An exploration of how to immunize our minds against attacks by agents harmful to our spiritual life: the mental parasites of lust, anger, and greed.
The Energy Drain of Distracting Desires
Many of us feel mentally tired even when we are not physically tired. A major, avoidable cause of this mental exhaustion is the indiscriminate over-exertion of our power to desire, welcoming too many superfluous desires into our minds. The Bhagavad-gita (16.21–22) explains that these distracting desires fall into three broad categories: lust, anger, and greed.
These desires are like mental parasites that live off our mind's energies, diverting our focus away from our main goals in life.
These desires are like mental parasites that live off our mind's energies, diverting our focus away from our main goals in life.
Making Our Intelligence FIT
Material pleasures are like parasites because they subvert and sabotage our best interests. The Bhagavad-gita (5.22) states that the intelligent stay away from material pleasures because they lead to misery. We can apply our intelligence using the acronym FIT:
• Futile: We desire to enjoy, but the opportunity never turns up.
• Insubstantial: We get the opportunity to enjoy, but the enjoyment turns out to be an anti-climax.
• Temporary: We enjoy the pleasure, but it ends too soon, due to either limited availability externally or limited capacity internally, leaving us craving for more.
By sober, sustained analysis of the nature of material pleasures, we realize that they are unfit to be desired.
• Futile: We desire to enjoy, but the opportunity never turns up.
• Insubstantial: We get the opportunity to enjoy, but the enjoyment turns out to be an anti-climax.
• Temporary: We enjoy the pleasure, but it ends too soon, due to either limited availability externally or limited capacity internally, leaving us craving for more.
By sober, sustained analysis of the nature of material pleasures, we realize that they are unfit to be desired.
Saying Yes to Krishna
To stay away from temptations, moral conscience and philosophical conviction are necessary but not sufficient. The Bhagavad-gita (2.61) urges us to complement discernment with engagement. When we engage ourselves in service to Krishna — especially in remembering Him — spiritual happiness becomes a concrete reality.
Once the central driving purpose of our life becomes reviving our relationship with Krishna, then we can harmonize our worldly activities with that purpose. Saying a resounding yes to Krishna is the most effective way of saying a decisive no to parasitic material desires.
By Caitanya Carana Dasa
Once the central driving purpose of our life becomes reviving our relationship with Krishna, then we can harmonize our worldly activities with that purpose. Saying a resounding yes to Krishna is the most effective way of saying a decisive no to parasitic material desires.
By Caitanya Carana Dasa