Chapter 3, Verse 38
धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथादर्शो मलेन च | यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतम् ||३-३८||
dhūmenāvriyate vahniryathādarśo malena ca . yatholbenāvṛto garbhastathā tenedamāvṛtam ||3-38||
Meaning
3.38 As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror by dust, and as an embryo by the amnion, so is this enveloped by that.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna illustrates how desire obscures wisdom through three vivid images. As smoke veils fire, as dust dims a mirror, and as the womb's membrane encloses an embryo, so does kama cover our innate knowledge and discernment. Each image shows a covering of differing density — light, moderate, and nearly complete.
The analogies are exquisitely chosen. Smoke can be fanned away easily; dust requires deliberate cleaning; the amnion is so total that the embryo cannot remove it at all. Likewise, desire clouds the inner light in degrees, from a faint haze to total obscuration. Crucially, the fire, the mirror, and the embryo are never destroyed — only hidden. Our wisdom, our pure awareness, is never lost; it is merely covered over by craving. This is profoundly hopeful: the light within remains intact, awaiting only the removal of the veil that desire has cast upon it.
💡 Key Takeaway
Desire does not destroy your inner wisdom, only veils it — your clarity remains intact, waiting to shine once the covering is removed.
Related Verses
सक्ताः कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत | कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसंग्रहम् ||३-२५||
saktāḥ karmaṇyavidvāṃso yathā kurvanti bhārata . kuryādvidvāṃstathāsaktaścikīrṣurlokasaṃgraham ||3-25||
3.25 As the ignorant men act from attachment to action, O Bharata (Arjuna), so should the wise act without attachment, wishing the welfare of the world.
न बुद्धिभेदं जनयेदज्ञानां कर्मसङ्गिनाम् | जोषयेत्सर्वकर्माणि विद्वान्युक्तः समाचरन् ||३-२६||
na buddhibhedaṃ janayedajñānāṃ karmasaṅginām . joṣayetsarvakarmāṇi vidvānyuktaḥ samācaran ||3-26||
3.26 Let no wise man unsettle the mind of ignorant people who are attached to action; he should engage them in all actions, himself fulfilling them with devotion.
तत्त्ववित्तु महाबाहो गुणकर्मविभागयोः | गुणा गुणेषु वर्तन्त इति मत्वा न सज्जते ||३-२८||
tattvavittu mahābāho guṇakarmavibhāgayoḥ . guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā na sajjate ||3-28||
3.28 But he who knows the Truth, O mighty-armed (Arjuna), about the divisions of the alities and (their) functions, knowing that the Gunas as senses move amidst the Gunas as the sense-objects, is not attached.