Bhagavad Gita · Karma YogaChapter 3, Shloka 41 (3.41)
Original Sanskrit · श्रीभगवान्
तस्मात् त्वमिन्द्रियाण्यादौ नियम्य भरतर्षभ
पाप्मानं प्रजहि ह्येनं ज्ञानविज्ञाननाशनम्
॥ 3.41 ॥
tasmāt tvamindriyāṇyādau niyamya bharatarṣabha
pāpmānaṃ prajahi hyenaṃ jñānavijñānanāśanam
Translation
"Therefore, O best of the Bharatas! First bring the senses under control, and then surely slay this sinful (desire), the destroyer of knowledge and wisdom (vijnana)."
Interpretation
"Ādau" — first. The order matters: first the senses, because they are the first point of contact with objects (the tortoise of 2.58, the first rung of the ladder in 2.62).
Shankaracharya: ādau pūrvam eva niyamya vaśīkṛtya — bringing them under control right at the start; pāpmānaṃ pāpācāraṃ kāmaṃ prajahihi parityaja — give up desire, whose conduct is sinful; jñāna-vijñānayoḥ śreyaḥ-prāpti-hetvoḥ nāśanam — the destroyer of knowledge and wisdom, the causes of attaining the highest good.
Acharya Ramanuja — controlling the senses within karma-yoga. Because even a person engaged in jnana-yoga, which stops the activity of all the senses, turns towards sense objects because of desire, therefore you — who, being bound up with prakriti, are inclined towards the activity of the senses — ādau mokṣopāyārambha-samaye eva indriya-vyāpāra-rūpe karma-yoge indriyāṇi niyamya — right at the start of the means to liberation, control the senses in karma-yoga, which consists in the activity of the senses, and destroy this enemy. That is, for Ramanuja the place for controlling the senses is karma-yoga — not shutting them down, but engaging them in right action.
AI-assisted draft translation — under review.