Shloka
इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते |
एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् ||३-४०||Transliteration
indriyāṇi mano buddhirasyādhiṣṭhānamucyate .
etairvimohayatyeṣa jñānamāvṛtya dehinam ||3-40||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
3.40. It basis is said to be the sense-organs, the mind and the intellect. With these it deludes the embodied by concealing knowledge.
Shri Purohit Swami
3.40 It works through the senses, the mind and the reason; and with their help destroys wisdom and confounds the soul.
Sri Abhinav Gupta
3.40 Indriyani etc. In the beginning, it stands on the sense organs at work. For example, when an enemy is sighted with eyes, he generates wrath about himself at the very place of the perceiver’s sense-organ, then in the mind i.e., fancy, then in the intellect, i.e., resolve; and producing delusion in this way, it destroys knowledge. [The Lord] speaks of the means for avoiding this foe as :
Sri Ramanuja
3.40 The senses, the mind and the intellect are the instruments of desire in so far as it overpowers the self through them. By means of these, viz., the senses, the mind and the intellect, which have been reduced to the position of servants through attachment to sense objects, desire deludes the embodied soul caught up in Prakrti by covering up Its knowledge. Here ‘deluding’ means making the self a victim of manifold illusions, by turning It away from the knowledge of Its true nature, and making It indulge in sensuous experiences.
Sri Shankaracharya
3.40 Indriyani, the organs; manah, mind; and buddhih, the intellect; ucyate, are said to be; asya, its, desire’s; adhisthanam, abode. Esah, this one, desire; vimohayati, diversely deludes; dehinam, the embodied being; avrtya, by veiling; jnanam, Knowledg; etaih, with the help of these, with the organs etc. which are its abodes. [The activities of the organs etc. are the media for the expression of desire. Desire covers the Knoweldge of the Self by stimulating these.]
Swami Adidevananda
3.40 The senses, the mind and the intellect are said to be its instruments. By these it overpowers the embodied self after enveloping Its knowledge.
Swami Gambirananda
3.40 The organs, mind, and the intellect are said to be its abode. This one diversely deludes the embodied being by veiling Knowledge with the help of these.
Swami Sivananda
3.40 The senses, the mind and the intellect are said to be its seat; through these it deludes the embodied by veiling his wisdom.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
3.40 इन्द्रियाणि the senses? मनः the mind? बुद्धिः the intellect? अस्य its? अधिष्ठानम् seat? उच्यते is called? एतैः by these? विमोहयति deludes? एषः this? ज्ञानम् wisdom? आवृत्य having enveloped? देहिनम् the embodied.Commentary If the abode of the enemy is known it is ite easy to kill him. So Lord Krishna like a wise army general points out to Arjuna the abode of desire so that he may be able to attack it and kill it ite readily.