📿 Shloka Collection

Krodhad Bhavati Sammohah

Gita 2.63 Bhagavad Gita

📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2 — Sankhya Yoga

क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः ।

स्मृतिभ्रंशाद्बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ॥

Krodhad bhavati sammohah sammohat smriti-vibhramah

Smritibhranshad buddhinasho buddhinashat pranashyati

Word-by-Word Meaning

क्रोधात्

from anger

भवति

arises

सम्मोहः

delusion, confusion

सम्मोहात्

from delusion

स्मृतिविभ्रमः

confusion of memory

स्मृतिभ्रंशात्

from loss of memory

बुद्धिनाशः

destruction of intellect

बुद्धिनाशात्

from destruction of intellect

प्रणश्यति

one is completely ruined

Explanation in Simple English

The chain of descent that began in 2.62 reaches its end here. Anger produces delusion — the ability to see clearly is lost. Delusion erases memory — the person forgets what is right, forgets past lessons, forgets who they are. Without memory, the intellect collapses. And without intellect, the person is finished.

Consider termites in the root of a tree. They start small, invisible, quiet. By the time the trunk cracks, the damage is complete. The chain from dwelling-on-objects to total ruin works the same way — slow, hidden, and devastating by the time it surfaces.

Read together with 2.62, the full chain is: contemplation of objects, attachment, desire, anger, delusion, memory-loss, intellect-destruction, ruin. Eight links. The warning is stark: guard the mind at the very first step, because once the chain starts, each link pulls the next almost automatically.

Context and Significance

These two shlokas (2.62-63) present one of the Gita's most practical psychological teachings. The full sequence — vishaya-chintana, sanga, kama, krodha, sammoha, smriti-bhransha, buddhi-nasha, pranasha — has been taught and memorized across centuries.

Tradition calls this the patana-parampara, the chain of downfall. It is considered one of the Gita's most universally applicable observations about human nature.

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