Chapter 17 Shloka 10

यातयामं गतरसं पूति पर्युषितं च यत्।

उच्छिष्टमपि चामेध्यं भोजनं तामसप्रियम्।।१०।।

Half-cooked, parched, putrid,

stale, polluted and impure –

such is the diet that is dear to those

who are predominantly tamsic.

Chapter 17 Shloka 10

यातयामं गतरसं पूति पर्युषितं च यत्।

उच्छिष्टमपि चामेध्यं भोजनं तामसप्रियम्।।१०।।

Now the Lord speaks of the tamsic diet.

Half-cooked, parched, putrid, stale, polluted and impure – such is the diet that is dear to those who are predominantly tamsic.

Kamla, first consider the natural traits of a tamsic being:

a) Pride of the body and moha.

b) Ignorance and sheer blindness.

c) Bound by sloth.

d) Afflicted by laziness and sleep.

e) Inaction.

f) The tendency to embrace imaginary principles.

g) Oblivious to duty.

A tamsic diet

1. Such people eat stale food cooked by others.

2. They partake of uncooked food.

3. They eat food that is decaying.

4. They eat food that should have been eaten much earlier.

5. They partake of food that has lost its essence.

6. They eat half-cooked food.

7. They eat food that is tainted.

8. They partake of food that is of no use to anyone.

9. They eat that food which is polluted and causes disease.

10. They eat food that augments ignorance.

Tamsic knowledge

1. Their knowledge is based on delusion.

2. Their knowledge is based on meaningless books.

3. Their knowledge is devoid of thought and consideration.

4. Such knowledge comprises of thoughts stolen from another and lacks personal experience. Therefore this knowledge is never complete.

5. Their statements are full of half-cooked knowledge.

6. They try to sell half-baked thoughts and ideas.

7. They try to preach their half-baked ideas to others, but since their ideas are stale, they often do not relate to present day problems. Thus the ignorant tamsic being is also as half-cooked as his thoughts!

Gatras (गतरस) – Parched

Such people partake of food that is devoid of sap.

1. The lives of such people are meaningless.

2. These demonic people live only for themselves.

3. They shirk their duty.

4. They are lazy.

5. They make every excuse to abandon their duty.

6. They make others’ lives meaningless and insipid as well.

7. They are dead for another. Yet they are always indulging in inimical activities where others are concerned.

8. They do not grasp the true meaning of the principles of dharma due to their innate slothfulness. Hence they attribute wrong meanings to the principles of dharma, and translating them to suit their own purposes, they render them meaningless and lifeless.

9. Tamsic beings are not devoid of activity. In fact they perform deeds which are opposed to duty.

10. Full of ignorance, these are people who have lost their way and vitiate even the natural path towards the Supreme.

11. Those who follow these tamsic beings are also likely to lose their path.

12. Those who follow these tamsic beings are devoid of scriptural decree.

13. These tamsic beings sink themselves and ruin the lives of others as well.

14. When they find it difficult to earn through just principles and through their own efforts, they begin to rob others.

15. They even kill anyone who dares to oppose them.

16. They thus rob the happiness of innumerable homes.

17. If they gain any knowledge, they use it to destroy themselves.

18. They use such knowledge to render their children orphans.

19. They use such knowledge to widow their wives and advise others too, to renounce their hearth and home.

20. They set out to preach divinity but ruin their homes in the bargain.

21. They set out to preach about love but desert those who love them.

22. They renounce their duty yet set out to salvage the world.

This is the consequence of the attribute of tamas.

a) It renders knowledge lifeless.

b) It desolates a home buzzing with life.

c) It renders a life full of love, dry and devoid of beauty.

d) It spreads the foul smell of negativity.

Thus such tamsic food can be defined as ‘foul smelling’.

Pooti (पूति) – Foul smelling

1. It is the life of yagya that yields a fragrance.

2. When only sorrow is meted out to others, a foul smell ensues.

3. A mind that is filled with ignorance, desire and craving can only emit a foul smell.

4. Such a mind, impelled by ignorance born of an unfavourable destiny, gives off this offensive smell.

5. Every word that leaves the lips reeks of a foul smell and consequently strengthens and nourishes such malodorous attitudes.

6. An untruthful speech, an untruthful life, serves to augment the deceitful and fraudulent tendencies that inhere in us when others become the victims of our untruthful behaviour.

Paryushitam (पर्युषितं) – Stale

1. Such food is partaken of by one who lives in the past. Such a one revels in the happenings of yesterday.

2. Once offended, such a one is ever nourished by the subsequent inimical tendencies that collect within.

3. Once an enemy, such a one’s remaining life becomes an unmitigated attack on his supposed foe.

4. Such a one can never forget past events and happenings.

1. One who is tamsic in nature is ever blinded by the knots of his mind.

2. These mental knots consist of stale thoughts centred on past events.

3. One who cannot forget past antagonism eats only stale food.

4. He is ever dissatisfied himself and frustrates others as well. In fact, such a one becomes evil and wicked.

5. Oblivious to prevalent culture and tradition, such a one recounts stale knowledge and principles. He makes it impossible to translate knowledge based on Truth into practice.

Uchhistam (उच्छिष्टम्) – Polluted, pre-tasted

One who is predominantly tamsic, partakes of food that has been previously been tasted by another.

1. Such a person steals another’s words and puts his own name upon them.

2. He steals another’s wealth and makes it his own.

3. He steals another’s knowledge and passes it off as his own.

4. He steals another’s credits and establishes his own rights upon them.

People who thus exist on another’s ‘diet’, feed the world on that stolen diet as well. They feed upon others’ leftovers and falsify others. They distort every thought process and project even the truth as false.

Such people project another’s experience as their own experience to the world. They habitually stamp their own name upon another’s dreams or plans. The present day politician, the so-called saintly personages as well as the ordinary, worldly man – all partake of this polluted diet of another’s leftovers.

Kamla, if one has something original to say, it is different – otherwise, why be proud of presenting ideas which are merely another’s leftovers? At least be prepared to tell the truth that this idea was stolen from someone else. Knowledge of the Truth inspires humility. Then how can one be so proud?

Every human being should know this fact. Only then will gratitude, truth and love increase.

The attribute of tamas is impure

1. It is the attribute of tamas that tries to prove false principles to be true.

2. Denial of duty is born of this attribute.

3. It is this attribute that pollutes whatever is pure.

a) One whose mind cooks ingratitude;

b) one whose so-called justice is full of injustice, whose intellect ‘prepares’ such injustice;

c) one whose dharma is to act wickedly;

d) one who is impelled by darkness;

e) one who is inspired by ignorance;

f) one whose truth is sheer delusion;

cooks only untruth in the vessel of his body. How can such a one ever be pure who partakes of impure food continually? He cooks impurity within and serves the same impure victuals to those who come before him. Thus his own impurity is nourished and strengthened.