Bhagavad Gita 3.37
Spoken by Krishna ★ Essential verse · Verse 37 of 43
श्रीभगवानुवाच । काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भवः । महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्ध्येनमिह वैरिणम् ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca | kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ | mahāśano mahā-pāpmā viddhy enam iha vairiṇam ||
The enemy is desire and anger, born of rajas — all-devouring, all-sinful. Know this as your internal enemy.
Word by word (3)
- kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ
- — this is desire, this is anger — born of the rajas-guna · Kāma = desire, craving, passion (the same kāma that will be called the 'enemy' — not erotic desire alone but all wanting that is ego-rooted). Krodha = anger (from krudh, to be angry). Eṣa = this (emphatic, pointing directly). Rajo-guṇa = the quality of passion/activity. Samudbhava = arising from (sam+ud+bhava). Desire and anger are not separate forces — they are two expressions of the same rajas-energy: kāma when the want is unsatisfied, krodha when it is obstructed.
- mahāśanaḥ mahā-pāpmā
- — all-devouring, greatly sinful · Mahāśana = greatly eating, all-consuming (mahā = great, āśana = eating, from aś). Desire is described as insatiable — it consumes everything fed to it and demands more. Mahā-pāpmā = greatly sinful (mahā-pāpman). Both compounds emphasize the magnitude: this is not a minor obstacle but an all-consuming, all-corrupting force.
- viddhi enam iha vairiṇam
- — know this here as the enemy · Viddhi = know! (imperative, from vid). Enam = this one (accusative). Iha = here, in this world. Vairiṇam = enemy (from vairin). Krishna's direct instruction: know this — kāma-krodha — as the enemy. Not circumstances, not other people, not fate. The enemy is internal.
The Lord said: It is desire — it is anger — born of the rajas-guna. All-devouring, greatly sinful — know THIS as the enemy here.
A modern analogy
You've been scrolling for two hours. You didn't plan to. Something wanted more — and when the feed disappointed, something got irritable. Same rajas-energy: kāma (the craving for stimulation) becoming krodha (irritation when it's unsatisfied). The point here is that the enemy is not the phone. The enemy is the hunger that uses the phone.
Take with you
- The answer to Arjuna's question about what force drives a person to sin is precise: kāma (desire) and krodha (anger) — both from rajas.
- Kāma and krodha are the same force in two phases: wanting unfulfilled = kāma, wanting obstructed = krodha.
- Mahāśanaḥ — all-devouring: desire fed grows larger, not smaller. Feeding it is not the solution.
- Vairiṇam — the enemy. Krishna doesn't soften this: desire-anger is the enemy of the spiritual life.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is anger, born of the quality of Rajas, all-devouring and all-sinful. Know this to be the enemy here. [1]
The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is anger, born of the Rajo-guna, all-devouring, all-sinful; know this as the foe here. [4]
The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is anger, sprung from the quality of rajas, devouring all and very sinful; know this to be the enemy here. [6]
It is passion, it is wrath, Begot of Rajas; hungry, mighty, vile! Know this for the enemy! [7]
The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is wrath, born of the quality of passion, all-devouring and very sinful. Know that that is the enemy here. [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.
Therefore: control the senses first. Then slay this sinful destroyer of both knowledge and direct wisdom.
Withstand desire and anger's force here in this body — that one is yoked, that one is happy.
Three gates to hell, destructive of the self: kāma, krodha, lobha. Therefore abandon this triad.
Unmoved in sorrow, ungreedy in joy, free from passion, fear, and anger — that is the steady sage.
For those freed from desire and anger, with controlled minds, knowing the Self — brahma-nirvāṇa exists on all sides.
Verse 37 of 43 · back to Chapter 3