Verse 3.29

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 3.29:

प्रकृतेर् गुण-सम्मूढाः सज्जन्ते गुण-कर्मसु ।
तान् अकृत्स्न-विदो मन्दान् कृत्स्न-विन् न विचालयेत् ॥ २९ ॥

prakṛter guṇa-sammūḍhāḥ sajjante guṇa-karmasu |
tān akṛtsna-vido mandān kṛtsna-vin na vicālayet || 29 ||

prakṛteḥ–of material nature; guṇa–by the modes; sammūḍhāḥ–bewildered; sajjante–become attached; guṇa-karmasu–in the sense objects; tān–those; akṛtsna-vidaḥ–of incomplete knowledge; mandān–less intelligent persons; kṛtsna-vit–one who is in complete knowledge; na vicālayet–should not agitate.

Those bewildered by the three binding modes of nature become attached to sense objects. Those whose knowledge is complete should not unsettle such less intelligent persons, whose knowledge is incomplete.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

One may raise the question, “If all living entities (jīvas) are distinct from the modes and have no relationship with them and their activities, then why are they seen to be attached to sense objects?” In order to reconcile this, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, answers with this verse beginning with prakṛteḥ. “They become bewildered by the modes of nature they are absorbed in. In other words, they become deluded because of their absorption in the modes. Just as a man haunted by a ghost considers himself to be a ghost, so the jīvas absorbed in the modes identify as those very modes. Thus influenced by the effect of those modes, they become attached to sense objects.”

A man of complete knowledge should not unsettle those whose knowledge is incomplete. This means he should not try to force these understandings on ignorant persons by saying, ‘You are a living entity distinct from the modes. You are not the modes.’ In the same way, a person who is haunted by a ghost will never understand that he is actually not a ghost but a human being, even if he is told hundreds of times. His conviction can only be removed by the medicine of mantras.