Bhagavad Gita · 3.39 · Path of Selfless Service·39 of 43
आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा।कामरूपेण कौन्तेय दुष्पूरेणानलेन च ॥
āvṛitaṁ jñānam etena jñānino nitya-vairiṇā
kāma-rūpeṇa kaunteya duṣhpūreṇānalena cha
Sanskrit recitation
Desire as the inner enemy · 3.36–3.43 · Teaching
Translation
O Arjuna, wisdom is enveloped by this constant enemy of the wise, in the form of desire, which is insatiable like fire.
Meaning
Manu says, Desire can never be satiated or cooled down by the enjoyment ofobjects. But as fire blazes forth the more when fed with Ghee (melted butter) and wood, so it grows the more it feeds on the objects of enjoyment. If all the foodstuffs of the earth, all the precious metals, all the animals and all the beautiful women were to pass into the possession of one man endowed with desire, they would still fail to give him satisfaction.The ignorant man considers desire as his friend when he craves for objects. He welcomes desire for the gratification of the senses but the wise man knows from experience even before suffering the conseence that desire will bring only troubles and misery for him. So it is a constant enemy of the wise but not of the ignorant.
After Swami Sivananda
Desire as the inner enemy· 3.36–3.43→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 3.36Arjuna said, "But what compels man to commit sin, even against his wishes, O Varshneya (Krishna), as if constrained by force?"
- 3.37The Blessed Lord said, "It is desire and it is anger, both of the quality of Rajas, all-devouring and all-sinful; know this as the foe here in this world."
- 3.38As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, and as an embryo is surrounded by the amniotic sac, so is this enveloped by that.
3.39O Arjuna, wisdom is enveloped by this constant enemy of the wise, in the form of desire, which is insatiable like fire.
- 3.40The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be its seat; through these, it deludes the embodied one, veiling their wisdom.
- 3.41Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, control your senses first and then kill this sinful thing, which destroys knowledge and realization.
- 3.42They say that the senses are superior to the body; the mind is superior to the senses; the intellect is superior to the mind; and He (the Self) is superior even to the intellect.
- 3.43Thus, knowing Him who is superior to the intellect and restraining the self by the Self, slay thou, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the enemy in the form of desire, hard to conquer.
Word-by-word→
- cha
- and
- etena
- by this
- analena
- like fire
- jñānam
- knowledge
- kaunteya
- Arjun the son of Kunti
- āvṛitam
- covered
- jñāninaḥ
- of the wise
- duṣhpūreṇa
- insatiable
- kāma-rūpeṇa
- in the form of desires
- nitya-vairiṇā
- by the perpetual enemy
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