The essence of the fire-sacrifice is not lighting a fire without but lighting the fire with in by Chaitanya Charan Das

Fire-sacrifices seem quaint or queer to many: “What’s the point of lighting a fire and putting ghee, grain and fruits in it?”

The point is to light the fire of selflessness within. In principle, fire-sacrifice centers on giving up for a higher purpose the things enjoyable for oneself. That selfless spirit when directed towards the divine burns away the impurities in the sacrificers’ hearts.

In principle, fire-sacrifice centers on giving up for a higher purpose the things enjoyable for oneself.

Such a principle-centered understanding of sacrifice explains why the Gita (04.25-29) deems as forms of sacrifice various activities that have no fire literally in them. These activities range from worship of the gods to impersonal meditation, from regulated householder life to renounced life, and from scriptural study to social charity. In fact, the Gita repeatedly gives a metaphorical reading of sacrifice by conceiving, say, the impersonal absolute as the sacrificial fire and the soul as the oblation (04.25) or the senses as the sacrificial fire and the sense objects as the oblations (04.26).  By thus infusing various spiritually dovetailable activities with the imagery of sacrifice, the Gita extends the sanctity of sacrifice beyond the fire to the world.

Taking this sanctity into the inner world of consciousness, the Gita (10.25) exalts mantra meditation as the sacrifice that specially manifests Krishna. In mantra meditation, practitioners sacrifice their most intimate possession, their consciousness, to offer prayerful attention to their beloved Lord instead of letting it wander to any of the myriad enjoyable worldly objects. Krishna reciprocates with their devotion by manifesting his all-attractiveness as the holy name. The resulting experience of Krishna is so enriching that it causes the flame of longing for him to blaze into a conflagration that burns to ashes all selfish desires and rouses fully the sacrificer’s dormant devotion, ultimately elevating them to the world of endless love.

Reposition the mind as the object of observation instead of its subject

Seekers often question: “My mind keeps getting distracted from Krishna. What can I do?”

Make the mind the object of observation, answers Gitawisdom.

Usually, the outer world is our object of observation. But our observation of external objects is colored by the mood of our mind, just as our observation is colored by the color of our lens. Thus when the mind is infected by lust, our observation gravitates towards sexually alluring forms wherever we see.

Instead of readily joining the mind as a co-subject in its petty curiosity, we can strive to observe the mind itself.

To counter such distraction, we need to reposition the mind as the object of our observation instead of its subject. That is, when the mind wants to observe something mundane, instead of readily joining it as a co-subject in its petty curiosity, we can strive to observe the mind itself. By evaluating its mood, we can decide whether it and whatever has caught its fancy deserve our attention.

How can we remember to do this when the mind is distracting us?

By prior steady philosophical education and devotional meditation.

These twin tools will convince us of the futility of pandering to the mind’s fancies and the glory of contemplating on Krishna. Equipped with this conviction, we will no longer remain naïve subjects of the mind’s manipulation. When it starts distracting us from what we know we should be doing, we will see through its shenanigans and resume our focus on Krishna and our service to him. The Bhagavad-gita (06.26) recommends such a purposeful reorientation of the wandering mind.

Though such conscientiousness may seem demanding initially, it will soon become fulfilling as we relish the joy of connecting with Krishna and of seeing the connectedness of things with him. As higher, sweeter vistas of devotional awareness open for us, the mind’s distractions will lose their charm and fade to insignificance.

Be not allured by the blame game or the claim game – stay focused on Krishna

Blame game usually involves pointing the blaming finger outwards to others whenever things go wrong.

The blaming finger can also point upwards or inwards. When it points upwards, we blame God for being unintelligent or uncaring or even non-existent. When it points inwards, we beat ourselves down with self-recrimination, “I am good-for-nothing,” ending up unnecessarily with inferiority complex.

To solve the problem, we need not a blaming finger, but a helping hand

Whichever way the blaming finger points, it doesn’t help in solving the problem. For that, we need not a blaming finger, but a helping hand. Krishna being forever present in our heart is always ready to offer us that hand, even when we are to blame and even when we blame him. But we don’t accept his hand because the ego keeps us seduced in playing the blame game. Even if we succeed in pushing off the blame elsewhere – and there’s no guarantee of that – still we end up having done nothing tangible to rectify the situation or to even learn from it.

