What force in Nature which is driving man to act in a very sinful way?

Karma Yoga

Chapter 3, Verse 36

 

arjuna uvāca 

atha kena prayukto’yaṁ 

pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ 

anicchann-api vārṣṇeya 

balādiva niyojitaḥ

 

Arjuna says: But if there is no fault in following our nature, what is this in us that drives a man to sin, as if by force, even against his own struggling will, O Krishna?

 

This is a question that people ask in their daily life. We have seen in Chapter 2, verse 60, that Lord Krishna says, “Even the mind of the wise man who labours for perfection, is carried away by the vehement insistence of the senses.” Even an intelligent man who has got common sense, who sees what is a ‘good’ action and what is a ‘not good’ action, will realise that something is wrong, yet he still does it. You see that it is like this in daily life. You have a feeling about something in your life. You know that what you are going to do is ‘not good’. Yet you do it! Or you have this deep feeling that you must do something, but you always do the opposite! So here Arjuna asks, “What is this force in Nature which is driving man to act in a very sinful way? Is it God Himself? Or is it man’s own creation – the power of man’s mind? Who is responsible for this state of mind, O Krishna?”

Bhagavad Gita