Shankaracharya's commentary, trans. Alladi Mahadeva Sastry (1897)
[1]Even the man of knowledge acts in conformity with his own nature. All beings follow nature. What can restraint do?
BG 3.33
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."
All public-domain translations
5 translations · all pre-1928 or released to public domain · sources
Swami Swarupananda, Srimad Bhagavad Gita (1909)
[4]Even the man of knowledge acts in conformity with his own nature. Beings follow their nature. What will repression accomplish?
William Quan Judge, The Bhagavad Gita (1890)
[6]The wise man even acts in conformity with his own nature. All beings follow their nature: what will restraint accomplish?
Sir Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial (1885)
[7]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?
K.T. Telang, Sacred Books of the East Vol. 8 (1882)
[9]Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature. All beings follow their nature. What will restraint do?