Bhagavad Gita 3.36
अर्जुन उवाच । अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं पापं चरति पूरुषः । अनिच्छन्नपि वार्ष्णेय बलादिव नियोजितः ॥
arjuna uvāca | atha kena prayukto 'yaṃ pāpaṃ carati pūruṣaḥ | anicchann api vārṣṇeya balād iva niyojitaḥ ||
Translation
Arjuna said: But by what, O descendant of Vrishni, is a man impelled to commit sin, even against his wish, as if driven by force?
Reflection
What have you done lately against your own clear preference, as if something else was steering?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Three
The student asks the question that has been building since 3.5. Even when I do not want to, something pushes me. Anicchan api, balād iva, even unwilling, as if forced. The verse is the chapter's clearest moment of self-knowledge. Arjuna stops arguing about whether to act and asks what makes the wrong action happen against will. Shankara reads this as the disciple-question that earns the next eight verses: the teacher will name the enemy by name. The student has stopped looking for a way out and started asking what he is actually fighting.