Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 3, Verse 38
धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथाऽऽदर्शो मलेन च।
यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतम्।।
यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतम्।।
dhūmenāvriyate vahnir yathādarśo malena ca
yatholbenāvṛto garbhas tathā tenedam āvṛtam
also searched as "dhumenavriyate vahnir yathadarso malena ca"
Translation
As a fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, and as an embryo is encased in the amniotic sac, so is this world enveloped by desire.
Vāṇi's rendering
As smoke veils fire, as dust films a mirror, as the womb wraps the unborn — so craving veils knowing.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| धूमेनdhūmena | by smoke |
| आव्रियतेāvriyate | is covered over (sandhi: dhūmena + āvriyate) |
| वह्निःvahniḥ | fire |
| यथाyathā | just as |
| आदर्शःādarśaḥ | a mirror (sandhi: yathā + ādarśaḥ) |
| मलेनmalena | by dust, by film or grime |
| चca | and |
| यथाyathā | just as |
| उल्बेनulbena | by the womb-membrane, the caul (sandhi: yathā + ulbena) |
| आवृतःāvṛtaḥ | wrapped, enclosed |
| गर्भःgarbhaḥ | the unborn child in the womb |
| तथाtathā | so, in the same way |
| तेनtena | by that — by craving, named in the previous verse |
| इदम्idam | this — knowing itself (sandhi: tena + idam) |
| आवृतम्āvṛtam | is veiled |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 38 mean?
Krishna gives three pictures of the same fact: smoke over fire, dust on a mirror, the caul around an unborn child. Craving covers knowing without destroying it. The verse is not a verdict on you but a diagnosis — what is hidden is still intact, and coverings can be removed.
What does dhumenavriyate vahnir yathadarso malena ca teach about desire?
That desire works by concealment, not by conquest. Kāma does not burn out your clarity; it settles over it. Smoke thins with a breath of discrimination, dust needs patient wiping, the caul must wait for its hour. Different obscurings, different labour — the same fire underneath all of them.
Why does Krishna use three images instead of one?
Because coverings differ in weight. Some are barely there and clear at once. Some cling and must be worked at over months. Some cannot be forced at all and only fall away in their own season. Arjuna needed to know which effort his own veiling would ask of him. So do you.
If craving only veils knowledge, why does it feel so total?
Because a veil is felt from inside, where you cannot see its edge. Sitting in smoke, you assume the world is smoke. The verse hands you the other view: there is a fire, it is yours, it has never gone out. That assurance is what makes the wiping worth beginning.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
None of these coverings destroys what it hides. The fire still burns under the smoke. The mirror is still a mirror beneath the dust. The child is whole inside the womb, only unborn yet. Krishna is saying something gentler to Arjuna than it first sounds: craving does not take your knowing away, it films it over. Some films lift in a breath. Some need patient wiping. Some must simply be waited out. Notice which covering you are living under — and stop despairing that the light has gone out. Smoke is not the absence of fire. It is proof of it.