Verse 3.40

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 3.40:

इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिर् अस्याधिष्ठानम् उच्यते एतैर् ।
विमोहयत्य् एष ज्ञानम् आवृत्य देहिनम् ॥ ४० ॥

indriyāṇi mano buddhir asyādhiṣṭhānam ucyate etair |
vimohayaty eṣa jñānam āvṛtya dehinam || 40 ||

indriyāṇi–the senses; manaḥ–mind; buddhiḥ–intelligence; asya–of this lust; adhiṣṭhānam–the shelter; ucyate–it is said; etaiḥ–by these; vimohayati–utterly bewilders; eṣaḥ–this (lust); jñānam–knowledge; āvṛtya–covering; dehinam–the embodied being.

The senses, mind and intelligence are said to be the dwelling places of this lust. Through them, lust covers the knowledge of the living entity and completely bewilders him.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Where does this lust reside? In response to this question, Śrī Bhagavān is speaking this verse beginning with indriyāṇi. The senses, mind and intelligence, which are like a great fort, or capital city, are the abode of this enemy, lust. The sense objects, such as sound, are like the kingdom of a king. The embodied soul is bewildered by all of them.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

A person can easily conquer his enemy when he has discovered his enemy’s hiding place and destroyed it. The senses are the shelter, or hiding place, of this lust. Therefore, by subduing the senses, lust can be easily defeated. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa has compared lust to a very powerful king; the senses to the king’s capital, which is protected by a great fort; and the various sense objects to the kingdom and the subjects of the king.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, “When the pure cognizant living entity accepts a body, he is known as dehī (embodied). As long as lust dwells in the senses, mind and intelligence, it keeps the knowledge of the living entity covered. The subtle state of lust is avidyā, or ignorance. It is this ignorance only that originally offers the jīva, who is an atomic conscious entity with a pure ego, the initial veil of ignorance–material false ego. Material intelligence acts as a shelter for this lust, or ignorance. Later, when the material false ego has developed, material intelligence provides the mind as a second shelter for lust. The mind that runs after sense objects then provides the senses as the third place of shelter for this lust. Taking shelter of these three places, lust casts the living entity into worldly enjoyment. When a living entity turns towards Śrī Bhagavān by his own will, it is called knowledge, or vidyā, and when he wilfully becomes averse to Śrī Bhagavān, it is called ignorance, or avidyā.”