When a horse hears a sudden loud sound, like that of a gunshot or a thunderclap, it bolts from that sound. Struck with fear, it runs wildly to get away from that dangerous sound.

When we start striving to live a principle-centered life that involves abstaining from self-centered sensual pleasures, we too may bolt from temptation. Not wanting to succumb to it and not wanting to take even a slight risk of succumbing to it, we may try to frantically flee from temptation. 

However, no matter how fast we run, temptation can run faster and can catch up with us. Why? Because temptation doesn’t just exist outside, in tempting objects that allure us and that can be avoided by fleeing from them. Temptation exists primarily inside: in our senses, mind, and intelligence (Bhagavad-gita 03.40). And from there, it can delude us at any moment.

Moreover, even externally, temptation exists at a million places, places that we sometimes can’t anticipate and sometimes can’t avoid. That’s why bolting from temptation can set us up for a life of paranoia and ultimate failure. 

What, then, is the solution? We can instead bolt the door to temptation. If we consider our consciousness to be like a territory within us, we certainly can’t cede that territory to the forces of illusion and try to flee. Instead, we can see that territory as our responsibility to protect by diligence and vigilance; we strive to keep temptation outside our consciousness.

Just as a territory can be protected if its entry doors are closed, similarly, we too can lock the entry door for our consciousness. How? By deciding to turn our senses away from sense objects and by using our senses to focus wholeheartedly on a higher purpose: the purpose of lovingly serving the all-attractive Supreme (02.61). 

 

Think it over:

  • What does bolting from temptation mean?
  • How can we bolt the door to temptation?
  • Which temptation torments you the most? Do you bolt from it? Can you bolt the door to it?

 

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02.61  One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.

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