Indulgence makes our bonds thicker, rougher and tighter

When anti-devotional worldly pleasures tempt and torment us repeatedly, we may feel that indulging in them will bring relief, getting them out of our way.

Indulgence may give a short respite initially, but eventually it will make things worse. To understand why, let’s look closely at the metaphorical compound word asha-pasha used in the Bhagavad-gita (16.12). By coupling asha, the desire for worldly enjoyment, with pasha, a noose or a shackle, the Gita implies that desires are like nooses or ropes that bind us to the tempting objects. Indulgence makes these ropes thicker, rougher and tighter.

Thicker: Indulgence creates mental impressions that impel us more forcefully towards repeating the act. Metaphorically speaking, each indulgence adds a strand to the rope, making it more difficult to break.

Rougher: Indulgence maddens our imagination, making the craving more intense, the goading more acute, the torment more intolerable. Metaphorically speaking, if we visualize ropes made of rough material covered with a soft padding, indulgence removes the padding, making the pull of the ropes more painful to the skin.

Tighter: The more we indulge in a thing, the more space it occupies in our mind. Gradually, it dominates our thoughts, intruding even when we want to focus on something else. An extreme example of such domination is addiction. For example, alcoholics find that almost everything reminds them of alcohol. Metaphorically speaking, each indulgence makes the rope tighter, decreasing the range of our mental freedom, that is, not letting us think freely of other things and relentlessly dragging our thoughts back to the indulgence.

By thus remembering the dangerous consequences of wanton indulgence, we can break free from the misconception that unregulated indulgence will bring relief and instead resolutely focus on scripturally guided regulation and purification, which alone will bring lasting relief.

Explanation of article:

Listen audio