The Bhagavadgîtâ, with the Sanatsugâtîya and the Anugîtâ — SBE Vol. 8 (trans. K. T. Telang, 1882)
The translator’s English as printed (K. T. Telang). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
The Deity said:
It is desire, it is wrath, born from the quality of passion ; it is very ravenous, very sinful. Know that that is the foe in this world. As fire is enveloped by smoke, a mirror by dust, the foetus by the womb, so is this enveloped by desire. Knowledge, O son of Kunti! is enveloped by this constant foe of the man of knowledge, in the shape of desire, which is like a fire and insatiable. The senses, the mind, and the understanding are said to be its seat*; with these it deludes the embodied (self) after enveloping knowledge. Therefore, O chief of the descendants of Bharata! first restrain your senses, then cast off this sinful thing which destroys knowledge and experience⁵. It has been said⁶, Great are the senses, greater than the senses is the mind, greater than the mind is the understanding. What is greater than the understanding is that’. Thus knowing that which is higher than the understanding, and restraining (your)self by (your)self, O you of mighty arms! destroy this unmanageable enemy in the shape of desire.
1 Vide p. 50 supra.
2 I.e. knowledge, mentioned in the next sentence, for which construction p. 71 and p. 98 may be compared. # Which becomes more powerful the more it is fed.
4 The mind is that which ponders over things as such or such; the understanding is that which finally determines (cf. Lewes’ History of Philosophy, II, 463-465). These and the senses are the ‘seat’ of desire, because the perception of an object by the sense, the pondering over it by the mind, and the determination about it by the understanding are the preliminaries to the awakening of the desire; supra, p. 50.
5 Knowledge is from books or teachers, experience is the result of personal perception.
6 Kaṭhopanishad, p. 114; and see also pp. 148, 149.
7 L.e. the supreme Being, as in the Kaṭhopanishad.
The Deity said:
It is desire, it is wrath, born from the quality of passion; it is very ravenous, very sinful. Know that that is the foe in this world. As fire is enveloped by smoke, a mirror by dust, the foetus by the womb, so is this enveloped by desire. Knowledge, O son of Kunti, is enveloped by this constant foe of the man of knowledge, in the shape of desire, which is like a fire and insatiable. The senses, the mind, and the understanding are said to be its seat*; with these it deludes the embodied self after enveloping knowledge. Therefore, O chief of the descendants of Bharata, first restrain your senses, then cast off this sinful thing which destroys knowledge and experience⁵. It has been said⁶: great are the senses, greater than the senses is the mind, greater than the mind is the understanding, and greater than the understanding is that. Knowing what stands higher than the understanding, and restraining yourself by yourself, O you of mighty arms, destroy this unmanageable enemy in the shape of desire.
1 See p. 50 above.
2 I.e. knowledge, mentioned in the next sentence, for which construction p. 71 and p. 98 may be compared. # Which becomes more powerful the more it is fed.
4 The mind is that which turns things over, considering them as this or that; the understanding is that which arrives at a final judgment (cf. Lewes' History of Philosophy, II, 463-465). The senses, the mind, and the understanding are the 'seat' of desire because the perception of an object by the senses, the mind's deliberation upon it, and the understanding's judgment about it are all prerequisites to desire being aroused; supra, p. 50.
5 Knowledge comes from books or teachers; experience is the result of personal perception.
6 Kaṭhopanishad, p. 114; and see also pp. 148, 149.
7 I.e. the supreme Being, as in the Kaṭhopanishad.