Chapter 3 Overview
Verse 3.39
आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा। कामरूपेण कौन्तेय दुष्पूरेणानलेन च।।3.39।।
āvṛitaṁ jñānam etena jñānino nitya-vairiṇā kāma-rūpeṇa kaunteya duṣhpūreṇānalena cha
Sanskrit Chant Recitation
Chapter 3, Verse 39
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Scripture Translation Room
Sanskrit to English Translation
Translator:
O Arjuna, wisdom is enveloped by this constant enemy of the wise, in the form of desire, which is insatiable like fire.
A Reading - Rantideb
Why: knowledge itself is covered by this insatiable fire of desire, the eternal enemy of the wise, naming desire as an obstacle to clarity, not just to virtue.
In life: strong craving genuinely clouds judgment, it's not just a moral failing, it's a cognitive one too.
Teaching: before making an important decision while in the grip of strong desire, wait until the intensity passes before trusting your own judgment on it.
āvṛitamcovered
jñānamknowledge
etenaby this
jñāninaḥof the wise
nitya-vairiṇāby the perpetual enemy
kāma-rūpeṇain the form of desires
kaunteyaArjun the son of Kunti
duṣhpūreṇainsatiable
analenalike fire
chaand
Deep Classical Commentary (Bhashya)
Author:
3.39 आवृतम् enveloped? ज्ञानम् wisdom? एतेन by this? ज्ञानिनः of the wise? नित्यवैरिणा by the constant enemy? कामरूपेण whose form is desire? कौन्तेय O Kaunteya? दुष्पूरेण unappeasable? अनलेन by fire? च and.Commentary 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.