The mind can make a soldier into a deserter or even a betrayer Gita 05.22

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Krishna is speaking here.
In a well known verse which talks about. The nature. Of material existence.
And especially more specifically. The nature of material pleasure. What Krishna says is.
That actually in this world. No matter what we do. No matter how alluring.
The processes of pleasure that are there in this world. Ultimately. The pleasure that we get here is temporary.
And. The. Not only is it temporary.
It actually leads to misery. I mean. Today’s world.
This is not a very popular message. Of course. At one level.
This is never a popular message. Because the conditioned soul. Always wants to enjoy.
And. Because the soul wants to enjoy. But the soul can never be.
Happy. In this world. Because here.
There is pleasure which is short lived. And. This pleasure.
It comes for some time and then it disappears. So. Unfortunately.
We live in a world where. There is just so much. So much attachment.
So much. Endurance. So much.
So much. So much infatuation. With the promise of pleasure.
That people just get. Completely consumed. By the promise of pleasure.
And they just. Lose out on everything else. Because of that promise.
There is almost nothing. That they can do. Given the compulsiveness.
Of the desire. And unfortunately. In today’s world.
There is so much of. So much of. Propaganda.
That there is so much pleasure. There is so much pleasure here. That people just.
Can’t think of anything. Other than the sensual pleasure. And.
As Krishna. Krishna talks about. The mentality of these people.
He says that they think that. That this is. Life’s ultimate purpose.
They can’t think of anything. Beyond. Sensual pleasure.
Because they are habituated. To believing. That this is the only pleasure.
That there is no other. There is no other pleasure. Apart from this.
They believe. This is the purpose of life. And given that belief.
There is very little. That anyone can do. To protect people.
From their. From the sensual imagery. That haunts their minds.
There is practically nothing. That people can do. Because.
No matter how much they try to resist. How much they try to counter. No matter how much they try to.
Protect themselves. From the illusions of the world. They find themselves.
Captivated again. And again and again. And.
Eventually. There is very little left. For people to do.
That they find themselves. We can resist the mind’s. Lures.
But there is a limit to how long we can keep resisting those lures. Over a period of time. As those lures.
Keep alluring us again and again and again. And there is a double attack. Comes from the media externally.
And the mind internally. It becomes almost irresistible. Of course among the two.
The mind. Is far more insidious. Far more dangerous than the media.
Because. It is the mind which takes the images. That come from the media.
And magnifies it. And glamorizes it. So that.
One ends up. Captivated. By the.
Source of. All pleasure. So.
As we get. Captivated. By.
By what we believe is the source of all pleasure. Then. We end up.
Finding it impossible to resist. The allurements. In a war.
There is a formidable enemy attacking from outside. It is difficult enough. To fight against that enemy.
But that external enemy. Is also aided. By an internal enemy.
That external enemy. Is aided by. A traitor from within.
Then. Saving oneself is almost impossible. Because.
We may have some weapons which may train against the enemy. But. Just as we are.
Just as we are about to shoot. That weapon. Suddenly somebody from our party comes.
And turns that weapon. Around. So that instead of shooting someone else it shoots us.
Now normally. If in a. Army. Somebody is found.
To be working for the enemy. They are immediately blamed as a traitor. And the strongest of action is taken against them.
In an army. There is a soldier. There is a deserter.
And there is a traitor. A soldier is one who is fighting for that army. A deserter is one who gives up the army.
And goes away. A deserter. So somebody may desert.
Because of fear. And desertion itself is considered. A serious crime.
A soldier who deserts in the war. Can be court-martialed. And can be severely punished.
In their court-martial. Similarly. Now.
We all can. When we are trying to fight the war. It is the mind which deserts us.
When the mind deserts us. What happens is. That.
When the mind deserts us. We can no longer. Use that mind for.
Doing anything constructive in our life. We can no longer use that mind. For.
Moving closer to Krishna. We can no longer use that mind. For.
Even doing something which is. Magnificent for us. For the long run.
Naturally the mind is not just a deserter. That means. Desertion is sometimes.
When say. A temptation attacks us. We are just not able to think.
What should I be doing now? Should I be fighting? Should I not be fighting? Should I be. Should I be. How should I be fighting? Which weapon should I use? It’s almost like.
Sometimes we go into a state of. Being dazed. All thoughts get paralyzed.
And thereafter. We are not able to. Move forward in our life.
In moving towards Krishna. So it’s vital for us. To.
