3.39
Chapter 3, Verse 39
आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा। कामरूपेण कौन्तेय दुष्पूरेणानलेन च৷৷
āvṛtaṅ jñānamētēna jñāninō nityavairiṇā. kāmarūpēṇa kauntēya duṣpūrēṇānalēna ca৷৷
Translation
It is the wise man's constant enemy; it tarnishes the face of wisdom. It is as insatiable as a flame of fire.
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
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 of objects. 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.
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.