Bhagavadgita -Radhakrishnan 121

The Bhagavadgita -S. Radhakrishnan

Prev.png
CHAPTER 3
Karma Yoga or the Method of Work


The Enemy is Desire and Anger
arjuna uvdca
36. atha kena .prayukto 'yam
papam carati purusah
anicchann api varsneya
haled ava niyoujitah
Arjuna said
(36) But by what is a man impelled to commit sin, as if by force, even against his will, 0 Varsneya (Krsna)
anicchannapi: even against his will. This is what Arjuna feels, that a man is forced to do things even against his will. But it is not really so Man tacitly gives his consent as the use of the word kama or craving by the teacher in the next verse indicates.
says: what we speak of as the prakrti or the nature of a person draws him to its course only through attachment and aversion.[1]
Sribhagavan uvaca
37. kama eta krodha esa
raaogunasamudbhavah
mahasano mahapapmapma
viddhy enam iha vaiririam
The Blessed Lord said :
(37) This is craving, this is wrath, born of the mode of passion, all devouring and most sinful Know this to be the
enemy here.
38. dhumena 'vryate vainer
yatha 'darso malena ca
yatho 'lbend 'vrto garbhas
tat tena 'dam avrtam
(38) As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo is enveloped by the womb, so is this covered by
that (passion).
idam, this : this wisdom. S. Everything is enveloped by passion.

39. avrtam jnanam etena
jnmno nityavairina
kamarupena kamarupena kaunteyci
duspurena 'nalena ca
(39) Enveloped is wisdom, 0 Son of Kunti (Arjuna), by this insatiable fire of desire, which is the constant foe of the wise.
Cp. "Desire is never satisfied by the enjoyment of the objects of desire; it grows more and more as does the fire to which fuel is added."[2]


Next.png

References and Context

  1. ↑ ya hi purusasya prakrtih sa ragadvesapurassaraiva svakarye purusam pravartayati. S.B.G., III, 34
  2. ↑ na jatu Kaman kamanam upabhogena samyati havisã krnavartmeva bhuya evabhivardhate. Man, II, 94. Cp. Spinoza: "For the things which men, to judge by their actions, deem the highest good are Riches, Fame or Sensual pleasure. Of these the last is followed by satiety and repentance, the other two are never satiated; the more we have, the more we want; while the love of fame compels us to order our lives by the opinions of others. But if a thing is not loved, no quarrels will arise concerning it, no sadness will be felt if it perishes, no envy if another has it, in short no disturbances of the mind. All these spring from the love of that which passes away, But the love of a thing eternal and infinite fills the mind wholly with joy, and is unmmgled with sadness. Therefore it is greatly to be desired, and to be sought with all our strength." De Intellects Emendations. The fundamental social crime is appropriation in any form whatever, class privilege, race discrimination or national egotism, for it involves pain to others. There is no answer to Wordsworth, "Novhere to blend our pleasure or our pride With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels." Hart-Leap Well.