Tamas

Ego, is it? No, not ego. Tamas means lethargy—so much laziness that, as for what will happen tomorrow, where is the concern… what is there to do? Whatever will be, will be. For now, just keep walking quietly. Such laziness that even if someone were to come into this room and announce that tomorrow this house will catch fire, we would still go on living as though no fire were going to break out tomorrow—because if we accept that it will, then we would have to do something now. And that having to do something feels so heavy that not doing—letting things go on as they are—seems just fine.

If we accept that death is certain—whether ten years from now, twenty, or fifty, what difference does it make—if it becomes clear and firm in our consciousness that death is inevitable, then we will have to do something. We cannot go on living the way we are; we will have to make a change. And there is so much laziness about making that change that we say, “All right, we’ll see tomorrow; whatever happens, happens.” And this is what I call tamas. Tamas means a dense burden of darkness upon the mind that doesn’t let us do anything. Even if it is explained to us, it doesn’t let us act; even if we are warned, it doesn’t let us act. And our inclination not to act is such that, as things are going, we quietly keep moving along in the same rut. So it isn’t that there is no understanding…

Tamas means inertia. Tamas means stopping. Tamas means to be held. Tamas is the binding force. Without tamas, things would keep moving and never stop. You throw a stone; if there were no tamas in the world, no restraining force, no obstruction, the stone would go on, on—how would it stop? Tamas is the obstructing energy. When you throw the stone, you give it the force of rajas. Hence your arm aches; energy left your hand. You lost something in throwing. And to the extent you gave energy, to that extent the stone goes far. As the energy ends, tamas pulls it down. What Newton called gravitation is a local application, a form of tamas. Tamas has many forms; gravitation is one. Tamas is the force that draws downward. By which you fall into hell—that is tamas. When you steal, tamas; when you lie, tamas.

Verse (Sanskrit): अप्रकाशोऽप्रवृत्तिश्च प्रमादो मोह एव च। तमस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे कुरुनन्दन।। 13।। यदा सत्त्वे प्रवृद्धे तु प्रलयं याति देहभृत्‌। तदोत्तमविदां लोकानमलान्प्रतिपद्यते।। 14।। रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसङ्‌गिषु जायते। तथा प्रलीनस्तमसि मूढयोनिषु जायते।। 15।। Transliteration: aprakāśo'pravṛttiśca pramādo moha eva ca| tamasyetāni jāyante vivṛddhe kurunandana|| 13|| yadā sattve pravṛddhe tu pralayaṃ yāti dehabhṛt‌| tadottamavidāṃ lokānamalānpratipadyate|| 14|| rajasi pralayaṃ gatvā karmasaṅ‌giṣu jāyate| tathā pralīnastamasi mūḍhayoniṣu jāyate|| 15|| Translation: Absence of light, inaction, heedlessness, and delusion as well. These arise when Tamas is ascendant, O joy of the Kurus. 13. When Sattva has increased and the embodied meets dissolution, Then he attains the stainless worlds of the supremely wise. 14. Passing in Rajas, he is born among those bound to action; Likewise, dissolved in Tamas, he is born in wombs of the deluded. 15. Now let us take the sutra. O Arjuna, when tamas increases, darkness arises in the mind and senses.