Some people ask, “Isn’t it our nature to be
pleasure-seeking? Why then does the Bhagavad-gita ask us to give up pleasure?”
The Gita doesn’t ask us to give up
pleasure; it asks us to ponder the actual nature of what we have been taught to
believe is pleasure.
The glory of sex pleasure is one of the
most sacrosanct beliefs of popular culture.
The culture without and the mind within
indoctrinate us into believing that pandering to the desires of the senses will
bring pleasure. And sexual pleasure is deemed the summit of such pleasures.
Attaining it is touted as life’s most splendid success, indeed the very purpose
of existence. This notion is so aggressively propagated externally and so
deep-rooted internally that we almost never question it. Indeed, the glory of
sex pleasure is one of the most sacrosanct beliefs of popular culture.
Yet does this belief deserve such
uncritical devotion? Are glamorized media depictions of unending erotic bliss
ever replicable in real life? After all, the body’s capacity for sensual
indulgence is limited – unchangeably, non-negotiably limited. And after the few
moments of sensual pleasure have passed, they leave in their wake a network of
aggravated bodily attachments that sentence us to ever-increasing misery as the
body goes inexorably down its doomed slide towards disease, debility and
destruction. To protect us from such misery, the Gita (05.22) urges us to
ponder the nature of sensual pleasure instead of thoughtless pandering to urges
for such pleasures.
Of course, the falsity of sensual pleasure
is not the only thing to ponder. Gita wisdom offers us for contemplation a
captivating conception of the Absolute Truth as the all-attractive SupremePerson, Krishna, who delights and gives delight in reciprocating spiritual
love.
If we ponder his loving nature and direct
our heart towards him by rendering devotional service, his glory, beauty and
mercy will gradually satisfy our longing for happiness perfectly and
perennially.
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