Verse 3.43

एवं बुद्धेः परं बुद्ध्वा संस्तभ्यात्मानमात्मना ।

जहि शत्रुं महाबाहो कामरूपं दुरासदम् ॥

3.43

Transliteration

evaṃ buddheḥ paraṃ buddhvā saṃstabhyātmānamātmanā |

jahi śatruṃ mahābāho kāmarūpaṃ durāsadam ||

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

Translation

Thus knowing Him Who is superior to the intellect and restraining the self by the Self, slay thou, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the enemy in the form of desire, hard to coner.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

thus
than the intellect
higher
knowing
steadying
the self
by the self

slay
the enemy
O mighty-armed
in the form of desire
hard to conquer

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

Explanation

The chapter ends with a call to action that sums up its teaching on desire. Knowing the self as higher than the understanding (buddhi), and steadying the lower self by the higher, Arjuna is to slay this enemy, desire (kāma), which is hard to conquer. The phrase steadying the self by the self captures the Gita's idea of self-mastery: the person is both the one who controls and the one controlled. The chapter that began with confusion about action ends with a clear charge to act, inwardly and outwardly.