Gita key verses course 10 – Do I have inner demons? How can I slay them? – Gita 03.36

Oh, my God. Thank you very much for joining today. Today, we’ll be continuing our discussion on the Bhagavad Gita. I believe the PowerPoint has already been shared with you, so we’ll be focusing on the third chapter today, specifically the 36th verse, which addresses an important and relevant theme for us.

We will be discussing the topic, so you can refer to the slideshow you have. I won’t be sharing the screen because, last time, I was told that during screen sharing, the audio quality goes down. So, this is 3:36. Arjuna is asking, “Atah kenapram?” “Purushanitchanyabala divan yogitah, so ata kena prakto yam?” By what are we impelled to do wrong? By what are we impelled to do wrong? Anichan api varitam as if we, as if we, don’t want to do it? We resolve not to do it, but still, we end up doing it. Balad eva yogitah, as if impelled by force.

So, in this context, let’s break this verse down into three parts. If you see the context, why do we sabotage ourselves? Do we have inner demons, and how can we slay them?

Why do we sabotage ourselves? We live in a world where there is a lot of hurt, and we often live in fear. Some terrorists may attack us, or if we’re on a lonely road, thieves may attack us. Nowadays, in the digital world, there may be digital creators who prey upon us, stealing our bank information or whatever. All of these are real dangers, but actually, far more than people hurting us, we ourselves hurt us. We are hurting ourselves. That is the specter of self-destruction or self-destructive behaviors. These behaviors can sometimes be very extreme, where people succumb to dangerous drugs. They can be milder, where some forms are socially acceptable. They may even glamorize cigarette smoking, which was considered a sign of being cool at a particular time. Even now, in many cultures, drinking alcohol is considered just a normal way of socializing. But all of this can easily drag people down.

Now, self-destruction, in its most extreme form, comes literally in the form of suicide. But I won’t go in that direction today. We’ll talk about that when we discuss the concept of the mind in more detail in the sixth chapter. At this stage, we need to understand why we behave in ways that hurt ourselves. What makes us behave like this, and what can we do to avoid it? If you look at it throughout nature, we see that sometimes living beings do certain things that, by their own actions, get them trapped.

So, one is, say, and that’s just the nature of the struggle for existence: the mouse is not fast enough, and the cat is too fast. The mouse gets caught. But sometimes the mouse gets caught because, in running for cheese, it goes into a mouse trap, or a fish gets caught by bait. Now, when this happens, we could say even these animals are running toward self-destruction. It is because they run into the trap or toward the bait that they get caught. And in some ways, humans are similar. We get into smoking, alcoholism, or drug addiction, and it is we who are doing something that traps us. At the same time, if we consider the differences, the animals seem to be better than us humans. Animals have two excuses which we humans don’t have.

Firstly, they don’t know in advance that it’s a trap. Mice naturally like cheese, and if they see cheese lying somewhere, they go toward it. They don’t know in advance that it’s a trap. Secondly, they don’t know that what they are attracted to also looks like food. For humans, cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol might look like food or sustenance. The objects that nourish us are different from the objects for which we perish. Not only that, we all know that these substances are dangerous. Cigarette smoking is dangerous for health—who doesn’t know that? People say, “Drink, but don’t become a drunkard.” But when they start becoming a drunkard, they know there’s a danger. Anybody who takes drugs knows the risk. So it seems that we, human beings, are destroying ourselves far more than other living beings are hurting or destroying us.

And the scale of this addiction is huge. If you look at some statistics, you can see the alarming numbers. Throughout history, there have been different forms of intoxication by which people have been trapped. You see, 1 million people around the world light up cigarettes, 15 million people worldwide succumb to drugs, and 240 million people around the world are into alcohol in a destructive way. These are alarming numbers. So what is it that makes us behave like this?

Now, of course, what Arjuna is asking is more specific. At toyam, papam, charity, purusha—he uses the word “papa” for wrongdoing or sinful activity. What makes us do that? So the context we discussed in the second chapter is how we are not the body, but the soul. Then we discussed how that knowledge applies in various contexts. One of the ways we apply that knowledge is by living selflessly. To live selflessly is to work for a higher cause. We talked about the principle of sacrifice in the last chapter.

