Sanskrit
कामैस्तैस्तैर्हृतज्ञानाः प्रपद्यन्तेऽन्यदेवताः । तं तं नियममास्थाय प्रकृत्या नियताः स्वया ॥ २० ॥
kāmais taistair hṛtajñānāḥ prapadyante'nyadevatāḥ taṃ taṃ niyamam āsthāya prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā
Translation
They whose wisdom hath been rent away by desires go forth to other Shining Ones, resorting to various external observances, according to their own natures.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A structural pivot: having spent verses 1-19 establishing what full knowledge of Krishna looks like, the chapter now turns to its opposite — worship diverted toward lesser gods by desire. This directly violates verse 11’s earlier qualifier, desire “not contrary to dharma”; here desire has taken over entirely, and what follows through verse 23 is not condemnation but an oddly generous account of how that diverted worship still functions. Hṛta-jñāna — “knowledge robbed” — by kāma: the same prapadyante of BG 7.14, now aimed at anya-devatāḥ, other gods. The Gita’s response, unusually, is to keep supplying the faith anyway (BG 7.21).
Study deeper
Word by word
- kāmais taistair hṛtajñānāḥकामैस् तैस्तैः हृतज्ञानाः
- their knowledge carried off by this or that desire (kāmaiḥ + taiḥ-taiḥ + hṛta-jñānāḥ)
- prapadyante'nyadevatāḥप्रपद्यन्तेऽन्यदेवताः
- they resort to other gods (prapadyante + anya-devatāḥ)
- taṃ taṃ niyamam āsthāyaतं तं नियमं आस्थाय
- following this or that rule (tam + tam + niyamam + āsthāya)
- prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayāप्रकृत्या नियताः स्वया
- constrained by their own nature (prakṛtyā + niyatāḥ + svayā)
Commentary
Site Commentary
“Rent away” translates a verb, hṛta, that means stolen or snatched — not clouded, not dimmed, but taken by force. Desire here isn’t described as fogging someone’s judgment from a distance, it’s described as robbing them of it directly, which is a more violent image than most of the chapter’s talk of delusion has used so far, and it changes who’s at fault: something was actively lost, not merely obscured.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When a strong craving is driving your decisions, recognize that it isn't just fogging your judgment from a distance — it can actively take your discernment from you in the moment. Build in a pause before you act on strong desire, precisely because the theft happens fast and quietly.
Professional
- When short-term incentive pressure — a quarterly target, a bonus structure — starts driving decisions, recognize it can actively override sound judgment, not just bias it slightly. Build a deliberate check into the process specifically for moments when incentive and discernment are likely to conflict.
Family & Social
- When a strong emotional want — to be right, to be comforted — is steering how you're treating someone you love, recognize it can genuinely take your good judgment from you, not just tint it. Pause before acting on the want, because the loss of discernment can happen faster than you notice.
Ask yourself
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