Most of us have entered the misery championship. Here’s how.
The qualifying rounds: Our contemporary culture assaults our eyes with visually alluring images of sensuous objects. When we undergo the misery of the tormenting desire to get those objects, we win the qualifying rounds of the misery championship.
The initial rounds: The images are doctored professionally to look much better than the real objects. So, when we visually consume those objects by possessing and enjoying them, our experience never lives up to the hype. By experiencing the misery of frustrated expectations, we win the initial rounds.
The later rounds: The sheer number of visually alluring worldly objects is so great that we can never consume all of them. That’s why no matter how many objects we consume, many more keep tormenting us. When we experience the misery of perpetual torment, we win the rounds that lead to the finals.
The final: The pleasure from visual consumption of worldly forms is fleeting but intoxicating. Becoming addicted to that intoxicating pleasure, we see as sources of pleasure the very objects that are sources of our misery. When we dedicate our life to courting and embracing misery as if it were pleasure, we win the misery championship and get the privilege of drinking from the cup of visual misery for the rest of our life.
Gita wisdom liberates us from this miserable game by revealing misery-free ways of visual enjoyment. As souls, we can feast visually on the transcendentally enchanting form of Krishna and thereby get ever-increasing spiritual happiness. By thus fixing our consciousness on Krishna, as the Bhagavad-gita (02.61) indicates, we can steady our intelligence and opt out of the misery championship.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02 Text 61
“One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence.”
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