Chapter 14 · Verse 13·Spoken by Arjuna
अप्रकाशोऽप्रवृत्तिश्च प्रमादो मोह एव च।तमस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे कुरुनन्दन
aprakāśho ’pravṛittiśh cha pramādo moha eva cha tamasy etāni jāyante vivṛiddhe kuru-nandana
When tamas dominates, these arise: lack of light, inertia, negligence, and delusion.
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
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Convergence
his verse lists the signs by which you can tell that tamas, the third of the three gunas (the basic strands or qualities that make up nature), has grown strong and taken charge. Tamas is the quality of darkness, inertia, and dullness. Krishna names four marks: aprakasha (absence of light or illumination), apravritti (absence of activity or engagement), pramada (heedlessness or negligence), and moha (delusion). The verse is structured as a diagnostic: when these four appear, you should conclude that tamas has 'grown' (vivriddhe) and is now dominant. Several commentators stress that the word eva ('only,' 'just these') in the verse rules out other explanations, so that these are the unfailing, telltale signs of risen tamas.
Braided from 15 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
The first mark, aprakasha, is a failure of light in the mind: knowledge does not arise. Several commentators sharpen this to mean that even when the cause of understanding is present, such as a teacher or instruction, no understanding comes; the mind is simply unfit to be illumined. Others describe it as the lapse of viveka (the power of discrimination, of telling true from false, right from wrong), or as a non-clearness of the citta (the mind-stuff). The second mark, apravritti, is a failure of action: no effort, no engagement, even when there is good reason to act. Some put it as plain inertness or stiffness; others say that even when scripture itself calls for an act, the person is unfit to carry it out, or simply has no taste for work and wants only to sit or lie about.
Braided from 8 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas
The third mark, pramada, is heedlessness or negligence: inattention to what should be done. A vivid image recurs among the commentators: the heedless person fails to notice a thing even when it is right at hand, the conviction that something 'is not here' when in fact it is held at one's very throat or in one's own hand. Others describe pramada as inattention that leads one to engage in what should not be done, or as the absence of anusandhana (careful following-up, keeping track) of what ought to be done. The fourth mark, moha, is delusion: false or contrary knowledge, a false clinging or false conviction (abhinivesa). It is taking a thing to be other than it is. Together these four signs all turn the person inward toward stupor and away from clear seeing and right action.
Braided from 11 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas
The verse closes by addressing Arjuna as Kurunandana, 'delight of the Kurus,' and by stating the diagnostic rule plainly: when these marks are seen, know that tamas has grown. Several commentators draw out the practical force of this. Because the three gunas are subtle and cannot be perceived directly, they can only be recognized through their vrittis (their visible effects or mental states), which are gross enough to fall within the range of the senses and mind. So Krishna describes each guna by its effects precisely so that the seeker can identify which guna is at work. One commentator notes that the very address Kurunandana carries a hint: as one born of the noble Kuru line, Arjuna should not take on these dark marks himself.
Braided from 6 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Ramsukhdas
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
These commentators read the four marks as a careful epistemic catalogue, defined precisely against the presence of their causes. Aprakasha is the utter unfitness for understanding even when a cause of understanding, such as a teacher or instruction, is present; apravritti is the utter unfitness for action even when a cause of action is present, as when scripture says 'let one offer the fire-offering' and understanding of that scripture has even been produced, yet no action follows. Pramada is the absence of attention to a thing that has come up as something to be done at that moment, and moha is delusion or the reverse of sleep, an otherwise-cognizing of what is to be known. They take the word eva ('only') as warding off any deviation: only when tamas has grown do these marks arise, so by these unfailing marks tamas is to be known. One of these voices adds that tamas grows great specifically through an excess of non-discrimination, the failure to tell things apart.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri
Viśiṣṭādvaita
These commentators give the four marks compactly and read them as a unified inward collapse. Want of light is the non-rising of knowledge; want of engagement is stiffness; heedlessness is the inattention whose fruit is engagement in what is not to be done; and delusion is contrary knowledge. They emphasize that all four signs alike turn inward toward stupor, and that by these one should know that tamas has grown strong.
Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika
Śuddhādvaita
These commentators read the marks through their own frameworks. One sets the verse within a fivefold scheme of avidya (ignorance): the blinding-tamisra, the tamisra, the great-delusion, the delusion, and tamas itself, which from svarupa-ajnana (ignorance of one's own true nature) grow in reverse order as overlays in the prana (vital force), the inner instrument, the senses, and the body; he holds that this five-jointed avidya is here simply named under the single heading of the tamoguna, so that the apparent multiplication of avidya-schemes is in truth one psychology of overlay. The other reads the four marks devotionally: aprakasha is the non-clearness of the citta; apravritti is the failure to set out for the service of the Lord and the company of his devotees; pramada is the failure to keep up the worship of the Lord; and moha is attachment to samsara, the round of worldly existence.
Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
Bhakti
These commentators gloss the marks in a devotional and practical key. Aprakasha is the lapse of viveka; apravritti is the absence of effort; pramada is the absence of anusandhana (keeping track) of what should be done; and moha is false abhinivesa, a false clinging or conviction. Two of them sharpen the marks further: non-illumination is not just dimness but grasping word and object in a manner not enjoined by scripture, and inactivity is an aversion to action that grasps at objects scripture does not sanction; pramada is the striking conviction that a thing 'is not here' even when it is held at one's very throat or in one's own hand. One adds a memorable summary of all three gunas together: sattva shines, rajas drives, tamas darkens, three unmistakable signatures.
Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva
Modern
These commentators apply the marks to lived spiritual life. One warns that tamas is a great stumbling block that must be destroyed at all costs, and that people often mistake it for sattva or for inner peace, taking the merely dull man for a silent yogi; he names the false spiritual talk that is really thick tamas, such as 'All is Maya, there is no world, why should I work, I am Brahman' used as an excuse for inertia. Another renders the marks plainly as darkness, a desire to do nothing, forgetfulness of one's duties, and confusion. The most developed of these voices fills in each mark concretely: aprakasha is when tamas presses down sattva so the senses and mind lose their clarity and what was learned is forgotten; apravritti is when tamas presses down rajas so even necessary work loses its appeal; pramada is throwing oneself into worthless activity (idle shows, cards, smoking) while neglecting what matters; and moha is the failure of viveka in deciding whether to act. He then draws the deeper teaching: the vrittis of all gunas naturally rise and fall, which proves that the purusha (the witnessing self) who knows the change does not itself change; the fault and the trap is to take these passing states into oneself and say 'I am lustful, I am angry,' whereas refusing them entry into one's sense of 'I' lets them fall away of themselves.
Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
A Seeker Asks
How do I tell genuine spiritual stillness and surrender apart from mere tamasic dullness, when both can look like sitting quietly and not striving?
Test the stillness by its marks. Tamasic 'quiet' comes packaged with four telltale signs: a darkening of the mind where knowledge will not arise even when a teacher or instruction is right in front of you, an inability to act even when there is clear reason to, an inattentive heedlessness that misses what is plainly at hand, and a delusion that takes things to be other than they are. If your calm carries these, it is not peace; it is tamas wearing peace's face.
Braided from 6 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Watch out for the specific counterfeit. Genuine stillness does not dull discrimination or appetite for right action; tamas does exactly that, draining even necessary duty of its appeal and pouring energy into worthless pastimes while leaving what matters undone. People routinely mistake this for the silence of a yogi, and even dress it in lofty words, 'all is Maya, why should I work,' which is not spirituality but thick tamas.
Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas
The cleanest diagnostic is that you cannot see a guna directly, only its effects, so judge the state by the vrittis it produces rather than by how restful it feels. True stillness leaves viveka, the power of clear discrimination, intact and even sharpened, so that right knowing and right doing are available to you; tamasic dullness is precisely the eclipse of that discrimination. And do not identify with whichever state is present: since these states rise and pass while the witnessing self does not, the way through is to refuse the dull mood entry into your sense of 'I,' which lets it dissolve and lets clarity grow on its own.
Swami Ramsukhdas · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Contemplation
Here is a way to carry this verse into daily life. The three gunas are too subtle to see directly; you know which one is running you only by its effects, its vrittis, the moods and states that show up in your mind and senses. So learn to read the marks honestly: when clarity fades and what you knew slips away, when even needful work loses all appeal, when you pour yourself into time-wasting and skip what matters, when your sense of right action goes slack, that is tamas pressing down on you, not peace. But the deeper move is gentler than fighting these states head-on. Notice that all such vrittis rise, fall, and pass, while the self that watches them does not change; you are the witness, distinct from the witnessed. The real fault is to take the passing state into your very 'I' and announce, 'I am lazy, I am deluded, I am angry.' Saying so invites the state in and seats it, and then you despair of ever being rid of it. Instead, treat these visitors as outsiders. Refuse them entry into your sense of 'I,' and they fall off on their own. By holding fast to the simple discrimination that you are altogether other than these moods, tamas and rajas dwindle and sattva grows of itself.
Sit with this · Swami Ramsukhdas
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