Suppose a teenager drives beyond the speed limit just for the thrill of it and gets caught. On being penalized, they may feel regret. But what they regret is critical in shaping their trajectory. If they regret getting caught for speeding, not speeding itself, they will speed again, but furtively. Over time, they may get hooked to speeding and end up in a deadly car crash caused by reckless driving. 

We all have inner impurities that impel us to do something wrong (Bhagavad-gita 03.37). These impurities can occupy not just our senses and mind but also our intelligence (03.40). After taking over our intelligence, they impel us to do wrong so covertly as to get away with it. But ultimately there is no getting away. We all are under the inexorable laws of karma. When we think we are getting away, we are simply setting ourselves up for delayed reactions to our cumulative wrongdoings. During this delay, we may indulge in worse wrongdoings, getting degraded and addicted. And eventually, we will be hit by deadly consequences. 

Consequences are meant to deter and reform us, but when we attempt to conceal our actions to escape the consequences, we end up deluding and deforming ourselves. Gita wisdom explains that the most damaging consequence of wrongdoing is not material tribulation but spiritual deprivation. We are at our core spiritual beings meant to relish lasting love for the all-attractive divine, Krishna. But if we become too enmeshed in worldly consciousness, we render ourselves incapable of connecting with him (02.44). 

When we educate ourselves about what is truly enjoyable and thus learn to regret wrongdoing itself, not its consequence, we get the inspiration to do right and thereby relish the lasting happiness that is our spiritual right. 

Think it over:

  • How may regret reform or deform?
  • What is the most damaging consequence of wrongdoing? Why?
  • When you succumb to some impurity, do you feel regret? What do you regret? By spiritual education, can you change what you regret? 

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03.40 The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust. Through them lust covers the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.

 

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