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Bhagavad Gita 3.40 · Krishna

Where desire hides

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इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते।

एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम्॥

indriyāṇi mano buddhirasyādhiṣṭhānamucyateetairvimohayatyeṣa jñānamāvṛtya dehinam

The senses, the mind and the intellect are its hiding places. Through them it veils knowledge and confuses the one within.

Words

  • buddhi
  • dehī

What it means

Krishna shows where desire lives. In the senses, which grab at things. In the mind, which replays them. Even in buddhi, our reasoning, which builds clever excuses. Through these, desire veils knowledge and confuses the dehi, the one living in the body.

The story

Arjuna has been using his reasoning to justify not fighting. Krishna gently suggests that even reason can be hijacked. That's why clear seeing takes work at every level, not just willpower.

In your life

Picture someone who wants a second slice of cake and suddenly finds a dozen good reasons. That's desire hiding in reason. Next time your logic seems unusually convenient, ask, who's really talking?

Watch where desire hides, even in reason.