सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि । प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति ॥
sadṛśaṃ ceṣṭate svasyāḥ prakṛter jñānavān api | prakṛtiṃ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ kiṃ kariṣyati ||
Even the wise act by their nature. All beings follow nature. Forced repression accomplishes nothing.
Word by word (3)
- sadṛśam ceṣṭate svasyāḥ prakṛteḥ
- — acts according to their own nature · Sadṛśam = similarly, in accordance with. Ceṣṭate = acts, moves. Svasyāḥ prakṛteḥ = of their own nature (sva = own, prakṛti = nature). Even the jñānavān (one with knowledge) acts according to their own nature — their guna-composition, their accumulated saṃskāras, their deep character structure.
- jñānavān api
- — even the wise/knowledgeable one · Jñāna = knowledge. Vān = possessing (suffix). Api = even, also. The concession: even those with philosophical knowledge act according to their nature. The philosophy does not instantly override deep character patterns. Change is real but it operates through the nature, not against it.
- nigrahaḥ kiṃ kariṣyati
- — what will repression accomplish? · Nigraha = restraint by force, suppression (ni+graha = holding down). Kiṃ kariṣyati = what will it do? (rhetorical question). The rhetorical conclusion: if even the knowledgeable person acts according to nature, forcing external suppression of that nature will not produce authentic change.
Even a person of knowledge acts according to their own nature. All beings follow their nature. What will repression accomplish?
A modern analogy
A psychologist who tries to force patients to stop a habit through sheer willpower sees the habit return with double force. Lasting change works with natural patterns — not through brute suppression. V33: nigraha (repression) doesn't produce genuine transformation. Working with prakṛti does.
Take with you
- Don't fight your nature with repression — work with it and gradually redirect it.
- The path of transformation is through the nature, not around it — this is the guna-cultivation approach.
- Nigrahaḥ kiṃ kariṣyati — honest acknowledgment that forced suppression of tendencies rarely produces lasting change.
- Self-knowledge (including knowing your guna-composition) is the prerequisite for working skillfully with your nature.
V33 is a moment of profound realism in the Gita's moral psychology. Even the jñānavān (one with knowledge) acts according to their svasyāḥ prakṛti (own nature). This is not defeatism but wisdom: the guna-constitution of the body-mind is deep and persistent. Philosophical understanding modifies action over time — but not through repression. Shankaracharya comments: the Gita does not advocate violent self-suppression (nigraha) but rather the gradual transformation of nature through the cultivation of sattva (the practice offered in detail in Ch.6, meditation, and throughout Ch.17-18). V34 will immediately give one practical, non-suppressive technique: avoid rāga-dveṣa (attachment and aversion) in sense objects — not by force but by wisdom.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
Even the man of knowledge acts in conformity with his own nature. All beings follow nature. What can restraint do? [1]
Even the man of knowledge acts in conformity with his own nature. Beings follow their nature. What will repression accomplish? [4]
The wise man even acts in conformity with his own nature. All beings follow their nature: what will restraint accomplish? [6]
Nay, but as when one striveth with his kind, The wise man, too, obeys the same constraint; His nobler nature followeth, needs must, The path prescrib'd for it. What shall a man profit, Withstanding these? [7]
Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature. All beings follow their nature. What will restraint do? [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Rāga and dveṣa lie in every sense-object. Do not come under their power — they are enemies on the path.
Lift the self by the Self; let not the self drown itself — you alone are your own friend and your own foe.
Sattva, rajas, or tamas — each can become dominant over the others, alternating in every mind.
Sitting as a neutral — unmoved by guṇas, knowing 'guṇas act' — firm, unshaken, the pure witness.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Steady wisdom begins here: when all desires fall away and the Self finds fullness in itself alone.