Chapter 18 · Verse 32

Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender

अधर्मं धर्ममिति या मन्यते तमसाऽऽवृता।सर्वार्थान्विपरीतांश्च बुद्धिः सा पार्थ तामसी

adharmaṁ dharmam iti yā manyate tamasāvṛitā sarvārthān viparītānśh cha buddhiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī

Word Meanings

adharmam — irreligion; dharmam — religion; iti — thus; yā — which; manyate — imagines; tamasa-āvṛitā — shrouded in darkness; sarva-arthān — all things; viparītān — opposite; cha — and; buddhiḥ — intellect; sā — that; pārtha — Arjun, the son of Pritha; tāmasī — of the nature of ignorance

Language:

Translation

That intellect which, shrouded in darkness, mistakes irreligion for religion and sees all things in a perverted way—that, O Arjuna, is of the nature of ignorance.

Commentary

अधर्मम् Adharma? धर्मम् Dharma? इति thus? या which? मन्यते thinks? तमसा by darkness? आवृता enveloped? सर्वार्थान् all things? विपरीतान् perverted? च and? बुद्धिः intellect? सा that? पार्थ O Partha? तामसी Tamasic (dark).Commentary That intellect which regards righteous acts as evil? and considers right things to be false? which treats everything in a contrary sense and looks upon virtues as if they were vices and takes everything that the scriptures declare to be good as being entirely wrong? is Tamasic. It views all things in a perverted light.Thus? O Arjuna? I have explained to thee the three aspects of the intellect. Now listen to the explanation of the characteristics of the three aspects of firmness.