यद् अग्रे चानुबन्धे च सुखं मोहनम् आत्मनः । निद्रालस्यप्रमादोत्थं तत् तामसम् उदाहृतम् ॥
yad agre cānubandhe ca sukhaṃ mohanam ātmanaḥ | nidrālasya-pramādotthaṃ tat tāmasam udāhṛtam ||
Tāmasic sukha: deluding of the self both at start and in consequence — arises from sleep, laziness, and carelessness.
Word by word (3)
- yad agre cānubandhe ca sukhaṃ mohanam ātmanaḥ
- — that (yad) happiness (sukham) which is deluding/confusing (mohanam = causing moha) of the self/ātman (ātmanaḥ = of the self), both at the beginning (agre) and (ca) in the sequel/consequence (anubandhe = in-what-follows), — tāmasic happiness = delusion BOTH at start and at end; no nectar phase
- nidrālasya-pramādotthaṃ tat tāmasam udāhṛtam
- — arising from/born of (uttham = arisen, from ut + sthā = standing-up-from) sleep (nidrā) + laziness (ālasya) + carelessness/heedlessness (pramāda), that (tat) is declared (udāhṛtam) tāmasic (tāmasam) — three tāmasic sources: nidrā + ālasya + pramāda
- mohanam ātmanaḥ agre cānubandhe ca
- — deluding (mohanam) of the self (ātmanaḥ), both at the start (agre) and in consequence (anubandhe) — this is the key difference from rājasic: rājasic has a nectar phase (agre) before the poison; tāmasic has no nectar phase at all — it is deluding from beginning to end; there is no moment where it actually satisfies; it only obscures and confuses
That happiness which deludes the self both at the beginning and in consequence, arising from sleep, laziness, and carelessness — that is declared tāmasic.
A modern analogy
Tāmasic happiness is numbing — not the pleasure of rājasic sensory enjoyment, but the dull relief of unconsciousness: sleeping too much, zoning out, avoiding engagement, the 'comfort' of pure inertia. It neither satisfies nor causes lasting pain in the way rājasic does — it simply keeps the soul in the fog of tamas, deluded from beginning to end.
V39 closes the three-fold sukha analysis (V36-39). The progression: sāttvic (V37) = viṣam first → amṛta in the end; rājasic (V38) = amṛta first → viṣam at end; tāmasic (V39) = mohanam ātmanaḥ agre ca anubandhe ca (delusion both at start and end — no genuine happiness at any stage). The tāmasic condition is the most existentially bleak: not even a moment of genuine pleasure, only the fog of self-delusion. Nidrā-ālasya-pramāda (sleep-laziness-carelessness) are the tamas-trio from Ch.14.
The agre cānubandhe ca (both at start and end) formulation for tāmasic happiness is philosophically precise. In rājasic happiness the soul is at least momentarily satisfied (the initial amṛtopamam). In tāmasic happiness, even the initial moment is deluding (mohanam) rather than genuinely satisfying. The person thinks they are happy (sleeping, avoiding, being lazy) but this is not happiness — it is the absence of the friction that might wake them up. This is tamas as āvaraṇa (covering) at the level of sukha.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
The pleasure which at first and in the sequel is delusive of the self, arising from sleep, indolence, and heedlessness, that pleasure is declared to be Tamasic. [1]
That happiness which begins and results in self-delusion arising from sleep, indolence, and miscomprehension, that is declared to be Tamasika. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
That which at first and in its consequences deludes the soul, and springs from sleep, indolence, and stupidity, is described to be of the quality of darkness. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Equal in pleasure-pain, clod-stone-gold, agreeable-disagreeable, censure-praise — the guṇātīta abides in self.
Steady wisdom begins here: when all desires fall away and the Self finds fullness in itself alone.
The self-conquered yogi finds the Supreme Self equally present through cold, heat, joy, pain, honour and dishonour.
Once that joy is found, no other gain seems greater — established in it, even the heaviest sorrow cannot shake you.
Even the wise act by their nature. All beings follow nature. Forced repression accomplishes nothing.
Even the wise are confused about action vs. inaction. I will explain — knowing this frees you from all wrong.