Chapter 7, Verse 11
बलं बलवतां चाहं कामरागविवर्जितम् | धर्माविरुद्धो भूतेषु कामोऽस्मि भरतर्षभ ||७-११||
balaṃ balavatāṃ cāhaṃ kāmarāgavivarjitam . dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo.asmi bharatarṣabha ||7-11||
Meaning
7.11 Of the strong, I am the strength devoid of desire and attachment, and in (all) beings, I am the desire unopposed to Dharma, O Arjuna.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna refines two forces that the world often misuses — strength and desire. He is the strength of the strong, but only that strength purified of selfish craving and attachment. Raw power driven by greed is not divine; power offered selflessly, in service, is. So too with desire: He is kama, but only the desire that does not conflict with dharma — the longing for what is right, wholesome, and noble.
The verse is wonderfully balanced. The Gita never asks us to extinguish energy or aspiration; it asks us to align them. Desire itself is sacred when it moves toward truth, love, and righteous duty. The task is not to kill our wants but to refine them — to want rightly. When strength serves dharma and desire honours dharma, both become expressions of the Divine within us.
💡 Key Takeaway
Strength and desire are sacred when freed from greed and aligned with what is right — refine your longings rather than crush them.
Related Verses
ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास्तामसाश्च ये | मत्त एवेति तान्विद्धि न त्वहं तेषु ते मयि ||७-१२||
ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasāstāmasāśca ye . matta eveti tānviddhi na tvahaṃ teṣu te mayi ||7-12||
7.12 Whatever beings (and objects) that are pure, active and inert, know that they proceed from Me. They are in Me, yet I am not in them.
कामैस्तैस्तैर्हृतज्ञानाः प्रपद्यन्तेऽन्यदेवताः | तं तं नियममास्थाय प्रकृत्या नियताः स्वया ||७-२०||
kāmaistaistairhṛtajñānāḥ prapadyante.anyadevatāḥ . taṃ taṃ niyamamāsthāya prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā ||7-20||
7.20 Those whose wisdom has been rent away by this or that desire, go to other gods, following this or that rite, led by their own nature.
इच्छाद्वेषसमुत्थेन द्वन्द्वमोहेन भारत | सर्वभूतानि सम्मोहं सर्गे यान्ति परन्तप ||७-२७||
icchādveṣasamutthena dvandvamohena bhārata . sarvabhūtāni sammohaṃ sarge yānti parantapa ||7-27||
7.27 By the delusion of the pairs of opposites arising from desire and aversion, O Bharata, all beings are subject to delusion at birth, O Parantapa.