Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 3, Verse 6
कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन्।
इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते।।
इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते।।
karmendriyāṇi sanyamya ya āste manasā smaran
indriyārthān vimūḍhātmā mithyācāraḥ sa ucyate
also searched as "karmendriyani sanyamya ya aste manasa smaran"
Translation
He who, controlling the organs of action, lets his mind dwell on the objects of the senses, is a deluded person and a hypocrite.
Vāṇi's rendering
To sit on your hands while the mind chews on pleasures — that is not restraint. That is pretending.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| कर्मेन्द्रियाणिkarma-indriyāṇi | the organs of action — hands, feet, speech, the body's doing parts (sandhi: karma + indriyāṇi) |
| संयम्यsanyamya | having reined in, having held back |
| यःya | he who (visarga lost before the following vowel) |
| आस्तेāste | sits, remains seated |
| मनसाmanasā | with the mind |
| स्मरन्smaran | dwelling on, going over and over |
| इन्द्रियार्थान्indriya-arthān | the objects of the senses, the things craved (sandhi: indriya + arthān) |
| विमूढात्माvimūḍha-ātmā | one whose self is confused, a deluded person (sandhi: vimūḍha + ātmā) |
| मिथ्याचारःmithyā-ācāraḥ | false conduct, a pretender (sandhi: mithyā + ācāraḥ) |
| सःsa | he, that one |
| उच्यतेucyate | is called, is said to be |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 6 mean?
It means outward stillness proves nothing. A man may bind his hands, his tongue, his appetite, and still spend the whole day inside the very pleasures he has publicly refused. Krishna calls this mithyācāra — false conduct. The restraint is real only when the mind stops running back to what the body let go.
What does karmendriyani sanyamya ya aste manasa smaran teach about self-control?
That control begins one layer deeper than most people attempt it. Stopping the hands is the easy half and the visible half. Krishna points at what continues underneath — the mind still turning the object over, still tasting it. Until that turning quiets, you have changed your behaviour and left your wanting untouched.
Is Krishna calling all outward discipline useless in this verse?
No. He is calling divided discipline useless. Restraining the organs of action is where practice begins; Krishna's quarrel is with stopping there and calling it arrival. When hands and mind move together, the same sitting becomes real. When they split, the sitting becomes a performance for an audience of one.
Why does Krishna use such a harsh word as hypocrite here?
Because Arjuna is minutes away from choosing withdrawal and calling it virtue. Krishna cuts that road off before it opens. The word is harsh on purpose — gentleness here would let Arjuna, and you, sit in a posture of renunciation while the mind never renounced anything at all.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is not attacking discipline here. He is attacking the gap between the hands and the mind. Arjuna has been looking for a way out of the fight — sit still, touch nothing, stay clean. Krishna names that posture: mithyācāra, false conduct. Hands stopped, mind feasting. The body sits in a cave and the mind runs the marketplace. What makes this harsh is that no one outside can see it; the fraud has an audience of one. So the test of your restraint is not what you have given up. It is what you are still chewing when nobody is watching.