ayuktaha praakritaha stabdhaha shatonaishkritikolasaha |
vishaadee deerghasootree cha kartaa taamasa ucchyate || 28 ||
 
Unsteady, immature, unbending, fraudulent, wicked, lazy, dejected and procrastinating, such a doer is called taamasic.
 
ayuktaha : unsteady
praakritaha : immature
stabdhaha : unbending
shataha : fraudulent
naishkritikaha : wicked
alasaha : lazy
vishaadee : dejected
deerghasootree : procrastinating
cha : and
kartaa : doer
taamasa : taamasic
ucchyate : is called
 
Having described characteristics of the saatvic and the raajasic doer, Shri Krishna concludes this topic by describing the characteristics of a taamasic doer. It is the longest list of the three types of doers. Even if we will take a long time to cultivate saattvic qualities, it is fine. But we should strive to reduce, and eventually eliminate, any trace of these taamasic characteristics within us. Forget holding us back on the spiritual path, these qualities will become a detriment even to success in our material world.
 
If the state of mind is taamasic while performing a task, the mind will be ayukta or unsteady. It will never be able to focus on one thing, and will jump from thought to thought, or from distraction to distraction. Praakrita, opposite of samskrita, refers to a mind that is uncultured, uncouth, without proper values or the ability to think logically. Taamasic doership comes from taamasic vision, which always hangs on, perversely, to one particular object, viewpoint, person or situation. Therefore, the mind becomes stabdha, unyielding, arrogant, unwilling to accept a different position.
 
Now, some more dangerous characteristics are presented. A taamasic mind will not step at anything to accomplish its task. It will be shataha, which means malicious, deceptive, fradulent, playing games rather than being straightforward. This type of mind will also resort to creating a negative environment for others. It will be naishkritaha, which means wicked. Conversely, if the task is not upto its liking the mind will be alasaha or lazy. It will always remain in a state of vishaada, which means forever dejected, despondent and depressed. It will find ways to pawn the task off to someone else by procrastinating. A somewhat funny word is used to describe this characteristic – deerghasootree which means long string or long length. Shri Shankaraachaarya says in his commentary that such a person will take months to do a one day task.