Bg. 18.28 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

अयुक्त: प्राकृत: स्तब्ध: शठो नैष्कृतिकोऽलस: । विषादी दीर्घसूत्री च कर्ता तामस उच्यते ॥ २८ ॥

Verse text

ayuktaḥ prākṛtaḥ stabdhaḥ śaṭho naiṣkṛtiko ’lasaḥ viṣādī dīrgha-sūtrī ca kartā tāmasa ucyate

Synonyms

ayuktaḥ — not referring to the scriptural injunctions ; prākṛtaḥ — materialistic ; stabdhaḥ — obstinate ; śaṭhaḥ — deceitful ; naiṣkṛtikaḥ — expert in insulting others ; alasaḥ — lazy ; viṣādī — morose ; dīrgha-sūtrī — procrastinating ; ca — also ; kartā — worker ; tāmasaḥ — in the mode of ignorance ; ucyate — is said to be.

Translation

The worker who is always engaged in work against the injunctions of the scripture, who is materialistic, obstinate, cheating and expert in insulting others, and who is lazy, always morose and procrastinating is said to be a worker in the mode of ignorance.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

28. One who does what should not be done, whose acts according his nature, who is indifferent to work, who is deceitful, who offends others, who is lazy, dejected, and delays the work, is known as a tamasic worker.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

28. One who does what should not be done, whose acts according his nature, who is not humble, who hides his abilities, who offends others, who is lazy, dejected, and delays the work is known as a tamasic worker.

Purport

In the scriptural injunctions we find what sort of work should be performed and what sort of work should not be performed. Those who do not care for those injunctions engage in work not to be done, and such persons are generally materialistic. They work according to the modes of nature, not according to the injunctions of the scripture. Such workers are not very gentle, and generally they are always cunning and expert in insulting others. They are very lazy; even though they have some duty, they do not do it properly, and they put it aside to be done later on. Therefore they appear to be morose. They procrastinate; anything which can be done in an hour they drag on for years. Such workers are situated in the mode of ignorance.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

One who does what should not be done is ayuktaḥ. One who acts according his nature, so that whatever occurs in his mind he does, rather than according to the instruction of the guru is called prākṛtaḥ. One who offends others is naiṣkṛtikaḥ. The jṣānīs must perform the sattvic tyāga described here, must take shelter of the knowledge fixed in sattvic karma, must perform sattvic work, and must become a sattvic doer. This is the sannyāsa of the jṣānī. This is essential meaning of the section. The knowledge (jṣānam) possessed by the devotees however is beyond the guṇas. Their work (karma) for Me, called bhakti-yoga, is beyond the guṇas. The doers (bhaktas) are also beyond the guṇas. This is stated by the Lord in the Bhāgavatam: kaivalyaṁ sattvicṁ jṣānaṁ rajo vaikalpikaṁ tu yat prākṛtaṁ tāmasaṁ jṣānaṁ man-niṣṭhaṁ nirguṇaṁ smṛtam Absolute knowledge is in the mode of goodness, knowledge based on duality is in the mode of passion, and foolish, materialistic knowledge is in the mode of ignorance. Knowledge based upon Me, however, is understood to be transcendental. SB 11.25.24 lakṣaṇaṁ bhakti-yogasya nirguṇasya hy udāhṛtam The characteristics of bhakti-yoga which is beyond the guṇas are manifested.

Surrender Unto Me

This point about ignorance as it said before in the previous sloka that ignorance will be against the sastra and here the worker who is in ignorance is materialistic, is obstinate, he is cheating, expert in insulting others, he is lazy, morose and procrastinating ‑ these are the symptoms of someone who works (or rather doesn't work) in the mode of ignorance. [4. Understandings: One in goodness understands what should be done, one in passion can't distinguish between what should and shouldn't be done, and one in ignorance strives in the wrong direction. (29‑32) ]