Chapter 3, Verse 34
Karma Yoga — Sanskrit shloka, transliteration, word meanings, English translation, and commentary.
Original Sanskrit verse
Transliteration
Word meanings
indriyasya—of the senses; indriyasya arthe—in the sense objects; rāga—attachment; dveṣhau—aversion; vyavasthitau—situated; tayoḥ—of them; na—never; vaśham—be controlled; āgachchhet—should become; tau—those; hi—certainly; asya—for him; paripanthinau—foes
English translation
Attachment and aversion for the objects of the senses abide in the senses; let no one come under their sway; for, they are his enemies.
— Swami Sivananda
Listen to Shloka 3.34
Commentary
Each sense has got attraction for a pleasant object and aversion for a disagreeable object. If one can control these two currents; viz.; attachment and aversion; he will not come under the sway of these two currents. Here lies the scope for personal exertion or Purushartha. Nature which contains the sum total of ones Samskaras or the latent selfproductive impressions of the past actions of merit and demerit draws a man to its course through the two currents; attachment and aversion. If one can control these two currents; if he can rise above the sway of love and hate through discrimination and Vichara or right eniry; he can coner Nature and attain immortality and eternal bliss. He willl no longer be subject to his own nature now. One should always exert to free himself from attachment and aversion to the objects of the senses.
Commentary by Swami Sivananda
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