Bhagavad Gita BG 3.40
Chapter 3, Verse 40 — Meaning, Translation & Explanation
इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते । एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् ॥ ४० ॥
indriyāṇi mano buddhir asyādhiṣṭhānam ucyate etair vimohayaty eṣa jñānam āvṛtya dehinam
Meaning
The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be the seat (adhiṣṭhāna) of desire. Through these, it deludes the embodied soul by covering knowledge.
Understanding
Desire does not float free — it occupies and operates through three specific instruments: (1) indriyāṇi (the senses — the five jñānendriyāṇi through which sensory experience arrives), (2) manas (the mind — which processes and desires), and (3) buddhi (the intellect — which can rationalise and justify desire). This is a map of how desire progressively invades consciousness: it enters through the senses, lodges in the mind, and eventually corrupts even the intellect (which should be the faculty of discrimination). When the intellect itself is in desire's grip, it loses its capacity to guide rightly. This is why advanced desire is so destructive — it subverts the very faculty meant to overcome it.
Word by Word
| Word | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| अधिष्ठानम् | adhiṣṭhānam | seat / base / stronghold / the place of operation |
| विमोहयति | vimohayati | thoroughly deludes / bewilders completely |
| आवृत्य | āvṛtya | having covered / after veiling |
| देहिनम् | dehinam | the embodied soul / the being with a body |
| एतैः | etaiḥ | through these (senses, mind, intellect) |
| इन्द्रियाणि | indriyāṇi | the senses |
| मनः | manaḥ | the mind |
| बुद्धिः | buddhiḥ | the intelligence / the intellect |
| अस्य | asya | its / of this (desire) |
| उच्यते | ucyate | is said to be / is called |
| एषः | eṣaḥ | this (desire/lust) |
| ज्ञानम् | jñānam | knowledge / the self-knowledge |