Arjuna Asks About The Mystery Of Self Destruction Gita 3.36

Arjuna Vacha Athakena Prayuktoyam Paapam Charati Purushaham Anikshannapivarshneya Baladivani Ojitaha Now this is you could say from a practical perspective one of the most important questions that we humans need to address because we all have this tendency toward what we can call as self sabotage or self destruction and personally when I read the Bhagavad Gita this was a question that really drew me into it I said I want to answer to this question so before we go into the question itself let’s look at the context why Arjuna is asking this question so the previous verses this is the 36th verse and as an overview of the chapter 36 is the question and from 37 till the end of this chapter 43 is the answer now Arjuna is asking this question because Krishna previously said that he said especially in 34 that even when we are doing something that we like overall there is something which is natural for us but even within the natural there could be some things which are unlikable for us that means somebody may like to write but they may not like to deal with all the technicalities of say proofreading or editing or the gadgets on which they are writing and sometimes outside what is natural something may be likable for us so a writer may be natural but say somebody the musician natural but sometimes a musician can get drunk with all the popularity and publicity that they get and that may spoil them or even ruin them all the fame and the enjoyment can go to their head so this there is something within us which pulls us towards things which are not good for us so basically that this likes and dislikes that are there we know this is what I should be doing this is what I should not be doing but still we get pulled towards that which is not good for us or we so how does that why does that happen so Arjuna if you visualize Arjuna’s question Arjuna is saying that we may want to go on the path of Dharma on the path of virtue or righteousness and yet it seems as if even the opposite side is vice is unrighteousness so we intend to go in this direction but there seems to be some something which pulls us in the other direction which forces us in the other direction so Arjuna uses two words forces and he also says that it is we are unwilling so we are unwillingly unwillingly and still we are forced so what is it that is forcing us that force he wants to understand that which forces us towards self defeating actions now this force is especially evident among people say who have addictions and they are often subjected to overpowering cravings they may resolve I am not going to do this and yet the very thing they resolve not to do they end up doing it so addictions may be an extreme example they are becoming alarmingly common nowadays and there can be some addictions which are having very serious consequences some may not have that serious consequences immediately but the paradox of addiction is that we tend to do what we intend not to do we tend to do what we intend not to do so what is impelling us towards that, that is the question of Arjuna over here