How can we go beyond suppressing desire to becoming free from even the urge?

Answer Podcast:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
but the urge remains. How can we deal with the urge? Krishna talks about this in the Bhagavad Gita in 2.59, 60, 61.
In 59, he says the same exact point which you are seeing. We sometimes stay away from the object of enjoyments. And that time we feel as if I am hungry.
I need something, but I am not getting it. I am starving. And then rasavarjam, rasopyasya.
Although we stay away from that object, but the desire, the craving, the taste for that object remains. But Krishna says, how can we overcome it? By a higher vision, by a higher experience, we can become peaceful. And then without that higher vision, suppression is not sustainable.
Krishna says that in the next verse in 2.60, he says that the senses, our desires will drag us away. Even if we have intelligence, even if we try to control it, the desires will drag us away if we do not have a higher connection. And what is that higher connection? He says in 2.61, So, taani sarvaayi sanyamya.
There is some amount of control that is required. But the next is yukta aasita matpara. Yukta aasita matpara means fix your consciousness on me.
And by this, vashyahi asyendriyayi, we will be able to control our senses and tasya pradyam pratishtita, which a person is of wise intelligence, steady intelligence. So, two examples to illustrate this. Suppose we are in the dark and we are not able to see anything, say the power has gone off.
And somewhere we see a candle, some flickering light. In the darkness, even the candle is valuable. It will give you some light.
But after the power turn comes back, then even if the candle is on or off, you may not even notice it. Why? Because we have got far greater light in that. Similarly, there are many desires and cravings that we have.
And even if we indulge in those desires and cravings, the pleasure that we get is little. Because all the objects that the world provides us, the capacity to enjoy is limited. If somebody decides to eat and enjoy, how much can we eat and enjoy? The body’s capacity to eat is limited.
Similarly, whatever activities that we do with any of our senses, the pleasure that we get out of it is always limited. So, it’s like the light from a flickering candle. But when we don’t know of any other pleasure, then that’s what we crave for.
But when we connect with God, when we practice bhakti yoga, we experience a higher happiness. So, we may experience it most accessibly when there is spiritual music, when there is kirtan, when there is singing. But that is just one time experience.
When we devote ourselves to God, that sweetness of devotion permeates our entire life and gives us higher satisfaction. So, when that higher satisfaction comes, then that craving, that urge itself gets countered because it’s fulfilled in a higher way. So, what the Bhagavad Gita talks about is not suppression, but redirection.
Redirection means our longing for happiness is natural to us. We all have a conviction that happiness is my right. And the Bhagavad Gita agrees with this conviction.
But it also says happiness is our right, but we need the right way to happiness. What the world offers us is a little happiness followed by a lot of suffering. Krishna says in 18.38 in the Bhagavad Gita, When there is contact of senses and sense objects, there is pleasure.
In the beginning, it is like nectar. The result is poison. There is a little pleasure, but after that there is a lot of complication.
Just like if people eat, overeat, a little pleasure as long as the food is there on the tongue. But afterward, there is the bloating of the stomach and obesity. There are various diseases.
There is lethargy. There is a whole set of complicated results that come up because of that little indulgence. So, there is initial nectar, but afterwards there is poison.
And this is also true with respect to sexuality. Sexual pleasure is incessantly glamorized in today’s world. But there is a little pleasure, but when there is no regulation, there are so many complications that come up.
There can be diseases. There can be divorces. There can be ruptured relationships.
There can be heartbreaks. And all that comes because one is not regulated. So, what the Bhagavad Gita says is not that we give up the desire for happiness.
Happiness is our right. But we need the right way to happiness. And that is not that when we say we have to connect with God, the connection with God does not mean rejection of the world.
The Bhagavad Gita doesn’t offer the vision of God as someone who is far away from this world. Yes, God is beyond this world, but God is also within this world. That means the things of this world, whatever we are doing, we do them for God.
Our work, we do it in the mode of worship to God. Svakarmana namah bheja. By your work, worship Him.
Our relationships, we pursue those in our relationship with God. That means whatever relationships we have, we have a vertical relationship with God. We have horizontal relationship with others.
So, we see others. Krishna says, When you get spiritual knowledge, at that time you will see all living beings as my parts. That means we don’t reject others, but we see that all of them are also connected with God.
So, we are all in one spiritual family of God. So, when we connect with God directly by practicing bhakti, by chanting the holy names, by worshiping Krishna, and we connect the rest of our life with God, by doing it, doing our work, pursuing our relationships with a spiritual understanding of life, then our life will become filled with a higher satisfaction. And with that higher satisfaction, whatever lower urges are there, we will be able to reject them much more easily.
So, there is some amount of self-control that is required. But that is the beginning. Self-control is the beginning to self-fulfillment.
Self-realization and self-fulfillment. So, just as when a horse is initially to be restrained, they use the word for breaking a horse. A horse has never been ridden by a human being.
The horse is quite turbulent and violent. And if a human being tries to get on it, the horse throws off that person. So, for breaking the horse, initially there are trained horse trainers who come and then they break the horse.
Once the horse is broken, then it becomes a graceful ride on the horse. So, initial phase is a little difficult. But once the horse is broken, then riding is a smooth experience.
So, Krishna says, similarly, that spiritual joys, the higher joys, they taste This is in 18.37, the verse before this, what I quote you just now. So, whereas worldly pleasures are like nectar in the beginning, but poison in the end. Whereas spiritual joys, they may seem to be like poison in the beginning with a little difficulty.
But they are nectar in the end. To focus the mind on God, to spiritualize our life conception that requires some education, some concentration, some change of our association, that may be a little difficult. But once we do that, that initial poison we go through, then that’s like breaking the horse.
Once the horse is broken, and the horse is disciplined, then there is a smooth ride ahead. In the lasting level, there is satisfaction, sustained satisfaction that comes in our life. Does that answer your question? Right.
Any other questions?