How do we differentiate between needs and wants?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
how do we differentiate between what is a need and what is a want this is something which will vary from individual to individual just like food some people may just eat 2 chapatis some people may eat 8 chapatis different people have different digestive powers different people have different kind of physical work that they do it will vary so the test of whether one is overeating or eating appropriately is what happens afterwards if I eat 8 chapatis and I sleep for 6 hours after that then obviously that means I have overeaten if somebody eats 8 chapatis and they get energized to do work that means that is their need similarly, it is possible that different people with respect to other aspects of material life also they have different needs so basically Krishna says that if one eats too little or one eats too much such a person cannot become a yogi so the basic approach of dealing with food is that we don’t let food obsess our mind if we take too little food, it will obsess us if we eat too much, again that also obsesses the mind that just de-energizes us and then we are always thinking when will I get next to it similarly, with respect to our material life what comfort level I should live at what kind of facilities I need so we have to look at our own self and we have to find out what is the level that I am peaceful at basically, when we are fasting different devotees fast at different levels some people may just fast nirjal, some people may take some water some people may take one meal, it’s all fine the important thing is what do we do when we are fasting so, food if we are fasting on a holy day the point is, food is often a distractor from Krishna that day we put food aside and we focus on Krishna but sometimes the food, desire for food so much need or desire, whatever you want to say that thought of food consumes us so much that we can’t think about Krishna better take some food and then again start focusing on Krishna so basic point is, we have to deal with food in a way that food does not become a competitor to Krishna isn’t it? It can become a competitor when it is too little it can become a competitor when it is too much also similarly, with respect to our material life we have to adjust our material life in such a way that it doesn’t become a competitor to Krishna simplicity does not mean poverty simplicity essentially means that our material life does not consume our mental life that means, if say I can live at a particular financial level and then I take too big a house then what happens? then the worry about how will I pay the installment that consumes me so much that I can’t do anything, can’t function properly but if I have lived at a particular level of comfort throughout my life and suddenly I decide to live very simply then that itself causes so much inconvenience for me so much mental stress for me, that again I can’t focus if somebody has lived in a city in a comfort throughout their life and suddenly they start living in a village so the basic facilities are not there, that causes so much trouble for them so there, the basic point is that we adjust our material life in such a way that we can go on to bigger things in life so what that will be? that is, we have to find out what level doesn’t cause us too much stress in terms of it causing too much anxiety and doesn’t cause us too much dissatisfaction in terms of feeling, oh I don’t have this, I don’t have that so that way, by introspection by introspection ourselves at what level, sometimes some people may take a light job and they are not earning much but they are focused on spiritual life, they are happy but somebody else may take a light job and they feel, I have not done anything in my life they may not be at that stage so it’s not that, in spiritual life, we should not think in terms of right and wrong because what happens what is right and what is wrong, there are of course moral things there are certain things which are definitely wrong, which you need to give up like following regularity principles but beyond that, rather than right and wrong we should focus on what is right for me so for somebody else that may be right, for me this may not be right at least not at this time it’s like, we may look at how much others are eating and then we may go, oh this person eats so less I should also try to decrease my eating but we can’t imitate them, we have to eat what we need to eat so that we get energy so similarly but at the same time, if we eat more than what is necessary we will have a detrimental effect so basically, when our material life starts consuming our mental life either in the sense of deprivation oh I don’t have enough, I don’t have enough or in terms of craving, in terms of too much stress too much agitation, too much anxiety then we should know that there is something which needs adjustment so that way by proper introspection and it’s often after we have done introspection, it’s good to consult our family members, our relatives, maybe our devotee friends also and understand this but we all have to make this decision individually about what is a need and what is a desire what is a want