The devil is envisioned in some traditions as a malefic being who tempts us toward wrongdoing and then traps us in distress. But beyond such religious usages, the word ‘devil’ has gained mainstream currency; troubled people, especially mentally troubled people, are often said to be dealing with their personal devils. 

Within Gita wisdom, the devil can refer to the dark desires within us that can delude and degrade us. To give the devil his due means to respectfully take the necessary protective measures against temptations, especially those temptations to which we are particularly vulnerable. If we don’t protect ourselves, we may get captivated and end up wasting hours, days, weeks, months, years, even lifetimes. By deceiving us into such destructively disproportionate dissoluteness, the devil will take far more than his due. The Bhagavad-gita conveys the need to give the devil his due when it urges us to withdraw our consciousness from sense objects just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs within itself (02.58).  

Significantly however, the best protection is not just keeping the devil afar, but keeping close the opposite of the devil, the supreme divinity. Pertinently, the Gita states that merely distancing ourselves from sense objects doesn’t work; it creates a strong feeling of deprivation (02.59) that eventually drags even the discerning to delusion (02.60). The sustainable solution, then, is to focus our consciousness on the all-attractive divinity, Krishna, thereby relishing a higher satisfaction that makes sensual deprivation tolerable. 

Nonetheless, even when we strive to connect with Krishna, we still need to stay aware of the devil’s deadly might. If we become lax in either our sensual restraint or our spiritual redirection, we will be trapped. 

We can avoid such terrible trouble if we learn to give the devil his due by taking the necessary efforts to guard ourselves.

 

Think it over:

  • What are the different senses of the word ‘devil’?
  • What does giving the devil his due mean?
  • How can the devil take more than his due?

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