Gita 02.63 – Irritation, delusion, oblivion, stupefaction, destruction – Last 5 of 8 stages to falldown
krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ
sammohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ
smṛti-bhraṁśād buddhi-nāśo
buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati (Bg 2.63)
Word-for-word:
krodhāt — from anger; bhavati — takes place; sammohaḥ — perfect illusion; sammohāt — from illusion; smṛti — of memory; vibhramaḥ — bewilderment; smṛti-bhraṁśāt — after bewilderment of memory; buddhi-nāśaḥ — loss of intelligence; buddhi-nāśāt — and from loss of intelligence; praṇaśyati — one falls down.
Translation:
From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.
Explanation:
Kṛṣṇa continues to describe how one may fall if one’s consciousness lacks a positive focus. This verse concludes His answer to the question kim-āsīta—“How does a sense-controlled person behave?”
Arjuna had asked how such a person controls the senses, and Kṛṣṇa’s answer spans from verse 58 to this verse, 63. The key principle is found in verse 2.61: yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ—one should control the senses by fixing the consciousness on Me.
Now, in these last two verses, He explains what happens if one fails to control the senses—or more precisely, if one fails to fix the consciousness on Kṛṣṇa.
The previous verse described an eight-stage sequence. The first four stages are contemplation, attraction, obsession, and then irritation. These correspond to dhyāyato, saṅga, kāma, and krodha. What follows after krodha is described in this verse.
krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ: From krodha (anger) arises sammoha (delusion). Moha means illusion; sammoha means pervasive illusion—samyak-rūpeṇa mohaḥ.
sammohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ: From delusion, one’s memory becomes confused. This line introduces an interesting distinction between ‘sammoha’ and ‘vibhramaḥ’. What exactly is the difference? We’ll explore that further when we return to this topic for deeper discussion. Let us first look at the meaning in Sanskrit.
smṛti-bhraṁśād buddhi-nāśo: When memory is lost, intelligence is lost as a consequence.
buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati: When intelligence is destroyed, one falls down—one relapses into sensual indulgence, the very kind of indulgence one had once resolved to give up and was earnestly striving to overcome.
Anger causes delusion—krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ.
We can observe this in our day-to-day life. When we become very angry, we often say things we don’t even mean. Sometimes, we don’t even remember saying them. If we lose our temper completely and speak harshly—nowadays, with cell phones having audio and video recorders—someone may record our outburst and later play it back to us: “This is what you said.” We might be shocked: “I said that? How could I have said such a thing? My God!”
Anger can make us act as if we’re mad. In the Roman tradition, there is a saying: “Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make him angry.” The idea is that when a person becomes angry, he ends up doing things that lead to his own downfall. He may shout at friends, falsely accuse them, create terrible misunderstandings, and insult those who care for him. He may break people’s hearts—and as a consequence, the reactions follow. Eventually, the same person who lashed out is the one who gets destroyed.
Here, Kṛṣṇa is specifically speaking in the context of temptation. Let us now shift our focus to that point. The earlier analysis was meant to illustrate how anger leads to delusion. Anger causes us to completely lose our senses—but this doesn’t refer to the gross sensory organs. Rather, it means we lose our awareness of what we are doing.
Delusion, in this context, means a state in which we are no longer conscious or mindful of our actions. We act without understanding, without reflection—carried away by the force of emotion.
Here, the sequence begins with contemplation—“Hey, look at that!” Then comes attraction—“That looks good.” This develops into saṅga, or attachment. Next is kāma—obsession: “I want it.” Then arises krodha—anger: “Who can stop me? Who dares stop me from taking it?” And finally comes delusion: “No one can stop me. I can do whatever I want. I am my own boss.”
This is sammoha—delusion. We fail to understand that we have actually been caught—shackled by the invisible ropes of our attachments. These ropes pull us, just as someone might pull a puppet on strings. We are, in truth, getting entangled. Yet, unaware of this, we allow ourselves to be dragged along—helplessly, even willingly.
