🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 3.41
Chapter 3 · कर्मयोग · Karma-Yoga · "The Yoga of Action" · Verse 41 of 43
🪷 English Translations
Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.
Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition
3.41 Therefore, O Arjuna, first control thy senses and then slay desire, for it is full of sin, and is the destroyer of knowledge and of wisdom.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
3.41 Therefore, O best of the Bharatas (Arjuna), controlling the senses first, do thou kill this sinful thing, the destroyer of knowledge and realisation.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
3.41 Since this is so, therefore, O scion of the Bharata dynasty, adau niyamya, after first controlling; indriyani, the organs; prajahihi, renounce; enam, this one, the enemy under consideration; which is papmanam, sinful-which is desire that is accustomed to sinning; and jnana-vijnana-nasanam, a destroyer of learning and wisdom, jnana, learning, means knowledge about the Self etc. from the scripures and a teacher. Vijnana, wisdom, means the full experience of that.
Renounce, i.e. discard, from yourself the destroyer of those two-learning and wisdom, which are the means to the achievement Liberation.
It has been said, 'After first controlling the organs, renounce desire the enemy'. As to that, by taking the support of what should one give up desire? This is being answered:
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
3.41 For whatever reason a person engaged in Jnana Yoga, which is of the nature of abandoning the activities of all the senses, should control this enemy in the shape of desire which turns him away from the self through creating infatuation for objects of the senses - for the same reason, you, who are yoked to the activities of the senses by reason of being in conjunction with the Prakrti, should, in the beginning itself, i.e., at the very beginning of the practice of the means for release, control the senses by the practice of Karma Yoga, which provides for the regulation of the working of the senses. And then you must destroy, i.e., slay this sinful enemy, which is in the shape of desire and which destroys knowledge and discrimination, i.e., knowledge relating to the nature of the self and of the discriminative power, which is the means to gain this knowledge.
Sri Krsna speaks of that which is most important among the adversaries:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
3.41. Therefore, O best among the Bharatas, by controlling completely the sense-organs in the beginning [itself], you must avoid this sinful one, destroying the knowledge-action.
🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices
The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.
Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors
3.41 तस्मात् therefore? त्वम् you? इन्द्रियाणि the senses? आदौ in the beginning? नियम्य having controlled? भरतर्षभ O best of the Bharatas? पाप्मानम् the sinful? प्रजहि kill? हि surely? एनम् this? ज्ञानविज्ञाननाशनम् the destroyer of knowledge and realisation (wisdom).Commentary Jnana is knowledge obtained through the study of scriptures. This is indirect knowledge or Paroksha Jnana. Vijnana is direct knowledge or personal experience or Anubhava through Selfrealisation or Aparoksha Jnana. Control the senses first and then kill desire.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
3.41 Since this is so, therefore, O scion of the Bharata dynasty, adau niyamya, after first controlling; indriyani, the organs; prajahihi, renounce; enam, this one, the enemy under consideration; which is papmanam, sinful-which is desire that is accustomed to sinning; and jnana-vijnana-nasanam, a destroyer of learning and wisdom, jnana, learning, means knowledge about the Self etc. from the scripures and a teacher. Vijnana, wisdom, means the full experience of that.
Renounce, i.e. discard, from yourself the destroyer of those two-learning and wisdom, which are the means to the achievement Liberation.
It has been said, 'After first controlling the organs, renounce desire the enemy'. As to that, by taking the support of what should one give up desire? This is being answered:
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
3.41 For whatever reason a person engaged in Jnana Yoga, which is of the nature of abandoning the activities of all the senses, should control this enemy in the shape of desire which turns him away from the self through creating infatuation for objects of the senses - for the same reason, you, who are yoked to the activities of the senses by reason of being in conjunction with the Prakrti, should, in the beginning itself, i.e., at the very beginning of the practice of the means for release, control the senses by the practice of Karma Yoga, which provides for the regulation of the working of the senses. And then you must destroy, i.e., slay this sinful enemy, which is in the shape of desire and which destroys knowledge and discrimination, i.e., knowledge relating to the nature of the self and of the discriminative power, which is the means to gain this knowledge.
Sri Krsna speaks of that which is most important among the adversaries:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
3.41 Or the passage jnana-vijnana-nasana may be an adverb [modifying the verb 'must avoid'] meaning 'by destroying it i.e., by keeping it off by means of knowledge (thought) i.e., by means of the mind and by means of superior knowledge (superior thought) i.e., by means of the intellect.' The intention is this : One must not allow, in the fancy, [the wrath] risen in the sense-organs, and must not make any resolve about [the foe], fancied.
The logic in this regard (in the above means) [ the Lords ] explains in a couple of verses:
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।3.41।। जैसा कि पहले भी कहा जा चुका है श्रीकृष्ण बिना पर्याप्त तर्क दिये किसी सत्य का प्रतिपादन मात्र नहीं करते। अब वे यहाँ भी युक्तियुक्त विवेचन के पश्चात् इन्द्रियों को वश में करने का उपदेश देते हैं जिसके सम्पादन से अन्तकरण में स्थित कामना को नष्ट किया जा सकता है।इच्छा को यहाँ पापी कहने का कारण यह है कि वह अपने स्थूल रूप में हमें अत्यन्त निम्न स्तर के जीवन को जीने के लिए विवश कर देती है। धुएँ के समान सात्त्विक इच्छा होने पर भी हमारा शुद्ध अनन्तस्वरूप पूर्णरूप से प्रगट नहीं हो पाता। अत सभी प्रकार की इच्छाएँ कमअधिक मात्रा में पापयुक्त ही कही गयी हैं।चिकित्सक को किसी रोगी के लिए औषधि लिख देना सरल है परन्तु यदि वह औषधि आकाशपुष्प से बनायी जाती हो तो रोगी कभी स्वस्थ नहीं हो सकता इसी प्रकार गुरु का शिष्य को इन्द्रिय संयम का उपदेश देना तो सरल है परन्तु जब तक वे उसका कोई साधन नहीं बताते तब तक उनका उपदेश आकाश पुष्प से बनी औषधि के समान ही असम्भव समझा जायेगा।हम किस वस्तु का आश्रय लेकर इस इच्छा का त्याग करें इस प्रश्न का उत्तर है
🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā
- This is verse 41 of 43 in Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga (The Yoga of Action)
- Chapter theme: Action as worship · the yajña-cycle · sva-dharma over para-dharma
- Ṣaṭka grouping: TVAM-Ṣaṭka (BG 1-6 · the jīva)
- Chapter hub: /karma-yoga
🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷
सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)