तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम् | प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत ||
tamas tv ajñāna-jaṁ viddhi mohanaṁ sarva-dehinām pramādālasya-nidrābhis tan nibadhnāti bhārata
Translation
Know tamas to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied beings; it binds, O Arjuna, by negligence, laziness and sleep.
Interpretation
Tamas is the guna of darkness, inertia, and ignorance — it deludes all embodied beings. While sattva binds through light and rajas through fire, tamas binds through darkness and heaviness. Its expressions are negligence (failure to notice what matters), laziness (reluctance to act on what is seen), and excessive sleep (literal and metaphorical unconsciousness). Tamas is not mere physical lethargy but the deep spiritual torpor that makes beings forget their divine nature and sleepwalk through life, never questioning, never growing.