Gita 03.38 – No one is exempt from lust’s delusion

Audio Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-03-38-no-one-is-exempt-from-lusts-delusion/

dhūmenāvriyate vahnir
yathādarśo malena ca
yatholbenāvṛto garbhas
tathā tenedam āvṛtam (Bg 3.38)

Word-for-word:
dhūmena — by smoke; āvriyate — is covered; vahniḥ — fire; yathā — just as; ādarśaḥ — mirror; malena — by dust; ca — also; yathā — just as; ulbena — by the womb; āvṛtaḥ — is covered; garbhaḥ — embryo; tathā — so; tena — by that lust; idam — this; āvṛtam — is covered.

Translation:
As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity is similarly covered by different degrees of this lust.

Explanation:
dhūmenāvriyate vahnir: Just as smoke covers fire,
yathādarśo malena ca: as a mirror is covered by dust. Darśa refers to a mirror, that which gives us darśana—enabling us to see ourselves. When the mirror is covered by dust, we cannot see.
yatholbenāvṛto garbhas: Ulba is the embryo; as the embryo is covered by the womb (garbha).
tathā tenedam āvṛtam: ‘Tene’ is a pronoun referring to what was stated in the previous verse—that is, kāma. In the same way, lust covers us.

What is covered is not explicitly mentioned in this verse, but it is understood to be the soul—lust is covering the soul, obscuring our true nature. Kṛṣṇa will elaborate on this in the next verse. Right now, he is explaining how lust acts as an enemy. The previous verse concluded with “iha vairiṇam”—this is your enemy.

Now a question may naturally arise—if lust is indeed our enemy, how does it actually operate? Typically, when we have an enemy like Karṇa, he stands before us, confronting us directly and shooting arrows. But how does this particular enemy operate? The explanation is that lust operates by enveloping and obscuring us.

When warriors engaged in battle, they usually wielded bows and arrows, swords, or maces. Yet, there were instances when they invoked mystic weapons—powerful armaments that could generate a veil of darkness around the adversary. Once this blanket of darkness surrounded the enemy, the enemy became unable to see clearly and thus could not effectively launch a counterattack.

Because the warrior could no longer see the enemy, he became helpless—easily attacked, wounded, or even vanquished. Thus, covering the enemy was a highly effective strategy, rendering them incapable of even defending themselves, let alone fighting back.

On a more everyday level, consider a thief trying to steal something from someone. The thief might hurl sand, dust, or mud into the person’s eyes. Blinded temporarily, the person cannot defend or retaliate. In those vulnerable moments, the thief seizes the opportunity and steals.

Likewise, lust envelops us—āvṛtam—and by doing so, this becomes its modus operandi, the very means through which it deludes us and drives us to act self-destructively.

We will discuss further how lust covers and deludes us. For now, let us focus on the metaphors Kṛṣṇa uses in this verse. This verse describes different degrees of covering.

The first metaphor is fire covered by smoke. Fire, by nature, is bright and illuminating. Smoke dims this radiance and is often irritating. However, if someone knows how to stoke the fire, the smoke dissipates and the fire blazes forth in full strength.

The ācāryas explain that this metaphor refers to the soul covered by lust in a human body. In the human form, the soul’s consciousness is very close to being fully manifest in its spiritual glory. There is still a covering, but it is the covering of lust, and it is relatively thin—like smoke hovering over a fire. Just as smoke can be separated from fire by skillful tending, similarly, this covering of lust can be removed by dedicated practice of yoga, especially bhakti yoga.

We need to seek guidance from guru, sadhu, and shastra. If we attempt to disperse the smoke arbitrarily on our own, we may end up spreading it even more. But if there is an expert who knows exactly how to fan the fire, then the fire becomes stronger, and the smoke dissipates. In the same way, when we work under the expert guidance of spiritual teachers and follow the authorized process for countering and controlling lust, the smoke-like covering of lust gradually vanishes. Pure consciousness of the soul then shines forth and illuminates our lives.

The mirror covered by dust refers to the condition of the soul in the animal species. In such cases, the soul is so thoroughly covered that perception becomes heavily distorted. When smoke covers fire, the fire is still visible, even if we cannot benefit from it fully. However, when a mirror is covered by a thick layer of dust, the layer can be so dense that an observer may not even realize there is a mirror underneath.

In the same way, in animal species, the covering of materialism—centered around sex and driven by the instincts of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending—completely dominates the soul’s behavior. As a result, the spiritual spark, the soul’s inherent capacity for spiritual inquiry, remains hidden and unmanifest, just as the mirror remains invisible when buried under a thick layer of dust. Removing such a thick layer of dust requires greater endeavor.

Similarly, for animals, removing the covering of lust requires first attaining a human form. Animals act largely on instinct. Even though they have some capacity for discrimination, that intelligence is only directed towards fulfilling basic needs: better eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. They do not have the faculty to inquire into life’s higher purpose or to pursue spiritual development.

Consequently, their evolution out of such coverings takes a much longer time. Smoke is a thin, insubstantial covering over fire, while dust is thicker and more substantial. In the same way, the animal’s state is more deeply enveloped in material desires.

And then the third metaphor—yatholbenāvṛto garbhas—is just as the womb covers the infant within. In the early stages of pregnancy, there may not even be the recognition that an infant is growing inside. Even when the baby bump appears, it still takes time—usually at least 9 to 10 months—for the child to emerge from the womb.

In the same way, this covering of an embryo in the womb refers to the soul in the plant species. In that form, the soul is so covered—just like an embryo is helpless, unable to move or do anything. In the plant body, the soul is essentially helpless. It can’t even move; its only definition of success in that life form is simply to grow. For example, if the soul is embodied as a blade of grass, its sole purpose is to grow—and that too only in one dimension—vertically. Even then, it can’t grow very high.

In that state, the soul’s spiritual potential is almost entirely concealed, and it’s only when the soul eventually attains a human form that it can begin to counter the covering of lust. Through these three metaphors, Kṛṣṇa illustrates how lust acts as the enemy of the soul in this world—iha vairiṇam. Both these words, iha (in this world) and vairiṇam (enemy), are elaborated upon in this verse.

It is an enemy because it covers—āvṛtam—and exactly how it covers and how that covering makes it an enemy will be explained in the next verse. In this verse, however, iha, meaning “in this world,” signifies that for all living beings here, it is indeed an enemy. Lust is the enemy “in” this world and “of” the world, affecting every living being. Even if some beings do not outwardly seem to be troubled by lust, they are nevertheless tormented by it. In their human forms, they were so overwhelmed by lust that they have now been degraded to lower forms of life. Thus, plants, animals, and humans alike are covered by lust, deluded by it, their consciousness constricted, and in that way, they remain bound.

Thus, this verse describes the pervasiveness of the power of the enemy—how it has attacked, subjugated, and imprisoned all living beings in material existence. Hence, Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna that in this world, everyone is covered by lust. How that covering operates and how it can be countered will be elaborated in the verses to come.

Thank you.