When passion gains domination it sends reason on vacation

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
and the mind’s obstinacy will become weaker, When passion goes on domination, it sends reason on vacation, we all have a lower side and a higher side, and our higher side, enables us to act reasonably, intelligently, thoughtfully, our lower side, in contrast, makes us act stupidly, suicidally, crazily, so, what do we do in situations where, we find ourselves, being, triggered by, irrational passions, ultimately, any kind of craving, as it becomes an addiction, it starts becoming more and more irrational, it’s paradoxical, that, rationality, is often associated with irrationality, the so-called rationality of, intelligence, aggravated the irrationality, of the mind, people, in the name of rationality, they become skeptical, they become, anti-spiritual, they become materialistic, they become atheistic, they may themselves individually, adopt that kind of, belief, but collectively, the result, of such a belief system, is that, people’s irrational passions, get aggravated, people can’t understand that, they, are not, what they imagine themselves to be, they think that they are very, having a high critical intelligence, by which, they refuse to believe, in, irrational concepts such as, God or afterlife, but, leave alone any irrational concepts in an afterlife, they end up believing, irrational concepts in this very life itself, what are the irrational concepts in this very life, now the idea, that, the way the mind imagines, pleasure, to be present and present in abandoned quantity, in irresistible quantity, in things which are actually, on one side, offering very little pleasure, and other side, offering a lot of trouble, there are two sides, of the, same coin, the mind distorts our vision, by making the trouble seem to, dream, so little, that it’s not even worth noticing, and the pleasure, to be so great, that, one can’t even, consider resisting that, when this kind of vision distortion happens, what can we do, so we need to be, very cautious, with respect to, how we, view our day to day situation, if, we, let skepticism, define us, then, we end up denying our spiritual side, and the more we deny our spiritual side, the more we become vulnerable, to our material side, the more we become, prone, to succumbing to sensuality, because, we want, we are by our very nature, creatures who seek happiness, and if we don’t get happiness, at the spiritual level, through the deeper, higher things of life, then we will be drawn, dragged, and degraded, in seeking pleasures, at the lower level in life, when, people get addicted, the addiction, is not just a result of their, infatuation with, a particular, object, yes, that infatuation, that irresistible craving is there, but usually there are deeper issues, the deeper issue is, a sense of disorientation, a sense of purposelessness, when we have nothing to fight for, then we fall for anything, of course, some people who succumb to addictions, they may have, faced a lot of fights, and, they may be fighting against a lot of things, but, what are they fighting for, fighting for means, that, what is it, that, we are, seeking, through our, life, when life doesn’t have a constructive purpose, a higher purpose that inspires us, that enlivens us, that unites us, then the lower purpose of life, starts, captivating and overwhelming us, when, the, and which lower purpose will overwhelm us, that depends on our, culture, what is glamorized in that culture, that depends on our conditionings, what we are vulnerable to, so for example, a person, who is not very, particular about, the kind of, indulgences that they succumb to, that person, may well, take up something which is, dangerous, even disastrous, and, just succumb to that, because, they at that particular point at least, have nothing higher to live for, so which passions will drive us, that, is, often determined by our, conditions and our conditionings, and once, a passion starts driving us, then again, reason goes on a vacation, then, rationality, becomes, the breeding ground for irrationality, because, the rational worldview, by stripping, people of, people’s lives of higher meaning, of spiritual purpose, it, makes them vulnerable, to fall for irrational passions, and this, is a great tragedy, because if, we do not, recognize the need, for, we do not recognize the need, for, something which brings meaning to our life, then, we will, find meaning in utterly meaningless things, so, for a, person who is an addict, or a person who is becoming an addict, the particular object of attention, of addiction, becomes the focus of, attention, becomes the source of, nourishment, becomes, the center around which their life starts revolving up, if we do not want, to fall, for lower things, we need to consistently, remind ourselves, of our life’s higher purpose, without regular reminders, of life’s higher purpose, the lower purpose, which, is, inevitably there, in the lives of all of us, that will snap up, and that will, drag us down, so, if, we recognize, the need, what is our deeper need, if we are simply fighting addiction at the level of addiction, we will keep fighting for the rest of our life, and maybe for future lives also, because, to resist material conscious, resist, to resist material pleasures, when we are in material consciousness, is almost, always a losing battle, why, because, we need pleasure, and, what pleasure is available than material pleasure, when we are in material consciousness, and then, within material consciousness, depending on our level, if, gross sensual pleasures, are what appeal to us, then their appeal will soon become irresistible, if we are to, win the battle, against, temptations, that will begin by, recognizing that, we need to rise higher, it will begin by recognizing that, we need to, get a higher meaning, higher purpose in our life, rather than, rather than lamenting about what we are falling for, we can focus on, what we are fighting for, if we, gain spiritual wisdom, then, actually our rationality, rationality, gets stability through spirituality, otherwise, rationality, becomes, the rationalization for the irrationality of sensuality, by, ensuring that, our, understanding, is focused on our spiritual side, on our, higher, purpose of life, we can, learn, to fight against the lower passions, that keep, dragging us down, again and again, yes, we need to resist, the lower, passions whenever they, start, surfacing, but the way to resist those lower passions, is not just by fighting against them, it is by, fighting for something higher, it is, by having something higher to fight for, just like say, if we decide, we are in a room, and we are locked in that room, and there is a movie being, being played on the television, and that is the only channel available, now, if we, are in a locked room, with, a TV playing, and with nothing else to do, even if the, it is playing a, sensual, violent, and, very obscene movie, and which we do not want to watch, but when there is nothing else to do, eventually we will fall for it, like that, materialism, ends up, making us conceive of life, conceive of existence, in terms of a locked room, where there is nothing better to do in life, than pursue, sensual pleasures, and, quite often, people fall for sensuality, not because of the craving, but because of the boredom, to the extent we understand, that, we need higher purpose to fight lower desires, to that extent, we will, take the, quest for higher purpose seriously, the Bhagavad Gita, offers us the highest purpose, of, love, of reciprocating love, with an all-attractive, eternal supreme, who is, our lord and master, who is, who loves us always, and who is always there for us, to, move closer to, who is there closest in our hearts, and to whom we can move close, if we just turn our heart towards him, if we just, learn to love him, if we, move forwards, and, learn to prayerfully, devotionally connect with him, so, when passion gains domination, it sends reason on vacation, and without a reason, to guide us, the passion, makes us do, irrational, immoral, unconscionable things, and if we are to resist, these pulls of passion, we need to, have, the, focus, on the spiritual, the focus on, who we are, and what we are, meant to achieve in our life, and, spiritual worldview, even if it does not seem immediately relevant, for our battling our, compulsive desires, but it is actually, most foundationally, powerful, in helping us, to overcome those desires, because, it gives us, something, to, arise up to, to overcome something, we need to, come over it, and, come over means rise above, and this, spiritual, worldview, that helps us to rise above, lower desires, sensual, immoral desires, and thus, overcome them. Thank you.