When things go right, the ego makes us play the claim game, seeking all the credit. Though the claim game seems pleasant, it too disappoints. Even if we are praised for the success – and there’s no guarantee of that because others too are playing the claim game and competing for praise – still the ego is insatiable. It always finds whatever praise it gets inadequate, thereby leaving us dissatisfied.

Pertinently, the Gita (18.58) urges us to ignore the ego and instead stay focused on Krishna. If we strive to serve him to the best of our capacity, then he will guide us from within, amidst both failures and successes, to choose the best course of action. We will learn and grow from every situation, progressing steadily towards life’s ultimate success: eternal ecstatic love for Krishna.

Don’t just battle over your choices – choose your battles by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita

Battling over our choices refers to struggling to make the right choice while staying in the face of temptation.

Choosing our battles refers to deciding which temptation to face and which to flee.

Suppose we have trouble resisting the temptation to access inappropriate sites on the net. Then battling over our choices would refer to having unfiltered Internet access and straining to restrict our net surfing. Choosing our battles would refer to deciding that such a battle is unnecessary and restricting our net access using an Internet filter. Such restriction is a contemporary application of

Avoiding avoidable danger is not cowardice – it is common sense.

the time-honored cultural principle of restricting free mixing between the genders to minimize the possibility of wrongdoing, accidental or intentional. The Bhagavad-gita (02.58) recommends such a safety-first approach by urging us to withdraw our senses from the sense objects, as a tortoise withdraws its limbs within its strong shell.

Of course, we can’t always choose our battles; some temptations may come upon us unavoidably, forcing us to fight against them. But in our war against temptation, more often than not, we get disheartened because we thrust ourselves into battles we don’t need to fight and then get battered.

Avoiding avoidable danger is not cowardice – it is common sense. While walking, we don’t walk in the middle of a road and struggle to evade vehicles; we walk on the footpath and do something productive, maybe converse with a friend.

From the point of spiritual productivity, we don’t grow in our devotion just by saying no to temptation; we grow by saying yes to Krishna. And we can’t say yes to him wholeheartedly if half of our heart is constantly considering the option of saying yes to temptation. Best to not leave that option open so that we can more easily choose the best option: Krishna.

A self-answering question points to factors beyond the self-evident

A question that contains the answer within itself raises questions about the question. For example, suppose someone asks, “After the diners sat down at the restaurant table for dinner, what did they do?” “What a dumb question!” we might say, “Obviously, they ate.”

But suppose we heard such a question as a part of a learned conversation. That would make us wonder whether something else is afoot. Maybe the questioner knows that there’s a bomb placed under the table and wants to know whether it exploded or was defused. Thus, a self-answering question points to factors beyond the self-evident.

The extraneous factor – the bomb under the table – is dharma.

Such a question begins the Bhagavad-gita (01.01), wherein Dhritarashtra asks: “After the Kauravas and Pandavas assembled for fighting, what did they do?” The extraneous factor – the bomb under the table – is dharma, as is hinted in the question’s first word: dharma-kshetre (at the place of dharma). Knowing that the Kauravas are adharmic, whereas the Pandavas are dharmic, Dhritarashtra is apprehensive that thoughts of dharma, aroused by the vibrations at the dharmic place, may adversely affect his sons’ intentions and prospects. Through the question, he implicitly enquires whether any such thing happened.

That’s what did happen, but in a way different from Dhritarashtra’s apprehension. Duryodhana was too self-centered to bother about dharma, but the dread that the imminent fratricide was adharmic overwhelmed Arjuna. To allay his concerns, Krishna spoke the Gita, analyzing the various levels of dharma and establishing the supreme dharma of pure devotion. Thus, the Gita’s narration demonstrates the import of its first word – at the place of dharma manifested the divine message of dharma from the lips of the divine.

Understanding this message induced such a resolute determination in Arjuna that, as the Gita’s last verse (18.78) prophesies, the determination itself, being harmonized with the divine will, assured supreme success.

