BG 03.39 avrtam jnanam etena... cited

Expressions researched:
"avrtam jnanam etena" |"duspurenanalena ca" |"jnanino nitya-vairina" |"kama-rupena kaunteya" |"the wise living entity's pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust" |"which is never satisfied and which burns like fire"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "3.39" or "avrtam jnanam etena" or "duspurenanalena ca" or "jnanino nitya-vairina" or "kama-rupena kaunteya" or "the wise living entity's pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust" or "which is never satisfied and which burns like fire"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 3.39, Translation and Purport:

Thus the wise living entity's pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.

It is said in the Manu-smṛti that lust cannot be satisfied by any amount of sense enjoyment, just as fire is never extinguished by a constant supply of fuel. In the material world, the center of all activities is sex, and thus this material world is called maithunya-āgāra, or the shackles of sex life. In the ordinary prison house, criminals are kept within bars; similarly, the criminals who are disobedient to the laws of the Lord are shackled by sex life. Advancement of material civilization on the basis of sense gratification means increasing the duration of the material existence of a living entity. Therefore, this lust is the symbol of ignorance by which the living entity is kept within the material world. While one enjoys sense gratification, it may be that there is some feeling of happiness, but actually that so-called feeling of happiness is the ultimate enemy of the sense enjoyer.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:

Thirty-nine: "Thus a man's pure consciousness is covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire (BG 3.39)."

Forty: "The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust, which veils the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him (BG 3.40)."

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is very important. "The senses, the mind, and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust." If somebody is lusty, and if one has to search out where that enemy, lust, is there, so Kṛṣṇa is giving you direct information, "Here is your enemy." Where? Senses, mind, intelligence—there is lust. So if you can understand, "Here is the enemy," and if you try to drive out the enemy, you take precaution.

What is that precaution? You engage your senses in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities. The lust will have no more place to attack your senses or sit on your senses. You engage your mind in Kṛṣṇa. Immediately the lust from the mind will go away. Similarly, you apply your intelligence, how to work on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. These are the processes.

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is like that. Apply your intelligence, apply your mind, apply your senses only for Kṛṣṇa, and there is no more lust. You are free. There is no sitting place. Just like this glass. There is water. So how you can put in ink? Because there is no sitting place. Similarly, if you place Kṛṣṇa in your mind, so lust will automatically go away. Just like if you place light in this room, the darkness automatically will go away. There is no place for darkness. Kṛṣṇa is light. The sun is light. As soon as there is sun rising, the whole darkness of night automatically disappears. So try to place Kṛṣṇa in your mind, in your sensual activities, in your intelligence. Then there will be no more lust. It will be finished. Go on.