Shloka 8
Guṇa-viveka, Haṁsa-gītā, and the Yoga that Cuts False Ego
श्रीउद्धव उवाच विदन्ति मर्त्या: प्रायेण विषयान् पदमापदाम् । तथापि भुञ्जते कृष्ण तत्कथं श्वखराजवत् ॥ ८ ॥
śrī-uddhava uvāca vidanti martyāḥ prāyeṇa viṣayān padam āpadām tathāpi bhuñjate kṛṣṇa tat kathaṁ śva-kharāja-vat
ဦဒ္ဓဝက မိန့်ကြားသည်—အို ကృష్ణာ၊ လူတို့သည် အာရုံခံစားမှုဆိုင်ရာ အပျော်အပါးများက နောင်တွင် ကြီးမားသော ဒုက္ခကို ယူဆောင်လာမည်ဟု သိကြသော်လည်း ထိုအပျော်ကိုပင် ခံစားကြသည်။ အရှင်၊ သိမြင်သူတစ်ဦးက ခွေး၊ မြည်း သို့မဟုတ် ဆိတ်ကဲ့သို့ မည်သို့ ပြုမူနိုင်သနည်း?
The standard methods of enjoyment in the material world are sex, money and false prestige, all of which are obtained with great suffering and eventually lost. One engaged in material life suffers in the present and has only a very bleak future to look forward to in the continuing cycle of birth and death. Thus, how can human beings who have seen these things and know them very well continue to enjoy life like dogs, asses and goats? Often a dog will approach a bitch for sex, but the lady dog may not be attracted and will show her teeth, snarl and threaten the poor dog with serious injury. Still he goes about his business trying to get a little sex pleasure. Similarly, many times a dog risks being beaten or shot while stealing some food in a place where he knows he should not go. The ass is very attracted to the she-ass, but the lady ass often kicks him in the legs. Similarly, the ass’s master gives the ass a handful of grass, which the poor ass could get anywhere, and then burdens him with great loads. The goat is generally raised for slaughter, and even when the goat is brought into the slaughterhouse he shamelessly goes after the lady goat to get sex pleasure. In this way, even at the risk of being shot, bitten, beaten and slaughtered, animals persist in their foolish sense gratification. How can an educated human being commit himself to such a condemned way of life, wherein the result is practically the same as that of the animals? If by cultivating the mode of goodness one’s life is filled with happiness, enlightenment and future rewards, why would anyone cultivate the modes of passion and ignorance? This is Uddhava’s question.
FAQs
This verse states that most people already know sense-objects lead to calamity, yet they still indulge—showing the power of habit, ignorance, and uncontrolled senses that drag one into repeated enjoyment and distress.
Uddhava, seeking clear spiritual guidance, asks Krishna to explain the paradox of human behavior—knowing the harm of sense enjoyment yet continuing—so he can understand detachment and the path of liberation through devotion.
Recognize recurring pleasures that reliably produce anxiety or loss, and consciously replace them with sādhana—hearing about Krishna, regulated habits, and mindful restraint—so knowledge becomes lived discipline rather than mere awareness.