The best way to deal with temptation is to not deal with it


The best way to deal with temptation is to not deal with it

Temptation is unavoidable as long as we exist in material existence, just as salespeople are unavoidable when we live in a commercialized economy. When we get an unsolicited sales offer, we don’t spend our time convincing the salesperson why we don’t need that product, nor do we spend time letting that person persuade us. If they have called us, we simply politely but firmly end the call. The best way to deal with such people is to not deal with them.

Similarly, the best way to deal with temptation is to not deal with it. If we try to deal with temptation, we end up becoming deluded and entangled.

The nature of temptation is that it expertly withers away our arguments, leaving us with nothing to do except give in, often against our will and against our conscience and against our intelligence. Just as a soluble object when exposed to water will dissolve sooner or later, so too does our will to resist dissolve when exposed to temptation repeatedly and forcefully. How a no becomes a yes is so subtle that we often don’t even realize it – till it’s too late. The Bhagavad-gita (02.60) warns us that the attempt to control the senses by using one’s intelligence to say no to them doesn’t work because our intelligence is in due course carried away by the forceful senses which are often the gateways through temptations make their persuasive appeal. Though we can’t prevent the contact of the senses and the sense objects, we certainly can prevent contemplation on them. And by keeping our consciousness fixed in Krishna and focusing on how best we can serve him, as the Gita (02.61) states, we can avoid dealing with temptation, thereby giving ourselves the best opportunity to avoid succumbing to them.

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