<p>Everyone knows the difference between right and wrong, and good and bad. Despite this, man still commits various wrongs and misdeeds. It is about this paradoxical matter that Pandava Prince Arjuna asks Lord Krishna in the Karma Yoga of the Bhagawad Geeta.</p>.<p>“What is it that impels men to act as if impelled by some unseen force to do evil, wrongful and prohibited actions, even when they do not really want to do so?” asks Arjuna. The Lord replies, “Understand that it is greed—uncontrolled desire. He is your inner, ever-present, all-devouring enemy who manifests as rage when he is prevented from attaining what he thirsts for”.</p>.<p>This is a reiteration of what was mentioned earlier in the same chapter wherein the Lord said that man develops an affinity for sensual pleasures by constant exposure and thinking about them. This affinity morphs into desire and then into insatiable greed and further into uncontrollable anger when there are obstacles in satisfying these wants. This anger then clouds man’s thinking, rendering him incapable of right and balanced thinking. This loss of mental composure finally leads to his downfall.</p>.<p>The Lord gives an eloquent example. “Just as smoke envelops burning flames, making them hazy and even invisible, just as dust and dirt cover the surface of a mirror, rendering it opaque, just as the developing foetus in the mother’s womb is sheathed in the amniotic sac, both protecting and insulating it from the external invasive world, so is man’s critical, discretionary faculty of mental poise veiled by this monster called desire/greed. It conquers even the learned scholars, benumbing them into the abyss of sensuality, affecting their mind, intellect and their senses. So, controlling your senses is the key to combating this ogre of desires,” says the Lord.</p>.<p>Now comes the final piece of advice, the crowning glory of the Karma Yoga chapter. “The senses are higher(more powerful) than the physical body. Higher than the senses is the mind, higher to it is the intellect and higher to the intellect is the Atman — the supreme divinity which exists in all beings. Seek that inner being, go inwards, retreating from fleetingly pleasurable materialistic objects. Real happiness and bliss exist there. Therein lies life’s ultimate goal”.</p>
<p>Everyone knows the difference between right and wrong, and good and bad. Despite this, man still commits various wrongs and misdeeds. It is about this paradoxical matter that Pandava Prince Arjuna asks Lord Krishna in the Karma Yoga of the Bhagawad Geeta.</p>.<p>“What is it that impels men to act as if impelled by some unseen force to do evil, wrongful and prohibited actions, even when they do not really want to do so?” asks Arjuna. The Lord replies, “Understand that it is greed—uncontrolled desire. He is your inner, ever-present, all-devouring enemy who manifests as rage when he is prevented from attaining what he thirsts for”.</p>.<p>This is a reiteration of what was mentioned earlier in the same chapter wherein the Lord said that man develops an affinity for sensual pleasures by constant exposure and thinking about them. This affinity morphs into desire and then into insatiable greed and further into uncontrollable anger when there are obstacles in satisfying these wants. This anger then clouds man’s thinking, rendering him incapable of right and balanced thinking. This loss of mental composure finally leads to his downfall.</p>.<p>The Lord gives an eloquent example. “Just as smoke envelops burning flames, making them hazy and even invisible, just as dust and dirt cover the surface of a mirror, rendering it opaque, just as the developing foetus in the mother’s womb is sheathed in the amniotic sac, both protecting and insulating it from the external invasive world, so is man’s critical, discretionary faculty of mental poise veiled by this monster called desire/greed. It conquers even the learned scholars, benumbing them into the abyss of sensuality, affecting their mind, intellect and their senses. So, controlling your senses is the key to combating this ogre of desires,” says the Lord.</p>.<p>Now comes the final piece of advice, the crowning glory of the Karma Yoga chapter. “The senses are higher(more powerful) than the physical body. Higher than the senses is the mind, higher to it is the intellect and higher to the intellect is the Atman — the supreme divinity which exists in all beings. Seek that inner being, go inwards, retreating from fleetingly pleasurable materialistic objects. Real happiness and bliss exist there. Therein lies life’s ultimate goal”.</p>