When we strive to free ourselves from impurities, we may still feel impure desires rising in our consciousness. 

To not become disheartened by such desires, we need to know that we become impure not so much by what we feel as by what we will. This difference between emotions and intentions doesn’t mean that whatever happens in our inner world is ok and that any kinds of thoughts and feelings are acceptable; it just means that we need to first win battles that are winnable and then work toward winning remaining battles. For example, a state can have good law and order not necessarily by purging criminal mentality among citizens, but by preventing criminal activity.

The Bhagavad-gita (02.70) compares the rising of sensual desires in our consciousness to the occurrence of disturbances in an ocean whenever a river flows into it. If the river is large, naturally some disturbance will occur; but if the ocean is far larger than the river, then the disturbance won’t disturb much. Our consciousness is like that ocean into which various stimuli will pour in like incoming rivers. We can’t entirely control the size of the rivers, for we can’t entirely control what kind of stimuli we will encounter in the outer world. But we can change the size of our consciousness by changing the primary object of focus for our consciousness, by changing what we are primarily attached to, by changing what we think most about. 

When our consciousness becomes attached to the supreme spiritual reality, Krishna, then that gives us such inner fullness that we don’t feel inclined to act on lower desires even if they arise within us. 

 

Think it over:

  • In the context of our consciousness, what does winning battles that are winnable mean?
  • What metaphor can help us appreciate the difference between feeling and willing?
  • How can we enlarge our consciousness? 

 

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02.70 A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.

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