To practice the process of bhakti. And. Move towards Krishna.
If we know. What is life’s ultimate purpose. But when the mind is deserted.
When the mind has deserted us. Then we can’t do anything. When the mind.
We are referring here inclusively to the subtle body. Which. Our intelligence is also there.
But our intelligence is paralyzed. The mind’s desertion. Is bad enough.
But it’s treachery is even worse. When the mind becomes a betrayer. When the mind becomes a treacherer.
And at that time. It just turns upon us. And it.
Destroys us. Totally destroys us. That means.
Instead of thinking of reasons. For. Protecting ourselves from temptation.
We start thinking of reasons. To further give into the temptation. To capitulate to temptation.
To. Become consumed. By the desire for pleasure.
By the fantasy of pleasure. You know. We all have desires.
The desire. Is actually a state of the soul. Now.
Either our desire. Can take us towards reality. Or our desire can take us towards fantasy.
When the desire takes us towards fantasy. That means. That.
When the desire takes us towards fantasy. That means. It is actually.
Taking us away from reality. And. The greatest fantasy.
In the material world ultimately. Is that. In this world.
And especially smudged out in sensual pleasure. Especially sexual pleasure. The source of unending happens.
The source of the supreme happens. And. Our desires.
Shape. Our focus. Now.
If somebody is hungry. And they come to a particular room. The first thing they will see is food.
Is there any food over here. So. Our desires shape our being.
You see. Now. Again.
The mind is captivated by sensual desire. We are trying to now understand. How the mind deserves us.
Or how it betrays us. So. When the mind gets captivated.
By the desire for sensual pleasure. And then when we buy into. The mind’s story.
That oh. This is the way to pleasure. When we buy into that story of the mind.
The next thing that happens is. That we just. Can’t think of anything more.
We just. We get consumed. By that fantasy.
And that fantasy. Consuming us. There is very little.
Left for us. To do anything. In trying to protect ourselves.
We are just. Totally overwhelmed. With nothing.
With asking the people. Of literally doing nothing. Then.
We just see. The pleasure. We don’t see the consequence of the pleasure.
We become blinded. To the consequence. Because.
Our vision. Is distorted. By infatuation.
This is an alcoholic. Sees the taste of alcohol. But doesn’t see anything more.
The alcoholic just doesn’t see. A point that. There is going to be.
Consequence. Of this alcoholic indulgence. That consequence is going to be really serious.
So similarly. We are spiritual beings. But when we.
Our consciousness is captivated by worldly desires. We don’t see anything beyond. The specificity of the desire.
We don’t see anything beyond. The fact that the desire. The desire.
Is now. Shaping our vision. Directing our vision.
Dominating our vision. And we see only the pleasure. And we don’t see the consequence at all.
And when this happens. Then our vision is thus perverted. So that we see only the.
Pleasure and not the consequence. Then we are lost. And we can do.
Nothing more actually. Then we get. Consumed.
By the desire for pleasure. And with that desire consuming us. We are.
We become consumed eventually. So for us as souls. Or even as intelligent human beings.
To understand that we have a spiritual side. And we have a spiritual core. To recognize that.
The mind. Can be a deserter as well as a betrayer. And the mind can.
Make us infatuated with certain thoughts of pleasure. Thereby blinding us. To the consequences of that indulgence.
Not only blinding us. The mind can paralyze us. Just like when sometimes.
The enemy swoops in so swiftly. The person doesn’t know what to do. Or alternatively.
When a person. When the. Enemies.
Swoop in. When the enemy. When somehow.
The enemy endures. With the promise of pleasure. Then the person is left with no alternative.
The person just gets consumed. Gets captivated. Gets lost.
And we can do nothing more. We just. Lose out on the opportunity for pleasure.
Not knowing. How to move on in our life. The process of bhakti.
Is meant to give us. The higher impetus. The higher intelligence.
The higher intention. By which. By.
Determined connection with Krishna. We can resist the allurements of the mind. By staying consistently connected with Krishna.
We can turn away from the world. Towards him. We can absorb in him and ultimately attain him.
So the same. Same search for pleasure. Same craving for pleasure.
That makes us go towards material things. That can also make us go towards Krishna. If we just learn to redirect it.
With determination. If we learn to redirect it. With consistency.
Sincerity. With determination. Then.
We can actually. Become purified. Stay protected and ultimately.
Become. Transmitted to the tyranny. Of worldly desires.
That constantly obsesses us.