Topic

Laziness

3 verses from the Bhagavad Gita on laziness. Explore teachings across 2 chapters.

All Verses

Chapter 14 • Verse 8 →The Yoga of the Division of the Three Gunas
Tamas tv ajnana-jam viddhi mohanam sarva-dehinam, pramadalasya-nidraabhis tan nibadhnati bharata

Know that tamas (ignorance) is born from ignorance and deludes all embodied beings. It binds by carelessness, laziness, and sleep, O Arjuna. Tamas is the grossest mode — it covers the light of awareness entirely with inertia and delusion.

  • •Tamas arises from ignorance and delusion
  • •The mode of ignorance binds through laziness and sleep
  • •Tamas is the greatest obstacle to spiritual progress
tamasignorancedelusionbinding
Chapter 18 • Verse 28 →The Yoga of Liberation and Renunciation
ayuktah prakritah stabdhah satho naiskritiko 'lasah visadi dirgha-sutri ca karta tamasa ucyate

The doer who is undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn, deceitful, malicious, lazy, despondent, and procrastinating is called tamasic. This description paints a vivid portrait of the spiritually degraded actor who brings suffering to themselves and others.

  • •The tamasic doer is marked by indiscipline, deceit, laziness, and malice
  • •Despondency and procrastination are signs of tamas dominating one's character
  • •Tamasic agency degrades both the actor and the quality of the action
tamasic-doertamasdeceitguna
Chapter 18 • Verse 39 →The Yoga of Liberation and Renunciation
yad agre canubandhe ca sukham mohanam atmanah nidralasya-pramadottham tat tamasam udahritam

The happiness that deludes the soul both in the beginning and in consequence, arising from sleep, sloth, and negligence — that is declared to be tamasic happiness. Tamasic pleasure numbs rather than nourishes, deepening delusion.

  • •Tamasic happiness deludes both at the outset and in its consequences
  • •Sleep, laziness, and negligence are the roots of tamasic pleasure
  • •Unlike rajasic pleasure that starts well, tamasic pleasure is deluding from start to finish
tamasic-happinesstamasdelusionguna