So, overall, now I am coming to the context of the Gita. Before we go deeper into the concepts that the Gita is teaching, I started by saying that we do sabotage ourselves. I mean, the Gita raises this question: why do we sabotage ourselves? The Gita’s context is slightly different. Arjuna is not necessarily talking about someone smoking or drinking, although that was a danger at the time. But in the context of the Gita, Arjuna is asking why Krishna has spoken about how we need to live, how we need to work in a mode of sacrifice, and how we need to work with detachment. This is how we get elevated and liberated. But if that doesn’t happen, why doesn’t it happen?

Instead of living selflessly, why do we live selfishly? Instead of working with detachment, why do we get attached? And, in fact, we get so attached that this attachment can ruin us. Krishna, when speaking to Arjuna, says to work with attachment. The word he uses is nishkama—to work without selfish desire or attachment. Arjuna is asking: What makes us become attached? What makes us do the things we know we shouldn’t do? So, Arjuna’s context is in terms of the Bhagavad Gita’s flow: to work with detachment. But what is it that makes us attached—not just attached in the ordinary sense, but attached in a terribly destructive sense?

Now, Krishna answers elaborately, and I will again move back to the contemporary context, and we will return to the Bhagavad Gita’s context later. The question here is: What makes us act in destructive ways? Let’s go back to the slideshow. Nowadays, many people talk about this: Do I have inner demons?

When Mike Tyson was fighting, at one point, he got so angry when he started losing that he attacked his opponent and bit off the opponent’s ear. It was bloody, brutal, and ghastly. Afterwards, he said, “I have demons inside me.” This is a usage that’s not uncommon in today’s world, where sometimes people, when they are just unable to control themselves, do something terrible and then say, “There are many demons inside me.”

Now, what do they mean by this? Actually, there seems to be something within us that makes us do things almost as if someone else is doing them. Sometimes, we are calm and gentle, but at other times, we might start yelling at someone. When that happens, we may wonder, “Who is this person? Is this the same person? Is this a different person?” Sometimes we can become unrecognizable to ourselves.

Just like when people say houses are haunted or people are possessed, the idea of being possessed by a ghost is often used as an analogy. If someone is possessed by a ghost, the ghost starts speaking from within them or acting through them, and they behave in very uncharacteristic ways. Similarly, when people see themselves behaving in a way that is very different from their usual behavior, they might ask, “What happened? Is there a demon inside me?”

Now, the word “demon” can be taken literally or non-literally. Literally, it can mean a being within us, something that possesses us and makes us do terrible things—demons with horns, fangs, and ghastly appearances. Most people don’t have that in mind, and that’s not what’s being discussed in the Gita. But there are forces within us that are demoniac, which make us act in demoniac ways. Do we have demons in that sense? Yes, we have demonic impressions and forces. In fact, it is these demoniac forces that make demons who they are. We’ll discuss demons more in detail in the 16th chapter. But Krishna focuses not so much on the physical creatures called demons, but more on the mentality that makes people demoniac. He says that this mentality can exist even in human society. So, there are demonic impressions within us that sabotage us.

Now, how does this happen? If we consider the Bhagavad Gita, it offers us a broad model of the self: the body, the mind, and the soul—three levels of reality. This can be compared to a computer system: the body is like the hardware, the mind is like the software, and the soul is the user. So, body, mind, and soul.

Every action we take creates an impression within us, and that impression returns to us as a proposition. Now, if you go to the next slide, I’ve given an example of how the software becomes programmed. Suppose someone repeatedly visits a particular website, say they visit bollywood.com over and over. Then, if they come to a spiritual talk and hear about the Bhagavad Gita, they might want to visit bhagavadgita.com to learn more. But when they type “bhagavata.com,” instead of the Bhagavata website, Bollywood comes up as an auto-complete suggestion.

