How to deal with relatively harmless addictions?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so if someone is addicted even to relatively harmless things like somebody is addicted to ideas some people get addicted to distractions so how does even if we know that this is not good we can’t give it up so how do we go from there to the stage of becoming more productive and more godly in our life firstly the word addiction it usually connotes something very serious to use addiction for trivial things sometimes it may it may devalue the gravity of the problem drug addiction or alcohol addiction these are life threatening issues now distraction is usually not a life threatening issue if I am driving and if I am distracted then it can be life threatening but it is also damaging but it is not really life threatening so the point I am making is there are degrees or levels of addiction so basically the Bhagavata explains that there are three modes of material nature that is sattva guna, rajoguna, tamoguna the mode of goodness, the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance the modes are basically you could say broad broad ways in which consciousness interacts with matter broad patterns in which our mind functions so now there can be some addictions which are in the mode of ignorance which are destructive for ourselves which are destructive for others so say substance abuse that is addictions in the mode of ignorance there can be addictions in the mode of passion some people they are addicted to power whatever situation they are in they want to become more powerful than anyone else in that situation they will play all kinds of power games games compulsively even if they don’t need to some people may be addicted to money they are addicted to money for what? they have enough money but just they have to keep getting money keep earning, keep earning, it becomes a compulsion that’s definitely not as destructive as say alcohol addiction that’s an addiction, some people may have addiction to something in the mode of goodness some people may be just addicted to books keep reading, keep reading, keep reading there is it’s good to read but after reading we need to apply also some people just keep reading, reading, reading reading and then so all that information, information but there is no transformation so we have to always be aware of the particular particular way in which we may be attached and the purpose of our life so in any activity that we do there is the purpose of our overall life this is what I want to know and there is the pleasure of that activity so when say if I want to study and I want to do well in my career but then you know the IPL match is going on in India, I want to watch their IPL match also so now the pleasure of say watching a cricket match and the purpose of having a good career in my life, now these two are going in conflict now whichever becomes prominent in my consciousness if the pleasure of watching the match who will win, this team at this level, this team at this level if they win this then this will happen, if they win this this will happen, so the mind gets consumed in that so once then if that pleasure of the particular distraction that becomes more prominent in our mind then the purpose of our life then the pleasure will dominate us, that means the pleasure and purpose, there are two different tabs which are open and because if we are particularly attached to something then that tab of that activity is quite prominent it is there very in the forefront, so now for us to resist that the purpose tab has to be made more prominent and the whole purpose when we study philosophy, when we attend classes ultimately this class is not just for ok it is good to go and hear some spiritual stuff, but the point is that we have to the study of philosophy is to reinforce our ultimate purpose in life so every time we hear spiritual wisdom that wisdom should make the purpose tab more prominent, the pleasure tab is always going to be there and there are so many things in this world which will make the pleasure tab prominent but hearing philosophy hearing the Bhagavad Gita it makes the purpose tab prominent, this purpose is important for me and why is it important for me? See for new people the sabotage sabotage that happens is spiritual stuff, it’s not for me it’s not for me, it’s not important, I don’t believe in it, I don’t care for it, it’s irrelevant that’s how they get sabotaged in their spiritual life but for those who are spiritual practitioners the sabotage happens in a more subtle way that’s important but this is urgent and yes this is done yeah that’s important but this is urgent and then the urgent just keeps replacing the important throughout our life so for us when we are practicing spiritual life we will never say this is unimportant it’s important but this is urgent and this urgency this keeps going on and on and on and on so what happens is when we understand the philosophy then we understand this is important and this is also urgent sometimes in emergency other things maybe have to be done but I have to make time for this also so basically when we are trying to overcome some distraction to which we are habituated the first thing is just say no I won’t do this that will not work we have to find out what do I want to do the most effective way to say no to something is to have a yes for something better burning within us it’s when we have something yes burning then what happens is saying no becomes easier so the whole purpose of philosophical study is to make that yes burn brighter within our consciousness for us it should never happen that oh now I have one hour what should I do maybe maybe I can check my social media messages maybe I can just look at the news maybe I can watch something maybe I can read some scripture maybe I can talk with this person maybe I can do that and then usually when we don’t know what to do when we are unsure of what to do the mind will choose the path of least resistance and the path of least resistance is usually the thing with which we are most habituated the most addicted that’s why if you have a purpose it shouldn’t happen that I have one hour and I don’t know what to do rather our purpose should be so clear that I have this much time and I have this many things to do not that we feel burdened by that but we are aware of that as soon as I get time immediately I start doing that so if you decide I like to study scriptures I want to understand this Bhagavad Gita so we decide I am going to study this I want to complete say if I reach 10 pages everyday the Bhagavad Gita is 800 pages I can complete it in about 80 days in less than 3 months I can read the whole book just by reading 10 pages everyday ok let me do that and some days we will not be able to read at all we will just be too busy but other days we have time and if that purpose is prominent as soon as we have time we will start doing that so if we make the purpose prominent then the process will not be so difficult to follow if the purpose itself is not prominent we know I should not be doing this I should be doing this but we will feel I will do that afterwards let me do this right now so if we make the purpose prominent in our consciousness then the process will be the process is available for most of us but we just have to make the purpose prominent and by studying the philosophy by associating with those who have made the purpose prominent then that helps us to have that yes burning within us and once the yes is burning then saying no to something else becomes much easier now if we are doing nothing and some friend or some person whom we don’t know very well you know who is not a very who is not a very close friend of ours they say come lets go out for a walk ok I am not doing that come lets go anyway I am bored but if we are sitting with someone whom we love someone with whom we really want to spend time and at that time this person come lets go for a walk no I want to be here so when we have something more important to do when we have a more important person to meet with to say no to somebody less important is not so difficult we can do it courteously but still we will do it unambiguously no doubt about it otherwise you know if we are bored with the person we are with and there is another person who is also a boring person no should I do this should I do that should I do this should I do that then we might just get lost but if we are clear this is what I want to do so yes becomes always easier to say so no becomes easier to say when we have yes burning within us does this answer your question yes any other questions yes