Sanskrit
कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन् । इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते ॥
karmendriyāṇi saṃyamya ya āste manasā smaran indriyārthān vimūḍhātmā mithyācāraḥ sa ucyate
Translation
Who sitteth, controlling the organs of action, but dwelling in his mind on the objects of the senses, that bewildered man is called a hypocrite.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna’s first concrete example of the failure mode: someone who physically restrains the organs of action while mentally rehearsing the sense-objects he’s pretending to renounce. The word Besant renders “hypocrite” names exactly this gap between outward posture and inward craving — bodily inaction with an active mind is worse than useless, since it adds self-deception to the same underlying bondage. Verse 7 gives the positive counterpart. The order of operations is the point: stilling the hands while the mind still runs after objects is the wrong sequence. BG 3.7 reverses it — mind governs the senses first, and only then does outward action stop binding.
Study deeper
Word by word
- karmendriyāṇiकर्मेन्द्रियाणि
- the organs of action (karma-indriyāṇi)
- saṃyamyaसंयंय
- having restrained
- ya āsteय आस्ते
- who sits (yaḥ + āste)
- manasā smaranमनसा स्मरन्
- remembering with the mind (manasā + smaran)
- indriyārthānइन्द्रियार्थान्
- the sense-objects
- vimūḍhātmāविमूढात्मा
- a deluded soul (vimūḍha-ātmā)
- mithyācāraḥमिथ्याचारः
- a false practiser, a hypocrite (mithyā-ācāraḥ)
- sa ucyateस उच्यते
- he is called (saḥ + ucyate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
“Mithyācāraḥ” names something narrower than it sounds — not someone who harms others, but someone who deceives themselves, staging outward restraint while the mind keeps rehearsing exactly what the body is refusing. The verse’s real target isn’t the failure to control the senses; it’s the pretense of having already succeeded.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- If you've given something up outwardly but still spend your attention dwelling on it, be honest that you haven't actually let it go — the self-deception of performed restraint is worse than simply admitting you're still attached.
Professional
- If you've stopped doing something visibly at work — chasing credit, cutting corners — but still privately resent not being able to, notice the gap between the appearance and the actual state of mind; performed discipline that isn't real discipline tends to leak out eventually.
Family & Social
- If you outwardly go along with a boundary someone asked you to respect while inwardly still resenting or working around it, be honest with yourself about that gap — pretending compliance is a quieter but real form of dishonesty toward the person who asked.
Ask yourself
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