We may get the question, “Why do we get tempted and deluded so easily? Why are we so vulnerable?”
Gita wisdom answers that our vulnerability to temptation and delusion originates internally in our own immoral inclinations. More importantly, this vulnerability points compellingly towards a vital spiritual opportunity. Let’s understand how.
All of us as souls are destined to rejoice eternally in a loving relationship with the all-attractive Lord, Sri Krishna. But our destiny depends on our desires.Only when we choose to love Krishna can we relishour eternal destiny. When we choose anything else, that desire misdirects our consciousness from spirit to matter, thereby depriving us of our glorious destiny. For impelling us to reclaim what we have lost, Krishna kindly entrusts us to a coach: Maya. She is his external energy, as the Bhagavad-gita (07.14) indicates.
Maya coaches us in the school of hard knocks. She incites us towards wrong choices and inflicts upon us their inevitable consequences. With her meticulous microscope, she zeroes in on our ungodly desires. By exposing us to the corresponding temptations, shemagnifies those desires till they delude us. When we indulge in those desires and experience firsthand their futility, gradually with the help of Gita wisdomwe realize the doomed nature of all material desires. This realization inspires us to leave no material desire in our heart to be found by Maya’s microscope. To do this effectively, we need to offer all our heart’s desires to Krishna by surrendering to him, as the same Gita verse exhorts. Over time this focused devotion enables us to regain our destined eternal ecstasy in loving Krishna.
Thus our vulnerability to temptation compels us to tap the opportunity to practice devotional service and thereby reclaim eternal happiness.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 07 Text 14
“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”
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