Verse 18.32

Verse 18.32: “That which—enveloped in Tamas (darkness)—conceives the Adharma as Dharma, and (in fact) all objects as other than they are; that intellect, Oh Son of Pritha is Tamas-dominated. (724)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

A thief considers as a byway the high road taken by a king: or it is the night time to the demons what is the day time for others: or to an unlucky one there appears a heap of coal where there is in fact a treasure; or an (ordinary) being considers non-existent the (essence of the) “Self”: the intellect that in this way considers as sins all religious acts and also considers false all that is real, the intellect that converts all right things into wrong ones and considers as defects all that are good qualities; that intellect which considers as perverse, all that is sanctioned by the Vedas, that intellect, Oh Son of Pandu, should be known as Tamas-ridden intellect, without reference to anything else. Could the (dark) night be ever taken as suitable for doing religious acts? Thus are made clear to you the three distinctive types of intellect, Oh you, the Full Moon—the one blowing out fully open the white lotus flower in the form of the realization of the ‘Self’. Now that which resolves and puts its shoulders to all actions following the intellect is tenacity and it is also of three types. Now I shall explain to you, with their respective signs, the three types of tenacity (dhṛti) to which you do give proper attention.