indriyäëi mano buddhir
asyädhiñöhänam ucyate
etair vimohayaty eña
jïänam ävåtya dehinam
SYNONYMS
indriyäëi-the senses; manaù-the mind; buddhiù-the intelligence; asya-of
this lust; adhiñöhänam-sitting place; ucyate-is called; etaiù-by
all these; vimohayati-bewilders; eñaù-this lust; jïänam-knowledge;
ävåtya-covering; dehinam-of the embodied.
TRANSLATION
The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust. Through
them lust covers the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.
PURPORT
The enemy has captured different strategic positions in the body of the conditioned
soul, and therefore Lord Kåñëa is giving hints of those places, so that one who wants
to conquer the enemy may know where he can be found. Mind is the center of all the
activities of the senses, and thus when we hear about sense objects the mind generally
becomes a reservoir of all ideas of sense gratification; and, as a result, the mind and
the senses become the repositories of lust. Next, the intelligence department becomes the
capital of such lustful propensities. Intelligence is the immediate next-door neighbor of
the spirit soul. Lusty intelligence influences the spirit soul to acquire the false ego
and identify itself with matter, and thus with the mind and senses. The spirit soul
becomes addicted to enjoying the material senses and mistakes this as true happiness. This
false identification of the spirit soul is very nicely explained in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam
(10.84.13):
yasyätma-buddhiù kuëape tri-dhätuke
sva-dhéù kalaträdiñu bhauma ijya-dhéù
yat-tértha-buddhiù salile na karhicij
janeñv abhijïeñu sa eva go-kharaù
"A human being who identifies this body made of three elements with his self, who
considers the by-products of the body to be his kinsmen, who considers the land of birth
worshipable, and who goes to the place of pilgrimage simply to take a bath rather than
meet men of transcendental knowledge there, is to be considered like an ass or a cow.