Gita 03.42 – In the line of fire from lust the soul is the last

Bhagavad gita 3.42 indriyanimano buddhir asyadhishthanam uchyate etair vimohayate sa jnanam avrtya dehinam so here krishna is now describing the hierarchy of the various elements that are in the line of fire of lust in this section from 3.36 to 43 krishna is talking about who is the inner enemy that impels us to wrongdoing, that is lust and how to combat it indriyaniparanyahur ahur refers to this, that is matter, material sense objects material world, so the sense objects are out there, but it is the senses which go to the sense objects primarily when a person approaches us to tempt us, that person's senses are coming to us and we are the sense object but essentially it is the senses that go to the sense objects, so in that sense we are conscious, so the sense objects when we are attracted to the sense object, we are not attracted to the person per se we are attracted to the material form of that person so that material form is of course unconscious so in that sense the senses are higher than the sense objects or the broad material form from which lust fires itself into our heart so indriyaniparanyahur indriyabhyaparamanaham so above the senses is the mind now the arrows of lust if we say they come and then they fire, they shoot through the eyes, so that is one level penetration just like if somebody wants to, if a terrorist wants to target the prime minister of India the prime minister of India is not going to walk on the street for anyone to shoot, actually there are so many levels of security there are so many security checks one gate, two gate, three gates and only after that the terrorist can actually reach maybe the parliament building or wherever and there also there will be checks and afterwards the terrorist may reach the prime minister so it's difficult, similarly Krishna is saying that lust, how does it fire? indriyabhyaparamanaham, so lust fires at our senses, from the senses the fire comes to the mind and that means there is perception through the senses and there is imagination through the mind and now the mind is considered at a higher level because the mind directs the senses that when the mind imagines and the mind integrates the inputs from the senses and presences to the intelligence and the soul and the mind also sends the signals back to the senses in the chariot body metaphor the mind is the reins so it is the coordinating thing between the horses and the charioteer which is the intelligence, so further up in that hierarchy the reins are controlled by the charioteer charioteer is the intelligence so manasastupara buddhe intelligence is the charioteer and the charioteer directs the horses through the reins so like that the intelligence directs the senses through the mind and then yobuddhe paratastu saham yobuddhe that means the buddhi, beyond the buddhi is the saham, saham is the soul and the soul is the passenger or the chariot warrior we could say whichever we want to refer to it but the point is that the chariot should be going where the warrior wants to go so in that sense the line of command should be from the chariot passenger who would be a warrior, a king or whatever from the chariot passenger to the charioteer charioteer to the reins and through the reins to the horses and that's how the chariot should move so Krishna is describing that same hierarchy not from top down but from bottom up so he says yobuddhe paratastu saham above the buddhi is the saham, the soul now what is the point of describing this hierarchy now that is to actually explain how lust can be combated and that specific way this knowledge of this hierarchy can be used to combat lust will be described in the next verse but here let's continue the point of the line of fire of lust so once the mind gets triggered by the mind gets kindled, mind gets ignited and the imagination starts burning severely in the conscious maybe I can enjoy this way, maybe I can enjoy that way maybe I can do this, maybe I can do that now at this stage what happens is the mind is inflamed with imagination but after that there is still the intelligence that is the next line of guard now when the intelligence is normally meant to control the mind but when lust enters into the intelligence that means now the lust has kindled the imagination so attractively that the intelligence also falls for it oh this pleasure is so wonderful then I will also enjoy this pleasure oh I also want to enjoy, then the intelligence also falls for it and then intelligence starts scheming how I can enjoy this, so intelligence instead of fighting lust starts scheming how I can enjoy that's how the intelligence also falls so it's like the line of fire is moving further and further and then when the intelligence also is persuaded at that time the person falls, the person falls means the person realizes that now this is what the person thinks that this is what I should do, this is how I will enjoy, this is what is the way to happiness and that way that is the pathway to delusion, that is the pathway to self-destruction so although the soul is superior to all these but at present the soul's actions are guided through the knowledge acquiring apparatus of the senses, the mind and the intelligence, the soul is the highest in the sense that ultimately the soul is the perceiver soul is the knowledge acquirer but the soul that is the knowledge acquirer needs to acquire knowledge in a very through the senses, mind and intelligence and when lust conquers the senses, mind and intelligence then the soul also succumbs so how the soul succumbs is described in this verse and how the knowledge of this hierarchy can help one to combat lust will be described in the next verse.