This summary is about verses 3.36 to 3.43 of the third chapter of the Gita. It is the third stop on the road of Anger and Desire. Before it is From Thought to Ruin, and what follows is the lesson "Endless Wanting and the Three Gates".
The answer in one line
A person does wrong even while knowing better because there is an enemy within: desire, which is the same as anger. It is born of passion, it covers knowledge without destroying it, and it sits in all three, the senses, the mind and the intellect.
The fight begins from below, by bringing the senses under control, and it is carried on by the authority above, by steadying the mind with the intellect and by remembering the self. The Lord calls it hard to conquer. It is not easy, but it is not impossible either (Gita 3.43).
What problem this answers
"I know this is not right, and I still do it." Arjuna asks the same thing: why does a man commit wrong even against his wish, as if driven by force (Gita 3.36)?
This is not the question of one who wants to be bad. It is the question of one who wants to be good and loses by his own hands. That is why the Lord does not put it off. He answers it directly and by name.
The question rose here because in verses 3.34 and 3.35 the matter had been put very simply: do not come under the attraction and aversion of objects, and stay on your own duty (Gita 3.34–35). Arjuna's objection is that if it is so simple, why do people slip? The answer points to the very place where knowing and doing part.
The verses in order
Verse 3.36 is Arjuna's question: why does a man commit wrong, as if driven by force, even against his wish?
Verse 3.37 gives the answer: it is desire, it is anger. It is born of the quality of passion, it is "all-devouring" and "greatly sinful". Know it here as the enemy.
Verse 3.38 gives three images. As fire is covered by smoke, a mirror by dust, and an unborn child by the womb's covering, so knowledge is covered by desire.
Verse 3.39 says that even the knowledge of the wise is covered by this constant enemy, which is like a fire that is never satisfied.
Verse 3.40 says that the senses, the mind and the intellect are its seat. Through these it covers knowledge and deludes the embodied one.
Verse 3.41 says: first bring the senses under control, then kill this sinful thing that destroys knowledge and realisation.
Verse 3.42 says that the senses are higher than the body, the mind higher than the senses, the intellect higher than the mind, and the one beyond the intellect is the self.
And verse 3.43 says: knowing the self to be beyond the intellect, steadying the mind by the intellect, kill this hard-to-conquer enemy in the form of desire.
The main points to remember
Knowing the name is half the fight
The power that pulls against our will is named by the Lord as "this".
Desire and anger are two faces of one enemy
When the wish seems about to be fulfilled, it stays desire. When something blocks it, the same becomes anger. The chain is: dwelling, attachment, desire, anger (Gita 2.62–63). In the sixteenth chapter desire, anger and greed are the three gates of hell (Gita 16.21). In the fifth is the yogi who can bear their surge (Gita 5.23).
Desire is not an attack from outside
It rises from the restless energy of passion, with its "I want more, I want it now". Passion is full of wanting and attachment (Gita 14.7).
Two descriptions
"All-devouring" means that whatever is served, it eats it all and does not stop. "Greatly sinful" means that it makes a person do what he would never do in his senses.
Knowledge is covered, not destroyed
Fire is present in smoke. This is a light covering, which clears with a breeze. A face is in a mirror caked with dust, but not clear. This takes the effort of wiping. And the womb's covering hides the child wholly, which is a deep covering.
That is why one who errs while knowing feels regret. It is proof that the knowledge within was alive, only covered at that moment. In verse 5.15 the cover is called "ignorance" and here "desire". There is no conflict (Gita 5.15). In verse 18.48 too, actions are covered by fault as fire is by smoke (Gita 18.48).
This is the enemy "of the wise"
The foolish do not even know whose hand they are in. The one who knows feels the pull most sharply, because there are two voices within. One who finds this struggle sharp has not fallen behind. He has woken up.
Putting wood on the fire makes the fire grow
Feeding desire does not quiet it. "Just once more" returns tomorrow bigger. After "if I get this much I'll be full", a new lack appears. And "an exception this time" becomes a habit.
