Verse 3.33

Verse 3.33: Man, even when possessed of knowledge, (ever) acts conformably to his inner nature. Creatures follow out their inborn nature. What can coercion avail (there)? (202)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

Therefore, the learned should not allow the senses any sort of indulgence on any plea, such as fondness, fun, or sport. Just say can one play with a serpent? Or can one succeed in befriending a tiger? Or can one digest a deadly poison? Uncontrollable indeed are the flames of fire getting wild even if ignited out of fun: in the same way the senses used to indulgence bring in their train a great danger. Also look at the matter this way. The body is indeed at the mercy of alien Nature. Why should we then struggle to give diverse enjoyments to it? Why should we, day in and day out, devote all our plentiful resources to the body that is not independent? Why should we fatten the body by making endless exertions and by acquiring wealth of different kinds at the cost of our religion? This body is made up of the five gross elements, and it will get dissolved in the end also into these five elements. Where shall we then go and seek for the reward of all our efforts once the body is so dissolved? Therefore merely fattening the body is,—know it—purely self-destruction, and therefore one should not put one’s sole heart into it.