Don’t treat a game like life or life like a game

Many people treat games as if they are as important as life itself. Human culture has always featured sports as a form of recreation, but today’s culture has whipped up for spectator sports a mass mania. And this mania is not harmless – it often leads to corruption and destruction, as when people are swindled through match-fixing or when frustrated fans destroy their TV sets or tragically even commit suicide. Such suicides manifest the worst equation of a game to life – when a game is lost, life no longer seems worth living.

The suicides of sports fans manifest the worst equation of a game to life – when a game is lost, life no longer seems worth living

Conversely, many people treat life like a game. No doubt, game metaphors can illumine some aspects of life. But games have an undercurrent of frivolity that undermines the gravity of life. Essentially, life centers on attaining the fulfillment of love – we all want to love and be loved. When people reduce love (actually lust masked as love) to a game, they find pleasure only in the chase and the conquest, not in the commitment that makes relationships lasting.

The widespread equation of a game to life and life to a game represents the general distortion of perspective in today’s world. TheBhagavad-gita (18.32) states that such a topsy-turvy perspective typifies intelligence in the mode of ignorance.

Gita wisdom shows the way out of such ignorance. It informs us that by directing our love towards the all-attractive Supreme Person, Krishna, we as eternal souls can find everlasting fulfillment. Intriguingly, life in Krishna’s abode is an endless lila or love-play, wherein participants relish purely the excitement, exhilaration and enjoyment that attracts us to games.

So, if we regulate our attraction for games in this temporary world and focus on cultivating devotion in our life, we will gradually find the perfect fulfillment for our attraction to games.

Don’t blunt the intelligence with indulgence; sharpen it with abstinence

Our intelligence is like a knife. It can cut through the surface appearance of things and see their deeper nature.

Just as a knife with rust becomes blunt, so does the intelligence covered by the rust of materialism. Such rust accumulates on the intelligence of those who engage in unrestricted material enjoyment. As they are enamored by the promises of material enjoyment, their intelligence can’t see beyond the material, as the Bhagavad-gita (02.44) indicates.

Abstinence is not the dry abnegation that saps all joy from life – it is the dynamic renunciation that increases focus on Krishna by rejecting distractors in devotion.

If materialists’ intelligence is blunted, then why do some seem to be intelligent, as in, say, making brilliant technological devices? That’s because a blunt knife has its use too – not as a cutter, though, but maybe as a hammer. So even materialists with blunted intelligence may control matter limitedly and temporarily, but they can’t transcend it. The Gita(18.30-32) classifies intelligence into the three modes, indicating thereby that intelligence can be present in the lower modes. But it also stresses that only intelligence in goodness, with its characteristic self-regulation, can know the way to liberation and the eternal happiness thereof. Such intelligence is sharp, being able to see beyond matter.

We can sharpen our intelligence by abstinence. This abstinence is not the dry abnegation that saps all joy from life – it is the dynamic renunciation that increases focus on Krishna by rejecting distractors in devotion. Without abstinence, our blunt intelligence will stay allured by worldly pleasures and won’t be able to connect with Krishna. So our experience of devotional fulfillment will remain occasional and insubstantial, as will be our spiritual growth. With abstinence, our sharp intelligence will perceive the futility of anti-devotional pleasures and the glory of devotion. By our consequent focused devotional service, what we know theoretically, we will realize experientially, thereby progressing towards increasing and lasting fulfillment.

Better to be on the wrong side of history than on the wrong side of reality

Materialists sometimes accuse spiritualists, “You people are so old-fashioned, holding on to regressive ideas like sexual restraint. The whole world is giving up such ideas – you are on the wrong side of history.”

Such materialists assume that the course of history is always right. But is it really? History is often affected by temporary trends, whereas reality rests on perennial truths. Gita wisdom states that adharma prevails in some historical phases. We live in one such phase, Kali-yuga, wherein prevails fanatical materialism, which deems material pleasure as the primary, if not the only, purpose of existence. During this phase, materialists naturally deem spiritualists as being on the wrong side of history.

History is often affected by temporary trends, whereas reality rests on perennial truths.

