Sanskrit
आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा । कामरूपेण कौन्तेय दुष्पूरेणानलेन च ॥
āvṛtaṃ jñānam etena jñānino nityavairiṇā kāmarūpeṇa kaunteya duṣpūreṇānalena ca
Translation
Enveloped is wisdom by this constant enemy of the wise in the form of desire, which is insatiable as a flame.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The three similes of verse 38 are named as one thing: desire, wisdom’s “constant enemy,” insatiable like fire. Fire is a pointed choice of comparison, since verse 38 already used fire wrapped in smoke as the mildest of the three images — here desire itself becomes the fire, suggesting it isn’t only obscured by something, it’s also the very thing that keeps consuming fuel without end. Duṣpūra — “impossible to fill” — is the operative claim: feeding desire does not reduce it, a diagnosis that rules out satisfaction as a strategy and leaves only the disengagement BG 3.41 prescribes. This is the same “insatiable fire” image the tradition kept from the Gita.
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Word by word
- āvṛtaṃ jñānam etenaआवृतं ज्ञानं एतेन
- knowledge is covered by this (āvṛtam + jñānam + etena)
- jñānino nityavairiṇāज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा
- the constant enemy of the wise (jñāninaḥ + nitya-vairiṇā)
- kāmarūpeṇaकामरूपेण
- in the form of desire (kāma-rūpeṇa)
- kaunteyaकौन्तेय
- O son of Kuntī
- duṣpūreṇānalena caदुष्पूरेणानलेन च
- and by insatiable fire (duṣpūreṇa + analena + ca)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Calling desire “insatiable as a flame” isn’t decorative — fire is the one thing among the chapter’s images that grows when you feed it rather than being satisfied by it. That’s a precise claim, not a mood: indulging desire to make it go away isn’t a strategy that occasionally fails, it’s structurally guaranteed to fail, because feeding is exactly what a flame runs on.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Don't expect giving in to a craving to actually satisfy it — this verse's fire image is precise, not poetic: feeding a flame makes it bigger, and desire indulged tends to want more next time, not less.
Professional
- Don't try to solve a stakeholder's insatiable appetite for more scope or more asks by simply granting the next one — feeding that pattern predictably grows it rather than satisfying it, the way fire grows on more fuel.
Family & Social
- If you keep giving in to a family member's escalating demands hoping it will finally satisfy them, notice the pattern this verse names — indulging an insatiable want tends to grow the want, not end it.
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