Tamas stubbornly holds harmful states.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
यया स्वप्नं भयं शोकं विषादं मदमेव च |न विमुञ्चति दुर्मेधा धृतिः सा पार्थ तामसी ||१८-३५||
yayā svapnaṃ bhayaṃ śokaṃ viṣādaṃ madameva ca . na vimuñcati durmedhā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī ||18-35||
Use this verse to identify stuck tamasic loops.
Meaning
O Partha, that determination by which a dull-minded person does not give up sleep, fear, grief, despair, and intoxication is tamasic.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Tamasic determination clings to sleep, fear, grief, despair, and intoxication.
Word-by-word meaning
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Explanation
Krishna reveals that even persistence can be negative. Tamas holds people in patterns that harm them: oversleeping, fear loops, grief loops, despair, and intoxication.
Read the traditional commentary
Tamasic dhriti is a perverse stubbornness by which a dull-minded person (durmedha) refuses to release sleep, fear, grief, despair, and conceit. Here firmness clings to the very things that should be let go, gripping its own darkness with grim tenacity.
This is willpower turned against the soul. We often imagine determination as always good, but Krishna shows that one can be firmly, immovably attached to one's worst states — wallowing in despondency, nursing fears, hugging arrogance, surrendering to laziness. Such stubborn loyalty to inertia and gloom is firmness in name only. True dhriti holds fast to what uplifts; tamasic dhriti only deepens the rut.
In daily life
Break one dulling loop with gentle but firm action.
A person may keep replaying fear at night and oversleep the next morning, strengthening tamasic dhriti.
Try this today
Take one small action against sleep, fear, grief, despair, or intoxication.
I release the states that keep me in darkness.Reflect
Which harmful state am I refusing to release?
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Quick check
What does ‘स्वप्नं’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on tamas, in other chapters
Swipe left for 18.36 · Happiness also has a guna-quality.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 18.35
Who says Bhagavad Gita 18.35, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 18.35, in Chapter 18, Moksha Sannyas Yoga (Moksha Sannyas Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 18.35 mean?
O Partha, that determination by which a dull-minded person does not give up sleep, fear, grief, despair, and intoxication is tamasic. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 18.35 for daily life?
Break one dulling loop with gentle but firm action. A person may keep replaying fear at night and oversleep the next morning, strengthening tamasic dhriti.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 18.35 mean?
यया — by which; स्वप्नं — sleep / dreaming; भयं — fear; शोकं — grief; विषादं — despair.
Where does verse 18.35 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 35 of 78 in Chapter 18, Moksha Sannyas Yoga. The next verse is 18.36.