CHAPTER 18, TEXT 60: Under illusion you are now declining to act according to My direction. But, compelled by the work born of your own nature, you will act all the same, O son of Kuntī.
In the beginning of the Bhagavad-gita Arjuna had a meltdown: faced with the prospect of killing his friends and family in the battle of Kurukshetra, he trembled, fell to his knees, and dropped his bow. He offered many reasons to his friend Lord Krishna to not fight in the battle of Kurukshetra. Objectively, his reasons were solid. Convincing.
But if Arjuna was in so much emotional distress and his arguments were so solid, then why didn't he just walk away? I mean, it would've made sense.
Nevertheless, something seemed to have nagged at Arjuna that his experience and perspective were not complete.
So he asked his friend, Krishna, for guidance.
In response, Krishna spoke the entire Bhagavad-gita with the direction that yes, Arjuna should fight.
As you can imagine, Arjuna's overwhelming desire to not fight and Krishna's strong urging to fight are at odds. Here, Krishna circles back to His friend's dilemma, stating with simple logic that he can either fight in this battle according to His (God's) direction or... he will "act all the same."
Basically, Arjuna is bound to fight. The real question is under what energy will he be acting from - material or spiritual?
This is a question for all of us.
We're all bound to eat, sleep, and work in this world. Maybe our nature is to be a car mechanic, teacher, small business owner, a CEO, and usually our nature calls us to be a spouse - husband or wife - and parents - a father or mother. We're going to do these things, there's no escaping. "Escaping" implies that, well, I'm under the control or directive of something else.
Prabhupad emphasizes that the nature of the soul is to be subordinate. He writes, "If one refuses to act under the direction of the Supreme Lord, then he is compelled to act by the modes in which he is situated." Note here how Prabhupad says "under the direction" and "compelled" - either way, the soul is not fully independent.
Not fully independent. We still have some independence - we have our precious, priceless free will.
We can choose which energy to be under - God's directive or the material creation's directive. One gives us greater freedom, one gives us greater bondage. The modes of nature are always binding us. Prabhupad writes that, "Everyone is under the spell of a particular combination of the modes of nature and is acting in that way." In America we value freedom to such a high degree, but Prabhupad is stating here that everyone is under the spell of the modes of nature. True freedom is an illusion as long as we're entangled in this world.
Choosing spirit, though, opens the gateway to the deepest freedom. But to choose spirit is sometimes really, really hard. For Arjuna to choose to fight under Krishna's directive, instead of being roped in and moved around by his nature and the modes, is hard. It means that Arjuna needs to actually use the faculty of his free will to follow God's directive. If he doesn't follow God's directive, then he becomes a victim of circumstance - oh, well I was born with a certain nature, or my brothers forced me to fight, or I couldn't help myself. Arjuna thus becomes a victim of material nature, out of touch with his divine capacity to choose.
But if Arjuna chooses to fight based on Krishna's directive, a difficult but conscious decision, he is no longer governed by his nature, or the circumstances of his family, or his emotions or mind. He is no longer a victim. Although Arjuna is still governed (by Krishna) he made a choice to be governed by divine will. Prabhupad writes, "But anyone who voluntarily engages himself under the direction of the Supreme Lord becomes glorious." The key word here is "voluntarily" - forcing oneself or being forced to be engaged under the direction of God means that the soul is not fully expressed. God may give His directions, but unless we accept those directions with our heart and soul, then we might as well be under material nature. But if we can access that free will, the gates of glory open wide - the glory of freedom, the glory of love.
Full purport here: https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/18/60/
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