Devanagari
यत्तु कृत्स्नवदेकस्मिन्कार्ये सक्तमहैतुकम् ।
अतत्त्वार्थवदल्पं च तत्तामसमुदाहृतम् ॥ २२ ॥
Verse text
yat tu kṛtsna-vad ekasmin
kārye saktam ahaitukam
atattvārtha-vad alpaṁ ca
tat tāmasam udāhṛtam
Synonyms
yat
—
that which
;
tu
—
but
;
kṛtsna-vat
—
as all in all
;
ekasmin
—
in one
;
kārye
—
work
;
saktam
—
attached
;
ahaitukam
—
without cause
;
atattva-artha-vat
—
without knowledge of reality
;
alpam
—
very meager
;
ca
—
and
;
tat
—
that
;
tāmasam
—
in the mode of darkness
;
udāhṛtam
—
is said to be.
Translation
And that knowledge by which one is attached to one kind of work as the all in all, without knowledge of the truth, and which is very meager, is said to be in the mode of darkness.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
22. That knowledge which is without reason, attached to one material action, not concerned with truth, and which is scant, is known as knowledge in tamo-guṇa.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
22. That knowledge which is without reason, attached to one action, not concerned with truth, which is scant, is known as knowledge in tama guṇa.
Purport
The “knowledge” of the common man is always in the mode of darkness or ignorance because every living entity in conditional life is born into the mode of ignorance. One who does not develop knowledge through the authorities or scriptural injunctions has knowledge that is limited to the body. He is not concerned about acting in terms of the directions of scripture. For him God is money, and knowledge means the satisfaction of bodily demands. Such knowledge has no connection with the Absolute Truth. It is more or less like the knowledge of the ordinary animals: the knowledge of eating, sleeping, defending and mating. Such knowledge is described here as the product of the mode of darkness. In other words, knowledge concerning the spirit soul beyond this body is called knowledge in the mode of goodness, knowledge producing many theories and doctrines by dint of mundane logic and mental speculation is the product of the mode of passion, and knowledge concerned only with keeping the body comfortable is said to be in the mode of ignorance.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This verse speaks of tamasic knowledge. Knowledge which is speculative only (ahaitukam—not with reference to any scripture), which is extremely attached to performing one material activity such as eating or bathing, drinking or enjoying with a woman, with disregard for Vedic activities like sacrifice, with no idea of real truth (atattva artha vat), knowledge which is scant like that of an animal, is known as tamasic knowledge.
Knowledge of tat, which is different from the body is sattvic. Knowledge of scriptures of logic and such, which gives rise to various doctrines, is rajasic. Knowledge, which is only of bathing, eating and other material actions, is tamasic. This is a summary of the three types of knowledge.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
This verse speaks of knowledge in the mode of ignorance. That method of knowledge which is just according to ones nature (ahaitukam), not arising from scripture, and involved in one material action only (ekasmin) and nothing else (kṛtsna-vad), such as bathing, or eating or associating with women, with no attachment to Vedic actions such as sacrifice or charity; which does not have the goal of arriving at truth (atattvārtha-vad); which is insignificant like that of an animal (alpam), concerning only material bathing or eating, is called knowledge in the mode of ignorance.