If repression can’t accomplish anything – Gita 03.33 – why should we restrain our senses, Gita 03.34?

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Repression will not accomplish anything. Rather next verse is saying you have to restrain.
So if repression can’t accomplish, can’t serve anything, then how can we restrain? Is the question? Okay. So firstly Krishna is talking about two different things. In those two verses, if you see the verse after this, so there Krishna is essentially here talking about the Varanas, the Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra.
So he’s telling Arjun that what can repression accomplish? There was a Indian so-called spiritual teacher whose whole philosophy, you could call it philosophy, that was that actually just enjoy your senses. And the more you enjoy your senses, the more you grow spiritually. And his idea was And he said the essence of the Bhagavad Gita is this one-fourth of a verse.
That was for him the essence of the Bhagavad Gita. What can repression accomplish? But actually speaking, just a few verses later, Krishna is talking, the whole section is about lust. And Krishna is talking about you have to restrain.
So Krishna is not saying what can repression accomplish, means he’s saying that just indulge in discriminately. The point of that verse is in the context that Krishna is telling Arjun that you are on the war field, your nature is of Kshatriya. You are meant to fight.
But now if you think you will tolerate, you will forgive, that is a Brahmana’s activity. You cannot do that. You will not be able to sustain that.
And therefore, you have to act according to your nature. If you don’t act now aggressively, you will take on a Brahmana’s role and later on you will act aggressively. So nigraha kim karishis essentially means that you cannot suppress your Kshatriya nature.
So it’s talking about nature, essentially. Now when Krishna says there are principles for regulating attachment, what he’s talking about is there is a Brahman dharma, there is Kshatriya dharma, there is Vaishya dharma, there is Shudra dharma. So each of them has their own set of rules and set of guidelines by which they can regulate and channel their nature.
So, Brahman is told to practice Ahimsa. Shamo damas tapasho, Shantir arju me devacha, Shante, tolerate, be peaceful, forgive. But this is 18.42 and the next was 18.43. Immediately Krishna says that when he’s describing qualities of Kshatriya, Yuddhe chaapya palayanam, that when a Kshatriya has to fight, the Kshatriya will not flinch from the fight.
Not forgiveness, fight. So, why is that? Of course, Kshatriya doesn’t fight indiscriminately. But the point is that each person has guidelines to act according to their nature.
So we should follow those guidelines. That’s what Krishna is saying. And by following those guidelines, you can grow.
And generally, if you see, this is related to the answer to your question also. We see that in the Bhagavatam, when Dhruv Maharaj is very upset, he’s just a boy, Dhruv. So at that time, he goes to the forest.
And Narada tells him that Dhruva, actually, you’re such a small child. Don’t take such insult. If you’re a small child, small things happen.
Don’t take insult so seriously. And if you think you’re an adult already, then recognize that in this world, honour and dishonour keeps coming. So just be equivocal.
So in a sense, he tries to checkmate Dhruva. If you think you’re small, then children just keep having ups and downs. Don’t take it so seriously.
If you’re an adult, then also don’t take it seriously. But Dhruva replies at that time that actually, what you’re saying is true, but I can’t apply it. This is not the level I can practice.
The words have pierced my heart so terribly that I can’t tolerate this pain. Therefore, please give me a means to rectify the dishonour that I have suffered. So here, sometimes we have this understanding that the mode of interaction with the spiritual master or spiritual guide is simply of submission.
And yes, submission is required, no doubt. But along with submission, there is also negotiation. Negotiation means that if this, I don’t think this is practical for me, then let me tell you why it is not practical.
Then this spiritual guide will say, okay, if you can’t do this, you can do this. So we have to come to a mutually acceptable way of working. And that’s what Krishna is telling, nigraha kim karishasi.
So what is the acceptable way of working for a Kshatriya is not the same as for a Brahmana. So you work according to your nature. And sometimes this negotiation, we may have to do within ourselves also.
I want to be here, but right now I can’t be here. Just because I can’t be here doesn’t mean I have to be here. I can be somewhere in between.
And from here I can aspire upwards. So that way, when we learn to find out the level at which we can practice bhakti sustainably, and by that sustainable practice we become purified, and then we can rise to a higher level afterwards. Okay? Okay.
Yes? Prabhu, if you see this nama,