Bhagavatam-daily 224 – 11.11.30 – Even if desires dont get out, we can wait them out

Thank you kamair ahadir danto one who is not disturbed by the onslaught of desires danto that is one who is self-controlled so again in this list we will not be able to deal with all the qualities kamair ahadir one who is not disturbed by desires and unnecessary cause of discouragement in bhakti is unrealistic expectation sometimes when we practice bhakti we expect purification immediately and completely that means we expect that the desires which we have now decided are not what we want to pursue those desires should disappear and disappears quickly but that is not what is likely to happen because those desires have been around us for a long time and we have not only they have been around but we have entertained them for a long time not only we entertained them we have actually welcomed them we have invited them for example in materialistic of culture there are so many novels and movies and websites dedicated to triggering and maximizing lust in their explicit descriptions explicit depictions which people savor eagerly hoping to get pleasure trigger themselves sexually thereby and then get pleasure so we come from that culture some of us may have indulged in such things also in the past and because of those conditionings we end up we have ended up actually welcoming and inviting those desires and now those same desires we want them not only to get out but get out of sight and out of sight forever that is just not going to happen because those desires have been around so long and they have become so deep rooted that sending them out is going to take time so we need to wait out those desires we can’t expect them to get out but we have to wait out wait out means that those desires are there but we won’t indulge in them we just neglect them and actually when we neglect the desires they gradually become weaker because ultimately those desires are fueled by our indulgence in them indulgence may not even be physical but even if it is in terms of consciousness if we dwell on the desire the desire gets strength it’s like a person who was an unwanted guest who had been stealing from us while enjoying our hospitality and suppose there is a smooth talking guest by the smooth talking the person has deluded us for a long time and the person has the capacity to delude us even now if we are not cautious in such a situation we need to recognize that we are in a vulnerable situation and we may although now we have recognized that this person is not worthy of being received as a as a respectable guest in our house this person is a thief, is unprincipled and needs to be driven out but still because we have been subjected to the smooth talking and we have been deluded by the smooth talking of the stranger earlier we may be deluded again and to avoid being deluded thus we need to recognize that that person’s spell can be quite seductive and we have to be on guard and we may tell that person to get out but that person may not get out then we have to wait out, you are not going to be allowed inside I am not going to entertain you anymore that is the disposition that we need to cultivate towards unwanted desires so Danta refers to especially determined self-control sense control specifically that means the desires come internally but one doesn’t let oneself get so disturbed by those desires that one indulges them physically no, they come in the mind and we don’t give them any space in the mind and then gradually they go away just like somebody may knock on the door and knock, knock, knock, knock, knock and if you just don’t open the door how long is that person going to keep knocking that person will go away with you but we can’t push out we can’t force that person out over there from there so we just have to wait out sometimes you know we get unwanted phone call you know who is calling we just decided not to respond to that call we can put that phone on silent and let that person keep calling, keep calling, keep calling and eventually how many times is that person going to call that person will stop so like that we need to give the silent treatment to material desires of course the best treatment is the devotional treatment where we fix our mind on Krishna and thereby we don’t feel lured by worldly temptations because we understand that it is Krishna who is all attractive it is Krishna who is our greatest well-wisher it is Krishna who is our eternal master and it is in him that we can find lasting happiness therefore, we stay focused on him but at the same time while staying focused on him at the periphery of our awareness awareness temptations will come up and we don’t get disturbed by them that means we don’t let them enter we don’t let them certainly we don’t let them take control of our consciousness we just keep them outside, they keep knocking knocking sometimes a thief may have the force to just break down the door and come in but material desires they cannot force their way into our consciousness if we don’t pay attention to them they are forced out, they have to stay out of course I thought we just suddenly get thrusted into our memory into our consciousness because of say some memory popping up from our subconscious suddenly or some tempting stimuli that we may see externally and because of this we may start thinking that this is terrible the desire has come but the desire has come that does not mean that we have to welcome it we can just stop paying attention to it and turn our attention to something more constructive turn our attention to Krishna and once we do that we will find that yes we will become much calmer and gradually that insistent knock of desire on our consciousness will decrease and will stop so by being determined to wait out rather than ranting because those desires are not getting out by waiting out those desires they will automatically get out and they will see clearly that nothing is going to happen then they will be eliminated from our consciousness once and for all that may take a long time but till then the willingness to wait them out will force them to get out thank you