77. Desires Eclipse Wisdom



Krishna says, “Just like fire is enveloped in smoke; a mirror by mal (dust); an embryo by the womb; wisdom is covered by desire which is an insatiable fire and is the constant enemy of the wise” (3.38-3.39). A point to be noted is that even after attaining wisdom we should be aware of the fact that desires are constant enemies.

Earlier, Krishna had said that gunas can hypnotise (sammohit) us (3.29). Desire, born out of rajo guna does the same. He further elaborated that the senses, mind and intellect are said to be the seat of desires and through these, desires hypnotise our soul by eclipsing its wisdom (3.40).

Krishna clarifies that in due course of time he who has perfected the yoga finds the wisdom in the self (4.38). Even if one is the most sinful of sinners, one shall safely cross the sea of sins by the raft of wisdom (4.36). The fire of wisdom reduces all actions to ashes (4.37). The essence is that while wisdom is like fire, desires envelop it like smoke.

Krishna compares wisdom to a mirror and desires to the dust that covers it. A mirror reflects both situations and people placed before it, without any bias or judgement. It doesn’t have the burden of the past nor any expectations from the future and is always in the present. Similarly, wisdom is being a sakshi like a mirror.

Krishna mentioned that senses, mind and intellect are the seat of desires. One way to control the desires is to control the senses and mind. This is the reason why on many occasions in the Gita, Krishna advises us to control senses and mind. We can use the path of awareness or the path of surrender to Paramatma to control the senses and the mind.


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