्च त्रिगुणा: पज्चधातव:

Transliteration

anyonyāpāśrayāś cāpi tathānyonyānuvartinaḥ | anyonyavyatiṣaktāś ca triguṇāḥ pañcadhātavaḥ ||

Translation

ਵਾਯੂ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਸਤ੍ਤਵ, ਰਜ ਅਤੇ ਤਮ—ਇਹ ਤਿੰਨੇ ਗੁਣ ਆਪੋ-ਆਪ ਵਿੱਚ ਪਰਸਪਰ ਆਸਰੇ ਵਾਲੇ ਹਨ। ਇਹ ਇਕ ਦੂਜੇ ਦੇ ਵਿਰੋਧੀ ਹੋ ਕੇ ਵੀ ਇਕ ਦੂਜੇ ਨੂੰ ਸਹਾਰਾ ਦਿੰਦੇ, ਇਕ ਦੂਜੇ ਦਾ ਅਨੁਸਰਣ ਕਰਦੇ ਅਤੇ ਆਪਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਗੂੰਝੇ-ਮਿਸ਼ਰਿਤ ਰਹਿੰਦੇ ਹਨ। ਇਸੇ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਪੰਜ ਮਹਾਭੂਤ ਵੀ ਇਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਤਿੰਨ ਗੁਣਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਹੀ ਬਣੇ ਹਨ।

Word by Word

• {'anyonya': 'mutual

• one another', 'āpāśraya': 'dependence

• mutual support (āśraya = support, refuge)', 'anyonya-anuvartin': 'following one another

• mutually consequent', 'anyonya-vyatiṣakta': 'interwoven with one another

• mutually entangled/mixed', 'triguṇāḥ': 'the three guṇas (sattva, rajas, tamas)', 'sattva': 'clarity, balance, luminosity

• tendency toward knowledge and harmony', 'rajas': 'activity, passion, restlessness

• tendency toward desire and motion', 'tamas': 'inertia, darkness, dullness

• tendency toward ignorance and heaviness', 'pañcadhātavaḥ': 'the five constituents/elements (pañca-mahābhūta understood)'}

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• triguṇa (sattva, rajas, tamas)
• pañca-dhātu / pañca-mahābhūta (five great elements)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That sattva, rajas, and tamas are not isolated forces: they mutually oppose yet mutually depend on, follow, and interpenetrate one another; therefore all material constituents—including the five great elements—are mixtures of these guṇas. Ethical discernment comes from recognizing this blended causality behind behavior and experience.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva is instructing the listener in a philosophical explanation of nature (prakṛti): how the three guṇas relate to each other and how they underlie the composition of the five great elements, framing a doctrinal teaching within the Ashvamedhika Parva discourse.