Verse 12.73

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

यथा यथा निषेवन्ते विषयान् विषयात्मकाः ।
तथा तथा कुशलता तेषां तेषूपजायते ॥ ७३ ॥

yathā yathā niṣevante viṣayān viṣayātmakāḥ |
tathā tathā kuśalatā teṣāṃ teṣūpajāyate || 73 ||

In the proportion that sensually-inclined persons go on indulging in sensual pleasures, in that same proportion their ardour for them goes on increasing.—(73)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

For the purpose of alienating the listener from that slight pleasure which is obtained by persons obsessed with notions of duality, from sensual objects,—such as attachment to wife and children, greed for wealth and other things,—and which obstructs the acquisition of true knowledge, the text describes the actual condition of men dining transmigration.

In the proportion that men go on repeating their enjoyment of objects,—such men as are ‘sensually inclined,’ i.e., those who have a hankering for objects of sense. What is indicated by the term ‘ātman’ in this connection is that when a man becomes addicted to a certain course of action, it comes to form his very ‘nature’ (ātman). For instance, if a man happens only once in a way to eat to his fill, his hankering for it appears only when he is reminded of it; if, on the other hand, he does it daily, it becomes his very nature.

This same idea is asserted by the clause—‘in that same proportion their ardour for them goes on increasing.’—The term ‘kuśalatā,’ ‘ardour,’ connotes complete identification; and when one has completely identified himself with sensual objects, he can never avoid them.

This same principle applies also to such enjoyments as are not forbidden for cultured men,—such, for instance, as intercourse with one’s own wife, enjoying things obtained with money obtained from the sanctioned sources of income, and so forth;—ton much addiction to all which becomes forbidden.—(73)