The Bhagavad-gita (18.38) outlines a vital life-truth: things that taste like nectar initially will taste like poison eventually. For example, when we eat fatty food, we feel good as long as the food is on our tongue, but when that food reappears as extra fat all over our body, we feel terrible. 

Gita wisdom explains that there is a part of us that gravitates toward the initial nectar: our mind. Fortunately, there is another part of us that has the capacity to dwell on the eventual poison: our intelligence. 

Unfortunately, our intelligence is often overshadowed by our mind during our daily functioning. Why? Because the mind frequently reacts much faster and louder than the intelligence. For example, suppose we come across some fatty food. Our mind promptly screams, “I want that.” And listening to it, we forget about dieting — even if we remember, the mind with its joys about indulging easily outspeeds and outshouts the intelligence with its reasons for abstaining. 

How can we improve the chances of our intelligence in this inner face-off with our mind? Here are three possible ways: 

  1. Write down clearly and cogently our reasons for practicing discipline. Just the endeavor to verbalize and note our thoughts will activate and energize our intelligence. 
  2. Keep those written reasons, or at least some key points from those reasons, readily available with us constantly. Thereafter, whenever we are tempted, even if our intelligence is not sharp enough to recollect and re-articulate those reasons, it can at least remind us to look at those key points. 
  3. Reading those points, preferably aloud whenever possible, will empower our intelligence with the conviction to silence our mind or at least neglect it. 

One-sentence summary:

To remember the eventual poison that results from undisciplined indulgence, devise ways for strengthening our intelligence. 

Think it over:

  • Why does our mind often overshadow our intelligence?
  • How can we support our intelligence in its face-off with our mind? 
  • In which area of your life do you need to support your intelligence? What specific steps can you take right away?

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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.

How to assist our intelligence to support our endeavors for self-discipline

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