A core teaching · reflective in mood · easy to enter
“Dullness in the doer makes even action inert and harmful.”
A careless, crude, stubborn, deceitful, lazy, gloomy, and procrastinating doer is called tamasic.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyundisciplined/careless · crude/unenlightened · stubborn/obstinate · deceitful · malicious/ungrateful · lazy · gloomy · procrastinating · and · doer · tamasic · is called
A person who acts carelessly, lazily, stubbornly, and deceitfully is working from tamasic energy. That kind of action is dull, delayed, and harmful.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Moksha Sanyasa Yoga" (Liberation through Renunciation).
Verse 28 sits in Chapter 18 of the Bhagavad Gita — Moksha Sanyasa Yoga, "Liberation through Renunciation". The chapter has 78 verses in total.
A student keeps putting off his thesis, tells his guide it is nearly done, and spends the afternoons asleep. Krishna's list fits uncomfortably well: the delay, the deceit and the gloom belong to the tamasic doer.
Did you like this verse?
Careless, crude, stubborn, deceitful, lazy, gloomy and procrastinating: these mark the tamasic doer in Krishna's list.
What this verse means
A person who acts carelessly, lazily, stubbornly, and deceitfully is working from tamasic energy. That kind of action is dull, delayed, and harmful.
Context & commentary
With Arjuna frozen and Krishna sorting the nature of action, the teaching now turns to the lowest kind of doer. After describing clear and passionate action, Krishna names the dull, delaying, and harmful pattern that keeps a person stuck.
What it looks like today
A student keeps putting off his thesis, tells his guide it is nearly done, and spends the afternoons asleep. Krishna's list fits uncomfortably well: the delay, the deceit and the gloom belong to the tamasic doer.
“It helps you notice when resistance, delay, and self-deception are draining your actions.”
Explore related themes: tamas (18 verses)