Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 61 (BG 2.61) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

# BG 2.61 Commentary Translation The senses are the root cause of the fall of the soul, the emperor of the spiritual kingdom. Here Arjun is cautioned to remain ever vigilant against the uncontrolled and unbridled wandering of the senses and their objects in his pursuit of perfection. Modern psychology will raise its eyebrows at this teaching of the Gita, for according to the German psychologist Sigmund Freud, desires are the natural instinctive tendencies of human beings, and to restrain them means their unnatural suppression. In Western countries, restraint is understood as suppression, and no one would accept suppression from the perspective of mental health. Yet the Vedic philosophy nowhere teaches suppression. Rather, it emphasizes that maturity of intellect through which the human personality blossoms forth, and through the attainment of higher things, the desire for lower things naturally falls away. There, it is not the suppression of desires but rising above them that is taught. Bhagavan Sri Krishna here elucidates this Vedic principle in a most beautiful manner. He sheds light on both the positive (what should be done) and negative (what should be renounced) aspects of the practice of self-development. One should renounce those pleasures and actions that are contrary to self-development and practice those disciplines that are conducive to it. In positive practice, the Bhagavan instructs the disciple to be devoted to Him alone. Devoted to Me means one who regards the Supreme Self as the ultimate goal of life. In the half-verse "Yukta asit matpar" alone, the Gita reveals the complete discipline of self-development. The unethical and lustful tendencies that reduce human beings to the level of animals are but the result of sensory indulgences performed over countless births and the desires acquired from them. It is never possible for a human being to destroy all of these or transcend them in a single lifetime. This is also the reason for the despair of those who uplift morality, ideal teachers, and seekers of spirituality. The ancient sages discovered through direct experience the means to eliminate these worldly tendencies. The practice is the effort to steady the mind in its pure, complete nature within the tranquil atmosphere of meditation. Through the practice of this, he whose senses have naturally come under control is considered a person of steady wisdom. The deep meaning of this verse now becomes clear: the forcible restraint of the senses practiced by one who abstains from food is momentary, and one should not hope for the blossoming of spiritual beauty from it. He whose senses naturally remain under control while established in self-realization is a person of steady wisdom. He neither destroys the senses nor ceases to use them. The wise person who has attained perfection is one whose senses and mind, brought under control, remain ever ready in his service. Now the Bhagavan explains the causes of the fall of the unsuccessful person.