sadṛśaṁ ceṣṭate svasyāḥ prakṛter-jñānavān-api |
prakṛtiṁ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ kiṁ kariṣyati || 3.33 ||

Audio-BG-3.33

Bhagavadgītā gives a great deal of emphasis on Prakrti and its constituent Gunas - sattva, rajas and tamas - holding them to be irresistible and self-operative. The enquiry naturally follows: Then what is the role of human effort ? How do Prakṛti and human effort act upon each other ?

In answer, Krishna speaks about the strength of the Prakṛti first and then explains how, against this background, the seeker should make his discreet efforts.

Even the Knower generally acts according to his Prakṛti. Nay, all beings follow their own nature and what can control do ?

People interpret this verse differently, some even calling it an interpolation. Judged on the basis of what Krishna has been explaining in this chapter so far, this is a full confirmation of the fundamental fact that Nature is in hold of the entire world at all times. Even the freedom and choice man can claim and employ lie within the hold of Nature. The effort of the discreet man should therefore be to understand Nature and its hold on him and then live and move in tune with them. For this he needs proper enlightenment and guidance which is what the Scriptures strive to provide at every stage.

Prakṛti consists of three Gunas, and these Gunas are irresistibly operating in the world. The actual causality lies with Prakṛti and not with man - these are the great truths which the preceding verses have set forth. Following the same trend, Krishna conclusively says that to be a Knower is not to flout Nature or think of violating it at any time. Instead, right Knowledge should give man the necessary strength and facility to find his way, adhering to Nature properly. Even a game is played within rules and limitations. The football ground has a set boundary. The ball has to be within this ground for playing. Yet, the players have to run hither and thither, strike goals and win or lose the game. To play does not mean not to have a playground or the strict rules of the game. Only when played within the limits of the ground and the rules, the game becomes an excellent art.

Wisdom is provided by sattva guna. Increase the measure of sattva, strengthen its presence and influence and realize the truth within and without for which Prakṛti itself gives the freedom and scope. By embarking upon the mission of knowledge, the seeker is not going out of Prakṛti, but instead is trying to utilize the gift of Nature properly and excel in his pursuit, thereby delighting Nature as well as himself. In the active and interactive life, each Knower, points out Krishna, will have his own distinct notes. Being born in a certain family, growing in a set of environments provided by the parents and others, a certain nature would already have formed in each. The Knower is no exception to this, emphasizes Krishna, and thus he will have to be in tune with his own nature.

Krishna instructs Arjuna on the knowledge of the Soul, which is the same as that imparted by the hermits to their chosen disciples. But in the hermitages both the Teacher and the seeker have an ascetic background and purpose. Here the situation is a full contrast. Soul wisdom is the same in both instances. The recipients have different natures and purposes. Arjuna, by his birth, growth as well as pursuit, is given to valour and its associated notes. This is unlike those of an ascetic seeker or Brahmaṇa given to austere life and its mission. While the ascetics will excel in their gentle, benevolent ways, here Arjuna has to excel in administrative commitment and valour. He cannot think of substituting these with the sublimity of exclusive asceticism, which is the characteristic of Brahmaṇas and Sages.

Any effort, due to misunderstanding or distortion, to flout one’s nature and think of adopting an alien note will be a sheer disharmony and is fraught with danger and defeat. In the 2nd chapter, while instructing on the Impersonal Transcendental Soul and the imperative need to conceptualize and realize it, Krishna repeatedly exhorted Arjuna: “tasmad-yuddhyasva Bharata” – therefore fight, O Bharata (verse 2.18). He confirms the same stand here too. Spiritual knowledge should not destabilize the seeker, nor should it make him disharmonious with his own individual nature or the aggregate nature of the world. Disharmony arises only when right understanding is lacking.

Young prince Sri Rama, when he was 16 years old, went into utter dejection at the end of the first pilgrimage he undertook with the blessings of his father. The exposure to the complex world around was sufficient to make the prince think deeply about the meaning and value of life in this ephemeral world. Unable to find any satisfying clues, he sat silent, indifferent even to his daily religious and princely routines. Sage Vasishtha, coming to know of the prince’s plight, sent for him and enquired about the reasons for his melancholy. Rama’s confessions made before the Sage are even today an illustrious narration of the travails of the human mind on this planet.

Sage Vasishtha exposed the prince to the truths of the Impersonal Soul as well as the transitoriness of Nature and all that it brings about. Rama’s absorbing keenness and Vasishtha’s matchless exposition lasted for 18 days. The result was that the young prince withdrew himself completely to his own inward Soul. Vasishthadeva then awakened the prince and aroused him to get involved in his own natural royal administrative life, saying that the time had not come for him to leave the palace or plunge into asceticism. Was it not a clear exhortation that the princely nature of Sri Rama was to prevail, and nothing disharmonious should have been fostered ?

Krishna himself later in life instructed Uddhava on the same Self-knowledge from Dwaraka palace, just before his departure from the world. In that, he exhorted Uddhava to leave Dwaraka and his close relatives to seek the solitude of Badarikashrama to immerse himself in exclusive austerities and contemplation of the Soul. Such an austere step was alone harmonious then for Uddhava’s life and age.

Here, if Krishna advises Arjuna not to desist from the impending war, instead to face and fight it out, the reason is one of pure harmony with Nature and its compulsions. Each Knower will have his nature, and the environment surrounding him each time will also be distinct. To recognise this fact and be in tune with it is the core of spiritual wisdom and mastery. This is what Krishna points out with clarity and firmness.

A natural corollary arises : If the course of life is not seemingly pleasant and adorable (as for instance this bloody war and the prospects it holds out), even then, it should be accepted and lived through. To condemn nature or lower any one’s duties or callings, on any ground whatsoever, or alternately to praise or think higher about another’s, is gravely wrong. Nature displays variety on all fronts. In human life too, the variety prevails in astounding measure.

It is this variety that keeps people in divergent callings and courses. All courses of life are alike, as limbs of Nature, as cogs in the huge wheel of creation. There is no credit to be claimed or discredit to be pronounced on any one for whatever he is doing or not doing. Krishna strongly disapproves any attempt to substitute one’s pursuit with another’s, comparing and contrasting the two, and looking for any special advantages in such a selection. Sage Vasishtha excelled in his sagely and advisory role. But he insisted that Rama, his disciple, must shine equally well in his princely role of ruling and ensuring the welfare of his subjects.

In verse 18.48 Krishna elaborates the same truth :

Even if one’s own duties apparently involve evil (like killing relations and teachers in the war), it should not be abandoned. All pursuits weigh alike in the spiritual scale. Each act has a measure of evil or vice associated with it, like smoke surrounding the brilliant fire.

Is there any further clarity needed in this subject ? To compare the gentle, harmless and benevolent life of a Brahmaṇa, holding it as esteemed and holy, with the harsh battling life of the Kshatriya, viewing it as painful and treacherous, is not proper. Likewise, any adverse thoughts about the Vaisya’s life or Sudra’s life, holding them not to be conducive to the spiritual interests and dedication of the seeker, will also be wrong. An administrator’s life in the office or the police official’s outdoor duties of maintaining law and order should not call for any adverse spiritual comparison and assessment. All activities of man have their respective places, and together they constitute the fullness of the complex world.

Either by thoughts or by action, to doubt, disregard or underrate Nature with all its complex variety, will be a grave spiritual error, nay incongruity. This is the summary lesson to be derived from this discussion.

Give Prakṛti the supremacy it deserves. Keep the ego and its flair for condemnation away. See everything as contributing to the integral design of Prakṛti. Recognize Prakṛti’s hold as very strong and inescapable.