But more important than being on the right side of history is being on the right side of reality. And the perennial reality is that we conscious beings are at our core non-material, because consciousness is essentially non-material. So we can find real fulfillment only by attaining spiritual freedom, not by attaining sexual freedom, which anyway is impossible because sexual enjoyment is forever limited by the body’s finite capacity for such indulgence. Accepting this reality is not regressive – it is progressive for it impels us to explore higher non-material forms of happiness and thereby discover the eternal freedom of ecstatic spiritual love. Actually, rejecting this reality is regressive for it destroys our chances of progressing towards that higher happiness.

Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (13.11: aratir jana samsadi) urges us to not be swayed by the masses. This is not a prescription for unthinking rigidity, for the heart’s devotion expresses itself dynamically according to the time-place-circumstances. But when the trend of history is on the wrong side of reality, it’s better to be on the wrong side of history and the right side of reality.

Krishna doesn’t ordain evil – he just sanctions it by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13

People often ask, “If God, the creator of world, is good, why does evil exist in the world?”

Evil arises not from Krishna’s omnipotence but from the soul’s independence.

Though Krishna is omnipotent, he still gives all souls free will so that they can choose to love him and therein relish existence’s supreme fulfillment. After all, only free individuals can choose to love. But the souls can abuse their independence by choosing to not love Krishna but to enjoy matter instead. The Bhagavad-gita (13.22) indicates that due to such desires, the materially enamored souls get entrapped in matter. Impelled by material desires, the souls engage in evil deeds and are subjected to others’ evil actions, as per the inexorable law of karma.

Evil arises not from Krishna’s omnipotence but from the soul’s independence.

The next verse (13.23) underscores Krishna’s role in the souls’ actions: he is the sanctioner, not the ordainer. He doesn’t force or instruct or even want souls to get entangled in matter or to act destructively. When they choose to do wrong, he allows them to fulfill their desires till their karmic bank account runs out. Others may seem to be victimized by such destructive actions, but the victims actually reap the results of their own past karma.

Though the souls have got themselves into this arena of evil, Krishna is too compassionate to abandon them here. He accompanies them as the Supersoul in their hearts and guides them towards his loving devotion, which is the way out of all evil. Devotion empowers them to curb and counter the evil within them – their tendency to misuse their independence. It also enables them to tolerate and transcend the inevitable evil that may befall them due to their past karma. And most importantly it takes them entirely beyond the arena of evil, the material existence, to Krishna’s all-good eternal abode.

Our intelligence can be overcome by illusion, yet it is also the key to overcome illusion

To practice spiritual life means to wage an inner war against the illusion created by our lower desires, especially lust. TheBhagavad-gita (03.36-43) vividly outlines the dynamics of this inner war.

To help us focus our attack, the Gita (03.40) mentions the strategic positions captured by lust: the senses, the mind and, surprisingly, the intelligence. The statement that intelligence is a stronghold of lust is surprising because it is with the intelligence that we comprehend lust’s inimical nature and combat it. Even the Gita itself (03.43) urges us to use our intelligence to conquer lust. So is our intelligence overcome by illusion or is it the key to overcome illusion?

When illusion overruns our intelligence, we indulge in lust “intelligently”, that is, we (ab)use our intelligence to cover our tracks after indulgence so as to preserve a façade of purity.

It is both, for the intelligence lies within the conflict zone wherein the line of control keeps shifting. Sometimes the intelligence is misled by illusion and sometimes it is led by truth. When illusion overruns our intelligence, we indulge in lust “intelligently”, that is, we (ab)use our intelligence to cover our tracks after indulgence so as to preserve a façade of purity.

When our intelligence is guided by truth, especially scriptural truth, then it realizes the folly and futility of illusory indulgences. Being thus illumined, the intelligence resists and repulses the onslaughts of illusion. Of course, intelligence alone is not enough to counter illusion – we need devotion and the omnipotent grace of Krishna that devotion connects us with. Still, frequently it is intelligence that helps us realize the glory of devotion and our need for devotion. Thus intelligence is the key to overcome illusion.

Nonetheless, because our intelligence is always vulnerable to be overcome by illusion, we need to safeguard it by regularly studying Gitawisdom. Such diligent study will make our devotion steadier and our march to victory in the inner war swifter.

To see life’s positive side, understand what life is and what its positive side is

Some people find the Bhagavad-gita pessimistic: “Why harp on life’s problems? Why not see its positive side?”

