{
  "verse_id": "3.38",
  "mūla": {
    "devanāgarī": "धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर् यथादर्शो मलेन च | यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस् तथा तेनेदम् आवृतम्",
    "iast": "dhūmenāvriyate vahnir yathādarśo malena ca | yatholbenāvṛto garbhas tathā tenedam āvṛtam",
    "chapter_position": "Chapter 3 (Karma-Yoga (The Yoga of Action)), verse 38",
    "speaker": "Krishna",
    "addressed_to": "Arjuna"
  },
  "word_by_word": [
    {
      "surface_form": "dhūmena",
      "lemma": "dhūma",
      "grammar": "instrumental masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [
        {
          "sense": "सहजेन आव्रियते वह्निः प्रकाशात्मकः अप्रकाशात्मकेन यथा वा आदर्शो मलेन",
          "school": "advaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "shankara"
          ]
        },
        {
          "sense": "वह्निः आव्रियते यथा",
          "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "ramanuja"
          ]
        },
        {
          "sense": "सहजेन वह्निराव्रियत आच्छाद्यते यथा वाऽऽदर्शो मलेनागन्तुकेन यथा चोल्बेन गर्भवेष्टनचर्मणा गर्भः सर्वतो निरुध्यावृतः तथा प",
          "school": "bhakti",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "sridhara"
          ]
        },
        {
          "sense": "सहजेनाप्रकाशात्मकेन प्रकाशात्मको वह्निराव्रियते",
          "school": "advaita-bhakti",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "madhusudan"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "धूमेन"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "āvriyate",
      "lemma": "√āvṛ",
      "grammar": "present indicative pass 3rd person singular verb",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "आव्रियते"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "vahniḥ",
      "lemma": "vahni",
      "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "वह्निः"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "yathā",
      "lemma": "yathā",
      "grammar": "",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "यथा"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "ādarśaḥ",
      "lemma": "ādarśa",
      "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "आदर्शः"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "malena",
      "lemma": "mala",
      "grammar": "instrumental masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [
        {
          "sense": "च यथा उल्बेन",
          "school": "advaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "shankara"
          ]
        },
        {
          "sense": "यथा च उल्बेन आवृतो गर्भः तथा तेन कामेन इदं जन्तुजातम् आवृतम्।आवरणप्रकारम् आह",
          "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "ramanuja",
            "vedantadeshika"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "मलेन"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "ca",
      "lemma": "ca",
      "grammar": "",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "च"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "yathā",
      "lemma": "yathā",
      "grammar": "",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "यथा"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "ulbena",
      "lemma": "ulba",
      "grammar": "instrumental masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "उल्बेन"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "āvṛtaḥ",
      "lemma": "√āvṛ",
      "grammar": "nominative masculine singular participle noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "आवृतः"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "garbhaḥ",
      "lemma": "garbha",
      "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "गर्भः"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "tathā",
      "lemma": "tathā",
      "grammar": "",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "तथा"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "tena",
      "lemma": "tad",
      "grammar": "instrumental masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "तेन"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "idam",
      "lemma": "idam",
      "grammar": "nominative neuter singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "इदम्"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "āvṛtam",
      "lemma": "√āvṛ",
      "grammar": "nominative neuter singular participle noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [
        {
          "sense": "।।किं पुनस्तत् इदंशब्दवाच्यं यत् कामेनावृतमित्युच्यते",
          "school": "advaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "shankara"
          ]
        },
        {
          "sense": "।आवरणप्रकारम् आह",
          "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "ramanuja"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "आवृतम्"
    }
  ],
  "intertextual_panel": [
    {
      "verse": "13.32",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8631,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8331,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 7.2674,
        "stem_prefix": 3.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "11.29",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8584,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8284,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 7.2674,
        "stem_prefix": 3.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "13.34",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8581,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8281,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 7.2674,
        "stem_prefix": 3.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "8.25",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8567,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8267,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 8.5483,
        "stem_prefix": 3.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "17.23",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8565,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8265,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 6.4448,
        "stem_prefix": 3.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "13.29",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8565,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8165,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 7.1492,
        "stem_prefix": 4.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "11.50",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8564,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8164,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 7.1492,
        "stem_prefix": 4.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "4.37",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.856,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.826,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 7.2674,
        "stem_prefix": 3.0
      }
    }
  ],
  "doctrinal_projections": {
    "advaita": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "shankara_3.38",
        "anandgiri_3.38"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "english_rendering": "As fire (vahni), whose very nature is luminosity, is covered by its own connatural smoke — smoke inherent to its combustion — so too this self-luminous awareness is veiled by kāma (desire), which is no stranger but arises co-naturally with embodied existence. The ādarśa (mirror) analogy sharpens the point: just as an extraneous film of mala (impurity) renders the reflecting surface opaque, desire impedes the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) from reflecting the ātman's radiance. The ulba (amnion) analogy crowns it: as the foetal membrane entirely surrounds and confines the garbha (embryo) — the jīva before individuation — so kāma completely encases the apparent self, making liberation the business of removing the covering, not acquiring something new."
