In a war, an army wins not just by the determination of its soldiers fighting on the forefront, but also by the steadiness of the food supplies in the background. Only if these supplies are consistent can the soldiers fight properly.

In our spiritual life, we face a regular inner war with our weaknesses such as lust, anger and greed. We frequently resolve to win this war. Yet when the moment of confrontation comes, these enemies act through our mind to overpower us.

What can we do?

If we keep fighting without a better strategy, we will simply get beaten again and again. So we need to retreat and rethink our strategy. If our inner enemies are overcoming us, that means they are stronger than us. To improve our prospects, we need to become stronger than them. For that, we need to ensure that our food supply stays uninterrupted and their food supply becomes repeatedly interrupted, preferably entirely stopped.

What does this mean practically?

Devotional activities such as scriptural study, mantra meditation and saintly association are the food for us souls. Our sensory indulgences and our mental contemplations on sense objects are the food for our weaknesses.

If we become discouraged by our inability to win over our weaknesses and become halfhearted in our devotional activities, we let our weaknesses weaken us. Instead, if we maximize and intensify our devotionally nourishing activities, we strengthen ourselves. Additionally, if we minimize our exposure to materially agitating stimuli, we weaken our weaknesses. The Bhagavad-gita directs us toward such intelligently chosen activities when it (06.05) urges us to elevate, not degrade, ourselves with the mind.

By such sound planning of background strategy, we will be able to slowly but surely tilt the balance of power in our favor till we finally emerge victorious.

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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 06 Text 05