BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:71

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:71

 

vihaya kaman yah sarvan

pumams carati nihsprhah

nirmamo nirahankarah

sa santim adhigacchati

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

vihaya--giving up; kaman--material desires for sense gratification;

yah--who; sarvan--all; puman--a person; carati--lives;

nihsprhah--desireless; nirmamah--without a sense of proprietorship;

nirahankarah--without false ego; sah--he; santim--perfect peace;

adhigacchati--attains.

 

TRANSLATION

 

A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who

lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship

and is devoid of false ego--he alone can attain real peace.

 

PURPORT

 

To become desireless means not to desire anything for sense

gratification. In other words, desire for becoming Krsna conscious is

actually desirelessness. To understand one's actual position as the

eternal servitor of Krsna, without falsely claiming this material body

to be oneself and without falsely claiming proprietorship over

anything in the world, is the perfect stage of Krsna consciousness.

One who is situated in this perfect stage knows that because Krsna is

the proprietor of everything, everything must be used for the

satisfaction of Krsna. Arjuna did not want to fight for his own sense

satisfaction, but when he became fully Krsna conscious he fought

because Krsna wanted him to fight. For himself there was no desire to

fight, but for Krsna the same Arjuna fought to his best ability. Real

desirelessness is desire for the satisfaction of Krsna, not an

artificial attempt to abolish desires. The living entity cannot be

desireless or senseless, but he does have to change the quality of the

desires. A materially desireless person certainly knows that

everything belongs to Krsna (isavasyam idam sarvam), and therefore he

does not falsely claim proprietorship over anything. This

transcendental knowledge is based on self-realization--namely, knowing

perfectly well that every living entity is an eternal part and parcel

of Krsna in spiritual identity, and that the eternal position of the

living entity is therefore never on the level of Krsna or greater than

Him. This understanding of Krsna consciousness is the basic principle

of real peace.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.