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Chapter 3 · Verse 6 · Karma Yoga

Bhagavad Gita 3.6

philosophical Mind & Meditation Attachment & Letting Go Self & Identity

Sanskrit

कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन्। इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते।।3.6।।

Transliteration

karmendriyāṇi sanyamya ya āste manasā smaran indriyārthān vimūḍhātmā mithyāchāraḥ sa uchyate

Word by Word

karma-indriyāṇi the organs of action
sanyamya restrain
yaḥ who
āste remain
manasā in the mind
smaran to remember
indriya-arthān sense objects
vimūḍha-ātmā the deluded
mithyā-āchāraḥ hypocrite
saḥ they
uchyate are called
Simplified Perspective

Krishna cuts through the deepest human delusion here—the lie we tell ourselves that we can suppress desire while secretly nurturing it in thought. The person who chains their hands but feeds their mind with craving is a hypocrite wearing virtue's mask, fooling no one but themselves.

Real restraint is not violent suppression of the senses; it is the natural quieting that comes when the mind tastes something truer than sense-objects. In our age of curated social feeds and performed morality, this verse asks: are you actually transforming, or just performing abstinence while your inner life burns with wanting?

Listen

Bhagavad Gita 3.6 — BG 3.6

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Sanskrit text from the Bhagavad Gita (public domain). Commentary © Mahakatha.

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