Suppose someone decides to test gravity by walking off the parapet wall of a fifty-story building. Gravity will soon put them to rest, stripped of limbs or life itself. Why would anyone want to test gravity? Because they give their feelings more weight than their intelligence; because they consider only the thrill of the jump, not the horror of the crash.

Just as gravity is a physical law of nature that operates at the physical level, there exists a law of nature that operates at a subtler level. This is the law of karma which holds us accountable for our actions. Why would anyone want to test karma? Because they let themselves be driven by whatever feels good, without considering its consequences — as do people who start taking drugs without considering the danger of getting addicted. 

Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita cautions that poisonous passions such as lust, anger and greed make our life hellish (16.21-22). For keeping these self-destructive passions in check, scripture gives us time-tested guidelines (16.24). If we neglect such guidelines and pander to our lower passions indiscriminately, we sentence ourselves to misery (16.23). If we defy the laws of karma, we don’t just become motionless in pain; we become pushed helplessly by our dark passions into a painful journey to ever-increasing distress. And that predicament continues till we muster the strength to resist those drives. 

Thankfully, if we decide to stand up to our lower passions, our all-powerful, all-merciful Lord, Krishna, stands ready to strengthen us. And we will eventually have to stand up to those passions when our karmic distress becomes unbearable. Then, why not resist them now and save ourselves from a dark future? By linking devotionally with the Lord who wants the best life for us, why not start creating a better life right now? 

 

Think it over:

  • What makes us put gravity or karma to test?
  • How are the consequences of defying karma worse than those of defying gravity?
  • How can we get the resolve to stand up to our lower passions?

 

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16.23 He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination. 

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