🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 3.39

Chapter 3 · कर्मयोग · Karma-Yoga · "The Yoga of Action" · Verse 39 of 43

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🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition

3.39 It is the wise man's constant enemy; it tarnishes the face of wisdom. It is as insatiable as a flame of fire.

Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society

3.39 O Arjuna, wisdom is enveloped by this constant enemy of the wise in the form of desire, which is unappeasable as fire.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school

3.39 Jnanam, Knowledge; is avrtam, covered; etena, by this; nityavairina, constant enemy; jnaninah, of the wise. For the wise person knows even earlier, 'I am being induced by this into evil.' And he always [Both at the time when desire arises in him, and also when he is forced to act by it.] feels distressed. Therefore, it is the constant enemy of the wise but not of a fool. For the fool looks upon desire as a friend so long as hankering lasts. When sorrow comes as a conseence, he realizes, 'I have been driven into sorrow because of longings', but certainly not earlier. Therefore it is the constant enemy of the wise alone. In what form? Kama-rupena, in the form of desire-tha which has wish itself as its expression is kama-rupa; in that form-; (and) duspurena, which is an insatiable; analena, fire. That which is difficult to satisfy is duspurah; and (derivatively) that which never has enough (alam) is analam. Again, having what as its abode does desire, in the form of a viel over Knowledge, become the enemy of all? Since when the abode of an enemy is known, it is possible to easily slay the enemy, therefore the Lord says:

Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school

3.39 The knowledge, having the self for its subject, of this embodied person (the Jiva) whose nature is knowledge, is enveloped by this constant enemy in the shape of desire, which brings about attachment for sense-objects. This desire is difficult to satisfy, i.e., has for its object things unworthy of attainment and is insatiable, i.e., never attains satisfaction. Now listen to what constitutes the instruments with which desire subdues the self. Sri Krsna goes on to expound this:

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly

3.39. O son of Kunti ! The knowledge of the wise is concealed by this eternal foe, which looks like a desired one, and which is the fire insatiable.

🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद

For the Hindi-aware seer · Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's translation · a high-readability modern Hindi rendering · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur tradition. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page for the 102-year-living Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī Mahātmā.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī tradition · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur · highest modern Hindi reading

।।3.39।। और हे कुन्तीनन्दन ! इस अग्निके समान कभी तृप्त न होनेवाले और विवेकियोंके नित्य वैरी इस कामके द्वारा मनुष्यका विवेक ढका हुआ है।

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors

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.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)

Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship

3.39 Avrtam etc. Looks like a desired one : For it acts when there is desire. It is fire, because it is like fire impossible to satiate. For, it burns down both the visible and the invisible results [of rightious actions].

Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching

।।3.39।। यहाँ यह स्पष्ट किया गया है कि उस कामरूप शत्रु के द्वारा यह ज्ञान अर्थात् विवेक सार्मथ्य आच्छादित हो जाती है। आत्मानात्म नित्यानित्य और सत्यासत्य में जिस विवेक सार्मथ्य के कारण सब प्राणियों में मनुष्य को सर्वोच्च स्थान प्राप्त है उसी बुद्धि की क्षमता को यह आवृत कर देता है। यह काम दुष्पूर अर्थात् इसका पूर्ण होना असम्भव ही होता है।अब भगवान् उस काम के निवास स्थान बताते हैं जिसके ज्ञान से शत्रु को नष्ट करना सरल होगा

🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या

Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · one of the great modern Hindi vyākhyās of the Gītā · direct, pure, deeply Vedāntic · the modern Sanātana-jāgaraṇa. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page · 1904-2005 · Corner 1 Mādhurya operational anchor · whose 6-lakṣaṇa-śaraṇāgati IS Constitutional Principle 24.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · Hindi vyākhyā · the modern bilingual anchor

3.39।। व्याख्या--'एतेन'-- सैंतीसवें श्लोकमें भगवान्ने पाप करवानेमें मुख्य कारण 'काम' अर्थात् कामनाको बताया था। उसी कामनाके लिये यहाँ 'एतेन'पद आया है। 'दुष्पूरेणानलेन च'-- जैसे अग्निमें घीकी सुहाती-सुहाती (अनुकूल) आहुति देते रहनेसे अग्नि कभी तृप्त नहीं होती, प्रत्युत बढ़ती ही रहती है, ऐसे ही कामनाके अनुकूल भोग भोगते रहनेसे कामना कभी तृप्त नहीं होती, प्रत्युत अधिकाधिक बढ़ती ही रहती है (टिप्पणी प0 194)। जो भी वस्तु सामने आती रहती है, कामना अग्निकी तरह उसे खाती रहती है।भोग और संग्रहकी कामना कभी पूरी होती ही नहीं। जितने ही भोग-पदार्थ मिलते हैं, उतनी ही उनकी भूख बढ़ती है। कारण कि कामना जडकी ही होती है, इसलिये जडके सम्बन्धसे वह कभी मिटती नहीं प्रत्युत अधिकाधिक बढ़ती है। सुन्दरदासजी लिखते हैं--

🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā

This is verse 39 of 43 in Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga (The Yoga of Action)
Chapter theme: Action as worship · the yajña-cycle · sva-dharma over para-dharma
Ṣaṭka grouping: TVAM-Ṣaṭka (BG 1-6 · the jīva)
Chapter hub: /karma-yoga
⭐ Mahābhārata anchor: this verse is also MBh 6.25.39 (Bhīṣma-Parva · the BG in its full narrative home)

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📚 Cite this verse · Academic citation formats

APA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. (n.d.). Bhagavad-Gītā 3.39. Vidhyāmitra. Retrieved 2026-07-27, from https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/3/39

Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 3.39." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-07-27. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/3/39.

MLA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 3.39." Vidhyāmitra, 2026, https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/3/39.

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🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷

सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)