In a war, the threat from the enemies out there is big. But much bigger is the threat from the enemies in here – the traitors in our own camp.

Similarly, in our war against illusion, the threat from the external enemy, a tempting environment, is big. But much bigger is the threat from inner enemies such as lust. The Bhagavad-gita (03.40) cautions that lust has lodged itself inside us in our senses, mind and intelligence.

Lust pretends to be our friend and promises us immense pleasure if we indulge in sexual temptations. But when we trust lust and do its bidding, it does a shameless volte-face and delivers misery instead: the misery of frustrated expectations because the pleasure turns out to be pathetically short-lived; the misery of aggravated craving because our indulgence fuels our craving; the misery of plummeting self-esteem because in our lust-blinded pursuit of pleasure we break our resolutions and violate our sacred principles; the misery of strained or ruptured relationships because our misdeeds hurt, anger or devastate our loved ones; and the misery of a myriad other karmic consequences.

To protect ourselves from lust’s deceptiveness, we need to regularly study scripture. When we see through the eyes of scripture, we understand with increasing clarity that lust has betrayed us with its false promises innumerable times in this life as well as many previous lives.

Most importantly, scripture helps us connect with the supreme source of happiness: Krishna. Devotional connection with Krishna gives us a sublime fulfillment that makes resisting lust easier. Further, such sublimely fulfilling experiences convince us that, in our quest for happiness, we can do much better than settle for lust’s meager and miserable pleasures. Being empowered by this conviction, we intensely focus on Krishna, increasingly overcome lust and perennially delight in devotion.

Explanation of article:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CuV_EPCKVY
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