Square 72: Inertia (tamoguna)
Leela Atlas team · Updated
Square 72 in Leela is Inertia, tamoguna in Sanskrit, the last square of the board at its top left corner. It is the guna of tamas, and Johari describes it as a snake that bites the player and brings him back to earth. Every flight past the goal ends here, at square 51, Earth, from where the climb begins again.
What square 72 means
For Johari, square 72 is the final teaching of the board. It comes in the form of a snake. Whoever has passed the goal, whether by overshooting 68 or by riding the arrow of Mercy to 69, eventually meets it. The bite does not punish; it returns. Inertia brings the player back to earth, where unfinished karma can be lived through.
Tamoguna is the guna of tamas, the quality of heaviness, darkness and sleep. It already appeared at square 63, Darkness, as the longest snake in the game. Here it closes the three gunas of the top row after sattva at 70 and rajas at 71. Together they show that every quality of nature, even the purest, keeps the player within the world until something beyond them is reached.
The snake lands on 51, Earth, which Johari describes as the Great Mother and the stage of the whole game. It is a soft landing compared with the falls into the first row, and it lies three squares below the arrow of Spiritual devotion at 54. The lesson is hopeful: even after missing the goal, the way home is near, and it passes through devotion. Returning does not cancel the journey; what was learned stays with the player.
On the board
No arrow or snake ends on square 72; a player arrives only from the top row, by an exact throw from 69, 70 or 71, or straight from 66 or 67 when the throw overshoots 68. Any throw that would go beyond 72 is lost. Landing here triggers the snake: the symbol drops from the eighth row to square 51, Earth, in the sixth. From there a three reaches 54 and the arrow to 68.
The Bhagavad Gita and this square
Gita 14.8 is the verse for square 72: tamas binds through negligence, sloth and sleep, and those stuck in the lowest guna sink. The end of the Yadavas, a powerful clan undone by heedlessness after its greatest days, shows inertia striking even at the height of success.
Tamas binds through negligence, sloth and sleep, and those stuck in the lowest guna sink. Stay alert even at the goal: inertia pulls you back.
Gita 14.8 · The end of the Yadavas
Questions to reflect on
- What keeps pulling me down, again and again?
- Where in my life do I stop paying attention once things are going well?
- What could I begin again today, with what I know now?
Questions
What happens when you land on square 72 in Leela?
Square 72, Inertia, is the last square and the head of a snake. When you land on it, your symbol drops from the top row to square 51, Earth, in the sixth row. From Earth you climb again, either square by square or with a three that lands on 54, Spiritual devotion, whose arrow leads to 68.
Where does the snake on square 72 lead in Leela?
The snake of Inertia on square 72 leads to square 51, Earth (prithvi). It is the only snake whose tail lies in the sixth row. Earth is three squares below the arrow of Spiritual devotion at 54, so a single throw of three can carry a returning player all the way to Cosmic Consciousness.
What happens if you throw past 72 in Leela?
A throw that would carry your symbol beyond square 72 cannot be used. In Johari's rules it is lost and the die passes to the next player. In the top row you therefore need an exact number: a three from 69, a two from 70 or a one from 71 to reach 72.
Related squares
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