Words from the Bhagavad Gita

[futurehope]

ARJUNA:

What power is it, Krishna, that drives a man to act sinfully, even unwillingly, as if powerlessly?

KRISHNA:

It is greedy desire and wrath, born of passion, the great evil, the sum of destruction: this is the enemy of the soul.

All is clouded by desire: as fire by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an unborn babe by its covering.

Wisdom is clouded by desire, the everpresent enemy of the wise, desire in its innumerable forms, which like a fire cannot find satisfaction.

Desire has found a place in man's senses and mind and reason. Through these it blinds the soul, after having overclouded wisdom.

Set thou, therefore, thy senses in harmony, and then slay thou sinful desire, the destroyer of vision and wisdom.

They say the powwer of the senses is great. But greater than the senses is the mind. Greater than the mind is Buddhi, reason; and greater than reason is He - the Spirit in man and in all.

Know Him therefore who is above reason; and let his peace give thee peace. Be a warrior and kill desire, the powerful enemy of the soul.

Bhagavad Gita, Juan Mascaro translation, Penguin Books, 1962.