III k. The enemy of awareness (3.36-39)

Arjun uvaacha:
atha kena prayaktoyam paapam charati Purushah?
anichhannapi vaarshNeya balaadiva niyojayaat (3.36)

Shree Bhagavaan uvaacha:
kaama esha krodha esha rajoguNasamudbhavam
mahaashanou mahaapaapma viddhyenamiha vairiNam (3.37)

dhoomenaavriyate vahniryathaadarshomalena cha
yatholbenavrutam garbhastathaa tenedamaavrutam (3.38)

aavruttam gnaanametena gnanino nityavairiNam
kaamaroopeNa kounteya dushpureNaanalena cha (3.39)

Alert by the words of One,
wondered Arjun
why and how
does even a smart person
get distracted in chasing short-sighted sins?
As if pushed by a dark force
even against their conscious will,
how come can they get shaken up
despite having cherished moments so still?

With an air of mystery
the master replied
stemming from restlessness
weakening the wisdom and insight
the feverishness to have and possess,
and this frustration-rage-despise-
In pushing one to enormous darkness,
do these devilish enemies delight...
just as smoke engulfs
a nascent fire in a campsite
or just as dirt lures away
the mind of the mirror
from reflecting pure light
or just as the embryo envelopes
the growing womb
so can this charring fire
of unruly desire
cloud even the wise mind...

Dr. Ramanand Prasad's version

Arjuna said: O Krishna, what impels one to commit sin as if unwillingly and forced against one's will? (3.36)

The Supreme Lord said: It is Kaama and anger born of Rajo Guna. Kaama is insatiable and is a great devil. Know this as the enemy. (3.37)

Kaama, the passionate desire for all sensual and material pleasures, becomes anger if it is unfulfilled. As the fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, and as an embryo by the amnion, similarly the Self-knowledge gets obscured by Kaama. (3.38)

O Arjuna, Jnana gets covered by this insatiable fire of Kaama, the eternal enemy of Jnani. (3.39)

III j. Naturalness is the best

saddrusham cheshTate svasyah prakrutergnaanavaanapi
prakrutim yaanti bhootaani nigraha kim karishyati? (3.33)

indriyasyendriyaarthe raagadveshavyavasthitau
tayorna vasham aagachhet tou hyasya paripanthinou (3.34)

shreyaan svadharmo viguNaat paradharmaat svanushThitaat
svadharme nidhanam shreya paradharmo bhayavah (3.35)

When perception, thought and action
of every living being
is but a play, a phenomenon of their body's nature
what will resistance accomplish?
do even the enlightened have a choice
but to act with wisdom?
as the senses move in sense objects
cravings and aversions
are bound to arise,
just as ripples on water do,
don't be pushed around by them,
neither resist them-obstacles
Glorious it is to play your part
by your own inner nature,
even if with poor quality
than to seek someone else's role
played with excellence and audacity
your natural path
bringing death even
is way superior
beware of being someone other
than yourself!

Dr. Ramanand Prasad

All beings follow their nature. Even the wise act according to their own nature. What, then, is the value of sense restraint? (3.33)

Raaga and Dwesha (or the attachments and aversions) for the sense objects remain in the senses. One should not come under the control of these two, because they are two stumbling blocks, indeed, on one's path of Self-realization. (3.34)

One's inferior natural work is better than superior unnatural work. Death in carrying out one's natural work is useful. Unnatural work produces too much stress. (3.35)

III i. Work for me, happily (3.30-3.32)

mayi sarvaaNi karmaaNi sanyasaadhyaatmachetasaa
niraashirnirmamo bhootva yudhyasva vigatajvarah (3.30)

ye me matamidam nityamanutishThanti maanavah
shraddhaavantoanasuyanto muchyante te api karmabih (3.31)

ye te tvadabhyasooyanto naanutishThanti me matam
sarvagnaanavimooDhanstaan viddhi nashTaanachetasah (3.32)


mindful of who you truly are
and whom you truly belong to-
to ME
centered, reposing in your own self

neither stuck in the
small "me, mine"-
the source of sorrow
nor postponing the freedom
to the morrow.
Work, fight, act
for me, in me, as me
free from feverishness...

the uncomplaining ones who
with trust and faith
and without excuses this path follow
are freed from all karma-debt
both that which they incur
and which they borrow
and the fools deluded by
"i know it all"- ignorant of their ignorance
stuck with the fault finding eye
destroy their mind,
intelligence, awareness...

Dr. Ramanand Prasad's version

Dedicating all works to Me in a spiritual frame of mind, free from desire, attachment, and mental grief, do your duty. (3.30)

Those who always practice this teaching of Mine, with faith and free from cavil, are freed from the bondage of Karma. (3.31)

But, those who carp at My teaching and do not practice it, consider them as ignorant of all knowledge, senseless, and lost. (3.32)