Bhagavad Gita 3.34

indriyasyendriyasyārthe

rāga-dveṣau vyavasthitau

tayor na vaśam āgacchet

tau hy asya paripanthinau

 

“Desire and aversion dwell within,

Bound to the senses, pulling in.

Let them not control your way,

For they mislead and cause dismay.”

 

My dear Lord, in the journey of life where you are the ultimate destination, I am constantly threatened by two thieves—attachment and aversion. Both subject me to intense emotional pulls and pushes by which I get diverted from you, my Lord, to things that barely matter for any significant amount of time. I can’t get rid of attachment and aversion easily because they are both stuck inside me, and I am stuck with them. Externally, I can avoid the path where there are a lot of thieves. But I cannot avoid my own inner world, where these thieves of attachment and aversion reside.

Therefore, O Lord, bless me so that I can always be alert and never lower my guard, for that would be courting self-destruction. Help me, my Lord, to understand that attachment and aversion are the default inclinations of my body-mind machine, thereby equipping myself to distance myself from them. Bless me, O Lord, to invoke your presence and keep myself close to you so that, by that divine proximity, I can gain immunity from the pushes and pulls through which these twin thieves try to plunder me.

***

03.34 There are principles to regulate attachment and aversion pertaining to the senses and their objects. One should not come under the control of such attachment and aversion, because they are stumbling blocks on the path of self-realization.

Protect me from the twin thieves of attachment and aversion