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Fighting Temptations (CCD)
Fighting Temptations (CCD)
Answer:
Short answer:
Long answer:
Many of us sometimes feel fed up of the way things are going in our life.
This mental exhaustion with life makes some of us seek relief in illusion
through time-wasting entertainment at best and self-defeating addiction at
worst. What causes this mental tiredness? It is caused by the many
superfluous desires that we unwittingly welcome in our minds. The
Bhagavad-gita (16.21–22) indicates that these distracting desires which
prevent us from acting in our best interests fall in three broad categories:
lust, anger and greed.
Lust and greed often fuel our desires for the many worldly objects that
enter our vision and imagination, be they glamorous forms or trendy
products. These desires are innumerable and endless, and most of them are
practically unfulfillable. Consequently, a conscious or subconscious
irritation builds up within us. When this irritation becomes intolerable, it
makes us vulnerable to anger, which perverts us into becoming sulky
(mentally angry) or snappy (verbally angry) or even beastly (physically
angry). In this way, lust, greed and anger cumulatively divert our mental
focus away from the main goals of our life – both material and spiritual.
This inattentiveness makes us falter and blunder while pursuing those
goals, and we start getting exhausted and exasperated at how nothing
seems to be working in our lives.
Thus, our mental exhaustion originates not in the external difficulties that
life brings our way, but in the internal diversions that prevent us from
treading our way effectively. These diversions of lust, greed and anger are
thus like mental parasites that live on and live off our mind’s energies.
That’s why Gita wisdom urges us to proactively immunize ourselves from
these dangerous parasites by Krishna consciousness, and thereby keep
ourselves mentally energized and focused on our worthwhile aspirations.
At this point, some of us may feel, “Not so fast! Even if I can’t fulfill all
the desires that come in my mind, I can fulfill at least some of them. After
all, fulfilling material desires is the way to happiness. Why should material
desires be compared to parasites?”
{ Conquering Lust }
Let’s analyze how material pleasures lead to misery using the acronym
FIT (Futility, Insubstantiality, Temporality) that encompasses the three
possible results when we seek material pleasures:
1. Futility: We desire to enjoy, but the opportunity never turns up. E.g. we
long for our favorite delicacy in an upcoming feast, but the menu doesn’t
include that delicacy.
2. Insubstantiality: We get the opportunity to enjoy, but the enjoyment turns
out to be an anti-climax. E.g. the menu includes our cherished delicacy, but
it is poorly cooked and is a far cry from our expectation.
3. Temporality: We enjoy the pleasure, but it ends too soon either due to
limited availability externally or limited capacity internally, leaving us
tormented by the craving for more. E.g. the delicacy tastes good, but our
enjoyment ends too early either because the servings of the delicacy are
limited or because the capacity of our stomach is limited.
Thus in all possible eventualities, the quest for material pleasures leads us
to frustration – sooner or later. Just as parasites always harm the organisms
that host them, material desires inevitably harm us when we host them in
our minds. An organism that wishes to stay healthy and fit will keep the
parasites out. Similarly, the same Gita verse (5.22) states that those who
are intelligent understand the falsity of material pleasures and so choose to
never delight in them, thus keeping the parasitic material desires out of
their minds.
The Gita (2.61) indicates that if we fix our minds on Krishna, then we can
gradually experience spiritual happiness in remembering him and fill our
heart with devotional desires to love and serve him. Consequently,
material desires find themselves crowded out of the playing arena of our
mind – and we find ourselves freed from their torturous infection.
Not only do we need to get rid of the parasitic desires that already exist in
our mind, but we also need to protect ourselves from the fresh desires that
may seek to enter there. Just as intelligent people treat parasites with
caution and suspicion, and are alert to keep them out of their bodies, we
need to treat the parasitic desires with caution and suspicion, and be alert
to prevent them from entering our minds. This alertness requires a radical
shift in our perception of the sources of these desires: worldly temptations.
The Gita (3.43) further urges us to use our intelligence to see the true
colors of temptation and thereby reject it. When we are intellectually inert,
the arrival of temptation sets off a welcome tune in our consciousness; our
lethargic intelligence has no strength or spunk to unmask the treacherous
façade of temptation. Consequently, we get helplessly, even eagerly,
carried away by the doomed hope that indulging in the temptation will
make us happy. In other word, we welcome the parasites, mistaking them
to be benevolent.
But when we are intellectually alert, the arrival of the same temptation
triggers an alarm bell in our consciousness; our robust intelligence swings
into action to pound out the temptation, knowing well that it is a
forerunner of emotional distraction that can snowball into spiritual
destruction. Consequently, we gird ourselves for an inner battle that leads
to a gradual but inevitable triumph if we seek shelter and strength in the
remembrance of Krishna.
Of course, if the arrival of temptation leads to no response – neither a
welcome tune nor an alarm bell, then that absence of response indicates,
not that we have transcended temptation, but that our intelligence has
fallen asleep due to a cocksure complacency that can be suicidal.
Therefore, the non-triggering of an alarm bell should itself trigger an alarm
bell and galvanize us to arouse and activate our intelligence, and seek
refuge in Krishna consciousness.
Many of us, even after recognizing the need to curb material desires, often
remain mentally preoccupied with the temptations that we have to evade
and avoid. This negative or defensive attitude in dealing with the parasitic
desires makes the fight more difficult than it needs to be.
But once we have make reviving that relationship with Krishna as the
central driving purpose of our life, then we can orient and harmonize our
worldly activities and responsibilities with that purpose. When we start
using our devotional creativity to discover in every situation, every event,
every activity, every interaction the hidden opportunity to serve Krishna
and then say “Yes” to that opportunity, the resulting devotional connection
with Krishna through internal remembrance and external service gives us
profound spiritual fulfillment. Once we start tasting and valuing this
fulfillment, then temptations become exposed as sources of distraction –
not gratification. At that stage, saying “No” to them is not just right and
beneficial, but also joyful.
Thus, the best way to say “No” to parasitic material desires is to say “Yes”
to Krishna.
Conclusion: