Quiz · 14.1–14.10
The three bind
Cover the answer. Read the Devanagari of the verse before you open it.
1
In 14.8, what case is pramāda-ālasya-nidrābhiḥ (प्रमाद-आलस्य-निद्राभिः), and what question does that case answer?
Answer
Instrumental plural. It answers "by what." pramāda (प्रमाद), ālasya (आलस्य), and nidrā (निद्रा) are three nouns in one compound, and the ending --bhiḥ (भिः) is said once, on the last. tamas (तमस्) binds by negligence, by laziness, and by sleep.
2
In 14.5, rajaḥ (रजः) stands in front of tamaḥ (तमः) and iti (इति). What is recited, and which sandhi makes it?
Answer
rajas tama iti (रजस्तम इति). aḥ (अः) before the voiceless t (त्) becomes s (स्), so rajaḥ tamaḥ (रजः तमः) is rajas tamaḥ (रजस्तमः). Then aḥ (अः) before the vowel i (इ) drops its visarga and leaves the a (अ): tama iti (तम इति). Three words are in that sound. If tama (तम) is heard as a stump of tamaḥ (तमः), the third strand is gone.
3
Say 14.5 in one sentence.
Answer
sattva (सत्त्व), rajas (रजस्), and tamas (तमस्), the strands born of nature, bind the imperishable embodied one in the body.
4
What is 14.1–14.10 doing in the talk between Arjuna (अर्जुन) and Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण)?
Answer
Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण) speaks the whole stretch. Arjuna (अर्जुन) does not answer. He will speak again the highest knowledge, the one knowing which the sages have gone from here to the highest attainment. Who resorts to it comes to a nature the same as his. The great Brahman (ब्रह्म) is the womb, and he is the father who gives the seed. Then the three strands born of nature bind the embodied one in the body: sattva (सत्त्व) by clinging to happiness and to knowledge, rajas (रजस्) as the rising of thirst and clinging and by clinging to action, tamas (तमस्) by negligence, laziness, and sleep. Whichever strand has overpowered the other two is the one that prevails.
5
Cover the English of 14.6 through 14.8. Say what each strand binds by. Which word fails the sitting if tamas (तमस्) is short one instrument?
Answer
sattva (सत्त्व) binds by sukha-saṅgena (सुख-सङ्गेन) and jñāna-saṅgena (ज्ञान-सङ्गेन). rajas (रजस्) is tṛṣṇā-saṅga-samudbhavam (तृष्णा-सङ्ग-समुद्भवम्), the rising of thirst and clinging, and it binds by karma-saṅgena (कर्म-सङ्गेन). tamas (तमस्) binds by pramāda (प्रमाद), ālasya (आलस्य), and nidrā (निद्रा). If nidrā (निद्रा) drops, stay on 14.8.