BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:39

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:39

 

avrtam jnanam etena

jnanino nitya-vairina

kama-rupena kaunteya

duspurenanalena ca

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

avrtam--covered; jnanam--pure consciousness; etena--by this;

jnaninah--of the knower; nitya-vairina--by the eternal enemy;

kama-rupena--in the form of lust; kaunteya--O son of Kunti;

duspurena--never to be satisfied; analena--by the fire; ca--also.

 

TRANSLATION

 

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.

 

PURPORT

 

It is said in the Manu-smrti 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-agara, 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.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.