Today technology has increased enormously the outer power accessible to us humans. By a few clicks, we can change the temperature around us, talk with people thousands of miles away or summon information from anywhere in the world.

Such outer power can be so intoxicating as to blind us to the need for inner power. What is inner power? It is our capacity to regulate the various dark forces within us – forces that can hurt us and make us do things that hurt others. The Bhagavad-gita states that the inner dark forces can be broadly classified as lust, anger and greed – these can make our entire existence hellish (16.21).

When our inner dark forces gain access to outer power through technology, the havoc they can wreck multiplies. The dark force of lust, when coupled with the internet’s reach, can delude and degrade us with the world’s most depraved images. The dark force of anger, when coupled with machine guns or weapons of mass destruction, can kill hundreds of people. To avoid such destructive use of outer power, we need inner power. And the more outer power we get, the more inner power we need.

How can we gain inner power? By spiritual advancement.

While outer power is delivered to us through technology, inner power needs to be individually developed through spirituality. Time-tested spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation link us with our pure non-material essence, empowering us to resist short-sighted materialistic drives. Especially empowering is the process of bhakti-yoga; it links us with the all-pure ultimate reality, Krishna, whose sun-like inner presence dissipates all inner dark forces.

If we want our sustainable well-being, technological progress alone isn’t enough; we also need spiritual progress. That will give us the necessary inner power to use outer power constructively.

Think it over:

  • Why is outer power without inner power dangerous?
  • How can we develop inner power?
  • Which outer power do you misuse the most? To prevent such misuse, what inner power do you need? How can you develop that power?

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16.21 There are three gates leading to this hell – lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.

 

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