Unchecked impulse can rush toward harm.
Arjuna speaks to Krishna
यथा प्रदीप्तं ज्वलनं पतङ्गाविशन्ति नाशाय समृद्धवेगाः |तथैव नाशाय विशन्ति लोकास्-तवापि वक्त्राणि समृद्धवेगाः ||११-२९||
yathā pradīptaṃ jvalanaṃ pataṅgā viśanti nāśāya samṛddhavegāḥ . tathaiva nāśāya viśanti lokāsa- tavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛddhavegāḥ ||11-29||
Use this verse when attraction feels dangerous.
Meaning
As moths rush with great speed into a blazing fire for destruction, so the worlds rush into Your mouths for destruction.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
The moth-fire image shows unconscious rushing toward destruction.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
This verse can be translated into modern self-awareness: unexamined impulses can carry people toward harm even when the danger is visible.
Read the traditional commentary
Arjuna offers a second, sharper image: moths hurtling into a flame. Drawn by the very light that will destroy them, they rush in samrddha-vegah, with quickened speed, to their own ruin. The peaceful rivers of the previous verse give way to this picture of heedless self-destruction.
The shift in tone is meaningful. The rivers flowed by their nature toward their rightful sea; the moths fly toward fire in blind compulsion. Together the two images frame the full mystery of mortality — it is at once a natural homecoming and a tragic rushing into the flames of unawareness.
The verse holds up a mirror to the human predicament. So often we are drawn, against our own good, toward what consumes us, mesmerised by desires that burn. Seeing this with the divine eye, Arjuna grasps both the inevitability and the poignancy of how creatures meet their end, hastening unknowing toward the fire.
In daily life
Pause before acting on powerful attraction.
A person may rush into toxic habits even while knowing the damage.
Try this today
Pause for ten minutes before one harmful impulse.
I pause before destructive attraction.Reflect
What fire am I rushing toward unconsciously?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘समृद्धवेगाः’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on destruction, in other chapters
- Verse 16.9A mind that loses its higher vision shrinks into cruelty, and its small thinking ripples outward as harm to the whole world.
- Verse 7.29The honest longing to transcend death, rooted in refuge in the Divine, opens into complete knowledge of Self and action.
- Verse 4.2Even the highest wisdom fades when it stops being practiced and transmitted with sincerity; truth must be renewed in every age.
- Verse 10.30Devotion is the highest glory and can flower anywhere — no circumstance can bar a heart that turns to the Divine.
Swipe left for 11.30 · Krishna governs creation and destruction.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 11.29
Who says Bhagavad Gita 11.29, and to whom?
Arjuna speaks to Krishna in verse 11.29, in Chapter 11, Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga (Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 11.29 mean?
As moths rush with great speed into a blazing fire for destruction, so the worlds rush into Your mouths for destruction. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 11.29 for daily life?
Pause before acting on powerful attraction. A person may rush into toxic habits even while knowing the damage.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 11.29 mean?
यथा प्रदीप्तम् ज्वलनम् — as into a blazing fire; पतङ्गाः — moths / insects; विशन्ति नाशाय — enter for destruction; समृद्धवेगाः — with full speed / heightened rush; तथा एव नाशाय — even so for destruction.
Where does verse 11.29 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 29 of 55 in Chapter 11, Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga. The next verse is 11.30.