Gita 03.34 – Don’t let sensory urges steal dharmic credits

Bhagavad Gita 3.34 Indriyasya Indriyasya Arthe Raga Dvesha Vyavasthitao Tayor Navashama Agachet Tauyasya Paripanthinao Indriyasya Indriyasya Arthe senses and the sense objects Indriyasya Arthe that which the senses consider to be meaningful Raga Dvesha Vyavasthitao Raga and Dvesha attachment and aversion Vyavasthitao it is properly situated over there Tayor Navashama Agachet Tayor and that Navashama Agachet don't come under their control Tauyasya Paripanthinao Tauyasya Paripanthinao Paripanthinao means obstacles more specifically it means thieves Paripanthinao, pantha is path those who steal away on the path they are like road robbers Raga and Dvesha Krishna is giving the counterbalance to what he has given in 3.33 Nigraha Kim Karishiti so what is the use of repression now does that mean that one should just indulge whatever way one wants no when Krishna said that Prakriti Niyanti Bhutani that living beings act according to prakriti that means that our basic varna nature we cannot suppress it but at the same time Krishna is telling over here that don't come under the control of Raga and Dvesha now Raga and Dvesha are coming from Prakriti itself Vyavasthitao they are situated in Indriyasya they are situated in the senses and the sense objects so that means the previous verse is stating that you can't fight nature and this verse is saying don't come under the control of nature so what does it mean are these two contradictory instructions no when Krishna is saying that we cannot completely reject our nature but at the same time when we are acting according to our nature we don't have to get completely consumed by our nature that means for example a Vaishya if soul is in a Vaishya body with a Vaishya mentality then soul naturally has attachment to earning more and more money so now and for example a Vaishya may have aversion to studying Shastra very deeply but that is not what is natural so now or within the Varna itself within the Varna that person has a say greed to earn money and then there is a Raga for wealth and there is a Dvesha for charity now Dharma gives us the principles of regulation by which we don't come under the control of nature completely so now Raga and Vaishya if we get under that completely if we let ourselves succumb to Raga and Vaishya entirely then the result of that will be that we will be lost we will become completely materialistic and we will not stay within the safe zone of Dharma so Dharma when you talk about Varna Ashram Dharma Kshatriya has his Dharma, Vaishya has his Dharma similarly all of them have their Dharmas so what needs to be done is to act according to the Dharma which is suited for one's nature so Vaishya can't act according to Kshatriya Dharma so Krishna is saying that if one tries to suppress one's Vaishya Dharma and act according to Kshatriya Dharma it will not work so that is the context of Nigraha Kim Karishati but now when one is acting according to one's Vaishya Dharma at that time one should not succumb to Raga one should not say because of greed for money just become immoral become cruel become grossly insensitive to others and exploit them and one should that Raga for money is there but one should keep that within the safe zone of Dharma so one can earn money but by honest, honourable means and the Vaishya oh my hard earned money why should I give in charity to anyone no, that is a duty, do it because actually the principle of charity is what ensures the protection from greed in a Vaishya normally a business person wants to invest money in an enterprise that is profitable and if an enterprise doesn't give any profit then the business person will actually want to end the investment over there, disinvest and get it out of among his portfolios but for example a Vaishya takes care of cows but then the Vaishya also protects the cows even when in their old age they are not giving anything, they are not giving milk and the cows are so so productive in one sense that even the Gomutra and Gobar are useful but still if there is a situation where abandoned Gomutra and Gobar is available from different cows and one feels in this old cow why should I maintain it's not giving me any milk so in that situation also the Vaishya should maintain the dvesha, oh I don't want to spend money on this no, the dharma is go-raksha so because go-raksha is dharma the Vaishya will do it irrespective of one's feelings one's raga and dvesha, so in this sense what it means is so raga and dvesha are there situated in the senses and the sense objects but one is not meant to succumb to them so here we see Krishna in the previous verse was not talking about indriya indriya syarthi, Krishna was talking primarily about prakriti and he was talking about svabhava and that will become clear in the next verse 3.35 when he talks about acting according to one's svabhava so Krishna is differentiating here between the basic nature and the sensory urges so indriya indriya syarthi clearly refers to sensory urges so a kshatriya has power and by that power the kshatriya can actually power, well kshatriyas were also allowed to have many wives, but that is within dharma, but a kshatriya is not meant to exploit and abuse women just because of the desire to do so and kshatriya is not meant to, although kshatriya can have many wives kshatriya should not have evil eyes towards other men's wives, so when Ravana did that lord Ram punished him and he was destroyed so that means one cannot repress one's nature, a kshatriya cannot live like a vaisya or a shudra but at the same time kshatriya is having power kshatriya should not, in the kshatriya body one has a desire for wealth, there is also because of the mode of passion there is also lust, but that is within the precincts of dharma, so if one because of having, because of the attachments present in the indriya indriya syarthi if one abuses one's power and position to get adharmic sense gratification then that person becomes karmically bound further and then padparipanthi, now these are obstacles, they are thieves, so actually by living according to dharma we acquire dharmic merit, but if we succumb to raga and vaisya then we lose the dharmic merit, we actually get adharmic we do papa and then we will get the consequences of that, become adharmic, therefore krishna is telling over here, first he said that don't suppress your nature, but that doesn't mean that you have to surrender to every bodily urge, regulate the bodily urges according to dharma that is the import of this verse, tayor navashamag chet don't come under the control of raga and vaisya, thank you.

