Tamasic firmness clings to excessive sleep, fear, grief, depression, and arrogance — the fool does not give these up. All traditions see this as willpower tragically misdirected. Shankara identifies clinging to negative states as the deepest form of ignorance. Ramanuja teaches that without God's grace, the soul lacks the strength to release these bonds. Madhva calls it willpower directed toward self-destruction. Abhinavagupta strikingly identifies it as consciousness stubbornly clinging to its own contractions — the same determination that could pursue liberation instead serves darkness. Vallabha sees even this distorted will as containing a seed of strength that grace can redirect toward divine love. The bhakti tradition holds that devotion provides the motivation to release what mere willpower cannot. Tilak identifies it as stubbornness in destructive patterns — willpower directed entirely in the wrong direction. Vivekananda teaches that the remedy is not more willpower but redirected willpower. The verse is both a diagnosis and an implicit promise: the capacity for persistence exists even in the tamasic person; it simply needs to be turned toward the light.