Extracts of Bhagavad Gita translated by Chinmayananda
QUESTION: Arjuna said:
36. But, by
what impelled does man commit sin,
though against his wishes, O
Varshneya, constrained, as it
were, by force?
ANSWER: The Blessed Lord
Said: 37. It is desire, it is anger born of the
"active, "
all-devouring, all-sinful; know this as the foe here (in
this world) .
COMMENT by Chinmayananda :
IT IS DESIRE, IT IS WRATH ---
Desire is the inner ‘Satan’
in the individual's bosom. We
have seen earlier that desire
is nothing other than our own
spiritual "ignorance,"
expressing itself in our
intellectual personality. This
statement in the stanza is not to be understood as
enumerating two different
things. "Desire" itself, under
certain circumstances, gains
expression as "anger." A
constant agitation of the
mind, expressing as an
uncontrollable impatience to
gain something, is called
"desire." Desire is
generally for something other than
ourselves. In the clash of
existence, beings and
circumstances may come between
ourselves and the
"object of our
desire," and in such cases, our "desire" ---
impulses, striking at the
obstacle, gain the ugly look of
"wrath."
Thus, whenever emotions for
acquisition and possession
of an object flow incessantly
towards that object, the
bundle of thoughts so flowing
is called "desire;" while the
same emotions, when they get
obstructed from reaching
their desired objects, and get
refracted at an intermediate
obstacle, are called
"anger."
This "desire-anger-emotion" is
the very ‘Satan’in us that
compels us to compromise
with our own intellectually
known Higher values of
existence, and tempts us to
perpetrate sins. Greater the
desire, greater the power in
the pull towards the sinful
and the low. Once desire has
come to manifest itself in our
intellect, it enshrouds the
wisdom in us.
Desire and anger, and their
numberless children of sin
and sorrow, must ever come to
breed upon the marshy
lands of our deluded
intellect. To come under their sway
is "ignorance." To
come to rule over them is "Wisdom."
The Blessed Lord Said: 38. As fire is enveloped by
smoke,
as a mirror by dust, as anembryo
by the womb, so this (wisdom)
is enveloped by that (desire or anger).
39. Enveloped, O Son of Kunti,
is 'wisdom' by this constant
enemy of the wise in the form
of 'desire, ' which is difficult to be
appeased, like fire.
COMMENT by Chinmayananda :
The discrimination in man is
screened off and obstructed
in its exercise due to the
attachment in his mind for the
ever-changing worldly-objects.
We all know that our
attachments to things can fall
under three distinct
categories. Our desires can
either be low and vicious ---
mind for the flesh-fleshy
carnal pleasures --- or our
ambitions may be for an active
exertion in order to achieve
power and wealth, to gain
strength and might, to win
fame and glory. There can also
be a burning aspiration to
strive and to achieve a
diviner perfection and a Godly
Self-illumination. Thus, our
desires can fall under three
headings according to the
quality of the attachment ---
inert (Tamasic), or active (Rajasic), or noble and divine
(Sattwic). The veilings that are
created over our
discrimination by these
different types of qualities (gunas)
are indicated here by the
three different examples.
AS FIRE BY SMOKE --- A smoky
fire-place, shrouded by
dark curling smoke can
sometimes, if not totally, at least
partially, veil the brilliance
of the light emitted by the
flames. A wick without a
chimney is less bright than with
a chimney, proving the example
under review. Even
Sattwic desires veil the infinite
glory of the Spirit.
AS DUST ON A MIRROR --- This
illustrates the veiling
caused by agitations that
cover the purer intellect due to
our thick desires for glory
and power (Rajasic). Compared
with the former, this is
indeed more complete, and the
removal of it is, naturally,
more difficult. The smoke rolls
off even at a passing whiff of
breeze, while the mirror
cannot be cleaned even by a
storm. It can be polished only
by our own efforts at dusting
it clean with the help of a
clean, dry duster. Through the
smoke, however thick it
might be, the fire can be
perceived; through the dust, if it
be thick, no reflection at all
can be seen in the mirror --- if
at all seen it will only be
dim.
AS THE FOETUS IN THE WOMB ---
This is an illustration
to show how completely the
Diviner aspect in us is
screened off by the low animal
appetites and the vulgar
desires for the sensuous. The
foetus is covered by the
womb until it matures, and
there is no method of
observing it as long as it is
in the womb. The veiling is
complete, and it can drop off
only after a definite period of
time. Similarly, the desires
for the flesh-fleshy enjoyments
build, as it were, a womb
around the discriminative
power in us, and such low
mental pre-occupations
(Tamasic) can drop off only after a
longer period of
evolutionary growth undergone
by such a deluded mindand-
intellect.
In the true scriptural style,
Krishna thus distinguishes
between the different textures
in the veils that come to
cover the soul when the individual
is entertaining
different types of desires. In short, desire is that which
hides the Divine in us.
The Blessed Lord Said: 40. The senses, the mind, and
the intellect
are said to be its seat; through these,
it deludes the embodied
by veiling his wisdom.
COMMENT by Chinmayananda :
The sense-organs, functioning
without restraint in the
world of sense-objects, are a
very convenient theatre for
"desire" to function
in. When the external stimuli reach the
mind through the sense-organs,
the mind also becomes a
breeding centre of sorrows
created by "desire." Lastly, the
intellect, working and playing
with the memories of the
sense-enjoyments it had lived,
and of the mental
attachments it had
entertained, becomes yet another safe
den for "desire" to
function from.
The deluded ego, foolishly
identifying with the body,
desires sense enjoyments.
Thoughtlessly identifying with
the mind, it thirsts to
experience more and more
emotional satisfactions. And
lastly, identifying with the
intellect, it plans to re-live
the remembered experiences of
sense-enjoyments and
mental-joys.
As the desires in us, so are
our thoughts; thoughts
are the disturbances created
in our mental zone by our desires.
At every moment, the texture
and quality of our thoughts are
directly conditioned and
controlled by our desires.
Thoughts in an individual,
expressed in the outer world of
objects, become his actions;
actions are nothing other
than the actor's thoughts
projected and expressed in the
world. Thus, in this
chain-of-'ignorance,' constituted of
desires, thoughts, and
actions, each one of us is caught
and bound.
THE BLESSING OF MAN is his divine faculty of discrimination.
When this instrument is destroyed, man comes to
behave in no better way than a biped animal;
The blessing, because of which man is considered superior
to animals, is his divine faculty of discrimination. An
intellect, strengthened by its own intrinsic capacity to
distinguish between the Real and the unreal, the right and
the wrong, is the mighty instrument of self-development
in man. When this instrument is destroyed, man comes to
behave in no better way than a biped animal; panting on
the path of existence, bullied by its own lower instincts of
miserable passions and low appetites. Naturally, he fails
to make any true gain out of his life's chances, and finally
destroys himself.