Gita 03.33 – Our varna nature needs to be channelized, not repressed

Thank you Bhagavad Gita 3.33 Krishna is now concluding his instructions on Karma Yoga and he is giving some final words from verses 31 to 35 so 31, 32 says about need to have faith and the fate of those who don't have faith then 33 is saying that actually Karma Yoga is the best way to work because we all have to act according to our nature we can't repress our nature Sadrusham cheshtate swasyaha swasyaha, one's own cheshtate, endeavor Prakruter Gyanavanapi Sadrusham is according to one's own nature, cheshtate, swasyaha endeavors Prakruter Gyanavanapi so even the wise person, Gyanavanapi cheshtate, swasyaha even the knowledgeable person will act according to one's nature Gyanavanapi, even if that person is Gyanavan, even if that person understands that I am not the body, I am the soul and that the soul is actually distinct from the body and the body's pushes and pulls, the body's inclinations, the body's nature have got nothing to do with the soul proper still that knowledge does not free the person from acting according to the body's nature Gyanavanapi so then even the knowledgeable act according to their nature then Prakrutim Yanti Bhutani that this general rule is that Bhutani, living beings act according to their nature Nigraha Kim Karishati so Nigraha Kim Karishati, what can repression accomplish so now here this verse may suddenly seem to be giving a contrary message to what has been repeatedly given, Krishna has been telling control the senses, do not let the senses wander here and there so the whole message has been about sense control and now suddenly Krishna is seeming to say what is the use of control now what can repression accomplish, superficial reading of that may be, what is the use of control but you have to understand that repression and control are different things and similarly what Krishna is talking about here is different from just sense gratification Krishna is talking about the basic bodily nature not the urges for eating, sleeping, mating, defending which are what drive the senses what is the difference between the two the senses demands can be regulated, should be regulated but the body's nature it cannot be given up entirely, the senses demands for example tongue may desire to drink alcohol that we can give up completely and we will not die, we will still live in fact we will be live better, live happier now in contrast if somebody has a intellectual nature and we tell that person to work as a businessman a business person, that person just cannot do it now it's not a matter of will power or determination, the person may try and may be able to do also for some time but the incompatibility will be a cause of perpetual misery and eventually out of frustration the person will turn back to the work of to the work of a brahmana in some way or the other so here we are not referring to characteristics by birth but characteristics by nature similarly if a Vaishya is told to study scripture the Vaishya's mind will naturally go to business how can I sell this book, how can I do this, how can I do that so nobody can renounce their nature so we have to harmonize our nature so the Vedic culture is not that a brahmana has to act like a Vaishya but a person who has brahmanical nature, a person who is intellectual should use the intelligence in accordance with dharma instead of in negligence or in defiance of dharma in negligence of dharma means one uses the intelligence to do whatever one likes and in defiance means one actually goes against dharma and tries to prove that dharma is false, that god doesn't exist, soul doesn't exist and things like that so that is undesirable definitely but the point here of we each of us having to act according to nature is well taken and that is how we all need to act if we are to serve Krishna in a sustainable way throughout our life so the attainment of our transcendental nature our servants of Krishna requires not the repression of our material nature as intellectual or as martial or mercantile or general artisan or whatever but it requires the harmonization of that nature with our spiritual purpose, now what needs to be much more strictly regulated is the urge for eating, sleeping, mating defending especially when the urges especially which are driven by lust, anger, greed envy, pride those have to be regulated so immediately after this section Krishna will be asked by Arjuna what makes us do wrong and how can we avoid doing wrong so that question would make no sense if Nigraha Kim Karishati was a license was a blanket license for doing whatever we felt was our nature or whatever we feel impelled to do if we start doing that then there will not even be material order in society or to speak of spiritual progress so people will want to shoplift men may want to be molest women people in a fit of anger will smash and bash others there will be complete chaos in society if everybody simply starts according to whatever they feel they are impelled to and if we take Nigraha Kim Karishati to mean what can repression accomplish just act whatever way you feel here Krishna is in a very specific context talking about how we should act according to our Varna nature that means now in our social context irrespective of which family we may be born in even if that had a particular Varna whether we have that Varna or not it's not determined by our birth so we observe our nature we observe which services or which activities which profession we can do best and we try to do that of course nowadays most people just struggle to barely get a job so a job according to nature seems to be a far shot but even within one's job whatever one gets one can work according to one's nature so that as much as possible and that way that means if somebody has got a teaching job within that if somebody has a more Brahminical nature that person may focus more on teaching and research somebody has a more Kshatriya nature that person may focus more on administration within the educational establishment somebody else may focus more on say fundraising or managing the finances of the educational institution whatever this is a simple example but the principle is that we what material society talks about job satisfaction that basically was arranged in the Vedic culture by engaging people according to their Varna when people act according to their natures they naturally experience a material satisfaction material satisfaction is not eternal but that material satisfaction keeps one peaceful otherwise one is always dissatisfied, feeling always alien on foreign territory, uncomfortable, restless and with such a such a feeling of discontent and restlessness one cannot really seriously practice spiritual life because one is always seeking some material change but when we are in a materially harmonious situation it becomes easier to practice spiritual life so Krishna is telling Arjuna over here that you are a Kshatriya act according to your Kshatriya nature repressing that will accomplish nothing thank you.