Actually, the Gita doesn’t harp on life’s problems – it mentions them just for impelling us to redirect our heart to life’s positive side.

To that end, Gita wisdom expands our conceptions of life and its positive side. Life, it informs us, is not restricted to a brief and brittle existence between the starting point of birth and the ending point of death. Life extends infinitely both into the past and the future, for what lives is the soul and the soul lives eternally. Each one of us is an eternal soul, beyond our perishable body.

Life is not restricted to a brief and brittle existence between the starting point of birth and the ending point of death.

And life’s positive side is not restricted to the occasional and ephemeral pleasures available at the material level. Life’s actual positive side is the life of the soul proper – the life of eternal ecstatic loving reciprocations between the soul and the all-attractive Supreme Person, Krishna, in his supreme abode.

With this expanded understanding, let’s look at the most quoted Gita verse about the miseries of material existence (08.15). Though it states that this world is miserable and temporary, its essential message is eminently positive: devotion to Krishna takes us to an eternal abode beyond this world. The same spirit runs throughout the Gita: far from harping on the world’s misery, it mentions misery as something that is transcended bybhakti-yoga.

And the positivity of bhakti is not restricted to the attainment of the next world –it encompasses this world too, for bhakti enables us to dovetail our worldly activities in devotional service and therein find spiritual fulfillment.

If we can be perceptive enough to see beyond the Gita’sincidental pessimism to its essential optimism, then we can relish life’s positive side eternally.

Without devotion, renunciation comes painfully; with devotion, even liberation comes joyfully

“To avoid karmic bondage, renounce the world.” This widespread notion governs Arjuna’s reasoning at the start of the Bhagavad-gita. However, the Gita recommends an alternative that centers not on renunciation but on devotion.

The Gita (05.06) conveys this emphatically by deeming mere renunciation of the material as painful and deeming yogic connection with the spiritual as expeditious in granting liberation. To effectively connect with the spiritual, Gita wisdom explains that the highest spiritual reality is Krishna and that the best yoga is bhakti-yoga. Why? Because bhakti-yoga spiritualizes our natural longings, instead of suppressing them, as does renunciation.

What is undesirable is not renunciation per se, but the renunciation that obsesses over rejection

What are our natural longings?

To seek happiness; to be active, doing things; to love and be loved.

Bhakti-yoga fulfills our quest for happiness through connection with the reservoir of all happiness, Krishna. Dovetailing our tendency to act, bhakti-yoga redefines our activities as forms of devotional service. It fulfills our longing for love by linking us with the supremely lovable and loving being, Krishna. Because bhakti-yoga integrates our natural longings, it is joyfully performed, as the Gita (09.02) declares. Moreover, bhakti-yoga is not just enlivening, but also rewarding, supremely rewarding – it eventually grants the ultimate liberation.

In contrast to such holistic devotion, the renunciation that denies our natural longings is unsustainable. Its price is prohibitive and its process, painful. Of course, what is undesirable is not renunciation per se, but the renunciation that obsesses over rejection. The renunciation that removes the distractions to devotion is desirable, for it accelerates the progress of devotion.

Importantly, the propeller for this progress is not renunciation, but devotion. If we focus unduly on renunciation, we will find ourselves drained and distressed. If instead we focus on serving Krishna to the best of our capacity, then by his grace, we will gradually become enlivened and liberated.

The worship of the demigods reaches Krishna, but the worshiper doesn’t by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita

An oft-quoted Sanskrit saying states, “Just as water falling from the sky reaches the ocean, the worship offered to the various gods reaches Keshava.”

Does this saying imply that the worship of all gods is the same and by extension that all gods are one?

No, because it asserts Krishna’s unique position as the ultimate object of worship, just as the ocean is the water’s final destination.

When a person pours water into a flowing river, the water reaches the ocean, but the person doesn’t.

The learned Gita commentator Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura adapts the water-ocean analogy by inserting the worshiper, not the sky, as the source of the water. When a person pours water into a flowing river, the water reaches the ocean, but the person doesn’t. Similarly, the worship offered to demigods by their worshipers reaches Krishna, but the worshipers themselves don’t.

Why?

