A Study of BG 3.17

(written on January 17, 2020)

1. Satisfaction in the Self. The translation of the verse BG 3.17 states, “But for one who takes pleasure in the Self, whose human life is one of self-realization, and who is satisfied in the Self only, fully satiated – for him there is no duty.” Satisfaction of the Self means understanding who you really are, the soul or jiva, and understanding your constitutional position in relationship to God. When one truly understands this position, they will be no longer interested in any material infatuations because they will be fully satisfied by serving the Lord. This is what is meant by satisfaction of the Self. The word self-realization is key. Satisfaction in self only comes when one truly understands who they really are. When one is stuck to the false conception that the body is the identity, then they will never be satisfied and will be constantly yearning for sense gratification.

1. Difference between the self and the Self. The Self, with a capital S is referring to the Supersoul or paramatma. The self with the lowercase s is referring to the individual soul or jiva. In this verse of BG 3.17, “But for one who takes pleasure in the Self, whose human life is one of self-realization, and who is satisfied in the Self only, fully satiated – for him there is no duty.” Here, the translation is referring to paramatma because it uses Self with a capital S. In other places of the Bhagavad Gita

1. “Your duty becomes self-illuminated.” Within the purport of BG 3.17, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “His duty thus becomes self-illuminated by the grace of the Lord, and therefore he no longer has any obligations to the Vedic injunctions.” Here what Srila Prabhupada means by ”his duty becomes self-illuminated” is that Lord Krishna frees one from their duty so they do not have to follow the Vedic injunctions. When one is fully satisfied in the Self, then Krishna will rid them of their duty so that they are no longer obligated to the Vedic injunctions. Such a person is so satisfied in the Self that they have no attachments to material infatuations. They are only attached to serving the Lord for that is the highest satisfaction.