Sanskrit
आयुधानामहं वज्रं धेनूनामस्मि कामधुक् । प्रजनश्चास्मि कन्दर्पः सर्पाणामस्मि वासुकिः ॥ २८ ॥
āyudhānām ahaṃ vajraṃ dhenūnām asmi kāmadhuk prajanaś cāsmi kandarpaḥ sarpāṇām asmi vāsukiḥ
Translation
Of weapons I am the thunderbolt; of cows I am Kâmadhuk; I am Kandarpa of the progenitors; of serpents Vâsuki am I.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A compact verse, four categories in two lines like verse 23 — weapons, cows, desire, serpents — moving through disparate domains without any unifying thread beyond each being the foremost of its kind. Prajanaḥ… kandarpaḥ — the generative force as the love-god — is the same “desire not opposed to dharma” that BG 7.11 already claimed. Procreative kāma is on the divine side of the ledger.
Study deeper
Word by word
- āyudhānām ahaṃ vajraṃआयुधानां अहं वज्रं
- among weapons I am the thunderbolt (āyudhānām + aham + vajram)
- dhenūnām asmi kāmadhukधेनूनां अस्मि कामधुक्
- among cows I am the wish-granting cow (dhenūnām + asmi + kāma-dhuk)
- prajanaś cāsmi kandarpaḥप्रजनश् चास्मि कन्दर्पः
- among procreators I am the love-god Kandarpa (prajanaḥ + ca + asmi + kandarpaḥ)
- sarpāṇām asmi vāsukiḥसर्पाणां अस्मि वासुकिः
- among serpents I am Vāsuki (sarpāṇām + asmi + vāsukiḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Kandarpa — desire itself, the drive behind procreation — sits in this list beside a weapon, a cow, and a serpent, claimed as a vibhuti with the same flat confidence as the others. The list doesn’t flinch at naming desire as something to trace back to Krishna rather than something to merely tolerate or suppress; the drive itself is counted among the summit examples, not excluded from them.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Don't assume a strong drive or desire in you is automatically something to suppress — trace it back to what it's actually oriented toward first, and decide from there whether to act on it, redirect it, or restrain it.
Professional
- Don't treat visible ambition in a team member as automatically suspect — ambition is a drive like any other, and your job as a lead is to channel it toward the right target, not to reflexively distrust the intensity itself.
Family & Social
- Desire and wanting in a relationship doesn't need to be treated as embarrassing or hidden — acknowledging it plainly and channeling it well is more honest than pretending it isn't there or should be minimized.
Ask yourself
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