Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 14, Verse 8
तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम्।प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत।।
tamas tv ajñāna-jaṁ viddhi mohanaṁ sarva-dehinām
pramādālasya-nidrābhis tan nibadhnāti bhārata
also searched as "tamas tv ajnana-jam viddhi mohanam sarva-dehinam"
Translation
Know that Tamas is born of false knowledge and deludes all embodied beings. It binds, O Arjuna, with negligence, indolence, and sleep.
Vāṇi's rendering
Darkness is born of not-knowing, and it fools every creature. It binds with carelessness, heaviness, and sleep.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तमःtamas | darkness; the heavy, dulling strand |
| तुtu | but; and as for this |
| अज्ञानजम्ajñāna-jaṁ | born of not-knowing |
| विद्धिviddhi | know |
| मोहनम्mohanaṁ | the fooler; what clouds and confuses |
| सर्वदेहिनाम्sarva-dehinām | of all who wear a body |
| प्रमादpramāda | carelessness, letting things slip (joined by sandhi to the next word) |
| आलस्यālasya | heaviness, unwillingness to move |
| निद्राभिःnidrābhiḥ | and by sleep (the three named together as the means of binding) |
| तत्tan | that (darkness); tat before n |
| निबध्नातिnibadhnāti | binds fast |
| भारतbhārata | Arjuna, of Bharata's line |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Verse 8 mean?
Krishna tells Arjuna that tamas rises out of not-knowing and clouds every embodied being. Its three ropes are named plainly: carelessness, heaviness, sleep. It does not bind by tempting you with something. It binds by making everything, including your own life, seem not worth attending to.
What does tamas tv ajnana-jam viddhi mohanam sarva-dehinam mean?
Know darkness as born of ajñāna — not-knowing — and as the fooler of all who wear a body. Krishna is precise: tamas is not an evil force sent to punish. It is simply what fills a room where no light has entered. Remove the ignorance and the fog has nothing to stand on.
Why does Krishna call sleep a form of bondage?
Not the body's rest, which the Gītā never condemns. Krishna means the sleep that seeps into waking hours — the dullness that postpones, the drowsiness of attention. Rest restores you to your work. This kind takes the work away and leaves you feeling nothing was owed.
How do I recognise tamas in myself?
Look for what you have stopped questioning. Rajas announces itself as agitation; sattva feels like clarity. Tamas is quieter — the plan you no longer mention, the effort that seems pointless before it begins. If you cannot summon interest in your own life, that is the fog, not the truth about your life.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Krishna names the binders in turn, and this one is hardest to notice — because noticing is exactly what it takes away. Sattva binds by pleasure, rajas by restlessness; tamas binds by fog. It does not argue with you. It makes the question feel not worth asking. Carelessness, heaviness, sleep — the afternoon that swallows the intention, the task deferred so long it stops existing. Arjuna's collapse on the field had some of this in it. And note where it is born: not-knowing. Tamas is not a punishment; it is what darkness does when no light has been let in. Open one window today.