Complete learning edition. The Sanskrit source remains separate from attributed word meanings, translation, explanation and commentary witnesses. Diagrams and memory aids are study tools, not replacements for the source text.
तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम्।प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत।।14.8।।
tamas tv ajñāna-jaṁ viddhi mohanaṁ sarva-dehinām pramādālasya-nidrābhis tan nibadhnāti bhārata
But Ignorance, the product of darkness, stupefies the senses of all embodied beings, binding them with chains of folly, indolence, and lethargy.
English rendering by Shri Purohit Swami. Each source voice remains named.
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Read across once, then cover the meanings and recover them from the Sanskrit forms.
| Sanskrit form | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| tamaḥ | mode of ignorance |
| tu | but |
| ajñāna-jam | born of ignorance |
| viddhi | know |
| mohanam | illusion |
| sarva-dehinām | for all the embodied souls |
| pramāda | negligence |
| ālasya | laziness |
| nidrābhiḥ | and sleep |
| tat | that |
| nibadhnāti | binds |
| bhārata | Arjun, the son of Bharat |
Tamas is that binding force with a tendency to lethargy, sloth and foolish actions. It causes delusion or nondiscrimination.
Attributed explanatory witness: Swami Sivananda. Chapter lens: Study how the three guṇas arise, bind, become visible in effects and are related to a response beyond identification.
Three named reading witnesses
Śaṅkara edition witness
Swami GambiranandaOn the other hand, know tamas, which deludes all embodied beings, to be born of ignorance. O scion of the Bharata dynasty, it binds through inadvertence, laziness, and sleep.
Rāmānuja edition witness
Swami AdidevanandaKnow that Tamas is born of false knowledge and deludes all embodied beings. It binds, O Arjuna, with negligence, indolence, and sleep.
Sivananda commentary witness
Swami SivanandaTamas is that binding force with a tendency to lethargy, sloth and foolish actions. It causes delusion or nondiscrimination.
These are concise, attributed reading witnesses from identified editions. They are presented for comparison and are not merged into one anonymous interpretation.
Meaning map
Follow the thought
- 1
But Ignorance, the product of darkness, stupefies the senses of all embodied beings, binding them with chains of folly, indolence
- 2
tamaḥ: mode of ignorance
- 3
pramāda: negligence
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Study how the three guṇas arise, bind, become visible in effects and are related to a response beyond identification.
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- 1
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- 2
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- 3
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