Because their heart is not devoted to Krishna, and the Bhagavad-gita (08.06) indicates that our strongest attachment determines our post-mortem destination. The Gita (09.25) makes this generic point specific with regards to the object of worship by declaring that demigod worshipers attain the demigods and Krishna’s worshipers attain him. The reason for this difference in destinations is stated explicitly in the previous verse (09.24): ignorance of Krishna’s position as the ultimate object of worship. Krishna heads the cabinet for cosmic management in which the demigods are departmental ministers.

To accommodate spiritually under-evolved souls not yet ready to worship him, Krishna sanctions the demigods as intermediate objects of worship. Just as the tributes offered to the ministers reach the king, the worship offered to the demigods reaches Krishna. But as the demigod worshipers don’t know Krishna’s position, their heart’s devotion remains restricted to the demigods.

If demigod worshipers let Gita wisdom elevate their devotion to Krishna, then they too can reach him, thereby attaining life’s supreme destination.

Krishna is disinterested, but not uninterested by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita

Disinterested refers to neutrality, a lack of partisanship, whereas uninterested refers to apathy, a lack of concern.

Krishna is disinterested in the sense that he is not partial to anyone. He is the overseer of the world and he acts as a neutral judge giving people the karmic due for their actions. He doesn’t have any vested interests in promoting anyone or demoting anyone. Whenever people are promoted or demoted, that’s due to their own karmic actions. The Bhagavad-gita (09.09) declares the disinterestedness of Krishna in the material management of the universe.

Krishna’s interest is not that of an over-vigilant overseer out to catch people doing wrong – his interest is that of a tireless parent striving for the return of his lost children

Yet the same Gita later (09.29), while reiterating Krishna’s disinterestedness, also stresses his special interest in his devotees. He is so concerned about them that it is as if they are one in love: he is present in their heart and they in his.

Significantly, Krishna’s interest is not limited to his devotees alone. He is interested, immensely interested, in all living beings. Why else would he accompany them as the indwelling Supersoul – and accompany them lifetime after lifetime in their journeys through miserable material existence? His interest is not that of an over-vigilant overseer out to catch people doing wrong – his interest is that of a tireless parent striving for the return of his lost children. He doesn’t just await, but accompanies, the prodigal son.

Through his indwelling presence, he acts as a concerned coach who prompts us towards our ultimate well-being through conscience, intelligence and inspiration. Even when we remain apathetic towards him, lifetime after lifetime, he never becomes apathetic towards us. Indeed, who can be more interested in us than him?

By meditating on his interest in us, we can motivate ourselves to take interest in him – to understand his message, reciprocate with his love and thereby attain a life of eternal happiness with him.

Krishna is not an explanation for the unexplainable – he is the explanation for explanability

Some people conceive of God as an explanatory alternative to science: “There’s so much about the world that science can’t explain; we need God to explain those things.”

While such a conception of God may sometimes serve to highlight the limitations of science, it unnecessarily restricts his jurisdiction to the scientifically unexplainable. And if future advances in science explain the currently unexplainable, then the arena for God’s jurisdiction gets reduced, leading to what is know as the God-of-the-gaps fallacy.

Krishna is not the God-of-the-gaps; he is the God due to whom the gaps are fillable

Gita wisdom doesn’t entertain such a fallacious conception of God. The Bhagavad-gita (09.10) indicates that Krishna is the overseer of nature, implying thereby that he is the reason for the order present in nature. He is the God-of-everything, not the God-of-the-gaps. He is the reason that the gaps in our knowledge are fillable. If the universe were not guided by a supreme intelligence, why should it have any order at all? Why should its behavior have any explanation? Why should we have rational minds capable of deciphering those explanations?

Thus, God is not an explanatory alternative to science; he is the explanatory foundation, the raison d’être for all explanations.

Sometimes wisdom-traditions use the immense and inconceivable complexity of the universe as a pointer to God. But such pointers underscore primarily his intelligence, not his existence. If the order underlying the universe is so complex that it even the best brains in the universe require years, decades and even centuries to grasp that order, then it underscores how super-intelligent the brain of the order-maker must be. Such an acknowledgement of God’s glory doesn’t deny the possibility of future scientific research explaining what is currently unexplainable. If and when such explanations do come up, they won’t demonstrate his non- existence; rather, they would demonstrate his intelligence.

