Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 39 — Karma Yoga
Sanskrit
आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा | कामरूपेण कौन्तेय दुष्पूरेणानलेन च ||३-३९||
Transliteration
āvṛtaṃ jñānametena jñānino nityavairiṇā . kāmarūpeṇa kaunteya duṣpūreṇānalena ca ||3-39||
Hindi Meaning
।।3.39।। हे कौन्तेय ! अग्नि के समान जिसको तृप्त करना कठिन है ऐसे कामरूप, ज्ञानी के इस नित्य शत्रु द्वारा ज्ञान आवृत है।।
English Meaning
Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.
Commentary
It is said in the Manu-smṛti that lust cannot be satisfied by any amount of sense enjoyment, just as fire is never extinguished by a constant supply of fuel. In the material world, the center of all activities is sex, and thus this material world is called maithunya-āgāra, or the shackles of sex life. In the ordinary prison house, criminals are kept within bars; similarly, the criminals who are disobedient to the laws of the Lord are shackled by sex life. Advancement of material civilization on the basis of sense gratification means increasing the duration of the material existence of a living entity. Therefore, this lust is the symbol of ignorance by which the living entity is kept within the material world. While one enjoys sense gratification, it may be that there is some feeling of happiness, but actually that so-called feeling of happiness is the ultimate enemy of the sense enjoyer.
Hinglish Commentary
Manu-smṛti mein kaha gaya hai ki lust ko kisi bhi tarah ki sense enjoyment se khush nahi kiya ja sakta, jaise aag ko lagataar aakhri tak fuel dene se bhi nahi bujhaaya ja sakta. Is material duniya ka sabse bada kendra sex hai, aur isliye is duniya ko maithunya-āgāra, yaani sex life ke bandhanon ka ghar kaha gaya hai. Jaise ek aam jail mein criminals ko bars ke andar rakha jaata hai, waise hi jo log Bhagwan ke niyamon ki avhelna karte hain, wo sex life ke bandhanon se bandhe hote hain. Jab hum material civilization ki baat karte hain jo sirf sense gratification par adharit hai, toh iska matlab hai ki hum apni material existence ko aur badha rahe hain. Isliye, ye lust ignorance ka prateek hai jo jeev ko material duniya mein bandhe rakhta hai. Jab koi sense gratification ka anand le raha hota hai, toh shayad usse kuch khushi ka ehsaas hota hai, lekin asal mein ye so-called khushi uss sense enjoyer ka sabse bada dushman hai.
Chinmaya Commentary
यहाँ यह स्पष्ट किया गया है कि उस कामरूप शत्रु के द्वारा यह ज्ञान अर्थात् विवेक सार्मथ्य आच्छादित हो जाती है। आत्मानात्म नित्यानित्य और सत्यासत्य में जिस विवेक सार्मथ्य के कारण सब प्राणियों में मनुष्य को सर्वोच्च स्थान प्राप्त है उसी बुद्धि की क्षमता को यह आवृत कर देता है। यह काम दुष्पूर अर्थात् इसका पूर्ण होना असम्भव ही होता है।अब भगवान् उस काम के निवास स्थान बताते हैं जिसके ज्ञान से शत्रु को नष्ट करना सरल होगा