When scripture urges us to regulate sensual indulgence, our mind objects: “Why shouldn’t I enjoy?”

This question misleads by invoking a sense of deprivation. To avoid being misled, we need to understand the nature of sensual pleasure. In real life, such pleasure lasts for just a few moments, leaving us feeling disappointed, even betrayed. Yet we soon forget the anti-climax and pursue the same pleasure again. Why? Because we unwittingly expose ourselves to sensual hype.

Today’s materialistic culture over-glamorizes sensual pleasures, depicting that hours and hours and hours of erotic bliss await us if we just indulge. Our mind hypes sense pleasure even without any outer stimulation. And when stimulated by external imagery, it goes wild, impelling us to act stupidly. Deluded by the hype, we chase sense pleasure, believing each time that next time, our fantasies will become realities. But that next time never comes. As long as we remain non-resisting recipients of worldly hype, it keeps inflaming our imagination, leading to a conflagration that burns down our intelligence.

How can we resist the hype? By understanding and applying Gita wisdom.

The Gita (03.40) informs us that deluding desire resides in our senses, mind and intelligence. The next verse (03.41) recommends that we restrain the senses, thereby minimizing the outer stimuli that inflame our imagination. Being disconnected from fantasy-fueling propaganda, the mind’s imagination weakens, thereby decreasing the distractions that divert us from spiritual reality.

And the last verse of the Gita’s third chapter (03.43) recommends such spiritual focus. By practicing bhakti-yoga, we can fix the mind on the highest spiritual reality Krishna. Over time, the mind realizes that absorption in Krishna is far more fulfilling than obsession with sense pleasure. When the mind thus abandons its sensual fantasizing, we march towards Krishna, feeling not sensually deprived, but spiritually fulfilled.

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