I cannot serve two masters; let my heart belong to you alone
Bhagavad Gita 2.44
bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ
tayāpahṛta-cetasām
vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ
samādhau na vidhīyate
“To pleasure and treasure, when their mind is tied,
By such attachment, of wisdom they are deprived.
Their spiritual resolve is easily torn away,
In divine absorption, they cannot stay.”
My dear Lord, I cannot serve two masters simultaneously, especially when those masters have opposite interests. The force of illusion, Maya, wants to entangle me in the world of matter, while you want to liberate me from its clutches.
Help me, O Lord, to unsentimentally understand the intrinsic incompatibility of material attachment and spiritual commitment. I have only one heart, and on the throne of my heart, there can be only one ruler. It can be you, or it can be an illusory substitute—millions of which are dangled before me by your illusory energy.
Most of these temptations come in the incarnations of sensual pleasure and material treasure. Please, O Lord, help me to see that whatever these temptations offer is insignificant compared to what you offer. How can a mere drop of titillation compare with an ocean of satisfaction?
Whenever I am unable to become absorbed in you, let me not be misled by the treacherous misconception that you are not sufficiently attractive. The reality is that I am not sufficiently available to realize and relish how attractive you truly are. My consciousness is captivated, indeed abducted, by the things that I am attached to—so much so that even when I am in front of you, I am not actually in front of you.
Please deliver me from such attachments so that I can freely and fully offer my heart to you, my eternal Lord.
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02.44 In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.
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