A tiny crack in a dam is not a tiny thing. The massive pressure of all the dam water forces the crack to enlarge till one deadly day the whole dam crumbles with a mighty crash and results in a colossal disaster. It all began with a tiny reparable crack that could and should have been fixed.
The same principle applies to our spiritual lives. The spiritual philosophy and devotional culture of bhakti-yoga build in our consciousness a dam to check the water of our lower passions. This dam serves two purposes: it checks our passions from flowing imprudently or immorally, and it redirects those passions toward purifying and fulfilling devotional engagements.
For our steady spiritual journey, this dam is indispensable. But during our spiritual journey, it is not impenetrable. Cracks tend to form in it due to our past conditionings or our present circumstances or a combination of both. These cracks are our revived inclinations towards immoral pleasures that we ourselves had earlier dammed, that is, resolved to reject. Due to these revived inclinations, we contemplate those pleasures, thereby causing more of our passions to flow through the cracks. As the cracks enlarge due to this flow, still more passions start flowing, thereby unleashing a fatal cycle that terminates in a mighty crash. When the entire dam collapses, our passions propel us to immoral, even bestial, actions that can defile our devotional integrity, wreck our sacred relationships and ruin our entire life.
The Bhagavad-gita (02.62-63) outlines this scary spiral from the tiny crack of contemplation to the mighty crash of depravation. It all begins with a tiny reparable crack, a minor temptation that can and should be resisted.
If we can just convince ourselves that a tiny crack is not a tiny thing, we can save ourselves of tons of trouble.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02, Text 62
“While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.”
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02 Text 63
“From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.”
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