Sanskrit
काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भवः । महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्ध्येनमिह वैरिणम् ॥
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇasamudbhavaḥ mahāśano mahāpāpmā viddhy enam iha vairiṇam
Translation
It is desire, it is wrath, begotten by the quality of motion; all-consuming, all-polluting, know thou this as our foe here on earth.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna’s answer names the enemy directly: kama, desire, identified with krodha, anger, and traced to rajas — the guna of motion and passion introduced back in verse 5’s mention of the gunas generally, now specified. Calling it “the foe” gives the rest of the chapter its final image: this isn’t an abstract flaw but an adversary to be fought, which is exactly the martial language verse 43 closes on. Desire and anger are named as one thing seen at two moments — wanting, and wanting thwarted. Rooting both in rajas ties this back to the guṇa framework: the enemy is not chosen, it is a mode of nature that can nonetheless be refused consent.
Study deeper
Word by word
- kāma eṣaकाम एष
- it is desire (kāma + eṣa)
- krodha eṣaक्रोध एष
- it is anger (krodha + eṣa)
- rajoguṇasamudbhavaḥरजोगुणसमुद्भवः
- born of the guṇa of rajas (rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ)
- mahāśanoमहाशनो
- all-devouring (mahā-aśanaḥ)
- mahāpāpmāमहापाप्मा
- greatly sinful (mahā-pāpmā)
- viddhy enam iha vairiṇamविद्ध्य् एनं इह वैरिणं
- know this as the enemy here (viddhi + enam + iha + vairiṇam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Until this verse, Arjuna’s question was about something vague — what makes a person act this way. Krishna’s answer isn’t a solution yet, it’s a naming: desire, anger, born of rajas. That’s a distinct and prior move to actually solving anything, and the chapter treats it as necessary — you can’t aim the discipline of verses 41-43 at an enemy you haven’t first identified specifically enough to target.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Before you try to fix a recurring bad pattern in yourself, spend real effort just naming it precisely — 'I get defensive when questioned' does more work than 'I have issues,' and precise naming is a distinct, necessary step before any actual fix.
Professional
- When a recurring failure keeps recurring on your team, resist jumping straight to a fix before you've named the actual root cause specifically — a vague label like 'communication issues' can't be targeted the way a precisely named failure mode can.
Family & Social
- If a recurring conflict keeps resurfacing with someone close to you, try naming the actual pattern precisely together before trying to solve it — a specific name for what's happening is worth more than it looks, because you can't address what you haven't clearly identified.
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