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you Bhagavad Gita 3.33 Krishna is now concluding his instructions on Karma Yoga and he is giving some final words from verses 31 to 35 so 31, 32 says about need to have faith and the fate of those who don’t have faith then 33 is saying that actually Karma Yoga is the best way to work because we all have to act according to our nature we can’t repress our nature Sadrusham cheshtate swasyaha swasyaha, one’s own cheshtate, endeavor Prakruter Gyanavanapi Sadrusham is according to one’s own nature, cheshtate, swasyaha endeavors Prakruter Gyanavanapi so even the wise person, Gyanavanapi cheshtate, swasyaha even the knowledgeable person will act according to one’s nature Gyanavanapi, even if that person is Gyanavan, even if that person understands that I am not the body, I am the soul and that the soul is actually distinct from the body and the body’s pushes and pulls, the body’s inclinations, the body’s nature have got nothing to do with the soul proper still that knowledge does not free the person from acting according to the body’s nature Gyanavanapi so then even the knowledgeable act according to their nature then Prakrutim Yanti Bhutani that this general rule is that Bhutani, living beings act according to their nature Nigraha Kim Karishati so Nigraha Kim Karishati, what can repression accomplish so now here this verse may suddenly seem to be giving a contrary message to what has been repeatedly given, Krishna has been telling control the senses, do not let the senses wander here and there so the whole message has been about sense control and now suddenly Krishna is seeming to say what is the use of control now what can repression accomplish, superficial reading of that may be, what is the use of control but you have to understand that repression and control are different things and similarly what Krishna is talking about here is different from just sense gratification Krishna is talking about the basic bodily nature not the urges for eating, sleeping, mating, defending which are what drive the senses what is the difference between the two the senses demands can be regulated, should be regulated but the body’s nature it cannot be given up entirely, the senses demands for example tongue may desire to drink alcohol that we can give up completely and we will not die, we will still live in fact we will be live better, live happier now in contrast if somebody has a intellectual nature and we tell that person to work as a businessman a business person, that person just cannot do it now it’s not a matter of will power or determination, the person may try and may be able to do also for some time but the incompatibility will be a cause of perpetual misery and eventually out of frustration the person will turn back to the work of to the work of a brahmana in some way or the other so here we are not referring to characteristics by birth but characteristics by nature similarly if a Vaishya is told to study scripture the Vaishya’s mind will naturally go to business how can I sell this book, how can I do this, how can I do that so nobody can renounce their nature so we have to harmonize our nature so the Vedic culture is not that a brahmana has to act like a Vaishya but a person who has brahmanical nature, a person who is intellectual should use the intelligence in accordance with dharma instead of in negligence or in defiance of dharma in negligence of dharma means one uses the intelligence to do whatever one likes and in defiance means one actually goes against dharma and tries to prove that dharma is false, that god doesn’t exist, soul doesn’t exist and things like that so that is undesirable definitely but the point here of we each of us having to act according to nature is well taken and that is how we all need to act if we are to serve Krishna in a sustainable way throughout our life so the attainment of our transcendental nature our servants of Krishna requires not the repression of our material nature as intellectual or as martial or mercantile or general artisan or whatever but it requires the harmonization of that nature with our spiritual purpose, now what needs to be much more strictly regulated is the urge for eating, sleeping, mating defending especially when the urges especially which are driven by lust, anger, greed envy, pride those have to be regulated so immediately after this section Krishna will be asked by Arjuna what makes us do wrong and how can we avoid doing wrong so that question would make no sense if Nigraha Kim Karishati was a license was a blanket license for doing whatever we felt was our nature or whatever we feel impelled to do if we start doing that then there will not even be material order in society or to speak of spiritual progress so people will want to shoplift men may want to be molest women people in a fit of anger will smash and bash others there will be complete chaos in society if everybody simply starts according to whatever they feel they are impelled to and if we take Nigraha Kim Karishati to mean what can repression accomplish just act whatever way you feel here Krishna is in a very specific context talking about how we should act according to our Varna nature that means now in our social context irrespective of which family we may be born in even if that had a particular Varna whether we have that Varna or not it’s not determined by our birth so we observe our nature we observe which services or which activities which profession we can do best and we try to do that of course nowadays most people just struggle to barely get a job so a job according to nature seems to be a far shot but even within one’s job whatever one gets one can work according to one’s nature so that as much as possible and that way that means if somebody has got a teaching job within that if somebody has a more Brahminical nature that person may focus more on teaching and research somebody has a more Kshatriya nature that person may focus more on administration within the educational establishment somebody else may focus more on say fundraising or managing the finances of the educational institution whatever this is a simple example but the principle is that we what material society talks about job satisfaction that basically was arranged in the Vedic culture by engaging people according to their Varna when people act according to their natures they naturally experience a material satisfaction material satisfaction is not eternal but that material satisfaction keeps one peaceful otherwise one is always dissatisfied, feeling always alien on foreign territory, uncomfortable, restless and with such a such a feeling of discontent and restlessness one cannot really seriously practice spiritual life because one is always seeking some material change but when we are in a materially harmonious situation it becomes easier to practice spiritual life so Krishna is telling Arjuna over here that you are a Kshatriya act according to your Kshatriya nature repressing that will accomplish nothing thank you