‘Prompted by what does a person indulge in sin, even against one’s wish, being forced as it were?’ Arjuna asks Bhagavan Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita (3. 36.)
Deep inside our brain, in the region of the medial temporal
lobe, is a structure responsible for some of our emotions: the amygdala. The
amygdala along with the hypothalamus, the cingulate gyrus, and a few other
structures constitute the limbic system that mediates emotions like desire,
fear, and anger. Geared to survival needs, the amygdala is quick to recognize
threatening situations and initiate aggressive responses. Sri Krishna’s answer
to Arjuna’s riddle corresponds to this fact. We often react to some situations
on the spur of the moment, though we know at other times it is not fair to do
so. Under the grip of emotions and impulses, humans do not remain what they
would like to be. They forget themselves and their surroundings and, with
emotions having taken full control of their ability to reason and discern, they
fail to see the serious repercussions of their actions.
O Partha, that intellect is sattvic which understands what
is action and what is renunciation of action, what is right action and what
wrong, fear and fearlessness, as well as bondage and liberation.
O Partha, that intellect is rajasic which wrongly understands
what is dharma and what adharma, as also what ought to be done and what not.
O Partha, that intellect is tamasic which, being enveloped
in darkness, regards adharma as dharma and verily perceives all things contrary
to what they are. (Bhagavad Gita, 18.30–32)