When we want to serve Krishna, why do we get tempted?

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Transcript

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When we practice Bhakti, we want to serve Krishna, but why does our desire get misdirected again and again? Prabhupada has asked this question in Nivrindavan. He said, if our purpose is to serve Krishna, why is Maya so strong? So, Prabhupada replied, because your purpose is not strong. Your purpose is not strong.
What that means is that there is a default tendency of our mind. And that default tendency takes time to be corrected. So, for example, I will give two examples to illustrate this point.
Now, I have a software in my computer which auto-corrects. Like in Word also you have a software. If you type something wrong word, it will correct it.
So, when I type Chitananda, the software changes it to Saturday Chitananda. Now, here, the auto-correct is making it incorrect. The auto-correct is meant to make the incorrect correct, but it is making the correct incorrect.
So, now, I might type the right thing in, but what will come out is wrong. So, I type it in, then it gets wrong. Incorrect, I have to re-correct it.
So, like that, this is because there is a default in programming over there. Sat, it should be changed to Saturday. So, like that, there is a default programming in our mind.
Why the programming? Because of, in this life, Samskaras, there are previous life Samskaras, our mind, by default, equates pleasure with sense pleasure. By default, as soon as you think of pleasure, it means sense pleasure. So, right now, I might decide, no, I will focus on serving Krishna, and I will seek whatever happens, comes in Bhakti Ola, not seek what happens outside Krishna.
But, this may last for one day, two days, three days, but afterwards, whenever the need for desire for pleasure arises, the first option that the mind will come with is sense pleasure. And if we are not on guard, we will accept that option. If we are not on guard, we will accept that option.
And that’s how we succumb. So, that’s why what is required is vigilance. Vigilance means, okay, this desire has come up, but am I acting on the desire? If we are not vigilant, then the proposal will come in, and we will accept the proposal, and then we will wonder, why did I do that? But, as we keep practicing Bhakti, we will see one thing clearly, even after we engage in sense pleasure, we won’t get much pleasure.
Now, we will feel frustrated, we will feel empty. Why did I do such a thing? In the past, before we were introduced to Krishna Consciousness, we might have got some pleasure there. But now, we will not get much pleasure because we have experienced a higher pleasure.
So, what we need to do is, we have to break this default wrong assessment of the mind. So, if we are vigilant, that means, we actually need pleasure. But, the mind directs us towards sense pleasure.
So, we have to break this equation of the mind. Mind thinks pleasure means sense pleasure. That is the default definition which the mind has acquired.
But, by repeated hearing, and by vigilance, we see that pleasure means bhakti. Pleasure means serving Krishna. Once we change this definition of the mind, then, we will be able to not be so internally troubled.
We won’t be so internally vulnerable. Till that happens, one thing is vigilance. We need to be on the guard.
But, another thing we can also do is try to not keep temptations readily accessible to us. What happens? Because, it’s difficult to be on guard all the time. Sometimes, there might be a lapse.
So, one of the things which the alcoholics are told, if they are recovering alcoholics, they say, don’t go to bars. Don’t keep any alcohol in your house. And, even if you have to meet your friends, don’t meet them in a place where they are going to drink alcohol.
So, keep temptation away. Keep temptation away. Or, if you can’t keep temptation away, create some obstacles between yourself and the temptation.
So, what happens? Now, we can always remove the obstacle. But, removing takes time. And, during that time, our intelligence will come back.
So, what happens is, if the temptation is very easily available, then, it becomes difficult to resist it. Because, just a moment or two, the desire comes and any indulgence is available. So, we have to be careful.
We have to create a certain level of distance. And, what the specific temptation may be, and how we can keep a distance, that will vary according to person to person. We have to find out what is our weakness and how to check with it.
How to check it? So, for example, nowadays, through the internet, there are so many nasty sites available. So, we can have an internet filter on our cell phone or our computer. Have restricted access.
Nowadays, most of us, it will be difficult to work in a city and function without net access. Some of us might be able to work also. But, even if we can’t work, we don’t have to have complete access.
And, there are many softwares available which can provide filters, free filters or little amount you pay. Now, you can always remove the filter. But, it takes time.
And, that is a good protection. So, firstly, we need to know that it’s not that just because we are falling for some bad activities, we should not beat ourselves down thinking I am a very sinful person, I am a useless person, I cannot practice bhakti. No, we should know that it’s just the mind misdirecting us because of its default tendencies.
So, we need to become more and more vigilant at one level and re-educate the mind. Change the mind’s definition. But, because that is going to take time and because we can’t always be expected to be so vigilant, we also need to create some obstacles between us and the sense pleasure.
So, for example, somebody has a tendency to over-eat. Then, they say now-a-days obesity is a big problem for almost everyone. For most people.
So, then what they say is don’t keep fatty foods readily available for you. If you want to keep foods, keep but keep healthy foods with you. Keep some fruits, keep something like that which are not going to be fatty.
So, the simple thing, this is an experiment done in Google that they had in their canteen they had these chocolates and other such sweets and they decided earlier those chocolates were in transparent containers and they just decided to put a wrapper which would make it non-transparent and just by doing that in three months the chocolate consumption of the Google employees decreased by almost 35%. Because when you see it, the desire comes in and you know they have money also just purchase it and eat it. Just put a simple barrier around it and don’t see it, it will decrease significantly.
Does it answer your question? Yes.