Bhagavad Gita 16.10

kāmam āśritya duṣpūraṁ

dambha-māna-madānvitāḥ

mohād gṛhītvāsad-grāhān

pravartante ’śuci-vratāḥ

 

Clinging to cravings nothing can fulfill,

They are filled with pride and hardened will;

Grasping the fleeting, the false, the frail,

Driven by impure vows, down ways that fail.

 

My dear Lord, when I come under the sway of a materialistic worldview, I gradually slide into the grip of all-consuming cravings.

O infinitely patient Lord, my innate longing for happiness, when distorted in this way, leads me to desires that are at first exasperating and eventually exhausting.

Though I know from past experience that fulfilling these cravings for mundane things does not bring true fulfillment, I still remain at their mercy—and they show me none. They torment me with desires that feel irresistible and prove insatiable. I find myself trapped in a war that I can neither win nor exit. Even when I pander to these cravings, they do not satisfy me—and no matter how much I give in to them, they are never satisfied.

O infinitely merciful Lord, please release me from this terrible trap into which I have fallen through my own past indiscriminate indulgences. Lead me away from these countless cravings—limitless in number, relentless in recurrence, and degrading in their pull. Ignite within my heart a longing for you. Illuminate my intelligence with the conviction that only by loving you and becoming absorbed in you will my longing for happiness be truly fulfilled.

O infinite Lord, grant me just a glimpse of that fulfillment, so that I may gain the strength to keep saying no to my mundane cravings—until my heart is truly enriched, when you reside and preside within me as the eternal Lord of my heart.

***

16.10 Taking shelter of insatiable lust and absorbed in the conceit of pride and false prestige, the demoniac, thus illusioned, are always sworn to unclean work, attracted by the impermanent.