Question: Part 1: For the past 3-4 months I have usually had a pretty balanced life as in balanced diet and extremely regulated mundane activities like watching TV. However there have been certain periods when I went on a binge both in mundane activites (watching TV, playing online computer games) as well as in eating.Is there something I can do to avoid that? Whenever I have these binges the chanting I do the next day is a severe austerity for me. I do not have any enthusiasm for chanting following such days.
Part 2). Often times there are certain activities pertaining to our Vedic Society on Campus that I do not feel like doing even though I know that it is a good thing to do. In such cases I wonder should I back off from doing that activity citing an excuse or should I do that activity. If I agree to carry out the activity there is a kind of irritation at an activity that I am convinced/forced into doing (by myself or others). On the other hand if I make up an excuse then there is a certain guilt involved. Is there some way I can make a good decision which will help me improve in KC?
Answer by Romapada Swami :
1) Binges in sense gratification are due to residual impurities of heart, intermittent contact with the mode of passion, and your prior tendancies/bad habits resurfacing.
Binges can be counteracted by
(1) Sustained progress in Krsna Consciousness (where one attains steadiness in bhakti, or the ‘nistha stage’).
(2) Broadly, a lifestyle & habits of goodness will diminish the influences of the mode of passion, and in turn in taking shelter of binges.
(3) Acquiring a higher taste, which will result in the attraction of TV and video games appear gradually less and less attractive [BG 2.59].
2) Your second question plays right into the answer given for the first question: in what manner should you address the aftermath of binging? How to establish steadiness in bhakti, while there are still causes for unsteadiness?
The two sides of this issue have been nicely described by you:
> If I agree to carry out the activity there is a kind of irritation
> at an activity that I am convinced/forced into doing (by myself or
> others). On the other hand if I make up an excuse then there is a
> certain guilt involved. Is there some way I can make a good
> decision which will help me improve in KC?
To the degree that you can tolerate the push-and-pull of duality [BG 2.14] and be situated in purity, above sin’s reactions [BG 7.28], you will experience the determination needed to BOTH stay away from TV, video games and other time wasters and brain polluters AND to become reinstated in the steady practices of bhakti in the aftermath of a slip-up. When your devotional practices are strong and steady, likewise will your service mood.
Summary:
Frame your life in habits of goodness (cleanliness, regulation, truthfulness, honesty, compassion, charity, kindness, etc). Always strive for greater purity — external and internal, both. Place faith in the principle of bhakti, as the means to carry you beyond the struggle with the material energy [BG 7.14]. Study regularly, apply what you read, chant intently.
