Suppose we are going to a place where a feast is on the
menu, but someone takes us elsewhere, promising an even better feast. But what
we get there is not a feast, but just some crumbs of unhealthy food.
Something similar happens to us when we strive to grow
spiritually and raise our consciousness towards Krishna, but find it taken
towards the sense objects that promise pleasure – immediate and immense
pleasure at that. However, because our body’s capacity to enjoy is inescapably
limited, the sensations that come from contacting the senses with sense objects
are at best disappointingly brief.
Sometimes, we pursue physical sensations vicariously by
visually consuming explicit images – a consumption that seems harmlessly
titillating. But even if we neglect the harm done to the people who are thus
dehumanized and objectified by being reduced to their contours, we can’t
neglect the harm we do to our own consciousness. It gets degraded to lower,
more depraved levels, wherein deeds that would have been earlier unthinkable
become over time entertainable, enjoyable and even irresistible. Additionally,
our determination to cultivate spiritual consciousness gets increasingly
eroded, as the Bhagavad-gita (02.44) cautions. When our consciousness is thus
materially abducted, it is not present at the spiritual level; so, it can’t
relish the ineffable, immeasurable, inexhaustible fulfillment available through
devotional absorption in Krishna.
Studying Gita wisdom helps us understand our spiritual
identity as souls, beloved parts of Krishna, meant for a life of eternal
fulfilling love with him. And bhakti-yoga gives us enchanting glimpses of these
enriching higher emotions. Illumined by such spiritual insights and
experiences, the reality registers within us that we are being duped of
happiness in the name of happiness. Thus, our fighting spirit gets triggered,
and we determinedly hold on to Krishna, firmly resisting physical sensations
and increasingly relishing spiritual emotions.
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