Gita 3.34
Karma Yoga
इन्द्रियस्येन्द्रियस्यार्थे रागद्वेषौ व्यवस्थितौ | तयोर्न वशमागच्छेत्तौ ह्यस्य परिपन्थिनौ ||३४||
indriyasyendriyasyārthe rāga-dveṣau vyavasthitau | tayor na vaśam āgacchet tau hy asya paripanthinau ||34||
In essence: Attachment and aversion lurk in every sense encounter—recognize them as highway robbers lying in wait on your spiritual path.
A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply
Sadhak-Guru Dialogue
Sadhak: "Krishna says attachment and aversion are seated in every sense. Does that mean they're natural? If they're natural, why fight them?"
Guru: "What else in nature do you accept without question? Disease is natural. Decay is natural. Does 'natural' mean 'to be embraced'? Fire naturally burns—do you put your hand in it?"
Sadhak: "But those cause obvious harm. What harm does liking pleasant things cause?"
Guru: "Does it not make you a slave? When you must have the pleasant and must avoid the unpleasant, who is the master—you or your preferences? Notice how your mood swings with circumstances. Pleasant encounter, you're happy. Unpleasant encounter, you're disturbed. Is that freedom?"
Sadhak: "I see. But how do I stop liking what I like? I can't just decide to stop being attracted to beauty or repelled by ugliness."
Guru: "Krishna doesn't say stop the arising. He says don't come under their control. Can you like something without being compelled to chase it? Can you dislike something without being forced to flee it? The arising is mechanical; the following is optional."
Sadhak: "That sounds like suppression with extra steps."
Guru: "Suppression is forcing down what arises. This is simply not acting on what arises. Feel the difference? In suppression, you're at war with yourself. In awareness, you simply watch the wave arise and let it pass. You're neither feeding it nor fighting it."
Sadhak: "But if I don't pursue what I like, won't life become bland? What's the point of living without enjoyment?"
Guru: "Enjoyment doesn't disappear—bondage disappears. You can still appreciate beauty; you just don't become its prisoner. Actually, when compulsion drops, appreciation deepens. The desperate man at the feast tastes less than the content man with simple food. Craving obscures the very pleasure it seeks."
Sadhak: "Why does Krishna call them 'paripanthinau'—roadblocks? What path are they blocking?"
Guru: "The path to your own Self. Every time attachment pulls you out toward an object, you forget who you are. Every time aversion pushes you away, you're still defined by the object—just negatively. Both keep you externalized, identified with the not-self. The path home requires turning attention inward, but these twin forces constantly drag attention outward."
Sadhak: "Is there ever a time when following attraction is appropriate?"
Guru: "When you're free, you can consciously choose to engage. The key word is 'choose.' When you're bound, there's no choice—the attraction drags you automatically. First establish freedom, then decide how to live. Most people never reach the choice because they're already being lived by their reactions."
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🌅 Daily Practice
Before engaging with the world, take five minutes to set an intention of watchfulness. Say to yourself: 'Today I will notice when attraction pulls me and when aversion pushes me. I won't judge or fight these forces—I will simply see them.' This creates a slight gap between stimulus and response, a moment of observation before reaction. Write down one sense door to particularly watch today—perhaps the eyes (noticing attraction to pleasant forms) or the ears (noticing aversion to unpleasant sounds).
Conduct a 'rāga-dveṣa audit' at lunch. Review your morning: What did you automatically move toward? What did you automatically avoid? Were these movements conscious choices or mechanical reactions? Notice without judgment—the point isn't to be perfect but to see clearly. You might discover you were pulled to check your phone repeatedly (attraction) or avoided a difficult email (aversion). Simply seeing the pattern begins to loosen it. In the afternoon, try to catch one instance of attraction or aversion in real-time, before acting on it.
Reflect on how much of today's energy went into chasing likes and avoiding dislikes. Consider: what if that energy was freed up? What might you accomplish or experience if you weren't constantly managing attractions and aversions? Before sleep, practice equanimity with whatever arose today—don't replay pleasant moments with longing or unpleasant moments with resentment. Simply acknowledge: this happened, that happened. Let the day be what it was without adding the overlay of rāga-dveṣa to your memories.