    },
    "viśiṣṭādvaita": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "ramanuja_3.38",
        "vedantadeshika_3.38"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "english_rendering": "Kāma (desire) is the universal veil over jantu-jāta (the whole community of born beings), and Bhagavān names three degrees of that veiling so no being may mistake its reach. Fire can still burn through smoke; a mirror may still dimly reflect; but the womb-bound embryo is wholly inaccessible — the gradation signals that kāma's grip intensifies the more the jīva (individual self) clings to body-centred enjoyment rather than orienting every impulse as kainkarya (service) to the Lord. The āvaraṇa (covering) is real but not absolute for the devotee, since Bhagavān's grace penetrates each layer; the verse is thus a summons to turn desire itself into an arrow pointing toward Him."
    },
    "dvaita": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "madhva_3.38",
        "jayatirtha_3.38"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "english_rendering": "Madhva reads the three similes as mapping onto three distinct ontological layers, not mere degrees of intensity. Smoke veiling fire signifies kāma obscuring the Paramātman (Supreme Self) from other jīvas — Hari's luminous nature is real and unchanged, yet not fully available to perception. Mala (impurity) veiling the mirror signifies kāma distorting the antaḥkaraṇa (inner organ), which ought to reveal Paramātman but cannot while desire corrupts it. The ulba (amnion) binding the garbha signifies the jīva itself bound — not merely misperceived, but actually constrained in its dependent activity. The verse thus establishes that kāma is the enemy of bhakti-pūrvaka-karma (action-as-worship of Hari) on all three levels simultaneously."
    },
    "śuddhādvaita": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "vallabha_3.38"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "english_rendering": "Vallabha opens by naming this the declaration of kāma's enmity (kāmasya vairitvam), then distinguishes three qualities of the covering: the smoke is saha-ja (connatural, born with the fire), the mirror's mala is āgantuka (adventitious, arriving after), and the ulba is sarvataḥ āchādaka (enveloping from all sides). The gradation is not merely descriptive but prescriptive for the puṣṭi-jīva (soul sustained by grace): connatural desire must be transformed at its root by Kṛṣṇa's prasāda (grace-gift), not merely suppressed; adventitious desire is easily dislodged; total occlusion — like the amnion — is the condition from which only Kṛṣṇa's own līlā-śakti (power of divine play) can liberate, not personal effort."
    },
    "bhakti": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "sridhara_3.38"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "english_rendering": "Śrīdhara reads the verse as a demonstration of kāma's triple mode of enmity (kāmasya vairitvam darśayati), methodically identifying each upamāna (analogical term): smoke is saha-ja (connatural) to fire; mala on the mirror is āgantuka (adventitious); the ulba is the garbha-veṣṭana-carman (the foetal wrapping-skin) that surrounds the embryo from every side (sarvato nirudhya). The three similes are thus not redundant but typologically distinct — implying that kāma covers different beings in different modes, and that the devotee's sādhanā (practice) must address all three modes rather than assuming one strategy will dislodge every layer."
    },
    "advaita-bhakti": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "madhusudan_3.38"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "english_rendering": "Madhusūdana maps the three similes onto three developmental stages of kāma in the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument): before embodiment the kāma is sūkṣma (subtle), like fire dimly veiled by thin smoke; as the embodied mind repeatedly thinks on objects kāma becomes sthūla (gross), like a mirror increasingly fouled by mala; when objects are habitually enjoyed kāma reaches atyanta-udreka (extreme intensification), total enclosure like the ulba around the garbha. The ca in the first pāda signals a minor difference within the pattern. Crucially, smoke-veiled fire still burns — partial function persists; mala-veiled mirror cannot reflect — self-recognition is lost; ulba-bound embryo neither acts nor is perceived — the jīva is wholly inaccessible. The threefold analysis is thus both diagnostic and soteriological: catch kāma at the subtle stage, before the mirror goes dark."