This delusion refers to our present decision-making. In the past, we’ve had experiences where certain things did not lead to satisfaction. We tried to pursue them, only to find disappointment. As a result, we became frustrated and turned to other pursuits—or at the very least, we stopped trying for the same things, having learned that they do not bring fulfillment.
Our past experiences, as well as our recollections of them or even what we’ve heard from scripture about others’ experiences, serve as reference points for our decision-making.
However, smṛti-bhraṁśād—our memory becomes deluded. We may notice a peculiar quirk in our memory, one that would be humorous if it weren’t so dangerous. What is this quirk?
When we engage in sense gratification, there is a fleeting moment of pleasure. But before that, there is so much agony of craving, and afterward, there is the agony of letdown, guilt, or frustration. The letdown comes because we expected so much pleasure, but what we received was far less. Guilt arises when we’ve done something wrong or sinful—our conscience naturally chastises us. Or frustration emerges when we don’t get what we wanted in the first place.
This means that when we look back at the entire experience of sense gratification, we see the misery of craving at the beginning and the misery of disappointment at the end. In between, there is just a little pleasure. However, when there is ‘smṛti-vibhramaḥ’, we remember only that small bit of pleasure in the middle and forget all the associated misery that came with it.
‘Sammoha’ refers to the delusion about what to do right now, in the present moment. ‘Smṛti-vibhramaḥ’ refers to the delusion of the past, where we fail to remember things properly, losing touch with the full reality of our experiences.
In fact, this selective recollection is often a deceptive recollection. Selective recollection means remembering only the small part of the experience where we had pleasure, while forgetting the much larger portion filled with craving and frustration. In this way, we become deluded.
‘Smṛti-vibhramaḥ’ also refers to the fact that we have heard teachings from the guru, sādhus, and śāstras—especially from smṛti. Smṛti does not just refer to the Purāṇas—it encompasses the words of the sages that were codified into the Purāṇas. However, the words of the sages continue to reach us even today.
Thus, ‘sammoha’ leads to ‘smṛti-vibhramaḥ’, meaning we not only fail to remember our own experiences properly, but we also forget the instructions of the sages.
‘Smṛti-bhraṁśād buddhi-nāśaḥ’ means the destruction of intelligence. To a large extent, our intelligence is rooted in our remembrance. However, this is not just about remembering facts and figures. In many countries, the education system is still structured around memory-based learning—“Do you remember this figure? Do you recall this fact? How well can you recollect?”
But this type of memorization, designed for regurgitation in exams, is not what Kṛṣṇa is referring to here. He is speaking about the remembrance of the instructions of the guru, sādhus, and śāstras—the remembrance of the realizations we have gained from our own experiences, and the insights acquired through contemplation and hearing.
True learning, especially when applied to real life, is essentially the linking of experience with insight. We gain insight from scripture, and we truly learn when we are able to link that wisdom with our actual life. When we connect the two, we realize, “Ah, this is how it is, and this is how I am meant to live.” However, unfortunately, we often fail to realize this. When our memory is lost, the intelligence that depends on that memory is also lost.
Finally, the buddhi is destroyed—buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati. At our current stage, we don’t have a regular taste for bhakti. We may not even have a taste for spirituality in general, even if someone isn’t practicing bhakti. In this context, Kṛṣṇa is speaking about yoga in general, especially karma-yoga. However, right now, we don’t experience a consistent higher taste on a regular basis.
That is why we need to have our intelligence guide us. Intelligence tells us what is right and what is wrong, what to do and what to avoid. But when intelligence is destroyed, we naturally fall—buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati.
In this way, Kṛṣṇa is describing a sequence—contemplation, attraction, obsession, irritation, delusion, followed by oblivion, which means forgetfulness (buddhi-nāśāt). This leads to stupefaction (buddhi-nāśo) and ultimately to self-destruction (praṇaśyati).
All of this can be avoided if we practice ‘yukta-āsīta mat-paraḥ’. Instead of contemplating on the same subjects that lead us down this path, we should contemplate on Kṛṣṇa.
Thank you.
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