Three homes, the third the most subtle
In the home of the senses, whatever comes before them pulls the mind. In the home of the mind, the same thing is repeated again and again and the wish is roused. And in the home of the intellect, desire gets an advocate. The intellect builds arguments to justify it, like "I deserve it" or "he started it".
Why willpower alone does not win this fight
Because willpower also lives within the intellect and the mind, the very home where desire lives. The one who restrains and the one who inflames live in the same house.
The enemy takes realisation along with knowledge
Verse 3.41 names both knowledge and realisation (Gita 3.41). Knowledge is what was learned, and realisation is what was lived. Desire does not hide only the memory of the rule. It puts out of reach the memory of one's own past experience too, the regret and the shame. That is why the repeat happens even with experience.
The fight from below, the authority from above
The lower level changes most easily: what to look at, when to eat, whom to sit among. When the object in front is removed, the grip loosens from the first moment. But the work below alone becomes only a habit. It needs the memory above.
The body and senses need the right surroundings. For this, fix the times of eating and sleeping, remove from sight the things that pull, and choose good company. The mind needs some other thought in place of desire. For this, watch the rising wish and take attention to some worthwhile work. The intellect needs a habit of asking. On each wish ask: what is this for, and what comes after it? And the self needs remembering: I am bigger than the one who wants, and I am the one who sees.
"Enemy" is the name of an inner state, not of a thing
The same mind is an enemy in the grip of desire and a friend in the hands of the intellect (Gita 6.5–6). This is not a fight to cut off some part of oneself and throw it away. It is a fight to bring the mind into the hands of the right master. The mind is restless, but it is held by practice and detachment (Gita 6.35).
Not every wish is the enemy
A wish that does not go against dharma is the Lord's own glory (Gita 7.11). The enemy is the desire that covers knowledge and takes over. The test is whether the wish follows the intellect or makes the intellect follow it. One who gives up all desires and moves without longing, sense of mine and ego finds peace (Gita 2.71), and he is the one of steady wisdom (Gita 2.55).
Abstaining does not finish the fight
Even when objects are removed, the taste remains, and it goes only on the vision of the Supreme (Gita 2.59). The work below loosens the grip. The root is cut when the self beyond the intellect is known (Gita 3.43).
Common misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is that the Gita calls all wishes bad. That is not so (Gita 7.11).
The second is that the enemy is some outside force. That is not so. It sits in the senses, the mind and the intellect (Gita 3.40), and the mind can be a friend too (Gita 6.6). Blaming someone does not move the fight forward.
The third is that the cure is only willpower. That is not so. It lives in the home of the intellect, which is itself the home of desire. The whole order is needed: surroundings below, the memory of the self above (Gita 3.41, Gita 3.43).
The fourth is that anger is an enemy separate from desire. That is not so (Gita 3.37).
Questions people ask
If I know the right thing, why does it not stop me? Because desire covers knowledge and does not destroy it (Gita 3.38–39). To stop, that layer first has to be cleared.
Why did the Lord say to control the senses first? Because the lower level changes most easily. Victory comes by changing the surroundings, not by inner wrestling (Gita 3.41).
What does knowing the self beyond the intellect mean day to day? Remembering that the wave of wanting and the one who watches it are two (Gita 3.42–43).
Does this fight ever end? Yes, but it is not the work of one day. One who can bear the surge of desire and anger before the body falls is the yogi and the happy one (Gita 5.23). And one in whom all desires have left the mind and who is content in himself is of steady wisdom (Gita 2.55).
If you have to explain it in thirty seconds
The reason we do wrong even when we know better is not weak character. It is an enemy the Gita names: desire, which becomes anger when blocked. It does not destroy our knowledge. It covers it, as smoke, dust and a womb do. And it sits in the senses, the mind and the intellect, so even the intellect turns advocate for it. Begin the fight from below, with surroundings and the senses. Then steady the mind with the intellect, and keep the self in memory above. Not every wish is the enemy. The enemy is the one that makes the intellect walk behind it.
Related hubs: Anger and Desire (path) · From Thought to Ruin (before) · The Imperishable Self · Buddhi Yoga: The Resolute Intellect · One's Own Duty