Suppose we are bound in a car that is racing toward the edge of a huge mountain cliff. If the bonds holding us down are strong and sharp, breaking free from them will be difficult and painful. But if we don’t break free, we will fall to our death into the valley, which will be far more painful. In that sense, the pain of struggling against our bonds, even if it involves rubbing our flesh raw, is a lesser pain.
We all are in a similar situation wherein we are bound to our mortal material body by the many worldly desires (Bhagavad-gita 16.12) that are present in our mind. Those desires, if unrestrained, can drag us into delusion and self-destruction during our life and thereafter drag us to hellish destinations. And because these desires can pull so forcefully and ferociously, resisting them can be difficult and painful; we may feel that we are being rubbed raw internally in trying to tear ourselves away from the things that the mind considers important. To understand that struggling to break free is the lesser pain as compared to the pain of being dragged into a living hell, we need philosophical knowledge given by Gita wisdom.
Fortunately, we can make this pain of detaching ourselves easier. Here’s how. Breaking free from the ropes becomes easier if we have a sharp knife. Similarly, breaking free from our worldly desires becomes easier if we have the sword of remembrance of the all-attractive supreme, Krishna. Such remembrance gives us a higher satisfaction that makes resisting both the temptation and torment of lower desires bearable.
One-sentence summary:
Be ready to tear ourselves away from the things that our mind considers important, or the mind will tear us away from things that are actually important.
Think it over:
- How do our attachments lead us to a living hell?
- Why is breaking free from attachments so painful?
- How can we lessen the pain of detaching ourselves?
***
16.12: Bound by a network of hundreds of thousands of desires and absorbed in lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for sense gratification.
Hare Krishna
Today’s message has a very strong meaning for me… As I trying to detach myself from something less important.
This is Krsnji’s blessing in disguise
Happy to be of service.
Prabhu its so wonderfully explained , may Lord have mercy on us so that we can detach ourselves from the desires which our mind consider important by remembering him always in all walks of life. Hare Krishna
Jaya! Beautiful meditation.