Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter-3-karmayoga

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42.indhriyaaNi paraaNi aahuH indhriyebhyaH param manah

manasasthu paraabudDhih yo budDheH parathasthu saH

 

The senses are said to be superior (to the body), the mind is superior to the senses and the intellect is superior to the mind. But the Self is superior even to the intellect.

 

 

43. evam budDgheh param budDhvaa

samsthbhya aathmaanam aathmanaa

jahi Sathrum mahaabaaho

kaamaroopam dhuraasadham

 

Thus knowing the Self to be higher than the intellect and subduing the self by the Self, destroy this enemy called desire who is unassailable, oh mighty armed.

 

 

 

Krishna then proceeds to show the way to control the body, mind and intellect in order to conquer desire.. The senses are said to be greater than the body but greater than the senses is the mind. Intellect is greater than the mind but the Self is the greatest of all. Therefore the inaccessible enemy in the form of desire can only be destroyed by resorting to the support of the Atman, the Self.

This is the reflection of the Upanishad,

indhriyebhyaH paraa hi arThaaH arThebhyascha param manaH

manasasthu paraabudDhiH budDheh aathmaa mahaan paraH.

(kato.1-3-10)

The Upanishad also gives the analogy that the self is the owner of the chariot called body, and the intellect is the charioteer while the mind is the rein and the senses are the horses. The sense objects are the path along which the horses proceed. If the charioteer , namely the intellect is strong with discrimination and detachment he is able to hold the mind, the reins, properly and the horses ,the senses, are under his control. If the intellect is weak, the horses drag the chariot with its reins held loose, along the path of sense objects as they like. When the intellect identifies itself with the Self it develops discrimination, viveka and detachment, vairagya.

To understand this we must examine the process by which the desire overpowers man. As explained in the analogy in sloka 41, the desire overpowers the intellect through the senses and the mind. When the intellect is armed with viveka and vairagya it can control the mind and intellect and the desire becomes powerless.

.. Does Krishna advise that one should wish for nothing in life and live like a vegetable? No! It is absolutely alright to have a wish for something or enjoy anything with which the senses come into contact. But, as already explained in the previous chapter, only when the mind dwells upon the object it becomes desire. So mind is more powerful than the senses. But even then the intellect has got the power to turn one away from the object of desire. To do this the intellect should identify itself with the self and not with the mind. This is what Krishna means by saying, samsthabhyaathmanamaathmana, controlling the intellect by the power of the. Self, Atmashakthi. How to acquire this is explained by Krishna in the subsequent chapters of the Gita.