Krsna Kathamrita

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 whe...

“Experience is the best teacher – and a fool learns in no other way.” The implication of this well-known saying is twofold: Firstly, wise people learn from others, without having to undergo the experiences themselves. Secondly, experience is the euphemistic label people place on their follies and mistakes. While the saying has its validity, it neglects a third possibility: a person may not learn even after experience. That is the extent of the folly to which we are reduced by the mind. By its insidious influence, it wipes out the basis of our learning: our memory of our experiences. While outlining the eight-stage trajectory to tragedy, the Bhagavad-gita (02.62–63) explains how what begins with contemplation ends in self-destruction. Relevant for our discussion is the sixth stage, the eradication of memory (02.63: smriti-bhrama), which leads to the destruction of intelligence and the final descent to self-defeating behavior. By its insidious influence, the mind wipes out the ...