सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्या: प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि | प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रह: किं करिष्यति || 33|| |
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Commentary
Everyone is different because of complex and dynamic external influences and internal responses. Family, habits, likes, dislikes, friends, past karma are all influencing factors. In most situations, the environment has more influence than will power, so it is important to seek the right environment that promotes well-being.
Wise people who have the same education may not have a similar response to a common situation. When Lord Krishna says sense-control is important, the understanding of this precept could be common. However, to train the senses, one may sleep on a bed of nails to suppress the desire for comfort but still wish for luxury. Another person may leave his family to stay in a jungle but again crave for material comforts. It is difficult and dangerous to directly resist habits and natural desires because they will manifest in some other situation with even more impact. Instead of trying to stop a raging bull approaching us, its direction can be changed with a powerful force on its horns. Like animals, humans also have natural tendencies shaped by past actions.
Along with saintly tendencies, there are beastly impulses also in humans which need to be tamed completely. The tiger on which Goddess Durga sits is representative of such animalistic tendencies. To prevent suffering from involuntary evil actions and to resist a perceived harmful environment, the first step is to maintain a distance and stay away from the cause. Primary causes are desires, compulsions, emotions, people and environment. Internal suppression, external reaction or indifferent encouragement does not help. After distancing from the cause, emotion and reason need to be eventually combined for a happy resolution.
The only emotion that is worth having is to calmly and dutifully wish lasting happiness for self and everyone. All the other emotions are nothing but variations of likes and dislikes arising from attachments and repulsions, love and hate, inclinations and hesitations, hopes and fears, approvals and objections, agreements and conflicts. Therefore the beneficial way for the wise is to take the middle path of gaining a spiritual understanding of the tendencies, then tame and divert them to useful and noble actions.