Verse 3.38

धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथादर्शो मलेन च ।

यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतम् ॥

3.38

Transliteration

dhūmenāvriyate vahniryathādarśo malena ca |

yatholbenāvṛto garbhastathā tenedamāvṛtam ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror by dust, and as an embryo by the amnion, so is this enveloped by that.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

by smoke
is covered
fire
as
a mirror
by dust
and

as
by the womb
covered
an embryo
so
by it
this
is covered

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

Krishna gives three images of how desire hides understanding. Fire veiled by smoke still burns and can be seen with some effort. A mirror covered with dust needs cleaning before it reflects. An embryo enclosed in the womb is wholly hidden until birth. Many readers take these as degrees of covering, from light to heavy, matching different strengths of desire. The images also suggest that knowledge is not destroyed by desire, only obscured. What is needed is to remove the covering, not to create something new.