Verse 3.37

Verse 3.37: The Exalted one spake “It is this lust—this anger—springing from the Rajas—constituent—a mighty devourer and a mighty sinner: understand that to be the enemy in this case. (239)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

At this, the Lord the Beloved of the yogins that are devoid of mortal love, and the haven of rest to their heart—Purushottama said, “Oh hear what I say. These—lust and anger are the terrible scourges that have not got even a touch of mercy, they work like the very God of destruction. They are like the dark cobras, keeping vigil on the buried treasure of knowledge: (They are) the tigers, as it were, in the valley of carnal pleasures, or (they are) the assassins that way-lay the path of devotion to God. They are the stones of the fort in the form of this mortal body and the ramparts of the town in the form of sensuous pleasures that imprison the soul. They are a burden to the universe. They are the demons born of mind’s evil stuff and possessed by the Rajas quality, and they are fed on the food in the form of nescience. Although born of Rajas quality, they are nursed and fondled by the Tamas quality, and the Tamas quality has made them a gift of pride and blind passion, which form the very nature of Tamas. Being the mortal enemies of Life, they are held in great honour in the city of the God of Death. When these monsters get hungry even the entire universe does not suffice to serve as a. single morsel of theirs. As they get an upper hand, their cravings multiply fast. The younger sister of craving—the illusion—who is so very dear to them is such, that she can hold all the fourteen worlds in the compass of her fist. This illusion is so extraordinary that she can, in the light repast in her playful act called “Bhatukali,” clean eat up the three worlds, while the thirst (tṛṣṇā) maintains herself on the strength of her position as her (illusion’s) maid-servant. This apart: the lust and anger hold a position of honour with infatuation, while self-conceit has also business dealings with them, on the strength of which the self-conceit makes the universe dance to its tunes. Hypocrisy which clean cuts out the intestines of truth, and stuffs truth’s body with fluffy hay, is also made to rule the universe by them (lust and anger). These despoil the chaste devoted Lady of mental peace, and adorn the Mang strumpet woman in the form of ignorance, and through her acts pollute whole bands of saintly souls. It was they, lust and anger, that knocked the very bottom off the discerning intellect and flayed other-worldness, and have also broken the neck of self-control. They devastated the forests of contentment and levelled down the forts of fortitude, uprooting the young plant of Bliss. They rooted out sproutlings of spiritual advice, wiped out the very name of happiness and set tire in the form of three afflictions to the life of the universe. They come into being with the body and enter into the very vitals of life and soul, and are difficult to be traced even by God Brahmadeva. They sit quite close-side by side—with the knowledge and seem to enjoy the same rank and so, once they get wild, become uncontrollable in their work of destruction. They drown without water, bum without fire, and hold in their all-destroying grip beings without a limit. They kill without weapon, and bind without ropes and force capitulation on the learned ones with a bet; (they) make the beings stuck up without mud, catch them without nets, and never get defeated on account of their toughness.