36. Shree Krishna stated in the previous verse that one should not come under the influence of attraction and aversion. Arjun wishes to lead such a divine life, but finds the advice difficult to implement. So he asks Shree Krishna a question that is very realistic and representative of the human struggle. He says, "What force prevents us from reaching this high ideal? What makes one succumb to attachment and aversion?"
We all have a conscience that makes us feel remorseful while committing a sin. The conscience is grounded in the fact that God is the abode of virtue, and as his fragments, we all have an innate attraction for virtue and goodness. The goodness that is the nature of the soul gives rise to the voice of conscience. Thus, we cannot make the excuse that we did not know stealing, swindling, libel, extortion, murder, oppression, and corruption are sinful activities. We intuitively know these deeds to be sinful, and yet we commit such acts, as if some strong force impels to do them. Arjun wishes to know what that strong force is.
37. The Vedas use the word kām, or lust, not only for sexual desires but also to include all desires for material enjoyment based on the bodily concept of the self. Thus, lust shows itself in many ways—the urge for money, physical cravings, craving for prestige, the drive for power, etc. This lust is only a perverted reflection of love for God, which is the inherent nature of every living being. When the soul associates with the material energy in the form of the body, its divine love for God is transformed into lust, in association with the mode of passion. Since divine love is the highest power of God, its perversion in the material realm, which is lust, is also the most powerful force in worldly activities.
Shree Krishna identifies this "lust" for worldly enjoyment as the cause of sin, as the malignant allure sitting within us. The mode of passion deludes the soul into believing that worldly objects will give satisfaction, and so one creates desires for acquiring them. When desire is satisfied, it gives birth to greed; when it is not satisfied, it gives rise to anger. One commits sins under the influence of all three—lust, greed, and anger. Greed is nothing but intensified desire, while anger is frustrated desire. Hence, Shree Krishna labels lust, or desire, as the root of all evil.
38. Knowledge of what is right and what is wrong is called discrimination. This discrimination resides in the intellect. However, lust is such a formidable adversary that it clouds the discriminatory ability of the intellect. Shree Krishna gives three grades of examples to illustrate this principle. Fire, which is the source of light, gets covered by smoke. This partial obscuring is like the thin cloud that sāttvic desires create. A mirror, which is naturally reflective, gets obscured by dust. This semi-opacity is like the masking impact of rājasic desires on the intellect. And an embryo gets concealed in the womb. This complete obfuscation is like the consequence of tāmasic desires subverting the power of discrimination. Similarly, in proportion to the grade of our desires, the spiritual knowledge we may have heard and read gets shrouded.
There is a beautiful allegorical story to illustrate this point. A man used to take his evening walk by the side of a forest. One evening, he decided to walk in the forest instead. When he had walked a couple of miles, the sun began setting and the light started fading. He turned around to walk out of the forest, but to his dismay he found that animals had gathered on the other side. These ferocious animals started chasing him and to escape from them, he ran deeper into the forest. While running, he found a witch standing in front of him with open arms to embrace him. To escape her, he turned direction and ran perpendicular to the animals and the witch. By then, it had become dark. Unable to see much, he ran over a ditch that was covered by vine hanging from a tree. He fell headlong, but his feet became entangled in the vine. As a result, he began hanging upside down above the ditch. After a few moments he came to his senses and saw a snake sitting at the bottom of the ditch, waiting to bite him if he fell down. In the meantime, two mice appeared—one white and one black—and started nibbling at the branch from which the vine was hanging. To confound his problems, some wasps gathered and began stinging him on his face. In this precarious situation, it was found that the man was smiling. Philosophers gathered to ponder how he could smile in such a dire strait. They looked upwards and found a beehive, from which honey was dripping onto his tongue. He was licking the honey and thinking how pleasurable it was; he had forgotten the animals, the witch, the snake, the mice, and the wasps.
The person in the story may seem insane to us. However, this tale depicts the condition of all humans under the influence of desire. The forest in which the man was walking represents the material world in which we live, where there is danger at every step. The animals that chased him represent diseases that begin to appear in life, and continue harassing us until death. The witch represented old age that is waiting to embrace us with the passage of time. The snake at the bottom of the pit is like the inevitable death that awaits us all. The white and black mice that were nibbling on the branch represent day and night, which are steadily reducing our life and bringing us closer to death. The wasps that were stinging the face are like the innumerable desires that arise in the mind and agitate it, causing us pain and distress. Honey represents the sensual enjoyment we experience in the world, which clouds the discrimination of our intellect. Hence, forgetting our precarious position, we remain absorbed in enjoying the temporary delights of the senses. Shree Krishna states that it is this type of lustful desire that is responsible for shrouding our power of discrimination.