Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 3: The Path of Action
Bhagavad Gita 3.38
धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथादर्शो मलेन च ।
यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतम् ॥
dhūmenāvriyate vahniryathādarśo malena ca | yatholbenāvṛto garbhastathā tenedamāvṛtam ||
As fire is covered by smoke, a mirror by dust, and an unborn child by the womb, so knowledge is covered by desire.
Modern context
Three pictures show how desire hides what we know. Commentators often read them as three depths. Smoke over a fire is thin, and a breath of air clears it. Dust on a mirror takes deliberate wiping. A child in the womb is wholly enclosed and comes out only with time. In every case the thing covered is undamaged: the fire burns, the mirror can reflect, the child is alive. Clear understanding is not something we lack. It is something hidden, and it can be uncovered.