Gita 5.22 explained
Now Sri Krishna will talk about on what basis a person will become bāhya-sparśeṣv asaktātmā. Why one should give up outer pleasures Sri Krishna says [...]
Obscenity is objectionable not because it shows too much of a person, but because it shows too little and obsesses people with the too little
Obscenity is becoming increasingly accessible and visible in today’s media and especially on the Internet. And it has some aggressive proponents: “If people want to [...]
If conscience doesn’t create a barrier between impulse and indulgence, intelligence must
Suppose a river tends to overflow unpredictably, flooding the nearby areas. To protect those areas, a barrier would be constructed on the riverbank. Similarly, in [...]
Intelligence shows how indulgence is harmful and how harmful indulgence is
Less than a century ago, smoking was considered harmless. It took decades of intelligent investigation to reveal that smoking harmed health, and harmed it so [...]
Sensual pleasure is too fleeting to be fulfilling
Suppose we are tormented by thirst in a desert. If someone gives us water, they would appear to be doing us a great favor. But [...]
Sensual pleasure ends, but it doesn’t end with pleasure
In today’s materialistic culture, countless images of attractive sense objects allure us incessantly. Our mind imagines that the pleasure therein is immense and irresistible. Believing [...]
The mind issues checks that the body can’t cash
Suppose someone gives us a check that bounces. If that person issues checks again, we wouldn’t accept. Similarly, our mind often issues checks, but the [...]
Education is needed not just to fulfill our desires, but also to know which desires to fulfill
We usually want education so that we can have a lucrative career and thereby fulfill our many desires. And, yes, education can serve this purpose, [...]
Seek more than sense pleasure, not more sense pleasure
Materialistic people consider sense gratification to be life's ultimate purpose – they crave and slave to achieve it. However, sense pleasure is inescapably temporary. The [...]
The way of the body is the way of limitation and tribulation
People sometimes ask, “Why are bodily pleasures spoken of so negatively in the Bhagavad-gita?” The Bhagavad-gita recommends restraint in bodily indulgence not to deprive us [...]
Be not eager for the meager
Suppose someone invited us for a feast and then delivered food so meager that it wouldn’t satisfy even a squirrel. If they invited and under-delivered [...]
Why long for a pleasure that never stays for long?
We are all by nature pleasure-seeking. And the world promises us pleasure in so many ways. The most hyped among all these worldly pleasures are [...]
Scripture ends the hush-hush around the failed project of sense enjoyment
When a much-touted project of a government fails – and fails abysmally – the government often tries to save face by an overall strategy of [...]
The search for happiness is often the source of the greatest unhappiness
The very things we seek happiness in often sentence us to unhappiness. A pervasive yet tragic example is of addicts. Food addicts can’t live without [...]
When conviction is weak, determination can’t be strong
We often make resolutions to give up our self-defeating indulgences. And when we fail to stick to those resolutions, we often blame our poor determination. [...]
What is a source of trouble for the possessor can’t be the source of pleasure for the beholder
Lust makes temporarily good-looking bodies seem sources of immense pleasure. We know from our own experience with our body that it can be, indeed it [...]
Don’t pander; ponder
Some people ask, “Isn’t it our nature to be pleasure-seeking? Why then does the Bhagavad-gita ask us to give up pleasure?” The Gita doesn’t ask [...]
See the pleasure that ends in trouble as trouble, not pleasure
Education enables us to see things as they are, irrespective of how they appear to be. Thus for example a well-informed person, as contrasted with [...]
Those who check the urge to mate avoid checkmate
Checkmate signifies final, irreversible defeat. In material existence, checkmate comes in the form of death. It terminates all our dreams and schemes for enjoyment at [...]
What is natural is not always desirable; what is desirable is not always natural
Some people oppose regulation of sensual pleasure: “Material enjoyment is natural. Why should we unnaturally suppress that which is natural?” The vital question here is: [...]
The body is a visa to pleasure, not a passport
Many people imagine that the body is the gateway to pleasure, as is often depicted in novels and movies. Pleasure is not our native country, [...]