विधिहीनमसृष्टान्नं मन्त्रहीनमदक्षिणाम् ।श्रद्धाविरहितं यज्ञं तामसं परिचक्षते ॥
vidhihīnamasṛṣṭānnaṁ mantrahīnamadakṣiṇāmśraddhāvirahitaṁ yajñaṁ tāmasaṁ paricakṣate
The sacrifice not performed according to the right rule of the Shastra, without giving of food, without the mantra, without gifts, empty of faith, is said to be tamasic.
Compiled rendering · Anilbaran Roy
Essays on the Gita
The tamasic sacrifice is work which is done without faith, without, that is to say, any full conscious idea and acceptance17·13 and will towards the thing Nature yet compels us to execute. It is done mechanically, because the act of living demands it, because it comes in our way, because others do it, to avoid some other greater difficulty which may arise from not doing it, or from any other tamasic motive. And it is apt to be done, if we have in the full this kind of temperament, carelessly, perfunctorily, in the wrong way. It will not be performed by the vidhi or right rule of the Shastra, will not be led in its steps according to the right method laid down by the art and science of life and the true science of the thing to be done. There will be no giving of food in the sacrifice, — and that act in the Indian ritual is symbolic of the element of helpful giving inherent in every action that is real sacrifice, the indispensable giving to others, the fruitful help to others, to the world, without which our action becomes a wholly self-regarding thing and a violation of the true universal law of solidarity and interchange. The work will be done without the dakshina, the much-needed giving or self-giving to the leaders of the sacrificial action, whether to the outward guide and helper of our work or to the veiled or manifest godhead within us. It will be done without the mantra, without the dedicating thought which is the sacred body of our will and knowledge lifted upwards to the godheads we serve by our sacrifice. The tamasic17·4 man does not offer his sacrifice to the gods, but to inferior elemental powers or to those grosser spirits behind the veil who feed upon his works and dominate his life with their darkness.
