Tackling impurity from indulgence to transcendence
Impurity needs to be tackled by focusing on transcendence, not tickled by fantasizing about indulgence. Whenever we have any impurity within us that triggers desires [...]
The problem with doing whatever we like
Suppose we are studying for an important exam the next day. Suppose further that success in this exam can launch our career in a field [...]
The mind is omnivorous – it devours whatever is present and feels pleasant
The mind is omnivorous – it devours whatever is present and feels pleasant Omnivorous creatures are indiscriminate in their eating; they consume whatever is available [...]
Purity is the key to freedom from misery
Suppose an alcoholic has become sick because of excessive alcohol indulgence. While the disease is a danger that needs treatment, an equal, if not greater, [...]
See sense gratification as spiritual deprivation
“You are depriving yourself of so much pleasure,” the mind whispers when we practice spiritual life seriously and regulate sense gratification. We may neglect the [...]
Restraint is not repression – it is the roadway to real expression
Many people champion self-expression and deride restraint as repression. But is it really repressive? Consider musicians wanting to express themselves. Do they go on stage [...]
When the mind makes the irrational seem rational, catch it in its irrationality
When we do something irrational, we may wonder, “Why did I do such a thing?” Because the mind may have stupefied us by using some [...]
Don’t just battle over your choices – choose your battles
Battling over our choices refers to struggling to make the right choice while staying in the presence of temptation. Choosing our battles refers to deciding [...]
Don’t blunt the intelligence with indulgence; sharpen it with abstinence
Our intelligence is like a knife. It can cut through the surface appearance of things and see their deeper nature. Just as a knife with [...]
Our intelligence can be overcome by illusion, yet it is also the key to overcome illusion
To practice spiritual life means to wage an inner war against the illusion created by our lower desires, especially lust. The Bhagavad-gita (03.36-43) vividly outlines [...]
Illusion is the ultimate thief of not just our property but also our very identity
Suppose thieves steal all the property from their victims. Still, the victims can get relief by, say, withdrawing money from their bank by using their [...]
The culture may give a license to lust, but nature doesn’t
Lust is ubiquitous in today’s society with billboards depicting prurient images and movies enacting explicit scenes. Displays that would have appalled people even a few [...]
Leave temptation – and don’t leave a forwarding address
When troublesome stalkers harass people repeatedly, they may decide to flee. For this strategy to succeed, they need to leave without leaving a forwarding address; [...]
Euphemisms of deception are expressways to degradation
Euphemisms often help express distressing truths sensitively. But sometimes they are abused as tools of deception, as verbal sleights-of-hand to make evil sound good. Consider, [...]
The defect of distraction distorts the defender into a defector
The life of a spiritual seeker is the life of a warrior – a warrior defending the territory of the consciousness against the forces of [...]
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. [...]
True austerity is supplicative not manipulative
Gita wisdom frequently surprises us by taking us beyond surface to the substance of things. Few things illustrate this as graphically as the Bhagavad-gita (17.19) [...]
Our convictions are far more important than our possessions
The world defines us by our possessions – what we wear, where we stay, what we drive in, for example. However, these things are external [...]
Are we mistaking the causal to be casual?
“Veg or non-veg?” A caterer may ask us in a train or a plane. Most people consider such choices to be casual. However, Gita wisdom [...]
The way to transcendence is through tolerance not indulgence
All of us periodically battle urges that damn us: urges born of lust, anger and greed, for example. We want to be free from these [...]