Luminosity attaches to happiness, activity to action, O Bhārata!; but inertia, covering knowledge, attaches to heedlessness.

The modes of attachment differ for each guṇa. Sattva gravitates toward pleasant, refined experiences. Rajas compulsively acts. Tamas sinks into oblivion.

Jñānam āvṛtya — covering knowledge — is the specific function of tamas. Where sattva reveals and rajas agitates, tamas conceals.

The three guṇas are not merely individual tendencies but cosmic principles. Every phenomenon expresses their interplay.