Bhagavad Gita 3.39

āvṛtaṁ jñānam etena

jñānino nitya-vairiṇā

kāma-rūpeṇa kaunteya

duṣpūreṇānalena ca

 

“Covered is wisdom by this eternal foe,

Desire which tends to endlessly grow.

Like a ferocious fire, unhinged and untamed,

It burns insatiable, never ready to be restrained.”

 

My dear Lord, please help me understand that the things that tempt me away from you are not just an illusion or even a dangerous delusion. They are a dangerous and treacherous illusion. The craving for such things burns within my heart like a fire, but it is unlike any other fire. Normally, when a fire burns severely, I reflexively move away from it. But this is a fire that draws me closer to it the more it burns. And I go closer, not as a firefighter to extinguish it, but as a deluded arsonist—setting my own life on fire. Indulgence seems to temporarily extinguish the fire, but the relief from the craving lasts only for a brief while. 

Then, the craving returns, with indulgence being the fuel that feeds it. I have experienced how insignificant cravings, because of indiscriminate indulgence, end up becoming irresistible. This craving is so fearfully insane that it makes me disbelieve not just the words of wisdom I hear from you and those devoted to you, but also my own past experiences. It blinds me to the numerous times I have personally realized the futility and folly of such indulgence. I beg you, O Lord, help me remember the deceptiveness of worldly desire. And more importantly, let me remember the mercifulness of your heart. Only by these two remembrances can I stay safe in this temptation-filled world.

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03.39 Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.