Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 3, Verse 16
एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह यः।
अघायुरिन्द्रियारामो मोघं पार्थ स जीवति।।
अघायुरिन्द्रियारामो मोघं पार्थ स जीवति।।
evaṁ pravartitaṁ cakraṁ nānuvartayatīha yaḥ
aghāyur indriyārāmo moghaṁ pārtha sa jīvati
also searched as "evam pravartitam cakram nanuvartayatiha yah"
Translation
He who does not follow the wheel thus set in motion here, lives in sin, satisfying the senses, O Arjuna; he lives in vain.
Vāṇi's rendering
The wheel is turning. Whoever will not turn with it — living for the senses — lives in vain.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एवम्evaṁ | thus, in this way |
| प्रवर्तितम्pravartitaṁ | set turning, started moving |
| चक्रम्cakraṁ | the wheel |
| नna | not (joined with the next word by sandhi) |
| अनुवर्तयतिanuvartayati | turns along with, keeps it going |
| इहiha | here, in this world (its initial vowel absorbed by sandhi) |
| यःyaḥ | whoever |
| अघायुःaghāyuḥ | one whose life is spent in harm (final ḥ softened before the next word) |
| इन्द्रियारामःindriya-ārāmaḥ | one who takes the senses as his pleasure-garden |
| मोघम्moghaṁ | in vain, to no purpose |
| पार्थpārtha | Arjuna, son of Pṛthā |
| सःsa | he |
| जीवतिjīvati | lives |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 16 mean?
It means the world runs on exchange, and a life that only draws from it wastes itself. Krishna calls such a person indriyārāma — one who lives inside his own senses as though inside a garden. The wheel is not stopped by him. He is simply left out of it.
What does evam pravartitam chakram nanuvartayatiha yah mean?
The wheel thus set turning — whoever will not turn with it. Krishna has been describing how rain, food, offering and action feed one another in a circle. To refuse your part is not freedom from the circle; it is only absence from it, while the circle continues.
Is Krishna saying that enjoying the senses is sinful?
No. He is describing a person who has made the senses his whole address. Aghāyuḥ is a life whose days go to harm because nothing is returned. Pleasure is not the charge here; withdrawal is. Take from the world and give back, and the senses cause no trouble at all.
How do I turn with the wheel in ordinary life?
By doing the work in front of you as something owed rather than something extracted. Cook the meal, teach the class, mend the thing that broke. The scale does not matter. What matters is that something leaves your hands as well as arriving in them.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Krishna has just described a circle: rain, grain, offering, act, rain again. Nothing feeds itself. The one who takes from the wheel and puts nothing back is not called wicked here — he is called wasteful. Aghāyuḥ: a life spent on harm. Indriyārāma: a man whose garden is his own appetites, pleasant, walled, small. He is not punished; he simply misses. The wheel keeps turning without him. Arjuna wanted to step off the field and call it renunciation; Krishna names that for what it is. You are already being fed by hands you will never see. The question is only what you return.