30 December 2020
Lust – our hidden enemy
Hare Krsna. Devotees from over 785 locations are chanting with us right now.
om namo bhagavate vasudevaya!
Welcome to the morning Japa session. It’s time to get some food for thought. This is very important. We usually have food for the stomach. That is also important. But this is food for our intelligence.
Krsna says, dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ means I give the understanding. [BG 10.10]
Food for thought makes one intelligent. Right now, we are fools, but when we listen to what the Lord has to say then we become intelligent. All this knowledge from Bhagavad Gita is food for thought. All the verses are food for thought. By this food for thought one can practice and experience high thinking. We should not have low thinking. All the thoughts related to Krsna are high thinking. This conversation of questions and answers is very important. Arjuna has asked 16 important questions to Krsna. We don’t even know how and what to ask. We must learn from Arjuna how to ask questions and what to inquire. If we ask like him then we can understand what Krsna is answering. All the answers that Krsna is giving in response to Arjuna’s questions can then be understood. This happens in every person’s spiritual life.
In Bhagavad Gita 3.36, Arjuna is asking Krsna a very intelligent question and also a very popular one. We should also have this type of question.
arjuna uvāca
atha kena prayukto ’yaṁ
pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ
anicchann api vārṣṇeya
balād iva niyojitaḥ
Translation
Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force? [BG 3.36]
atha kena prayukto ’yaṁ – who is forcing me?
pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ – one is impelled to sinful acts.
anicchann api – even unwillingly
• Vārṣṇeya – O descendant of Vṛṣṇi
• balād iva niyojitaḥ – as if engaged by force by someone. Someone is defeating me and I am losing that struggle. Struggle means when it comes into my mind, “No! No! Don’t do this” but still I end up doing that sinful act. As if I was forced by someone. I end up committed a blunder or sin.
• atha kena – who is that someone who forces me?
Now the Lord will give the answer to this question,
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa
rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ
mahāśano mahā-pāpmā
viddhy enam iha vairiṇam
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world. [BG 3.37]
It seems as if Arjuna has asked a one line question and Krsna is responding in a few verses in this chapter. Now Krsna will answer the question till the end of this chapter. Krsna said, “So you asked who forced you to commit sin?” Krsna named those forcing factors, kāma eṣa krodha eṣa meaning it is Lust and Anger.
Even greed, attachment, false ego, envy are other factors that Krsna has not mentioned, but are included. These six enemies could have been mentioned. Later He introduces more about lust and anger by saying,
• rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ. This lust and anger arise out of the mode of passion.
• mahāśano – all-devouring. They are all devouring. They eat up everything endlessly. You can never satisfy it. As you go on pouring oil into the fire it will keep burning and will never subside. Fire will never subside, but it will keep on increasing. Similarly lust can never subside by continuous feeding to the senses. Lust, anger, greed will never be satisfied. Greed is “I want more. I want more.” There is no end to the greed. Similarly all these 6 enemies of a Jiva are all devouring. What Krsna is saying is worth noting and remembering. He says,
• viddhy enam iha vairiṇam – O Arjuna, know that lust and anger are the greatest enemies in this material world. This lust is your Enemy Number 1.
The people of this world are not aware of this. They keep saying, “I love you” to each other. They are in great illusion. They engage in lust and misunderstanding it to be love. You are lusty, not loving. Love is transcendental. It can be with Radha- Krsna only. rādhā-kṛṣṇa prāṇa mora jugala-kiśora
Love can be between the Lord and His devotees and between two jivas (souls). But when it comes to a relationship between two bodies, then it is only lust. Not “I love you” but the reality is “I am lusty after you.” I am not loving, but I am lusty.This is noteworthy. If you can understand this, then it means you have understood Bhagavad Gita. Krsna is saying this clearly. But we can understand this only when we have a question like this. Krsna said, viddhy enam iha vairiṇam. This lust and anger is your greatest enemy. There are 4 other enemies also.
