Bhagavad Gita · 3.41 · Path of Selfless Service·41 of 43
तस्मात्त्वमिन्द्रियाण्यादौ नियम्य भरतर्षभ।पाप्मानं प्रजहि ह्येनं ज्ञानविज्ञाननाशनम् ॥
tasmāt tvam indriyāṇyādau niyamya
bharatarṣhabha pāpmānaṁ prajahi hyenaṁ jñāna-vijñāna-nāśhanam
Sanskrit recitation
Desire as the inner enemy · 3.36–3.43 · Teaching
Translation
Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, control your senses first and then kill this sinful thing, which destroys knowledge and realization.
Meaning
Jnana is knowledge obtained through the study of scriptures. This is indirect knowledge or Paroksha Jnana. Vijnana is direct knowledge or personal experience or Anubhava through Selfrealisation or Aparoksha Jnana. Control the senses first and then kill desire.
After Swami Sivananda
Desire as the inner enemy· 3.36–3.43→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 3.36Arjuna said, "But what compels man to commit sin, even against his wishes, O Varshneya (Krishna), as if constrained by force?"
- 3.37The Blessed Lord said, "It is desire and it is anger, both of the quality of Rajas, all-devouring and all-sinful; know this as the foe here in this world."
- 3.38As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, and as an embryo is surrounded by the amniotic sac, so is this enveloped by that.
- 3.39O Arjuna, wisdom is enveloped by this constant enemy of the wise, in the form of desire, which is insatiable like fire.
- 3.40The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be its seat; through these, it deludes the embodied one, veiling their wisdom.
3.41Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, control your senses first and then kill this sinful thing, which destroys knowledge and realization.
- 3.42They say that the senses are superior to the body; the mind is superior to the senses; the intellect is superior to the mind; and He (the Self) is superior even to the intellect.
- 3.43Thus, knowing Him who is superior to the intellect and restraining the self by the Self, slay thou, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the enemy in the form of desire, hard to conquer.
Word-by-word→
- hi
- certainly
- enam
- this
- tvam
- you
- ādau
- in the very beginning
- jñāna
- knowledge
- niyamya
- having controlled
- prajahi
- slay
- tasmāt
- therefore
- vijñāna
- realization
- nāśhanam
- the destroyer
- pāpmānam
- the sinful
- indriyāṇi
- senses
- bharata-ṛiṣhabha
- Arjun, the best of the Bharatas
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