Bhagavad Gita 2.63
Spoken by Krishna ★ Essential verse · Verse 63 of 72
क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः । स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ॥
krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ sammohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ | smṛti-bhraṃśād buddhi-nāśo buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati ||
Anger → delusion → memory loss → intellect destroyed → total ruin. Know this chain before it starts.
Word by word (3)
- krodhāt sammohaḥ
- — from anger arises complete delusion · Sam+moha = complete bewilderment, total confusion — stronger than ordinary moha. Under anger, all discriminating intelligence ceases. The prefix sam intensifies: not partial confusion but complete cognitive shutdown. Anyone who has acted in rage and later asked 'why did I do that?' has experienced sammoha.
- sammohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ
- — from delusion, loss of memory (of what is right) · Smṛti = memory — specifically the memory of what one has learned, of one's values and highest knowledge. Vibhrama = wandering, going astray. Smṛti-vibhrama is the forgetting of everything one knows to be true: dharma, values, past wisdom, consequence. The drunk who knows better but forgets.
- buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati
- — from the destruction of buddhi, one perishes · Buddhi-nāśa = destruction of discriminating intelligence. Praṇaśyati from pra+naś (to perish completely, to be utterly lost). This is total ruin — not just a mistake but the annihilation of the very faculty that could correct it. The person who has lost buddhi cannot see their own lostness.
From anger comes complete delusion. From delusion — the memory of all you know goes astray. When memory is lost, the discriminating intellect is destroyed. When the intellect is destroyed — the person is utterly ruined.
A modern analogy
Road rage: someone cuts you off. Anger flares. In the anger, everything you know about safe driving, consequences, your own values — temporarily gone. You chase them, make gestures, escalate. Fifteen minutes later you wonder: 'Who was that person?' That is the full chain in twenty minutes: desire (to drive peacefully) → blocked → anger → delusion → smṛti-vibhrama → buddhi-nāśa → praṇaśyati.
Take with you
- By the time you are in full anger, you are already in delusion. This is why 'think before you act' is easier said than done.
- The only effective intervention is early in the chain — at the dwelling, where the mind first lingers on an object, not at the explosion of anger itself.
- Smṛti-vibhrama: in high anger, you literally cannot access your best self. Design your life so major decisions are never made in that state.
- Know your personal chain: what triggers your anger → where does your delusion take you → what do you forget? Map it.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
From anger arises delusion; from delusion, loss of memory; from loss of memory, destruction of the intellect; and from the destruction of the intellect one is utterly lost. [1]
From anger comes delusion; from delusion, the wandering of memory; from the wandering of memory, loss of understanding; from loss of understanding he perishes. [4]
From anger arises confusion; from confusion, wandering of memory; from wandering of memory, loss of reason; and from loss of reason everything falls to ruin. [6]
Wrath breeds fierce folly; folly brings forgetfulness Of lessons well-learned; loss of memory Usurps the mind; when that is gone, the man Is ruined: fallen from the height he stood. [7]
From anger arises delusion, from delusion wandering of memory, from wandering of memory destruction of the understanding; on destruction of understanding he perishes. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Thinking → clinging → craving → anger. The chain of suffering begins in where you let your mind dwell.
Move through the world with senses free from attraction and aversion — that clarity is the natural reward.
The enemy is desire and anger, born of rajas — all-devouring, all-sinful. Know this as your internal enemy.
Three gates to hell, destructive of the self: kāma, krodha, lobha. Therefore abandon this triad.
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for — and call it wisdom.
More daivī qualities: ahiṃsā, satya, akrodha, tyāga, śānti, apaiśuna, dayā, aloluptva, mārdava, hrī, acāpala.
Verse 63 of 72 · back to Chapter 2