So why does this happen? Because they have chosen that behavior earlier. And that’s how the autocomplete comes up again and again. Similarly, consider an alcoholic. Suppose they go to a shopping mall, and they might have been planning to buy clothes or necessities. But as they are passing by, they enter a bar. When they enter the mall, their intention is to go to the supermarket or somewhere to buy groceries, but then they see the bar. So within the mind, it proposes, “Go to the bar, go to the bar.” They started out intending to buy groceries, but they end up taking a drink. And one drink becomes more than one drink. It is said about alcoholism that first the drinker takes the drink, then the drink takes another drink, and eventually, the drink takes the drinker.

So, I’m getting some comments here—just for your information, we have already shared the PowerPoint on the WhatsApp group, and it is also available in the Zoom group chat. I’m not sharing my screen, but you can look at the PowerPoint link that has already been shared with you. Thank you.

Now, the more time someone does something repeatedly, the stronger the impression becomes. And as the impression becomes stronger, the proposition that comes from it becomes more and more forceful. In fact, it becomes so forceful that the person doesn’t even think about it—they just do it instinctively, impulsively, without thinking. You can look at the next slide, which explains the physical and mental levels of reality. At the physical level, we do actions. When we do the actions, they form impressions, and from those impressions come propositions—”Come on, let’s do it again.” Then, when we repeat this, once, twice, thrice, and so on, the repetition leads to addiction.

So when someone says they have inner demons, what’s really happening is that the inner impressions have become so strong, and the propositions have become so swift, that they don’t even think about resisting. Even if they try to resist, they can’t—it’s just too strong. That’s how we become bound.

Now, this leads to a question. Krishna uses the word karma. Sometimes, karma is translated as “lust,” but in the context of the Bhagavad Gita, karma is much more inclusive. It refers to selfish, self-destructive desire. The word kama is also used in a positive sense in the broader Vedic literature, where dharma, karma, and moksha are considered desires that are naturally fulfilled during one’s life and are worth fulfilling. But here, Krishna uses the word karma to refer to selfish, self-destructive desire.

Now, is such desire something that we feel, or is it something that exists inside us? For example, consider lust and anger. Is anger just an emotion that we feel, or is it also something tangible inside us? We might say that everyone feels angry—it’s an emotion. But some people are more short-tempered than others. They snap off much faster. If anger is an emotion that everyone feels, then why do some people get angrier than others? You might say, “That’s just the way they are.” But what exactly is different? We are all souls at a spiritual level—we are all similar. So what makes us different?

When we consider inner impurities, the Vedic literature talks about six inner impurities called shad-rippus, which we can think of as the six inner demons: lust, anger, greed, envy, pride, and illusion. Among them, the Bhagavad Gita focuses on three: lust, anger, and greed. Krishna discusses these in the 16th chapter, 21st verse, where he calls them the three gates to hell and the three destroyers of the soul.

So, are these real things, or are they just feelings within us?

So is it that those who are short-tempered or those who are more greedy or lustful are somehow different from other people? Is it that they feel the emotion more? It’s not just that they feel the emotion more. Those impressions are also stronger within them. So, is lust, anger, or greed a thing? Well, it’s not a physical thing. It’s not an object that we can pick up and show like a phone. This is lust, anger, or greed. It’s not like that. It’s not a thing in that sense, but it is still an object. It’s not just an emotion.

So, what do I mean by this exactly? Just like if someone is visiting bollywood.com or bhagavata.com, they are making a choice to go toward Bollywood or they want to go to Bhagavata. But along with the choice they’re making by typing on the computer or phone, there is a preference that is stored in their system, and that preference comes up as autocomplete. If someone has never visited bollywood.com, when they start typing “B,” it won’t come up. This preference is not just stored on the computer. If you’re logged in with your Gmail ID, these preferences get stored not just on the computer but also with Google. Even if you shift from one computer to another, as soon as you log in, all those preferences will come up.

Similarly, lust, anger, and greed are stored not just in the brain. The brain can be destroyed, but our brain gets rewired by the way we function and act. This creates problems because, once the brain’s neurons “fire together, they wire together,” as brain science says. When this happens, those behaviors become easier. Neurons have axons and dendrites, and two different brain cells join together at the dendrites where information is passed. If we consider an alcoholic’s brain, the wiring is different. Researchers have found that when someone repeatedly consumes obscene imagery, their brain gets rewired. Now, we are not entirely products of our brain wiring, but if the brain is wired in a certain way, that behavior becomes much easier and quicker. Of course, the brain wiring can be changed—rewiring is possible.

