यया स्वप्नं भयं शोकं विषादं मदमेव च ।न विमुञ्चति दुर्मेधा धृतिः सा पार्थ तामसी ॥
yayā svapnaṃ bhayaṃ śokaṃ viṣādaṃ madameva cana vimuñcati durmedhā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī
That by which one from ignorance doth not abandon sleep, fear, grief, depression, and also pride, that persistence, O Partha, is tamasic.
Gītā 18·35Timidity, shirking, evasion, indolence, the justification by the mind of its fears and false doubts and cautions and refusals of duty and its lapses and turnings from the call of our higher nature, a safe following of the line of least resistance so that there may be the least trouble and effort and peril in the winning of the fruit of our labour,—rather no fruit or poor result, it says, than a great and noble toil or a perilous and exacting endeavour and adventure,—these are characteristics of the tamasic will and intelligence.
