Chapter3 Shloka36,37 - Shrimad Bhagvad Gita

Shrimad Bhagvad Gita

Chapter 3 : Karma Yoga - The Yoga of action

Ch 03 : Sh 36-37

अर्जुन उवाचः
अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं पापं चरति पुरुषः ।
अनिच्छन्नपि वार्ष्णेय बलादिव नियोजितः ॥
श्रीभगवानुवाच
काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भवः ।
महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्धयेनमिह वैरिणम्‌ ॥

Transliteration

arjuna uvāca
atha kena prayukto’yaṃ pāpaṃ carati pūruṣaḥ |
anicchann-api vārṣṇeya balādiva niyojitaḥ || 36 ||
śrī bhagavan uvāca
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇa samudbhavaḥ |
mahāśano mahā-pāpmā viddhyenam-iha vairiṇam || 37 ||

Translation

Arjuna said: But, impelled by what, O Krishna, does one err even against one's own will, constrained as it were, by force? The Blessed Lord said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world.

Purport

Arjuna asked a very important and practical question to Bhagvan Shri Krishna. He pointed out that there are many people who are not intended to do sinful act yet they end up engaged in sins as if they are forced by something.

Bhagvan Shri Krishna replied, yes there is one such force and that is the Lust. This lust which when unfulfilled turns into anger is a force that draws even reasonable people to commit sin. Under the effect of lust, a human is like possessed, he loses the sense of reasons and fails to differentiate between good and bad. Under lust, the only purpose of humans is to fulfill lust. But the biggest problem with lust is that it is never satisfied. When lust is fulfilled, it returns back strongly. This lust indeed is the source of many sins.

Even bigger secret Bhagvan told that this lust is not a permanent resident in human, but generates from the Rajas Guna of the material world. Those people who live in such an environment where the Rajas Guna is high are prone to develop lust. Some examples of environment high in Rajas Guna are, a place full of passion, sexual content, violent material, false ideologies, etc. Places where alcohol, flesh, and aphrodisiac materials are consumed, etc. Since this lust generates from Rajas guna(Like, it can very much be cured. By moving away from rajas Guna and living in an environment that is high Satva Guna likes worship, visiting a temple, enraging inBhajan and Keertan and service, practicing Yoga and sanyas, the charity is few things which are high in Satvik Guna.