    }
  },
  "prosodic_information": {
    "meter": "anuṣṭubh",
    "meter_shift_from_previous": false,
    "meter_shift_to_next": false,
    "pragmatic_context": {
      "vocative": "",
      "preceding_question": "",
      "following_response": ""
    }
  },
  "theme_list_memberships": [
    {
      "list": "मनुष्य",
      "role": "supporting",
      "other_verses_in_list": [
        "1.44",
        "3.23",
        "4.11",
        "4.18",
        "7.3",
        "15.2",
        "18.69"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "audit_trail": {
    "substrate_version": "v2.6-frozen",
    "fitted_weights": {
      "a": 1.0,
      "b": 0.01,
      "e_v": 0.005,
      "z": 0.2,
      "h": 0.0,
      "th": 0.01
    },
    "corpus_provenance": {
      "mūla": "Belvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness",
      "panel_witnesses": [
        "bg-mula",
        "bg-shankara",
        "bg-ramanuja",
        "bg-madhva",
        "bg-vedantadeshika",
        "bg-vallabha",
        "bg-jayatirtha",
        "bg-anandgiri",
        "bg-sridhara",
        "bg-madhusudan"
      ]
    },
    "extraction_date": "2026-04-21",
    "score_methodology_documented_at": "Paper 1, Section II.B",
    "word_by_word_parser": "ByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)",
    "post_generation_repairs": [
      {
        "date": "2026-05-03",
        "fix": "verb-lemma-misidentification (broader heuristic: prefix-√root canonical for all verb-tagged tokens)",
        "scope": "word_by_word[].lemma",
        "loci": [
          "āvriyate: āvṛ -> √āvṛ",
          "āvṛtaḥ: āvṛ -> √āvṛ",
          "āvṛtam: āvṛ -> √āvṛ"
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "so_what_questions": [
    "If kāma (desire) is connatural to fire — saha-ja, born with it — does this mean desire is inseparable from embodied life, and what does that imply for whether total desirelessness is possible while alive?",
    "Madhusūdana distinguishes fire-that-still-burns from mirror-that-cannot-reflect from embryo-wholly-unseen: which stage of kāma-covering do you recognize in your own antaḥkaraṇa right now, and what practical difference does that diagnosis make?",
    "Madhva maps the three analogues to three ontological levels (Paramātman / antaḥkaraṇa / jīva-bondage) while Madhusūdana maps them to three temporal stages of desire: are these two readings compatible, and which gives more traction for practice?",
    "If the ulba-covered embryo can neither act (hast-pādādi-prasāraṇa) nor be perceived from outside — complete inaccessibility in both directions — what does it mean for a person to be in that state, and how would anyone, including themselves, know?",
    "Rāmānuja insists the covering is real but not absolute for the devotee because Bhagavān's grace penetrates each layer. Śaṅkara says the covering must simply be removed to reveal what was always there. What is at stake theologically in that difference?",
    "The verse covers all of 'idaṃ' — this (everything born). Is kāma being named as a cosmic principle or a psychological one, and does the answer change how you would go about addressing it?",
    "Vallabha distinguishes saha-ja desire (transformed only by prasāda, not effort) from āgantuka desire (easily dislodged by practice): does this suggest a tiered sādhanā, and if so, what is the right order of operations?"
  ],
  "everyday_applications": {
    "advaita": "When you notice that wanting something is obscuring your clarity — you cannot think straight about a decision because you are invested in one outcome — treat that opacity as the smoke-on-fire condition: the luminosity (viveka, discernment) is still present and has not been destroyed, only covered. The practice is not to extinguish the fire of awareness but to let the smoke dissipate by withdrawing fuel (saṅkalpa, deliberate intention). Naming the covering as saha-ja (connatural, not your deepest nature) gives you the precise cognitive leverage: 'this wanting is a feature of embodied operation, not of what I am.'",
    "viśiṣṭādvaita": "When a project, relationship, or ambition feels all-consuming to the point where you have lost sight of why it matters — when jantu-jāta (the born being in you) is veiled from Bhagavān's presence — deliberately re-dedicate the activity as kainkarya (service). The practical move is to ask 'who benefits beyond me?' and to let the answer widen the frame. Rāmānuja's point is that the covering is graded: you can almost always find one layer thin enough to pierce with a sincere act of dedication, and that crack lets the light back in.",
    "dvaita": "Madhva's tripartite reading maps to a three-check practice: (1) Is my perception of what is actually valuable being distorted right now — am I misreading what Hari's will is in this situation? (2) Is my inner organ (antaḥkaraṇa) available to register what my conscience knows, or is desire making it reflect only what I want to hear? (3) Am I actually constrained — unable to move — or do I just feel constrained? Working through all three levels before a significant decision prevents confusing any one level of obscuration for the whole problem.",
    "śuddhādvaita": "Vallabha's āgantuka / saha-ja distinction is directly actionable: for desires that feel recent and identifiable — āgantuka, adventitious — ordinary resolve and redirected attention work. For desires that feel constitutive of who you are — saha-ja, born with you — Vallabha's counsel is to stop fighting and instead offer them directly to Kṛṣṇa, letting prasāda (grace) do the transformation from the inside. The practical test: if effort makes a desire stronger, it is saha-ja; if effort loosens it, it is āgantuka.",
    "bhakti": "Śrīdhara's prakāra-traya (three-mode) reading suggests that a single sādhanā strategy rarely addresses all layers simultaneously. In daily practice: use japa (repetition) for the surface mala-type covering — adventitious craving for objects. Use satsaṅga (community of practitioners) for the smoke-type covering — the ambient desire-fog that comes with living in the world. For the ulba-type covering — deep structural patterns of want baked in since childhood — only sustained, patient practice over years can gradually loosen the wrapping.",
    "advaita-bhakti": "Madhusūdana's diagnostic is clinically useful for catching kāma early: notice the moment a desire first arises as a mild preference (sūkṣma, subtle — smoke-stage). If you engage it repeatedly in thought without acting, it densifies (sthūla, gross — mirror-stage) and self-knowledge starts to cloud. If you then habitually act on it, it reaches atyanta-udreka (extreme intensification — ulba-stage) and you are effectively in the dark. The intervention point is the smoke-stage — the moment of first noticing — because that is when the fire still burns clearly and redirection costs least."
  },
  "primary_meaning": "Just as smoke covers fire, dust covers a mirror, and the womb encases the embryo, so desire covers this."
}