Bhagavad Gita 5.23

śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ

prāk śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt

kāma-krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ

sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ

 

“Tolerating while in this bodily frame,

Desire and anger’s burning flame,

Till the point the body meets its end,

The yogi attains a joy that knows no end.”

 

My dear Lord, even though  I understand that sensory indulgence leads to suffering, the desires still remain.

Help me, O Lord, to understand that such desires may arise simply as my body’s biological reactions upon perceiving attractive objects.

Help me, my Lord, to calmly and clearly understand that the body’s reaction does not have to become the inclination of my mind. And it certainly does not have to become the intention of myself, the soul.

Please, O Lord, help me come to peace with the idea that my body may continue to desire things that I, as the soul, no longer desire.  When such desires arise, help me understand, my dear Lord, that just as chasing after those desires is a waste of my time, so too is trying to crush them into extinction.

Bless me, O Lord, with the virtue of tolerance, whereby I can accept the presence of unwanted desires without accepting their influence.

I know that such tolerance of unwanted desires will become easier when my heart is absorbed in transcendence. My dear Lord, help me focus on you, the transcendental Lord.

 Please, O Lord, strengthen my desire for you so that all other desires become too weak to disturb me. Give me the strength, my Lord, for such purposeful tolerance, which is the key to staying connected with you and, ultimately, to becoming absorbed in the ecstasy of remembering you.

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05.23 Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is well situated and is happy in this world.