Sensual pleasures tantalize us by their appearance and frustrate us by their experience. They last at the most for a few minutes; so the actual experience is never as relishable as the hyped appearance. After the enjoyment, the craving remains or even worsens. So we are left feeling dissatisfied.

Even after we experience such dissatisfaction, the worldly objects remains visually appealing, sometimes irresistibly seductive. We become deluded into believing that, even though the object we just experienced has disappointed us, the object now tempting us will surely deliver its promise. Thus we keep chasing a pleasure that remains ever visible, never relishable. The Bhagavad-gita highlights this misfortune by declaring (03.16) that those who live for such pleasures live in vain. Gita wisdom insightfully compares the enjoyment in a worldly object with the water in a mirage.

We don’t have to stay trapped in such a vain pursuit. To break free, we can empower our intelligence through scriptural study. The philosophical wisdom thereof will enable us to see through the façade of sensual pleasures to their intrinsic, inescapable futility. The more we become convinced about this doomed nature of sensual pleasures, the more we can resolutely turn inward towards Krishna.

When we steadily and seriously cultivate his prayerful remembrance, we will discover the supreme happiness of Krishna consciousness – a happiness that is eminently achievable and eternally relishable.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 03 Text 16

“My dear Arjuna, one who does not follow in human life the cycle of sacrifice thus established by the Vedas certainly leads a life full of sin. Living only for the satisfaction of the senses, such a person lives in vain.”