Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 40

इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते |
एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् || 40||

indriyāṇi mano buddhir asyādhiṣhṭhānam uchyate
etair vimohayatyeṣha jñānam āvṛitya dehinam

indriyāṇi—the senses; manaḥ—the mind; buddhiḥ—the intellect; asya—of this; adhiṣhṭhānam—dwelling place; uchyate—are said to be; etaiḥ—by these; vimohayati—deludes; eṣhaḥ—this; jñānam—knowledge; āvṛitya—clouds; dehinam—the embodied soul

Translation

BG 3.40: The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be breeding grounds of desire. Through them, it clouds one’s knowledge and deludes the embodied soul.

Commentary

By revealing the locations where lust resides, Shree Krishna now indicates that there is a method of controlling it. The fortress of the enemy must be spotted before one can lay siege on it. In this verse, Shree Krishna states that the senses, mind, and intellect are the places from where lust exercises its dominion over the soul. Under the sway of lust, the sense objects are desired by the senses, the senses infatuate the mind, the mind misleads the intellect, and the intellect loses its discriminatory powers. When the intellect is clouded, the living being is deluded to become a slave of lust and will do anything to satiate it.

These instruments—senses, mind, and intellect—are not bad in themselves. They were given to us for the purpose of achieving God-realization, but we have permitted lust in its many forms to lay siege on them. Now, we have to use the same senses, mind, and intellect to uplift ourselves. In the following verses, Shree Krishna explains how to do that.

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