By what is one impelled to sinful acts?
Just read this shocking news,
When ever, we hear and read of, all the horror stories involving, death, destruction of other human beings, other living entities and the environment, anyone would wonder about this.
By what is one impelled to sinful acts?
Well, the same question was asked by Arjuna to Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3. Verse 36.
“By what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?”
Although the living entity sometimes does not want to act in sin, he is still forced to act.
The good, bad and the ugly. Some people will even go to the extent of blaming the God saying, if God is all merciful, benevolent why he makes people commit sinful activities.Sinful actions are not, however, impelled by the Supersoul within, but are due to another cause, as the Lord explains in the next verse.
Verse 37: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.
When a living entity comes in contact with the material creation, his eternal love for Krsna is transformed into lust, in association with the mode of passion. Or, in other words, the sense of love of God becomes transformed into lust, as milk in contact with sour tamarind is transformed into yogurt. Then again, when lust is unsatisfied, it turns into wrath; wrath is transformed into illusion, and illusion continues the material existence. Therefore, lust is the greatest enemy of the living entity, and it is lust only which induces the pure living entity to remain entangled in the material world. Wrath is the manifestation of the mode of ignorance; these modes exhibit themselves as wrath and other corollaries. If, therefore, the mode of passion, instead of being degraded into the mode of ignorance, is elevated to the mode of goodness by the prescribed method of living and acting, then one can be saved from the degradation of wrath by spiritual attachment.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead expanded Himself into many for His ever-increasing spiritual bliss, and the living entities are parts and parcels of this spiritual bliss. They also have partial independence, but by misuse of their independence, when the service attitude is transformed into the propensity for sense enjoyment, they come under the sway of lust. This material creation is created by the Lord to give facility to the conditioned souls to fulfil these lustful propensities, and when completely baffled by prolonged lustful activities, the living entities begin to inquire about their real position.
It is said in the Manu-smrti that lust cannot be satisfied by any amount of sense enjoyment, just as fire is never extinguished by a constant supply of fuel.
There is a good dog and a bad dog in everyone. The only way you can kill the bad Dog is by starving it to death by not feeding it.
Have a good weekend, everyone. I don’t regularly read news online, but I somehow happened to open the Age site few minutes ago and it’s really distressing. My deep condolences to the Mother and other family members.
(Excerpted from the Translation and Purports of Bhagavad Gita As-it is by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupad)
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