BG 3.33
Even a wise person acts in accordance with their nature. Nature compels the behavior of all living beings. What will restraint accomplish?
प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति
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sadṛiśhaṁ — accordingly
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cheṣhṭate — act
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svasyāḥ — by their own
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prakṛiter — modes of nature
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jñānavān — the wise
jñāna-vān—the wise -
api — even
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prakṛitiṁ — nature, Prakriti
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yānti — follow
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bhūtāni — all living beings
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nigrahaḥ — repression
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kiṁ — what
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kariṣhyati — will do
Those who constantly follow this doctrine of mine, firm in faith and determination, are freed from the bondage of action. But those who ridicule my teachings and refuse to practice it are ignorant, blind, and doomed to destruction. Even a wise person acts in accordance with their nature. Nature compels the behavior of all living beings. What will restraint accomplish? Craving and aversion for objects of the senses abide within the senses. These are your enemies - do not succumb to their control. It is better to do one's own duty poorly than to do well in the duty of another. It is better to die performing one's own duty, for the duty of another is fraught with danger.
Similar verses
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The wise, with equanimous minds, relinquish the fruit of their actions and are freed from the bondage of life and death, attaining a state that is devoid of suffering.
- Verse 2.51
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Just as the ignorant act out of fondness for action, so too should the wise act without attachment, fixing their eyes upon the welfare of the world.
- Verse 3.25
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Others, kindled by wisdom, sacrifice their activities and their breathing into the fire of self-restraint.
- Verse 4.27
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One who knows the truth understands that it is only the law of nature that brings action to fruition, and that the self is never the one that acts.
- Verse 13.30
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Therefore, one whose senses are restrained from the sense objects of their environment is fixed in steady wisdom.
- Verse 2.68