इन्द्रियस्येन्द्रियस्यार्थे रागद्वेषौ व्यवस्थितौ ।
तयोर्न वशमागच्छेत्तौ ह्यस्य परिपन्थिनौ ॥
indriyasyendriyasyārthe rāga-dveṣau vyavasthitau |
tayor na vaśam āgacchet tau hy asya paripanthinau ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 3.34)
“Attraction (rāga) and aversion (dveṣa) to an object of each sense is firmly established [i.e., bound to occur]. One should not come under the control of these since they are one’s obstructions.”
Commentary
nanu prakṛty-adhīnā cet puṁsāṁ pravṛttis tarhi vidhi-niṣedha-śāstre vyartha iti cet tatrāhā indriyasyendriyasyeti | … anādi-kāla-pravṛttā hi vāsanāniṣṭānubandhitva-jñānābhāva-sahakṛteneṣṭa-sādhanatva-jñānena niṣiddhe’pi para-dāra-sambhāṣaṇādau rāgam utpādya puṁsaḥ pravartayati, tatheṣṭa-sādhanatva-jñānābhāva-sahakṛtenāniṣṭa-sādhanatva-jñānena vihite’pi sat-sambhāṣaṇādau dveṣam utpādya tatas tān nivartayati | śāstraṁ kila sat-prasaṅga-śrutam aniṣṭānubhandhitva-bodhanena niṣiddhān mano’nukūlād api nivartayati dveṣam utpādya, iṣṭānubandhitva-bodhanena vihite manaḥ-pratikūle’pi rāgam utpādya pravartayatīti na vidhi-niṣedha-śāstrayor vaiyarthyam iti |
(Excerpt from the Gītā-bhūṣaṇa-ṭīkā)
“[An objection is raised:] ‘Well, if the activity (pravṛtti) of people is under the control of prakṛti, then the injunctions and prohibitions in the śāstra are futile. If this [is raised, then] he [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] speaks this verse (indriyasyendriyasyārthe … ). … Inclinations (vāsanās) functioning since a time without beginning produce attraction (rāga) for, and impel people into, conversing with another’s wife and so forth [i.e., and engaging in other prohibited and detrimental activities] even when [such is] prohibited [in śāstra] by way of [fostering] thought of [that] being a means of effecting the desirable assisted by an absence of thought of [that] being followed by [i.e., resulting in] the undesirable, and similarly [vāsanās] produce aversion (dveṣa) to, and inhibit them [i.e., people] from, conversing with the sat and and so forth [i.e., and engaging in other enjoined and beneficial activities] even when [such is] enjoined [in śāstra] by way of [fostering] thought of [that] being a means of effecting the undesirable assisted by an absence of thought of [that] being followed by [i.e., resulting in] the desirable. Śāstra heard in the full association of the sat produces aversion to, and impedes one from, that which is prohibited, even when [that is felt to be] favorable to the mind, by means of [producing] understanding of [that] being followed by [i.e., resulting in] the undesirable, and it produces attraction to, and impels one into, that which is enjoined, even when [that is felt to be] unfavorable to the mind, by means of [producing] understanding of [that] being followed by [i.e., resulting in] the desirable. Thus, the śāstra’s injunctions and prohibitions do not have futility.”