14.8 Inertia, the deluder Krishna speaks
तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम्
प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत
tamas tv ajñāna-jaṁ viddhi mohanaṁ sarva-dehinām
pramādālasya-nidrābhis tan nibadhnāti bhārata
Know inertia to be born of unknowing, the deluder of all the embodied. It binds by heedlessness, idleness and sleep.
Explanation
Inertia, and the word used for it is deluder.
mohanam — that which bewilders all the embodied. It binds by heedlessness, idleness and sleep.
The mechanism is different from the other two. Clarity and restlessness bind by attaching you to something; inertia binds by obscuring, which is why it is the hardest of the three to notice you are in.
Word by word
- 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
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