The brain gets wired in a particular way, like preferences being stored on a computer. But it’s not just the brain that physically gets rewired. The brain is part of the body, but beyond the physical body, there is the mind, which is subtle. In the mind, impressions are also formed. The impressions in the mind are like preferences stored with Google. So, even if we go to a new computer and log in, all those preferences will come. Similarly, we bring our tendencies from previous lives into this life. That’s why when parents have children, they find that no two children are the same, even though the children may share the same genes. They are not the same in behavior. Even identical twins, who started as one, are behaviorally different.

Some children will cry, but some children cry so loudly that they bring the whole house down. The point of this discussion is that when we talk about inner demons, we are not talking about malevolent beings out to destroy us. There are no demons in that sense. When we talk about lust, anger, greed, and pride, we are not talking about some demon being there to destroy us. But it’s not just emotion that we have and need to control. Yes, we need to control it, but it’s a real thing. It’s a real impression inside us. Just like someone who has never visited bollywood.com has no stored reference, they can go to any site. But someone who has visited bollywood.com will have “Bollywood” appear as an autocomplete suggestion. They will have to exert willpower not to click on it and choose Bhagavad Gita instead. That’s why, for doing the same action, different people may require different levels of effort.

In medical parlance, there’s a question: is addiction a defect, or is it a disease? A defect means the person simply has low willpower and keeps doing the wrong thing. “Come on, have more willpower, become strong, and you’ll give it up.” So, is it a defect, or is it a disease? If it’s a disease, we can’t expect someone to cure it just by willpower. If someone has digestive issues, you can’t expect them to control their bowel movements simply by willpower. They need to see a doctor and take medication to get cured. Similarly, for someone whose “brain wiring” is impaired, willpower alone is not enough. They need a proper process to address it.

For someone whose brain and impulses are not rewired, they don’t need much willpower. They just function normally. But for someone whose brain is rewired due to addiction, willpower alone isn’t enough—they need treatment. The question is, is addiction a defect? It starts as a defect, but eventually, it becomes a disease. In the beginning, when the impressions are weak, it’s a defect. The temptation arises, but they can say no and resist it. But when the impressions are deeply rooted, just saying no doesn’t work.

So depending on the depth of the impressions, a negative habit may either be a defect or may have developed into a disease. Now, disease doesn’t mean the person isn’t responsible. They have to take responsibility for their recovery. But that responsibility involves more than just increasing willpower—it also involves taking the necessary steps to seek treatment and follow it.

I have used the word “slay” deliberately to convey the seriousness of the situation. Krishna also uses the word “slay” at the end of the third chapter, in 3.43, where he says: “Even buddhi-parama, buddha-samsvritaha, baho, kamaru, pandahi, win over, conquer, now destroy.” Krishna uses the war metaphor quite often—defeat, kill, destroy. In fact, he uses the war metaphor right from the beginning, when Arjuna asks the question in 3.36: “What is it that impels me to wrong?” Krishna says, “It is karma, kama, shakro, dasha, rajoguna, sammo, bhava, maha papa, vidyaan.” Krishna says that this is your enemy. Not just your enemy, but the enemy of the entire world. As we discussed earlier, self-destructive desires are a significant danger to everyone in the world, and often people hurt themselves more than others hurt them.

The war imagery and personification used here serve a particular purpose—to help us recognize the gravity of the situation. Personification means treating something that is not sentient as if it is sentient. For example, we might say, “The river roared as it charged into the village.” The river is not literally roaring like a tiger or lion, but when it rushes through, it’s threatening, forceful, and the sound it makes can resemble a roar.

Krishna is telling Arjuna that the enemy is significant. The Bhagavad Gita is spoken on a battlefield, where Arjuna must face physical enemies—enemies who are out to destroy him and who have been trying to destroy him for many years. There are Karana and Duryodhana, for example, who are out to destroy him. But few of us will ever face such extreme enemies. We may have rivals or competitors, but few of us will have enemies who are actively trying to kill us, who have tried to poison, assassinate, or burn us alive. Arjuna faced such enemies, and they were right in front of him, about to attack. At that time, Krishna doesn’t even mention those external enemies. Instead, he points to the internal enemies, which are more dangerous.

