SB 1.2.24
तमसस्तु रजस्तस्मात्सत्त्वं यद्ब्रह्मदर्शनम् ॥ २४ ॥
tamasas tu rajas tasmāt sattvaṁ yad brahma-darśanam
Synonyms
[just as (yathā)104]; dhūmaḥ — smoke [because it has effective capacity (pravṛtti-svabhāvaḥ), here referring to its slight functional contiguity to the ritual acts that abound in the three Vedas (trayīmayaḥ vedokta-karma-pracuraḥ īṣat-karma-pratyāsatteḥ)105]; [is superior (śreṣṭhaḥ)106]; dāruṇaḥ — to firewood [kāṣṭhāt sakāśāt]; pārthivāt — [which is] a product of the earth [(pṛtivī-pariṇāma-rūpāt) and hence, of its own accord, devoid of the capacity to illuminate or reveal (svataḥ-pravṛtti-prakāśa-rahitāt);107 here meaning, devoid of any direct capacity to illuminate the Vedic ritual acts (vedokta-karmaṇaḥ sākṣāt-pravṛtti-prakāśa-rahitāt)108]; [yet (tu)109]; tasmāt [api] — [superior even] to that [smoke (dhūmāt)110]; agniḥ — [is] fire; trayī-mayaḥ — [because it is] the direct functional medium for enacting the ritual acts of the three Vedas [trayimayaḥ sākṣāt-karma-sādhanāt]; [so too (evam)]; rajaḥ — the universal qualitative principle of dynamism [because it is instrumental in regard to empirically conditioned knowledge (sopādhika-jñāna-hetutvena) and thus exhibits slight contiguity to the realization of Brahman (kathañcit brahma-darśana-pratyāsatti)]; [is superior (śreṣṭham)111]; tamasaḥ — to stasis [which is essentially inert (layātmakāt)]; tu — yet; tasmāt [api112] — [superior even] to that [dynamism]; sattvam — [is] luminosity; yat — because; [sākṣāt] brahma-darśanam — [it conduces directly to] the immediate realization of the Absolute.
Translation
Just as smoke is superior to firewood, which is a product of the earth, yet superior even to smoke is fire, because it is the direct functional medium for enacting the ritual acts of the three Vedas; so too, the universal qualitative principle of dynamism (rajas) is superior to stasis (tamas), yet superior even to dynamism is luminosity (sattva), because it conduces directly to the immediate realization of the Absolute.