3:28: O mighty armed one, those who know the truth understand the relationships between the three gunas [material qualities] and actions and hence their senses are not attached to sense objects. 3:29: Those who are deluded by the qualities of material nature and who are therefore attached to material activities are dull-witted. Their knowledge is incomplete. Such people should not be disturbed by those whose knowledge is complete.
There is an ancient proverb that one should not cast pearls before swine. Such is the teaching here. There is no point in explaining spiritual truths to those who are not ready to receive them. Likewise efforts to convert people from one religion to another are ill advised and often destructive to the individual, the family and the society. As the Lord will tell Arjuna later in this conversation:
Better ones own duty though poorly exercised than another person's even though performed well (3:35:).
It is generally wiser simply to encourage people to do their best with the truth they have than to attempt to force what they are nor ready for. Of course it is always acceptable to assist those who are seeking greater Light!
3:30: Renounce all types of activities unto Me in complete consciousness of Me free from desire or possessiveness. Being thus free, fight [do your duty] without mental pain or anxiety.
Regardless of ones beliefs, culture, religion, political persuasion and so on, anyone can find success, in this life, simply by surrendering the fruit of ones actions to the Supreme Lord according to the Light one has. There is no need to convert to some new religion nor to become something else. Simply surrender to the Lord and He will direct your steps. Do this and your life will be fulfilled.
3:31: Those who practice My eternal doctrine with faith and who are devoid of envy are freed from all karmic reactions.
3:32: But those who are envious, who do not practice My doctrine and whose knowledge is deluded: know them to be ruined and devoid of consciousness.
The doctrine of Sri Krsna is found complete within the pages of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Those who receive these teachings and apply them are on the Path to Self Realization and spiritual liberation. Those who do not accept these things, who seek satisfaction from the three modes of material nature, who reject the causeless mercy of the Supreme Lord, such people are wasting this rare opportunity of human life and inevitable descend into less conscious lifeforms where they will be further trapped by suffering.
There are those who teach an eternal damnation or eternal punishment of the soul, others believe the living entity may be utterly destroyed. Such teachings are rejected by Sri Krsna as we will see later on. The soul is eternally part and parcel of the Lord and so will eventually return Home to the spiritual realms of consciousness (Nirguna Brahman). More on this later.
3:33: All living entities follow their own natures, even those who have knowledge act according to material nature, so what can repression accomplish?
3:34: Attachment and detachment of the senses for their objects must be regulated. One should not come under the domination of either of these as they are obstacles [to self-realization].
There are those who teach that renunciation is everything however the Lord explains here that renunciation is not enough. The materially bound living entities have taken these present births due to their past choices and actions, for good or ill. All the diverse conditions in which the living entities find themselves are just, as difficult as this sometimes is to accept. All conditions stem from past actions.
This means that this life matters. Its temptations and struggles are opportunities, not punishments. This is partly why one should never another judge another. Those who lives are the most difficult and seemingly the most undesirable may be all the more blessed due to the greater opportunities to burn away negative karma.
Karma (actions) produce karma (reactions). These reactions are under the determinations of Dharma (Divine Justice) and Dharma establishes Marga, the course ones life will take. There is individual, family, social, planetary and even galactic karma, dharma and marga. Those who understand these topics accept their lives as they are and use them to progress in spiritual consciousness. It is in part for this reason that jealousy, greed and deciet are so destructive to spiritual advancement. One should accept what is and seek to establish what should be.
3:35: Better ones own duty though poorly exercised than another person's even though performed well. It is better to die performing ones own duty because fulfilling the duty of someone is filled with dread.
3:36: Arjuna asked: By what is one impelled, even without desiring it, to sin? O descendant of Vrishni; it is as if one were incited by force.
Arjuna has learned much thus far in his conversation with Sri Krsna, but he still has doubts. He knows his duty as a Kshatriya is to fight but he would rather not. He reasons that other people have duties that do not require such adventures. Perhaps he could perform one of those duties instead! Yet he understands his position.
Despite this intellectual understanding Arjuna is prone to sin. Perhaps, he reasons, the Lord might help him understand this tendency, knowing which he will be able to resist sin's influences.
3:37: The Blessed One replied: It is desire and anger: which are born of all-devouring passion. Know this to be the very sinful enemy here in the material world.
3:38: As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust and as an unborn child is enveloped by the womb, so likewise is this [conditioned] jivatman [individual soul] enveloped by desires.
3:39: Thus conditioned the wisdom of the wise is enveloped by the constant enemy perceived as the forms of desire, O son of Kunti [Arjuna], as by an insatiable fire.
As previously discussed jivatman, the living entity, exists in eternal bliss devoid (nir) of any material qualities (gunas) and yet once the soul enters material nature (Saguna Brahman) the soul becomes bound by material consciousness. Once this happens every thought is covered, like dust on a mirror, so that the pure reflection of true reality becomes blurred and the consciousness is uncertain and confused. The Lord here explains that it is the desire for material nature, avidya (ignorance) based passion (rajaguna) of ones true nature that drives the soul into ever greater enslavement.
3:40: The senses, the mind and the intellect are said to be the seat [of all desires]. By these the knowledge of the embodied living entities are covered and deluded.
3:41: Therefore, begin by regulating the senses, O best of the Bharatas, and destroy this inauspiciousness which is the slayer of knowledge and understanding.
3:42: It is said that the senses are great, but superior to the senses is the mind. Superior to the mind is the intellect and the living entity is superior even to the intellect.
3:43: Thus knowing yourself to be superior to the intellect, restrain yourself and destroy the formidable enemy of the forms of desire, O supremely armed one [Arjuna].
This chapter thus concludes as Sri Krsna reiterates the importance of the intellect and the consciousness. Humans are not slaves their desires. Even though the Lord is speaking with Arjuna about the literal battlefield of Kuruksetra it is understood that there is another, inner battle field and war. In this war the living entities must confront the enemies of material consciousness by the mighty weapon of devotion to the Lord and self restraint in His service. In the next chapter Sri Krsna will reveal even deeper wisdom!
Here Ends Chapter Three. Of the Gitabhasya of Jagannatha Prakasa
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