The apparent hairline difference between lust and love is actually poles apart. Who knows this? Everyone misunderstands lust as love only. This is the main problem. Krsna is making us aware that these are the greatest enemies, yet we think them to be our friends. We are actually inviting our enemies. We are desperately looking for our enemies. We want to embrace our enemies and it continuously devours everything. Love will nourish us and lust will devour us. This is food for thought. Read these verses and also the further verses that are in response to this question by Arjuna.
Krsna will also reveal where these enemies live in our body. Krsna says that senses, mind and intelligence are the residing places of lust. This is in our gross and subtle body.
indriyāṇi mano buddhir
asyādhiṣṭhānam ucyate
etair vimohayaty eṣa
jñānam āvṛtya dehinam
Translation
The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust. Through them lust covers the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him. [BG 3.40]
Krsna told us the name of our enemies which are lust, anger and greed. But just knowing that these are our enemies is not sufficient. Where do they live? What is their address? One needs to know the whereabouts of the enemy and then attack. Krsna says indriyāṇi mano buddhir – these enemies live in the mind, intelligence and senses in the subtle body.
We are discussing it here briefly, but we need to read it properly with word meaning, translations and purport given by Prabhupada. After reading, we should deeply think about it. Read it again and again so that we can understand and have realizations.
What is the solution? How to defeat the enemy? Now Krsna is revealing that.
tasmāt tvam indriyāṇy ādau
niyamya bharatarṣabha
pāpmānaṁ prajahi hy enaṁ
jñāna-vijñāna-nāśanam
Translation
Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhāratas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization. [BG 3.41]
Krsna has given us the name and address of the enemy. Now He is giving us the strategy how to curb these enemies.
Krsna says, indriyāṇy ādau niyamya – first control the senses. indriyāṇy means this is plural. That means there are more than one. There are five senses. Sense control is the beginning of the solution. Then you can control the mind and then intelligence because the enemy is living in these three places. First control your senses then the mind and then the intelligence. Also, in the 18th chapter, while describing the qualities of a Brahmana, Krsna talks more about sense control and other points.
śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ – Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity.[BG 18.42]
Śamo is mind control and damas is sense control. And what about intelligence?
ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ is chanting of holy name which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated. We need to train our intelligence. Then later He says, pāpmānaṁ prajahi hy enaṁ, slay this destroyer . Kill them completely from the roots and don’t leave them half dead. But kill them completely. Prajahi means kill. Abolish them completely. We have to become free from lust and anger. Then Krsna says,
indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur
indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ
manasas tu parā buddhir
yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ
Translation
The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence. [BG 3.42]
You cannot directly kill these enemies. You start with sense control and starve these enemies. Then you beat them to death after making them weak. Senses are higher than the sense objects. Mind is superior to the senses and intelligence is superior to the mind and the soul is superior to the intelligence. The Supersoul who lives with the soul is even more superior.
evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā
saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā
jahi śatruṁ mahā-bāho
kāma-rūpaṁ durāsadam
Translation
Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O mighty-armed Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence [Kṛṣṇa consciousness] and thus – by spiritual strength – conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust. [BG 3.43]
In the conclusion to the response to Arjuna’s question Krsna says the above words. Steady the mind with spiritual intelligence. Conquer this insatiable enemy by spiritual strength. The “insatiable enemy” might seem very difficult to conquer, but not impossible. So conquer this enemy with spiritual intelligence or gain spiritual knowledge. He says conquer these enemies by killing them with the help of intelligence.
All of you must read these verses again thoughtfully. Just by understanding, accepting and imbibing this much will also help you make this life successful.
tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir
dhruvā nītir matir mama
Translation
There will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality.[BG 18.78]
Those who apply this knowledge after hearing the words of the Lord, will certainly come out a winner. tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir, victory is guaranteed.
paraḿ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-sańkīrtanam
Any word from Bhagavad Gita can help you make your life successful. If any devotee wishes to share any special or miraculous experiences of book distribution marathon then you may raise your hands.
Hare Krishna.