2.62 Dwelling on things Krishna speaks
ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते
सङ्गात् संजायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते
dhyāyato viṣhayān puṁsaḥ saṅgas teṣhūpajāyate
saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho ’bhijāyate
Dwelling on things, a person becomes attached to them. From attachment, desire is born. From desire, anger.
Explanation
Two verses, seven steps.
- dwelling on things
- attachment
- desire
- anger
Each follows from the last so plainly it reads like a mechanism rather than a moral warning. And it begins with something innocuous: thinking about something.
Going further
Word by word
- dhyāyataḥ
- contemplating
- viṣhayān
- sense objects
- puṁsaḥ
- of a person
- saṅgaḥ
- attachment
- teṣhu
- to them (sense objects)
- upajāyate
- arises
- saṅgāt
- from attachment
- sañjāyate
- develops
- kāmaḥ
- desire
- kāmāt
- from desire
- krodhaḥ
- anger
- abhijāyate
- arises
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Two verses, seven steps, and each one follows from the last so plainly it reads like a mechanism rather than a moral warning.
Dwell on something. Become attached. Want it. Meet an obstacle — anger. From anger, confusion; from confusion, you forget what you actually care about; forgetting that, your judgement goes; and with your judgement gone, so are you.
Nothing here is a sin. The chain begins with dwelling, which is the most ordinary mental act there is. That is the point: the whole sequence is available to anyone on an ordinary afternoon, and the only place to interrupt it is near the beginning.