Bhagavad Gita 14.8
तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम् । प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत ॥ ८ ॥
tamas tv ajñāna-jaṁ viddhi mohanaṁ sarva-dehinām | pramādālasya-nidrābhis tan nibadhnāti bhārata ||8||
Translation
Know that tamas is born of ignorance, bewildering all embodied beings. It binds, O Bharata, by carelessness, sloth, and sleep.
Reflection
Where is carelessness or postponement currently doing more harm than you admit?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Fourteen
Tamas is the heaviest of the three. Its source is ajnana, plain unknowing, and its effect is moha, a confused stupor where things look the opposite of what they are. Its three signature bindings are pramada (carelessness, missed cues), alasya (sluggishness, postponement), and nidra (sleep that has nothing to do with rest). Most days carry a tamasic weather somewhere: the inability to start, the missed message, the dull afternoon. The verse names tamas not to shame anyone but to make it diagnosable. A seeker who can label the heaviness has already begun to lift, if only a little, away from it.