Bhagavad Gītā › Chapter 3 › Verse 40
Bhagavad Gītā 3.40: Where desire hides
इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते ।
एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् ॥
indriyāṇi mano buddhirasyādhiṣṭhānamucyate
etairvimohayatyeṣa jñānamāvṛtya dehinam
Recitation: NehalDaveND (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 4.0, adapted, original recording
Meaning
The senses, the mind and the intellect are said to be its seat; through these it deludes the embodied one, veiling knowledge. Desire works through perception (the senses), through imagination and wishing (manas), and even through reasoning (buddhi), which can be recruited to justify it.
For children
Krishna says: “Wanting hides in our eyes, our thoughts and even in our clever ideas. That’s where we need to watch for it.”
Kṛṣṇa explains where desire, the enemy, lives.
Word by word
इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिर् — The senses, the mind and the intellect
- indriya: sense
- manas: mind
- buddhi: intellect, understanding
अस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते — are said to be its home
- asya: its
- adhiṣṭhāna: home, base
- ucyate: is said to be
एतैर्विमोहयत्येष — through them it confuses
- etaiḥ: through these
- vimohayati: confuses
ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् — the one in the body, covering wisdom
- āvṛtya: covering
- dehin: the one who lives in the body
Kṛṣṇa speaks this verse. The Sanskrit is checked against four editions; meanings and word notes are simple learning aids written for MahaPrabha Gurukul, awaiting review by a Sanskrit teacher.