Those who relapse aren’t always witless or will less, they are often weapon less Gita 02 60

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
Whenever we try to give up some unhealthy habit and cultivate a state of sobriety, at least from that habit, we tend to relapse and at such times we may beat ourselves down. What a fool I am when we succumb again. How could I have been so stupid? Why did I do that? Why didn’t I remember that this gets me into trouble? So we may condemn ourselves for being witless on our stupidity or sometimes it may be that we condemn ourselves for being willless.
I have no willpower. I’m just like an animal. I can never do this.
But both these, while they could be possibly true, they need not necessarily be true. It could be that we are not witless or willless. We are simply weaponless.
Suppose an enemy attacks a soldier. Now if that enemy attacks the soldier at a time when the soldier is unarmed and the enemy is heavily armed, the enemy has a machine gun and the soldier has nothing, then even no matter how sharp the soldier is, no matter how determined the soldier is, the soldier will be slaughtered. So, if we are weaponless, then we become helpless.
And similarly, when we are trying to give up temptations, give up bad habits, at that time, we are fighting an inner war. And wit and will alone is not enough. We need weapons.
The Bhagavad Gita categorically underscores the inadequacy of wit and will alone when it states in 260 that यततोयः पिकांतेय पुरुशस्य विपश्चितः इन्द्रियाणि प्रमाधीनि हरंति प्रसभंमनः that यततोयः that even if one endeavours determinately पिकांतेय पुरुशस्य विपश्चितः so यततो indicates that the will is there and विपश्चितः person is discerning that means the wit also the intelligence also there but still इन्द्रियाणि प्रमाधीनि but the senses are so wild हरंति प्रसभंमनः they drag the senses away so what do we do we need to move forward in our journey toward self purification towards reinstatement by getting the right weapons every temptation actually attacks us by promising a certain pleasure and we are innately pleasure seeking creatures so we need to have something which gives us better pleasure or at least some purpose which gives us even if it doesn’t give pleasure immediately it at least gives us a meaning that is a deeper sense of fulfillment or at least to value and that enables us to resist that pleasure so if somebody if somebody doesn’t have weapons then they can’t fight so for us the weapon is a higher purpose which will bring a higher pleasure and that’s what the Bhagavad Gita tells in the next verse when it states in 261 tani sarvani sanyamya yukta sita matparha vashehi asye dhriyani tasya pragya pratishtita that when we use whatever self-control we have but then the important thing is we focus our consciousness on Krishna in a mood of loving service and we remember him that that purpose of serving him that connection of remembering him that gives us a higher fulfillment and that helps us resist temptation so absorption and transcendence is the ultimate insurance from relapse and rather than beating ourselves up for being witless or willess we can focus on equipping ourselves with weapons on creating more and more resources for ourselves and creating more and more habits for ourselves by which we can turn toward Krishna and remember him and then we will be able to resist and reject and transcend temptations thank you