Hear to become aware of the savior who is ever here

How can we realize our spiritual nature?

The Bhagavad-gita in its thirteenth chapter overviews the nature of the soul’s entanglement in matter and the way to disentanglement. It mentions three of those methods – dhyana-yoga, sankhya-yoga and karma-yoga – in one verse (13.25) and then devotes one full verse (13.26) to the process of hearing, which is the first and foremost limb of bhakti-yoga. The Gita’s emphasis on bhakti-yoga is evident not only from the special attention it receives, but also from the special reach that it has, as is mentioned in the verse. The verse specifically highlights those who are unaware of life’s spiritual dimension, indicating thereby that they aren’t and don’t have to be spiritual seekers striving strenuously for higher realization. Even such people who might be considered mediocre spiritualists can, the verse assures, attain by regular hearing the supreme destination and go beyond the clutches of death.

Thus special efficacy of hearing stems from the distinctive potency of spiritual sound to arouse souls slumbering in spiritual forgetfulness. Just as material sound awakens from material sleep, spiritual sound awakens from spiritual sleep. Spiritual sound doesn’t refer to some eerie sound of a queer frequency produced by some exotic means; it simply refers to sound about spiritual reality, specifically the supreme spiritual reality, Krishna, coming from those who are perceiving that reality or at least sincerely aiming for it. Such Krishna-centered sound can be either his holy name or his sacred message or his sweet pastimes. Being our supreme savior who is eager to deliver us from all miseries, Krishna imbues spiritual sounds with his divine presence and omnipotence and grace. When we thus connect with him, spiritual sound activates our higher spiritual perception, thereby enabling us to sense Krishna’s presence everywhere, including close to us in our own heart.

Lust de-spiritualizes the subject and dehumanizes the object by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita

When the culture depicts lust as the expressway to enjoyment, how can we understand the Bhagavad-gita’s declaration (03.37) that lust is the enemy of the world?

Let’s consider two ways in which lust acts inimically.

 Lust de-spiritualizes the subject: People who become captivated by lust misidentify with their physical body and lose all awareness of their spiritual side. Lust de-spiritualizes its subjects not just in their conceptions, but also in their actions. Being infatuated by lust, people act in anti-spiritual and even immoral if not illegal ways, that wreck their spiritual prospects. No wonder the Gita (16.21), metaphorically speaking, deems lust as the destroyer of the soul.

 Lust dehumanizes the object: Lust makes its objects, the people who attract their lust-powered attention, seem not persons for reciprocation, but mere playthings for domination and gratification. Unfortunately, such dehumanization is accelerated and aggravated by abuse of technology. TV and the Internet present a parade of electronically enhanced forms that invite visual consumption and exploitation by lust-driven viewers. And in especially perverse depictions, human beings are reduced to inflated dolls that can be twisted and pierced and battered as per one’s fancies. As the mental is often the impeller of the physical, some depraved people re-enact in real life such gory perversities on hapless victims. Indeed, the regular news of reprehensible sexual abuses vindicates the Gita’s verdict about lust.

Of course, lust channelized along dharmic guidelines can be an integral part of a spiritually progressive life. But what brings the spiritualization and the progress is not lust per se, but dharma. And the dharma that can best spiritualize us and sensitize us to others is the topmost dharma of love for Krishna, for it undercuts the lure of lust by granting higher devotional happiness.

Fame is the pathway to not satisfaction but dissatisfaction

Fame is life’s driving purpose for many : “I would do anything to be the cynosure of all eyes, as are sportstars.”

Little do they realize that public attention hardly ever translates into personal satisfaction. Sportstars who are regularly greeted by cheers whenever they arrive in a sporting arena soon get used to it – the high coming from the cheer fades with time. To get a high, their fans need to do something extra, give some special applause. And to earn such applause, they need to deliver special performances.

But none of us, not even geniuses, are perfect. Even the most talented sportstars can’t perform superlatively all the time and so don’t get special applause.

And when the sportstars fail, as is inevitable in due course of time, the audience’s frustration bursts forth as boos and jeers. The sportstars already depressed by their poor performance end up feeling battered by the audience’s opprobrium.

