Desire abducts with the promise of pleasure and abandons us in the province of trouble.
The Bhagavad Gita (18.38) states that sensual desires lead us toward deceptive pleasures—pleasures that taste like nectar initially but turn into poison eventually. Desire, in this way, abducts our consciousness with promises of enjoyment, as indicated in 2.44. This abduction means that our awareness is pulled away from safety and sobriety, much like a child may be taken from the security of home or school.
Once our consciousness is abducted by desire, it is abandoned in a province of trouble, where we must confront the aftermath of indulgence. This trouble manifests in various ways: the consequences impacting time, health, wealth, reputation, responsibility, morality, and spirituality. These repercussions demand that we piece our lives back together, often requiring long and arduous efforts to recover, depending on how deeply we indulged.
Just as the rescue of an abducted child depends on how far they have been taken, our recovery depends on how far our consciousness has strayed. Realizing that initial desires are deceptive and that their promise of pleasure is just a trick can empower us. We must recognize that what desire delivers is not true pleasure but rather a harsh reality filled with difficulties, from which recovery can range from challenging to nearly impossible, as seen in cases of addiction.
Only through an honest realization of the deceptive nature of pleasure can we build the resolve to avoid being blinded by the initial promise of nectar and ignore the eventual, inescapable poison.
Summary:
- Sensual desire abducts our consciousness from a safe state and leads us into trouble, similar to how abductors take a child from home to a dangerous place.
- Indulging in sensual pleasure results in trouble that affects time, emotions, mental energy, health, morality, responsibility, reputation, and spirituality.
- The degree of our intelligence and awareness determines how effectively we can recover from the consequences of indulgence.
- Only by understanding the deceptive strategy of desire can we build the resolve to resist its promises.
Think it over:
- How is the effect of sensual desire on our consciousness similar to an abduction?
- Can you recall an experience where you or someone you know fell deeply into trouble due to indulgence?
- Which costs of indulgence have you felt most acutely, and how can they be used as motivation to avoid falling for the deception of desires?
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18.38 That happiness which is derived from contact of the senses with their objects and which appears like nectar at first but poison at the end is said to be of the nature of passion.
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