18.32 Everything the wrong way round Krishna speaks
अधर्मं धर्ममिति या मन्यते तमसाऽऽवृता
सर्वार्थान्विपरीतांश्च बुद्धिः सा पार्थ तामसी
adharmaṁ dharmam iti yā manyate tamasāvṛitā
sarvārthān viparītānśh cha buddhiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī
The understanding, wrapped in darkness, that takes what is wrong for what is right, and sees everything the wrong way round, is of inertia.
Explanation
Everything the wrong way round.
Wrapped in darkness, taking what is wrong for what is right — viparītāni, inverted.
Not partial error but systematic reversal. It is the condition 16.7 to 16.20 spent twelve verses describing, compressed here into a single line of classification.
Word by word
- adharmam
- irreligion
- dharmam
- religion
- iti
- thus
- yā
- which
- manyate
- imagines
- tamasa-āvṛitā
- shrouded in darkness
- sarva-arthān
- all things
- viparītān
- opposite
- cha
- and
- buddhiḥ
- intellect
- sā
- that
- pārtha
- Arjun, the son of Pritha
- tāmasī
- of the nature of ignorance
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