Advertising blitzes that repeatedly expose us to particular products exploit an innate weakness in human psychology: familiarity is the gateway to credibility. That is, when we see something repeatedly, we tend to subconsciously upgrade it from the familiar to the credible.

Suppose whenever we search on Google, a particular ad keeps appearing. Just by seeing that ad again and again, we start considering that it might be about something useful. The persistence of its appearance increases our inclination to explore its pertinence. And exploration makes us more vulnerable to illusion – most ads are expertly designed to allure us more and more till we end up buying that product.

Our tendency to equate persistence with pertinence is all the more when the persistent stimulus pops up inside on our mental screen instead of outside on a digital screen. When we get a particular desire repeatedly, we unwittingly assume that its repetitiveness signifies its desirability or even irresistibility. The Bhagavad-gita (02.62) cautions that when we contemplate on any object, we become attracted to it. From infatuation, we slide down the slippery slope of infatuation, irritation, delusion, oblivion, stupefaction and degradation.

Significantly however, even if a desire is recurrent, still it may be resistible if we just neglect it and focus on something positive. Bhakti-yoga offers us the most positive reality for focus: the all-attractive supreme person, Krishna.

What if some impure desires persist in our consciousness while we are practicing bhakti? Even if they are persistent, we needn’t let them impel us towards indulgence in them. Our consistent inattention will gradually weaken them.

Even more transformationally, if we give consistent attention to Krishna during our bhakti-practices, he will manifest increasingly in our heart. As desires to remember and serve him gradually become prominent in our consciousness, even persistent unworthy desires will become insignificant.

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