Verse 18.25

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 18.25:

अनुबन्धं क्षयं हिंसाम् अनपेक्ष्य च पौरुषम् ।
मोहाद् आरभ्यते कर्म यत् तत् तामसम् उच्यते ॥ २५ ॥

anubandhaṃ kṣayaṃ hiṃsām anapekṣya ca pauruṣam |
mohād ārabhyate karma yat tat tāmasam ucyate || 25 ||

anubandham–(miserable) consequences; kṣayam–destruction (of virtue); hiṃsām–self-destruction or violence to others; anapekṣya–without considering; ca–and; pauruṣam–one’s own ability; mohāt–out of delusion; ārabhyate–is undertaken; karma–activity; yat–which; tat–that; tāmasam–governed by the quality of darkness; ucyate–is said to be.

Action that is performed in delusion, without considering one’s own ability, and which causes future misery and the destruction of knowledge and religiosity, as well as loss to one's self or trouble to others, is said to be governed by the quality of darkness.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

The prefix anu in the word anubandham means ‘that which takes place in the future, after the karma has been performed’. In other words, it means the consequential results of action. Bandha means ‘the bondage enforced by people such as state police or Yamadūtas’. Any materialistic endeavour that commences in delusion, without properly considering resultant future miseries, loss of religiosity and knowledge, or self-destruction, is called action in the mode of ignorance.

 

 

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

In the above three verses, Śrī Bhagavān is explaining the three types of karma.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.25.23), it is also said:

mad-arpaṇaṃ niṣphalaṃ vā sāttvikaṃ nija-karma tat
rājasaṃ phala-saṅkalpaṃ himsā-prāyādi tāmasam

Only that nitya-karma which is selflessly performed as an offering to Bhagavān is in the mode of goodness. Karma performed with the desire to enjoy its fruits is in the mode of passion, and karma performed with violence and out of envy is in the mode of ignorance.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, “Action in the mode of ignorance makes one inclined to cruelty. It is performed in a bewildered state of mind, without properly considering the future misery it may cause or the destruction of knowledge and religiosity that it may incur. Or else it is violent, bringing loss to others as well as to oneself.”