Bhagavad Gita 14.12

lobhaḥ pravṛttir ārambhaḥ

karmaṇām aśamaḥ spṛhā

rajasy etāni jāyante

vivṛddhe bharatarṣabha

 

Greed awakens restless drive,

Ceaseless striving to achieve and thrive;

Insatiate longing, acts begun—

These rise when passion has overrun.

 

My dear Lord, desires are the driving, even defining, reality of my world—the smaller world created by my consciousness within the larger world that is the creation of your divine consciousness.

When, O merciful Lord, I become dominated by the mode of passion, I often subconsciously take on your role and imagine myself to be a world-creator. What I create with my own mind and its desires then leads me into an unreality far removed from the reality of the world you have created. Thus, from passion comes the slippery slope to delusion, deception, and destruction.

O merciful Lord, you can utilize the very same power of desire that propels me into unreality to propel me toward reality. When I desire to act in a mood of service to you, you free me from illusion. You help me see how my role exists within your role. Indeed, the world I create through my desires in my mind—and manifest, to varying degrees, in the physical world around me, as per your sanction—can be in harmony with your purpose for the world.

And thus, O benevolent Lord, as your purpose is to elevate and liberate everyone, may my passion used to serve you become an instrument of your compassion.

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14.12 O chief of the Bhāratas, when there is an increase in the mode of passion the symptoms of great attachment, fruitive activity, intense endeavor, and uncontrollable desire and hankering develop.