Transcript

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Bhagavad Gita 3.34 Indriyasya Indriyasya Arthe Raga Dvesha Vyavasthitao Tayor Navashama Agachet Tauyasya Paripanthinao Indriyasya Indriyasya Arthe senses and the sense objects Indriyasya Arthe that which the senses consider to be meaningful Raga Dvesha Vyavasthitao Raga and Dvesha attachment and aversion Vyavasthitao it is properly situated over there Tayor Navashama Agachet Tayor and that Navashama Agachet don’t come under their control Tauyasya Paripanthinao Tauyasya Paripanthinao Paripanthinao means obstacles more specifically it means thieves Paripanthinao, pantha is path those who steal away on the path they are like road robbers Raga and Dvesha Krishna is giving the counterbalance to what he has given in 3.33 Nigraha Kim Karishiti so what is the use of repression now does that mean that one should just indulge whatever way one wants no when Krishna said that Prakriti Niyanti Bhutani that living beings act according to prakriti that means that our basic varna nature we cannot suppress it but at the same time Krishna is telling over here that don’t come under the control of Raga and Dvesha now Raga and Dvesha are coming from Prakriti itself Vyavasthitao they are situated in Indriyasya they are situated in the senses and the sense objects so that means the previous verse is stating that you can’t fight nature and this verse is saying don’t come under the control of nature so what does it mean are these two contradictory instructions no when Krishna is saying that we cannot completely reject our nature but at the same time when we are acting according to our nature we don’t have to get completely consumed by our nature that means for example a Vaishya if soul is in a Vaishya body with a Vaishya mentality then soul naturally has attachment to earning more and more money so now and for example a Vaishya may have aversion to studying Shastra very deeply but that is not what is natural so now or within the Varna itself within the Varna that person has a say greed to earn money and then there is a Raga for wealth and there is a Dvesha for charity now Dharma gives us the principles of regulation by which we don’t come under the control of nature completely so now Raga and Vaishya if we get under that completely if we let ourselves succumb to Raga and Vaishya entirely then the result of that will be that we will be lost we will become completely materialistic and we will not stay within the safe zone of Dharma so Dharma when you talk about Varna Ashram Dharma Kshatriya has his Dharma, Vaishya has his Dharma similarly all of them have their Dharmas so what needs to be done is to act according to the Dharma which is suited for one’s nature so Vaishya can’t act according to Kshatriya Dharma so Krishna is saying that if one tries to suppress one’s Vaishya Dharma and act according to Kshatriya Dharma it will not work so that is the context of Nigraha Kim Karishati but now when one is acting according to one’s Vaishya Dharma at that time one should not succumb to Raga one should not say because of greed for money just become immoral become cruel become grossly insensitive to others and exploit them and one should that Raga for money is there but one should keep that within the safe zone of Dharma so one can earn money but by honest, honourable means and the Vaishya oh my hard earned money why should I give in charity to anyone no, that is a duty, do it because actually the principle of charity is what ensures the protection from greed in a Vaishya normally a business person wants to invest money in an enterprise that is profitable and if an enterprise doesn’t give any profit then the business person will actually want to end the investment over there, disinvest and get it out of among his portfolios but for example a Vaishya takes care of cows but then the Vaishya also protects the cows even when in their old age they are not giving anything, they are not giving milk and the cows are so so productive in one sense that even the Gomutra and Gobar are useful but still if there is a situation where abandoned Gomutra and Gobar is available from different cows and one feels in this old cow why should I maintain it’s not giving me any milk so in that situation also the Vaishya should maintain the dvesha, oh I don’t want to spend money on this no, the dharma is go-raksha so because go-raksha is dharma the Vaishya will do it irrespective of one’s feelings one’s raga and dvesha, so in this sense what it means is so raga and dvesha are there situated in the senses and the sense objects but one is not meant to succumb to them so here we see Krishna in the previous verse was not talking about indriya indriya syarthi, Krishna was talking primarily about prakriti and he was talking about svabhava and that will become clear in the next verse 3.35 when he talks about acting according to one’s svabhava so Krishna is differentiating here between the basic nature and the sensory urges so indriya indriya syarthi clearly refers to sensory urges so a kshatriya has power and by that power the kshatriya can actually power, well kshatriyas were also allowed to have many wives, but that is within dharma, but a kshatriya is not meant to exploit and abuse women just because of the desire to do so and kshatriya is not meant to, although kshatriya can have many wives kshatriya should not have evil eyes towards other men’s wives, so when Ravana did that lord Ram punished him and he was destroyed so that means one cannot repress one’s nature, a kshatriya cannot live like a vaisya or a shudra but at the same time kshatriya is having power kshatriya should not, in the kshatriya body one has a desire for wealth, there is also because of the mode of passion there is also lust, but that is within the precincts of dharma, so if one because of having, because of the attachments present in the indriya indriya syarthi if one abuses one’s power and position to get adharmic sense gratification then that person becomes karmically bound further and then padparipanthi, now these are obstacles, they are thieves, so actually by living according to dharma we acquire dharmic merit, but if we succumb to raga and vaisya then we lose the dharmic merit, we actually get adharmic we do papa and then we will get the consequences of that, become adharmic, therefore krishna is telling over here, first he said that don’t suppress your nature, but that doesn’t mean that you have to surrender to every bodily urge, regulate the bodily urges according to dharma that is the import of this verse, tayor navashamag chet don’t come under the control of raga and vaisya, thank you