Sanskrit
शरीरं यदवाप्नोति यच्चाप्युत्क्रामतीश्वरः । गृहित्वैतानि संयाति वायुर्गन्धानिवाशयात् ॥
śarīraṃ yad avāpnoti yac cāpy utkrāmatīśvaraḥ gṛhitvaitāni saṃyāti vāyur gandhān ivāśayāt
Translation
When the Lord acquireth a body and when He abandoneth it, He seizeth these and goeth with them, as the wind takes fragrances from their retreats.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Continuing the psychology of the transmigrating self, this verse gives the mechanics: when the “Lord” — here the embodied jiva as owner of its own faculties, not Krishna in the third person — takes up or drops a body, it carries mind and senses along the way wind carries scent away from its source. The simile does double duty: it explains why personality and disposition seem continuous across a single life, since the senses travel with the self, while also implying the same portability applies at death, which chapter 8’s teaching on the dying thought (8.5-6) will make explicit. The transmigration image: as wind carries fragrance away from a flower, the departing self carries its saṃskāras — the mind and senses with their tendencies — into the next body. Rebirth is continuity of disposition, not of substance.
Study deeper
Word by word
- śarīraṃ yad avāpnotiशरीरं यद् अवाप्नोति
- whatever body it obtains (śarīram + yat + avāpnoti)
- yac cāpy utkrāmatīśvaraḥयच् चाप्य् उत्क्रामतीश्वरः
- and when the lord [of the body] departs (yat + ca + api + utkrāmati + īśvaraḥ)
- gṛhitvaitāni saṃyātiगृहित्वैतानि संयाति
- taking these [senses] with it, it goes (gṛhitvā + etāni + saṃyāti)
- vāyur gandhān ivāśayātवायुः गन्धान् इवाशयात्
- as the wind carries scents from their source (vāyuḥ + gandhān + iva + āśayāt)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The wind-and-scent simile is doing two jobs at once: it explains why your personality feels continuous from morning to evening within a single life, and it quietly sets up the claim, made explicit later in chapter 8, that the same portability holds at death. A single image is made to carry both an everyday observation and a much larger metaphysical claim, and the verse trusts the reader to notice the second job without spelling it out yet.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- The habits and dispositions you're carrying right now don't stay behind at any threshold — a new job, a new city, a new decade — they travel with you the way scent travels on wind. Choose them deliberately now, since they will follow you.
Professional
- Your working habits and reputation travel with you into a new team or company the way scent travels on wind — a fresh context doesn't erase what you carry. Don't assume a clean slate; assume continuity, and manage what's actually following you.
Family & Social
- Patterns from the family you grew up in travel with you into the family you build, the way scent travels on wind — they don't stay behind just because the household changed. Noticing this early lets you choose which ones to keep.
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