Chapter XVIII · Śloka 28
अयुक्तः प्राकृतः स्तब्धः शठो नैष्कृतिकोऽलसः |
विषादी दीर्घसूत्री च कर्ता तामस उच्यते ||
विषादी दीर्घसूत्री च कर्ता तामस उच्यते ||
ayuktaḥ prākṛtaḥ stabdhaḥ śaṭho naiṣkṛtiko 'lasaḥ |
viṣādī dīrgha-sūtrī ca kartā tāmasa ucyate ||
viṣādī dīrgha-sūtrī ca kartā tāmasa ucyate ||
The doer who is undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn, deceitful, malicious, lazy, despondent, and a procrastinator — that doer is said to be tāmasic.
Tamas expresses not simply as torpor but as the full cluster of qualities that flow from it: stubbornness, deceit, negligence, and a chronic inability to begin or complete anything. The tāmasic actor is enslaved by inertia dressed up as circumstance.