Bhagavad Gita 3.16

evaṁ pravartitaṁ cakraṁ

nānuvartayatīha yaḥ

aghāyur indriyārāmo

moghaṁ pārtha sa jīvati

 

“Those who break this sacred chain,

Living only for instant pleasure and selfish gain,

Lost in petty desires, their purpose fades,

Living in vain, their destiny degrades.”

 

My dear Lord, the search for pleasure often becomes the cause of the greatest trouble. This happens not because the search itself is intrinsically doomed, but because it is circumstantially misdirected.You want me to be happy. Bless me so that I can have this conviction because without it, I cannot take your words of guidance wholeheartedly and mold my life accordingly. But you, O Lord, want me to be happy in such a way that my present happiness does not come at the cost of my future happiness.When I seek self-centered pleasures, I disconnect myself—sometimes knowingly, and more often unknowingly—from the larger units within which I am situated. 

And most importantly, I disconnect myself from you, whose eternal part I am intrinsically, and in connection with whom alone I can find the highest and most long-lasting happiness.Help me to remember that in this human form, you have given me the unique potential to contemplate and cultivate higher connections—culminating in the connection with you, my Lord. Bless me so that I can realize and utilize that potential, rather than letting it be underused or even misused by my petty desires. When this potential is unleashed by your mercy you grant me access to unending happiness, which comes by establishing a loving connection with you, the ultimate reservoir of eternal joy.

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03.16 My dear Arjuna, one who does not follow in human life the cycle of sacrifice thus established by the Vedas certainly leads a life full of sin. Living only for the satisfaction of the senses, such a person lives in vain.