14
Beyond Birth and Death
ments intended to regulate our lives. The body must be controlled in order for us to reach the highest perfection, and without regulated principles, it is not possible to perfect our lives. The regulated principles may differ from country to country or from scripture to scripture, but that doesn't matter, for they are made according to the time and circumstances and mentality of the people. But the principle of regulated control is the same. Similarly, the government sets down certain regulations to be obeyed by its citizens. There is no possibility of making advancement in government or civilization without some regulations. In the verse above, Śrī Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna that the regulative principles of the  Vedas  are meant to control the three modes of material nature—goodness, passion and ignorance ( traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā ). However, Kṛṣṇa is advising Arjuna to establish himself in his pure constitutional position as spirit soul beyond the dualities of material nature.
As we have already pointed out, these dualities—such as heat and cold, pleasure and pain—arise due to the contact of the senses with their objects. In other words, they are born of identification with the body. Kṛṣṇa indicates that those who are devoted to enjoyment and power are carried away by the words of the  Vedas  which promise pain or heavenly enjoyment by sacrifice and regulated activity. Enjoyment is our birthright, for it is the characteristic of the spirit soul, but the spirit soul tries to enjoy materially, and this is the mistake.
Everyone is turning to material subjects for enjoyment and is compiling as much knowledge as possible. Someone is becoming a chemist, physicist, politician