Power must be dharmic.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
बलं बलवतां चाहं कामरागविवर्जितम् |धर्माविरुद्धो भूतेषु कामोऽस्मि भरतर्षभ ||७-११||
balaṃ balavatāṃ cāhaṃ kāmarāgavivarjitam . dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo.asmi bharatarṣabha ||7-11||
Use this verse when judging whether a desire is healthy.
Meaning
I am the strength of the strong, free from desire and attachment; I am desire in beings that is not opposed to dharma.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Strength and desire are sacred when aligned with dharma.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna does not condemn all strength or desire. He purifies them by removing selfish attachment and aligning them with dharma.
Read the traditional 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.
In daily life
Use strength without exploitation and desire without adharma.
Ambition to build something useful can be dharmic; ambition to exploit is not.
Try this today
Test one desire against ethics, service, and long-term truth.
My strength serves dharma.Reflect
Is my desire aligned with dharma?
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Quick check
What does ‘बलम् बलवताम् च अहम्’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on dharma, in other chapters
- Verse 4.7When righteousness declines, a restoring force always arises — injustice is never the final word.
- Verse 5.12Let go of your attachment to results and you gain lasting peace; cling to them and you remain bound, even in success.
- Verse 2.43Examine whether your spiritual practice is genuinely oriented toward freedom and wisdom, or whether it is simply a refined strategy for satisfying the same desires in more acceptable forms.
- Verse 3.37The real enemy within is insatiable desire, which sours into anger — name it clearly, for an enemy understood can be conquered.
Swipe left for 7.12 · Krishna transcends the gunas.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 7.11
Who says Bhagavad Gita 7.11, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 7.11, in Chapter 7, Jnana Vijnana Yoga (Jnana Vijnana Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 7.11 mean?
I am the strength of the strong, free from desire and attachment; I am desire in beings that is not opposed to dharma. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 7.11 for daily life?
Use strength without exploitation and desire without adharma. Ambition to build something useful can be dharmic; ambition to exploit is not.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 7.11 mean?
बलम् बलवताम् च अहम् — and I am the strength of the strong; कामरागविवर्जितम् — free from desire and attachment; धर्माविरुद्धः — not opposed to Dharma; भूतेषु — in (all) beings; कामः अस्मि — I am the desire.
Where does verse 7.11 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 11 of 30 in Chapter 7, Jnana Vijnana Yoga. The next verse is 7.12.