We all have our illusory attachments because of which we succumb to self-defeating indulgences. When we realize the consequences of those indulgences, how they cause suffering after promising pleasure, we resolve to give them up and we do give them up — for some time.

Unfortunately, after a brief period of abstinence, we indulge in it again. We resign from illusion, but then re-sign into it, just as people who waste time on surfing the net on pointless things and eventually sign out of it in frustration. But after some time, they re-sign into it; they start surfing again.

To get out of this predicament, we need to sign into something better – we need to engage in a more fulfilling activity. The Bhagavad-gita (15.05) points to this two-fold dynamic of abstinence from the lower and engagement in the higher when it urges us to thoroughly retire from selfish desire and cultivate spiritual consciousness.

Bhakti-yoga offers us the best process for cultivating such spiritual consciousness for it connects us with the highest spiritual reality, the all-attractive supreme, Krishna. Gita wisdom explains that we are at our core souls and all the love and joy that we are longing for is found in its fullness in Krishna. Whatever attracts us in this world reflects the attractiveness of Krishna in a fragment and often distorted way.

With consistent bhakti practice, we learn to focus on the full source of that attractiveness, instead of being distracted by a fragmented and fragmenting manifestation of that attractiveness. During such practice, our mind may make us repeatedly sign out of bhakti. Nonetheless, if we keep repeatedly signing into it by bringing our mind back to Krishna and by resiliently continuing our bhakti practices, gradually the mind will realize the supreme sweetness of Krishna and become absorbed in it. When we thus firmly sign into Krishna, we automatically sign out of illusion.

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