The Bhagavad-gita underscores this discomforting reality about fame when it declares (02.34) that for those who have been honored, dishonor is worse than death.

Gita wisdom offers us a purpose higher than fame to live for. That purpose is love – , spiritual love for Krishna that can stay with us forever. We are at our core souls who hunger and thirst for love. Not knowing how to fulfill this longing, we try to substitute it by the titillation that fame provides.

When we pursue a life of loving service to Krishna, we may even get fame as a byproduct. Or we may not get fame, depending on what Krishna sees as best for our all-round growth. But we will definitely get what attracted us to fame in the first place: the hope for attention, affection and satisfaction – all of which are completely fulfilled in a loving relationship with Krishna.

Leave temptation – and don’t leave a forwarding address

When troublesome stalkers harass people repeatedly, they may decide to flee. For this strategy to succeed, they need to leave without leaving a forwarding address; otherwise, the stalkers will soon be snapping at their heels.

Similarly, when we find ourselves harassed and stalked by temptation, we need to flee to save ourselves. Fleeing usually means either getting ourselves physically away from the tempting circumstance or at least getting our thoughts away from the tempting stimuli. While retreating though, we frequently leave a forwarding address for the temptation. How? By continuing to entertain the temptation at the back of our mind – by refusing it with not “No”, but just “Not now.”

We often refuse temptation merely by the desire to preserve a respectable public profile or such external considerations – not by inner conviction.

Why are we half-hearted in our refusal?

Because we are often prompted merely by the desire to preserve a respectable public profile or such external considerations – not by inner conviction. Staying open for future opportunities to indulge privately is like leaving a clearly visible forwarding address for temptation. No wonder it keeps stalking us even after our refusal.

To stop the stalking, we need to leave for temptation no forwarding address. That is, we need to reject it wholeheartedly with the determined conviction that sensual pleasures are ultimately futile and that the devotional joys awaiting us are far more fulfilling. We can gain such determined conviction firstly by strengthening our intelligence through serious scriptural study and secondly by enriching ourselves through devotional activities such as prayer and meditation. Then our rejection of temptation will be clear and unequivocal. Pertinently, the Gita (06.24) urges us to reject distracting desires without making any exceptions.

A devotionally purposeful rejection of temptation founded on a wholehearted inner embrace of Krishna will propel us rapidly on the way to him, eventually taking us forever beyond the harassment of temptation.

Euphemisms of deception are expressways to degradation

Euphemisms often help express distressing truths sensitively. But sometimes they are abused as tools of deception, as verbal sleights-of-hand to make evil sound good.

Consider, for example, the advertising of strip clubs as “gentlemen’s clubs.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines a gentleman as “a well-mannered and considerate man with high standards of proper behavior.” The gentlemen’s club is no place for gentlemen – except for those who want to gently deny the reality that they are no longer gentlemen.

The gentlemen’s club is no place for gentlemen – except for those who want to gently deny the reality that they are no longer gentlemen.

Or consider the rephrasing of pornography as “adult entertainment.” The word makes indulgence in it seem like a welcome rite of passage: When we become adults, we get the right to vote and the right to enjoy adulterous entertainment sanitised as adult entertainment.

Once the perverse is thus legitimized by deceptive word jugglery, it soon perpetuates far beyond any limits. Today most adult TV channels or Internet sites allow entry by a single click on the “I am an adult” option without actually verifying the viewer’s adulthood. Thus children get unfiltered access to some of the most depraved products of the most perverted human imagination. Such exposure can psychologically scar even adults, what to speak of children with their highly impressionable minds. Repeated exposure can slaughter the viewers’ conscience, desensitizing them to not just morality but even humanity. When society witnesses some barbaric crimes, done by people who seem to have no conscience at all, the media often expresses shock – while conveniently forgetting its own role in making the shocking mainstream.

If a culture lets euphemisms of deception make the reprehensible seem respectable, it builds and broadens the expressway for people to slide down to degradation. The Bhagavad-gita (18.32) cautions against such deceptive and destructive misuse of intelligence when it declares that seeing things as opposite to what they actually are characterizes intelligence in the mode of ignorance.