How to overcome lust or material desire

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
How to overcome lust or material desires? This is something which all of us are struggling. It’s not an overnight process. But broadly, I talk about this in three terms.
It’s three Rs. Restriction, Redirection and Reconstruction. What I mean by this is, say, if this floor is inclined like this, then, as soon as water falls on this floor, the water is naturally going to go in this direction.
Even if I say, I don’t want the water to go there. If the floor is inclined, it is going to go there. So, now we use our inclination to refer to physical tilt.
But also, we use our inclination to talk about our mind. I have an inclination for sports. I have an inclination for music, like that.
So, inclination means it’s a tilt of the mind. So, our thoughts, when our consciousness falls, it naturally flows in that direction. So, our attachments, they cause a tilt of our consciousness.
So, whatever I’m attached to, my consciousness will naturally flow in that direction. And now, what do I do when the water is flowing in this direction? First thing is, if I don’t want the water to flow in this direction, create a sub-wall, sub-bandh. It blocks the water.
So, whichever desire you want to control, we try to create some distance between us and the particular sense object. So, how that will practically work out, that will vary according to person to person. But the point is that there is some restriction.
The water doesn’t flow so immediately. So, now, restriction alone is not enough. Eventually, the water will accumulate, accumulate, and it will break the restrictions.
So, after that, there is redirection. If I don’t want the water to go this way, I want the water to go this way. And what I do is, I get some pipe, I get some brush, and I push it in other direction.
So, similarly, we push our consciousness, which is going towards worldly objects, I push it towards Krishna. I push it towards Krishna. So, we have to find out what works as the best pusher for us.
That means, that within Krishna Bhakti also, we find out things with which we can immediately connect with Krishna. For some of us, it may be some kirtans. Not just kirtans, but maybe a particular devotee’s kirtans.
Or, some of us, it may be Vaishnav songs, some particular Vaishnav songs. For some of us, it may be dharsan of a deity, that we get to dance around, and look at how beautiful the deities are, how their desires just decrease. Or, some of us may be more philosophically inclined.
So, some hearing of a particular devotee’s classes, or reading about a particular section from scripture, whatever it is. So, we have to find out the pushers that work for us. And third thing is, that if we don’t want the water to flow in this way, we reconstruct the floor.
Because if the floor is inclined this way, then water will naturally flow in this direction. So, that reconstruction is purification. As we keep practicing bhakti, as we keep pushing our consciousness towards Krishna, then gradually by this, our inner floor will get reconstructed.
That means our thoughts will naturally, smoothly start going towards Krishna. And that way, then we will become, just as our thoughts are going naturally towards worldly pleasures, our thoughts are going naturally towards Krishna. So, that may take some time, but that will happen.
And, so at our level, we can’t expect the change overnight. We have to be realistic. You know, there are some lapses, there are some falls.
But you don’t have to become disheartened about it. You have to always be Krishna conscious. You don’t have to be renunciation conscious, or sense control conscious.
The purpose is to remember Krishna. So, the important thing is, that if we consider the graph of our consciousness, so sometimes material desires shoot up. And when they shoot up, it’s almost impossible to resist them.
But, after they decrease, after shooting up, they come down, then we have normal society. Consciousness is normally reasonable. So, when the desires shoot up, it may be almost impossible to resist at that time.
But the important thing is, not what happens during those surges, what is important is what happens in between. Unfortunately, what happens is, when the surge is there, we indulge, and after that, we are beating ourselves. Why did I do that? So, what are we doing? When the desires surge up, at that time the mind goes, come on, do it, do it, do it.
And we say, okay, I’ll do it. And after that, the same mind takes a double look. You fool, why did you do it? And the mind is beating us, beating us, beating us.
Then what is happening? Again we are mind conscious. And after some time, again the surge comes up, again we fall. So, if we are always mind conscious, then how will things ever change? So, okay, the surge happened, something happened at that time.
But after that, okay, what’s over is over, now let me focus on Krishna. So, in between the surges, if we are focusing on connecting with Krishna wholeheartedly, then what will happen? That connection with Krishna will purify us. And gradually by the purification, eventually we’ll come to a level, when the surges come also, we’ll be able to resist it.
And gradually the surges will also decrease. So, we don’t have to obsess too much over the surges. When the surges come, it may be difficult to resist at that time.
We can try to resist. And as I said, if we have some restrictions, some obstacles, that can help us to tolerate the phase of surges also. But the more important thing is, not what happens during the surge of desire, more important is what happens in between.
So, in between if we are, in the normal time we are trying to be as Krishna conscious as possible, that will purify us. We should not become frustrated devotees of renunciation. We want to always be hopeful devotees of Krishna.
So, we want to be hopeful devotees of Krishna. Even if I have these desires, even if they overcome me, it doesn’t matter. I keep practicing Krishna Bhakti, and by the practice of Krishna Bhakti, gradually the surges will become more manageable, and the surges will decrease also.
So, it’s a gradual process. And we don’t define our spiritual advancement in terms of our sense control. That is one parameter.
But we define our spiritual advancement primarily in terms of our commitment to connect with Krishna. So, if you focus on the positive, let me keep connecting with Krishna as much as I can, then gradually the negative will decrease, and we won’t overcommit.