This underscores the gravity of the inner war we face. Physical enemies can only destroy us once they destroy our bodies, but the inner enemies can lead us to actions that destroy ourselves and others, and they can continue to affect us in the next lifetime. If someone is lustful, greedy, or angry, or if they engage in any other kind of self-destructive behavior, it will leave an impression on their psyche and mind, which will carry over to their next life. This is why Krishna uses the scary-sounding term “Nitya Vairina” in 3.39, calling this self-destructive desire an “eternal enemy.” Here, “eternal” is used not in the literal sense of forever, but to signify that it exists from one lifetime to the next. For us, it feels almost eternal.

Now, how do we deal with this? The key question is how to overcome these inner enemies. To understand this, we can use another metaphor with respect to the impressions formed within us. I spoke earlier about three Rs. Consider a floor that is inclined in a particular direction: if water falls on the floor, it will automatically flow in the direction of the incline. For example, if there is expensive electronic equipment on one side of the floor, and we don’t want the water to reach it, simply saying, “Water, don’t go there,” won’t stop it. The water will still flow toward that area due to the incline.

Similarly, the impressions we form create inclinations in our consciousness. These impressions make our consciousness inclined in certain ways, so that our thoughts naturally follow those inclinations. For instance, if someone is very attached to cricket, whenever they have a free moment, their consciousness automatically flows toward cricket. If someone is attached to politics, in a few spare minutes, they might pick up their phone to look for the latest political news. Similarly, if someone is an alcoholic, their consciousness is not just slightly inclined toward alcohol, but heavily inclined. From the moment they wake up until they go to sleep, their thoughts are consumed with drinking.

The thoughts naturally go there whenever there’s nothing else to think about. So now, if the floor is inclined like this, and the water is going to flow in that direction, what can we do to stop it? There are three main things we can do: regulation, restriction, and creating a protective barrier. When we create a wall, the water doesn’t flow to the dangerous area. For instance, if someone is an alcoholic and they are serious about recovering, one regulation they must follow is not keeping alcohol in their home. If their house is next to a bar, they will likely succumb to temptation. Regulation means creating distance between ourselves and what tempts us.

There are standard practices considered unhealthy, and many spiritual cultures have guidelines about certain “don’t do’s.” The idea behind these is that they act as protective fences, keeping us safe. Regulation means putting up a fence around ourselves that protects us. Even if the water reaches the fence, it won’t go beyond it. Krishna suggests that the best way to deal with temptation is to avoid dealing with it altogether. While it may seem impossible to always avoid temptation, the point is that if we can, we prevent the agitation from even arising. For example, if someone has the urge to drink but there’s no alcohol nearby, they can’t indulge immediately. By creating boundaries that protect us, we take the first step.

However, regulation alone is not always sufficient. Even if someone doesn’t keep alcohol nearby, they can still go out and buy it. But regulation helps. For example, if someone has a tendency to spend excessive time on the internet, they can install filters or restrictions. A person who is tech-savvy might bypass the filters, but at least when the impulse arises, the immediate temptation won’t be available. This is where the fence can offer protection, even when willpower or intelligence falters. Every culture has some form of regulation to protect its members.

For example, sexual attraction is universal, and so every civilized culture has marriage, which acts as a regulation and provides protection. The first step, then, is regulation.

The second step is redirection. Regulation is important, but it’s never enough. If the floor is slightly inclined, regulation might stop the water from flowing too far. But if the floor is steeply inclined, even with a fence, the water will keep hitting the barrier. Over time, the barrier may erode. Just regulation can feel like deprivation—constantly saying no, no, no, without giving the desires an outlet. The cravings remain, and simply denying them doesn’t work.

