Chapter 18 · Verse 39·Spoken by Krishna
यदग्रे चानुबन्धे च सुखं मोहनमात्मनः।निद्रालस्यप्रमादोत्थं तत्तामसमुदाहृतम्
yad agre chānubandhe cha sukhaṁ mohanam ātmanaḥ nidrālasya-pramādotthaṁ tat tāmasam udāhṛitam
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
Word by Word
Reading set · 5 translations · 3 commentaries
Translation · 5 voices
That joy is said to be born of tamas, which, both in the beginning and in the end, is delusive to oneself and arises from sleep, laziness, and inadvertence.
Swami Gambiranandaafter Śaṅkara's bhāṣya· paired with Śaṅkara
That pleasure which, at the beginning and end, deludes the self, through sleep, sloth, and error, is declared to be tamasic.
Swami Adidevanandaafter Rāmānuja's bhāṣya· paired with Rāmānuja
The happiness that, both initially and subsequently, is of the nature of deluding the Self; and which results from sleep, indolence, and heedlessness—that is stated to be of the Tamas (Strand).
Dr. S. Sankaranarayanafter Madhva's bhāṣya· paired with Madhva
That happiness which at first, as well as in the end, deludes the self, and which arises from sleep, indolence, and heedlessness—that is declared to be Tamasic.
Swami SivanandaThe Bhagavad Gita
While the pleasure that drugs the senses from start to finish, which springs from indolence, lethargy, and folly—that pleasure flows from Ignorance.
Shri Purohit SwamiThe Geeta
This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.
The happiness which both at the outset and in its sequel and afterward deludes the self, which arises from sleep, sloth, and heedlessness, that is declared to be of tamas. Now a verse is begun to conclude the topic.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
The happiness that at the outset and in its sequel, in the hour of experience and in its ripening, is the deluding of the self, the cause of delusion; delusion here means the non-illumining of a thing as it truly stands; born of sleep, sloth, and heedlessness, begotten of sleep, sloth, and heedlessness; for sleep and the rest are causes of delusion even in the hour of experience. That sleep is a cause of delusion is plain; sloth is the slowness of the working of the senses, and with the slowness of the working of the senses there comes a slowness of knowledge; and heedlessness, of the form of inattention to what is to be done, by that too there comes a slowness of knowledge; so those two also are causes of delusion. That happiness is declared tamasic. So it is said that, by the seeker of liberation, having overpowered rajas and tamas, sattva alone is to be taken up.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.
Madhvacharya does not comment on this verse.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.