By reflection, we can understand that many of our wants are actually the world’s inducements, not our core aspirations. Despite gaining this insight, we may still feel prodded and pressured by these wants. And we may succumb to them because they often seem to arise from inside us, not outside us. How can we distance ourselves from them? 

For that, we need a better understanding of the dynamics of our inner world. Pertinently the Bhagavad-gita stands ready with potent insights about the various actors inside us (03.42). The most vocal and fickle among these actors is our mind. It is easily impressed and infatuated by the outer world’s glamorization of sense objects, and being thus seduced, it forcefully triggers and torments us from within to pursue those objects. Thus, it is the primary breeding ground for our unhealthy wants. 

Beyond our mind is our intelligence, which is capable of rational evaluation and judicious recommendation. Moreover, its capacity for such sober functioning can be strengthened and sharpened by regular Gita study. When our intelligence is thus alert and adept, it can discern in real time which wants reflect our core purposes and which don’t. 

And beyond our intelligence is the soul, the essence of who we are. When we anchor ourselves in our spiritual identity through yoga practices, we can choose wisely between the mind’s propositions and the intelligence’s recommendations. 

By thus understanding the dynamics of our inner world, we can avoid assuming that the wants which come from inside us are our wants — and thereby learn to analyze them critically and then distance ourselves from them whenever necessary. 

One-sentence summary:

To distance ourselves from our unhealthy wants, understand the various actors in our inner world and thereby know that the wants coming from inside us aren’t necessarily our wants. 

Think it over:

  • In our inner world, what does our mind do? 
  • In our inner world, what does our intelligence do? 
  • How can understanding the dynamics of our inner world help us?

***

03.42: The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.

How to distance ourselves from the wants induced by the world

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