Bhagavad Gita 14.7

rajo rāgātmakaṁ viddhi

tṛṣṇā-saṅga-samudbhavam

tan nibadhnāti kaunteya

karma-saṅgena dehinam

 

Passion is craving—burning desire,

Born of thirst that fans the fire;

It binds the soul, O Kunti’s son,

By clinging to the work it’s done.

 

My dear Lord, the whole experience of growing in life—indeed, of living itself—involves interacting with many worlds: inhabiting them, creating them, entering them.

O all-powerful Lord, in the mode of passion I am primarily concerned with gaining power, for I desire to reshape the world according to my conception of how things should be. Simultaneously, I fear that my power may be too little, that the world I create may be crushed at any moment by a greater world beyond my control. Amid this fixation with world-creation, I seek you as a distant unknown who controls all that I cannot.

O merciful Lord, though I see you merely as my ticket to power, you still find utility in my utilitarian view of you. Slowly yet surely, you lead me to realize that there is something I need far more than power. It is purpose—not just any purpose, but one that aligns with yours, a divine purpose. When I use my agency and my abilities in a mood of service to you—assisting you in reshaping the world according to your vision—I begin to realize that within me exists another world, where you reside and rejoice, and toward which you are forever prompting and prodding me.

O infallible Lord, even as I struggle to build walls to protect my world—my temporary home—please open for me the doors to that world of yours, my eternal home.

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14.07 The mode of passion is born of unlimited desires and longings, O son of Kuntī, and because of this the embodied living entity is bound to material fruitive actions.