BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:33

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:33

 

sadrsam cestate svasyah

prakrter jnanavan api

prakrtim yanti bhutani

nigrahah kim karisyati

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

sadrsam--accordingly; cestate--tries; svasyah--by his own;

prakrteh--modes of nature; jnana-van--learned; api--although;

prakrtim--nature; yanti--undergo; bhutani--all living entities;

nigrahah--repression; kim--what; karisyati--can do.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone

follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes. What can

repression accomplish?

 

PURPORT

 

Unless one is situated on the transcendental platform of Krsna

consciousness, he cannot get free from the influence of the modes of

material nature, as it is confirmed by the Lord in the Seventh Chapter

(7.14). Therefore, even for the most highly educated person on the mundane

plane, it is impossible to get out of the entanglement of maya simply

by theoretical knowledge, or by separating the soul from the body.

There are many so-called spiritualists who outwardly pose as advanced

in the science but inwardly or privately are completely under

particular modes of nature which they are unable to surpass.

Academically, one may be very learned, but because of his long

association with material nature, he is in bondage. Krsna

consciousness helps one to get out of the material entanglement, even

though one may be engaged in his prescribed duties in terms of

material existence. Therefore, without being fully in Krsna

consciousness, one should not give up his occupational duties. No one

should suddenly give up his prescribed duties and become a so-called

yogi or transcendentalist artificially. It is better to be situated in

one's position and to try to attain Krsna consciousness under superior

training. Thus one may be freed from the clutches of Krsna's maya.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.