As a fire is obscured by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, as a fetus is wrapped in its membrane, so wisdom is obscured by desire. Wisdom is destroyed, Arjuna, by the constant enemy of the wise, which, flaring up as desire, blazes with insatiable flames. Desire dwells in the senses, the mind, and the understanding; in all these it obscures wisdom and perplexes the embodied Self. Therefore you must first control your senses, Arjuna; then destroy this evil that prevents you from ever knowing the truth.
