[one_half_last]Some excessively obese people may be told, almost forced, by their doctors and relatives to adopt a regulated diet to lose some extra fat. They may reluctantly adopt it, but as they still crave to eat rich food, they may succumb to the temptation and binge privately. To the world, they may claim to be eating the regulated diet, but their moment of truth comes when they have to stand on the weighing scale. The scale doesn’t lie – its reading reflects what we have eaten and accumulated as flab in our body.

Similarly, we too may start following spiritual principles and regulating our material indulgence. Or at least we may pretend that we are doing so in the world’s eyes. But our attachments may be so strong that we may indulge privately in the things that we abstain from publically. The Bhagavad-gita (02.59) points to our predicament when it says that even when we restrain ourselves the desires still remain. And those desires can impel us towards indulgence and relapse (02.60).

Our moment of truth comes when we face temptation. Just as the weighing scale shows the weight that we have accumulated, our consciousness gets weighed down by all the ways in which we have indulged. And we feel agitated, captivated, addicted – the weight of our own desires drags us down and keeps us down.

At the time of death, it is our consciousness that will determine our post-mortem destination. If our consciousness is weighed down by the many materialistic indulgences that we have succumbed to, then it will not be able to rise towards Krishna.

When we have to stand in the weighing balance of our own karma, the kama we have entertained within will not stay concealed, even if it is not exposed externally throughout our life.

Knowing that our moment of truth will come sooner or later, sooner rather than later, we can strive earnestly to change that truth by internalizing our devotional practices to the best of our capacity. And even if becoming pure seems beyond our capacity, still just by our sincere practice, we will attract Krishna’s mercy, and that mercy will make the impossible possible for us.

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