Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 14: The Three Qualities of Nature
Bhagavad Gita 14.8
तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम् ।
प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत ॥
tamastvajñānajaṃ viddhi mohanaṃ sarvadehinām | pramādālasyanidrābhistannibadhnāti bhārata ||
Know inertia to be born of ignorance; it deludes all embodied beings. It binds, Arjuna, through carelessness, laziness, and sleep.
Modern context
Tamas is born of ignorance. It binds through carelessness, laziness and too much sleep. The tamasic state is familiar to everyone: the heavy, foggy mood in which nothing seems worth doing, the hours lost to distraction, the choice not to think. Tamas is not evil, but it dulls the mind until it cannot see clearly. The first step out of it is often simply to move.