Regulation is a protection measure, not a trust issue

Suppose a teenager is to stay alone at home. When his parents are leaving, they remind him to bolt the door and activate the security system. But, with typical adolescent machismo, he bristles, “Don’t you trust me? I can fight off any thieves. Just see my biceps.” Closing doors is not a trust issue, but a protection measure. What if several thieves come in – or if they come armed? Why risk unnecessary danger? Today’s Internet-based digital culture offers us round-the-clock access to a whole universe of distraction. Such distraction threatens our basic concentration and contribution, and even our ethical and moral standards. Moreover, with the proliferation of unsolicited mails, deceptive links and pop-ups, we may find ourselves transported digitally into triviality or obscenity without even realizing where we are going. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (03.41), while outlining how to combat lust, recommends that we begin by regulating our senses. Regulation of senses means not just regulating sensual indulgence, but also regulating access to opportunities for such indulgence. Translated to the digital domain, this Gita recommendation can mean regulating net access through appropriate filters. When our well-wishers recommend such regulation, we may take offense and ask, “Don’t you trust me?” Actually, that’s the wrong question to ask because the issue here is not trust, but protection. We gain nothing except danger by keeping a door unnecessarily open in our digital domain. Even if we can resist distractions, we have better things to do in life than fighting avoidable distractions. The best thing we can do, Gita wisdom explains, is to learn to love and serve Krishna, thereby progressing towards meaningful contribution in this life and ultimate liberation in the next. By voluntarily closing the door to non-devotional and anti-devotional alternatives, we give ourselves opportunities for deeper absorption in constructive service to Krishna.