Being powerful and being powerless are usually opposite states. But when someone has a power they can’t control — say, an automatic gun whose trigger gets activated and they can’t deactivate it — they are powerfully powerless.
We all can end up in a similar situation in today’s world. Why? Because technological advancement has given us all significant external power, far more than what even kings had a few centuries ago. By just a few clicks, we can summon information from any part of the world. Without even rising from their beds, people nowadays can in a few hours expose themselves to more obscenity than what the wealthiest obscenity collectors in the past could have accumulated in an entire lifetime. And though they have the power to contaminate their minds, they often lack the power to break the resulting addiction. The Bhagavad-gita (16.12) indicates that when we pander indiscriminately to our desires, they bind and degrade us.
How can our desires overpower us? Because we have weakened ourselves. Today’s materialistic culture has alienated us from our spiritual essence that is the strongest source of inner power. We all may have some willpower, but far more empowering is the spiritual power that we access when we connect lovingly with the indwelling divine, who is the source of all power. And strengthening that connection between the soul and the Whole is the essence of spiritual advancement. By practicing processes for spiritual advancement such as bhakti-yoga, we all can access a self-transforming inner power. By that power, we can resist the inner impurities that impel us to misuse our outer power.
If we commit ourselves to our spiritual advancement with even a fraction of the commitment that the world shows for technological advancement, we can get the power to choose wisely, thereby making our life better and helping make the world better.
Think it over:
- How are people today powerfully powerless?
- How does spiritual advancement empower us?
- How can you increase your commitment to spiritual advancement?
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16.12: Bound by a network of hundreds of thousands of desires and absorbed in lust and anger, the demoniac secure money by illegal means for sense gratification.
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
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I really love these posts, I have incorporated them into my daily readings. I read daily, I attend chanting sometimes, I try practice meditation daily. Can you tell me other ways I can advance spiritually please 🙏
Thanks for your kind words. Happy to be of service.
Here are four basic principles for growing spiritually:
ABCD: Association, Books, Chanting, Deity Worship
nice,please keep it up
Thank you so much Prabhuji for writing such amazing short articles on Gita wisdom. For me, these articles help a lot in understanding the things that are happening in my life. The categorization on this website makes it a lot easier to search for the most suitable article to read. Every time I read your articles I feel I am moving a little closer to Krishna.
Grateful to know that the Gita’s wisdom is helping you come closer to Krishna and that Gitadaily is assisting you in that auspicious journey. All the best.