3.16 Keeping the wheel turning Krishna speaks
एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह यः
अघायुरिन्द्रियारामो मोघं पार्थ स जीवति
evaṁ pravartitaṁ chakraṁ nānuvartayatīha yaḥ
aghāyur indriyārāmo moghaṁ pārtha sa jīvati
Whoever does not keep this wheel turning lives wrongly, son of Pritha, delighting only in the senses, and lives in vain.
Explanation
The wheel, and what it costs not to turn it.
cakram arrives here as the image for the whole exchange: food, rain, offering, action.
Whoever does not keep it turning lives in vain — delighting only in the senses. The judgement is not about wickedness but about futility, which is the chapter's characteristic complaint.
Going further
Word by word
- evam
- thus
- pravartitam
- set into motion
- chakram
- cycle
- na
- not
- anuvartayati
- follow
- iha
- in this life
- yaḥ
- who
- agha-āyuḥ
- sinful living
- indriya-ārāmaḥ
- for the delight of their senses
- mogham
- vainly
- pārtha
- Arjun, the son of Pritha
- saḥ
- they
- jīvati
- live
Long-press or right-click the image to copy it. Nothing is uploaded — it is drawn here, on your device.
The wheel — chakram — arrives here as the image for the whole exchange described in the preceding verses: food, rain, offering, action.
Whatever you make of the cosmology, notice the shape of the claim. Nothing in the sequence produces itself. To live only for one's own senses is described not as wicked but as vain: standing inside a system of mutual sustenance and taking without returning.