Verse-36
Chapter 3 — Karma Yoga
Verse 36
🕉 Original Sanskrit Shloka
Arjuna uvaacha
atha kena prayukto yam papam charati purusah
anicchannapi varsneya baladiva niyojitah
🕉 English Translation
📜 Translation
English
Arjun said: O Krishna! Then what impels a man to indulge in sinfulness, as if by force, even though not desiring to do so?
Reflect on this query of Arjun in all-encompassing context. You will feel that question is not that of Arjun but it pertains to most of us. The man wants to move on the path of virtue but it looks like as if forcibly something has drawn him towards vice. Against his will and as if by force he is impelled. Later one regrets and feels why it has so happened. Even the sincere seekers of spiritual company having an inclination for devotion and worship find themselves somewhere or the other in the state put forward by this question. The patient is aware that eating of forbidden food is detrimental to health. Even then he consumes it. In the same manner, a spiritually sensitive man is aware that a particular act is not appropriate, its consequences are undesirable but even then he flows into it. As a spokesman of humanity Arjun is putting forward this question to the Lord.