Suppose a mildly sick patient has to take a bitter medicine. If they reject that medicine, their sickness will worsen. When they become unbearably sick, they may well be forced to take a more bitter medicine. 

Gita wisdom explains that we all are spiritually sick.  Though we are eternal spiritual beings, we are seeking happiness in temporary material things because of the disease of misdirected desires. To cure this disease, we need to regulate ourselves according to God’s will. His will is revealed through scripture and through the voice of our conscience aligned with scripture. 

However, regulating ourselves tastes bitter because it requires us to give up worldly pleasures. And enduring this bitterness seems unnecessary when our disease seems to be mild. Such is the case while we are doing reasonably well materially, as when we are young, healthy and wealthy. But if we don’t regulate ourselves, we get increasingly attached and entangled. And eventually, the consequences hit us, as happens when we start losing our material assets due to the inevitable power of time. Then, we find ourselves in such misery that we have to desperately run to God for help. 

Therefore, instead of initially rejecting God’s will as unpalatable or impractical, we can seek his help for abiding by his will.  The Bhagavad-gita (18.58) assures us that if we strive to become conscious of Krishna, we will get the grace and guidance to cross over all obstacles. If we seek to align ourselves with his will by associating with and learning from those devoted to doing his will, regulation will become increasingly doable. And gradually, as we become purified, spiritual life will become increasingly relishable. 

 

Think it over:

  • What is our disease? When does it seem mild?
  • How does not doing God’s will increase our trouble?
  • How can we ease the difficulty in doing God’s will?

 

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18.58 If you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all the obstacles of conditioned life by My grace. If, however, you do not work in such consciousness but act through false ego, not hearing Me, you will be lost.

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