Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 62
ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते।
सङ्गात् संजायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते।।
सङ्गात् संजायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते।।
dhyāyato viṣayān puṁsaḥ saṅgas teṣūpajāyate
saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho ’bhijāyate
also searched as "dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate"
Translation
To one who is thinking about sense-objects, attachment to them arises; from attachment arises desire, and from desire arises anger.
Vāṇi's rendering
Dwell on something and attachment grows. From attachment, craving; from craving, anger.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ध्यायतःdhyāyataḥ | of one who keeps dwelling on, brooding over (appears as dhyāyato by sandhi before the next word) |
| विषयान्viṣayān | objects of the senses, the things attention feeds on |
| पुंसःpuṁsaḥ | of a person, of the one so occupied |
| सङ्गःsaṅgaḥ | clinging, attachment (appears as saṅgas before te-) |
| तेषुteṣu | toward those very objects (joined with the next word as teṣūpa-) |
| उपजायतेupajāyate | springs up, is born |
| सङ्गात्saṅgāt | from that clinging |
| संजायतेsañjāyate | comes fully into being |
| कामःkāmaḥ | craving, the wanting that must have it |
| कामात्kāmāt | from craving |
| क्रोधःkrodhaḥ | anger (appears as krodho before the elided a of abhijāyate) |
| अभिजायतेabhijāyate | is produced, breaks out |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 62 mean?
It traces anger back to its source. Attention rests on something; resting becomes clinging; clinging becomes craving; craving thwarted becomes anger. Krishna is not condemning any link in the chain. He is showing that the last one is decided by the first, and that the first is the only one still soft enough to change.
What does dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate teach?
That dwelling is not innocent. To keep turning something over in the mind is already to begin holding it. Krishna names the step most people skip when they ask why they lost their temper — the long, quiet looking that came first. Anger is the harvest; the sowing happened in your attention.
Why does the Gita link desire and anger so closely?
Because they are one movement at two moments. Craving reaching its object is called desire; craving meeting an obstacle is called anger. The heat is the same heat. This is why suppressing anger rarely works — you are pruning a branch. Krishna points instead at the root, which is what you keep dwelling on.
How do I stop this chain from starting in daily life?
Not by fighting the craving once it has arrived — by noticing earlier. When you catch the mind circling something for the fifth time, that is the moment with room in it. Krishna's teaching here is practical and unglamorous: move your attention while moving it is still cheap.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Watch the sequence, because it is not moral — it is mechanical. Attention lands somewhere and lingers. Lingering becomes liking, liking becomes wanting, and wanting, when blocked, comes out as anger. Krishna is showing Arjuna that the rage he will meet on the field was assembled long before, out of a hundred small dwellings of the mind. Nobody chooses to be furious. The choice was made much earlier, at the moment the gaze settled and did not move on. This is why the Gītā keeps returning to attention rather than behaviour. What you keep looking at is quietly deciding what you will one day rage for.