Bhagavad Gita 3.33
सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि । प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति ॥
sadṛśaṃ ceṣṭate svasyāḥ prakṛter jñānavān api | prakṛtiṃ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ kiṃ kariṣyati ||
Translation
Even the man of knowledge acts in accordance with his own nature; all beings follow nature; what will restraint avail?
Reflection
What about yourself have you been correctly diagnosing for years without it changing?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Three
Jñānavān api. Even the man of knowledge. Prakṛtiṃ yānti bhūtāni, beings go to nature. The verse names what Krishna will spend the rest of the Gita softening: the gravity of one's own pattern. Even understanding does not by itself break the pattern. Nigrahaḥ kiṃ kariṣyati, what will restraint do? Shankara reads this as the honest acknowledgment that white-knuckle suppression is not the answer. Aurobindo: the verse is not defeatist. It is naming the depth of the problem so the chapter's solution lands with weight.