Sanskrit
क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः । स्मृतिभ्रंशाद्बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ॥
krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ sammohāt smṛtivibhramaḥ smṛtibhraṃśād buddhināśo buddhināśāt praṇaśyati
Translation
From anger proceedeth delusion; from delusion confused memory; from confused memory the destruction of Reason; from destruction of Reason he perishes.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Verse 62’s chain reaches its conclusion: anger to delusion, delusion to lost memory, lost memory to the ruin of buddhi — the same discriminating faculty this whole chapter has been building up since verse 39 — and from there, ruin outright. The chain matters because it locates the point of no return not at the first sense-contact, which is unavoidable, but much further along, at attachment. The terminal step is the destruction of buddhi — the very faculty the chapter spent verses 39–53 teaching Arjuna to steady. This is why the descending figure on the chapter page reads as the exact photographic negative of the yoga teaching: everything it built, this undoes in order.
Study deeper
Word by word
- krodhād bhavati sammohaḥक्रोधाद् भवति संमोहः
- from anger comes delusion (krodhāt + bhavati + sammohaḥ)
- sammohāt smṛtivibhramaḥसंमोहात् स्मृतिविभ्रमः
- from delusion, wandering of memory (sammohāt + smṛti-vibhramaḥ)
- smṛtibhraṃśād buddhināśoस्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो
- from loss of memory, destruction of the intellect (smṛti-bhraṃśāt + buddhi-nāśaḥ)
- buddhināśāt praṇaśyatiबुद्धिनाशात् प्रणश्यति
- from destruction of the intellect, he is lost (buddhi-nāśāt + praṇaśyati)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The chain closes with “he perishes” — a stark word for what began, two verses earlier, as merely dwelling on an object of sense. Read backward, the verse is really locating a point of no return well before destruction: by the time buddhi is lost, three earlier links already went unchecked.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Notice when a decision is being made from a foggy, agitated state rather than a clear one — this verse's own chain suggests judgment degrades well before you'd expect to notice it degrading.
Professional
- Postpone consequential replies (emails, feedback, resignations) made while agitated — this verse's chain is effectively a description of why 'sleep on it' works.
Family & Social
- Confused memory of what was actually said or promised is often a symptom of anger having already taken hold during the conversation, not a sign the other person is lying — worth revisiting once both people are calmer.
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