Vers 3.38

धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथादर्शो मलेन च ।

यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतम् ॥

3.38

Transliteratie

dhūmenāvriyate vahniryathādarśo malena ca |

yatholbenāvṛto garbhastathā tenedamāvṛtam ||

Door Sanskrit System · Machineconcept · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Vertaling

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

Uit de sheet van de eigenaar · +1 meer

Woord voor woord

by smoke
is covered
fire
as
a mirror
by dust
and

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

Door Sanskrit System · Machineconcept · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Uitleg

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.