Regulation is the first step. It is important, but more important is redirection. Redirection means that when our thoughts are going in a particular direction, we need to shift them toward another direction. But how do we do that? Krishna talks about regulation in the Bhagavad Gita, specifically in verses 340 and 341. In 340, he asks, “Where are these impressions situated?” These are not just fleeting emotions, but impressions that are deeply ingrained. He says these impressions are situated in our senses, mind, and intellect, inside us. So, Krishna makes it clear that when we feel tempted, we cannot blame others. The temptation exists within us, and it is only triggered by external stimuli.

Regulation, as Krishna suggests in 341, involves controlling our senses. We should not allow our senses to dwell too much on sense objects. One way to do this is to remove tempting objects from easy reach so our senses are not distracted by them. However, while regulation is important, it is not enough on its own. The next step is redirection. This means we need to redirect our desires, thoughts, and consciousness elsewhere. But how do we do that? If water is flowing in one direction, we can’t simply tell it to go back. Using our hands to push it won’t be enough either. We need a tool—a mop, a brush, or something similar—to redirect the water effectively. Similarly, when we have a bad habit, it gains momentum over time. As the habit strengthens, it becomes harder to resist, much like a truck charging toward us. No matter how firm we are, we can’t stop it. But if we get into another truck, we can move away faster, avoiding the collision.

What does getting into another truck mean in this context? It means that instead of fighting our bad habits directly, we should cultivate good habits. Let the good habits battle the bad ones. Saying “I won’t think about this” or “I won’t do that” is like trying to fight a bad habit head-on. Instead, we should create a new habit, something else to think about or do. This is like getting into a new truck, which allows us to shift focus.

But what good habits should we cultivate? There are many possibilities, but the most effective habits are those that bring us both enjoyment and benefit. Imagine two circles: one represents things we like, and the other represents things that are good for us. The intersection of these circles is where we find activities that are both enjoyable and beneficial. For example, if someone enjoys music, they can turn to spiritual music when their mind becomes agitated. Music is generally enjoyable, but spiritual music uplifts the mind. If someone likes philosophy, they can turn to intellectually stimulating, yet spiritually enriching material.

When the mind gets agitated, instead of giving in to temptation, we can redirect our focus to these uplifting habits. The key is to make these habits readily accessible. If we do this consistently, our minds will gradually shift away from harmful habits, and we’ll find ourselves naturally drawn to positive activities.

This redirection is necessary, but there’s a deeper level of change: reconstruction. If we flatten the inclined floor, water won’t flow in the same direction. Similarly, we can change our impressions by practicing bhakti. Every devotional activity, such as studying the Bhagavad Gita, chanting the holy names, doing seva (service), or simply spending time in the presence of the Lord, creates positive impressions within us. These impressions shape our actions, and over time, they become the default responses when we have spare time. When our inclination changes from worldly temptations to a connection with the Lord, we experience peace and joy.

This is the power of bhakti practice. When we become attached to Krishna, the inner demons no longer torment us, and we feel a deep sense of joy because we are connected with the source of all joy, Krishna. The more absorbed we become in Krishna, the more peaceful and joyful our lives will be.

To summarize, I’ve discussed the concept of inner demons in three parts. First, we talked about self-destructive behavior, where millions of people are addicted to substances and behaviors that harm them. Arjuna raises a similar question: why do we act destructively, even though we know the consequences? I then explained that these self-destructive tendencies are the result of deep impressions within us. Habits form over time, and these impressions shape our thoughts and actions. The more we indulge in them, the stronger these impressions become. Eventually, our habits become so ingrained that they dominate our actions.

The second part focused on how to deal with these tendencies. Using the metaphor of a floor and flowing water, I outlined three steps: first, regulation—creating boundaries to keep temptation at a distance. Second, redirection—creating positive habits that can fight the bad ones. And third, reconstruction—by engaging in bhakti, we change our default responses and focus on the Lord. Through this, our inner life becomes peaceful because we are no longer tormented by self-destructive tendencies, and joyful because we are connected to Krishna.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. I see there are some questions.

 Demons and their Presence: The idea that demons originally lived on different planets and now reside in human hearts is a concept without scriptural support and doesn’t align with logic. Demonic mentality has always existed, though its prominence varies over time. In the past, people may have been better at controlling these tendencies, but the impressions leading to demonic behaviors have always been present in some form.

 Mental Health and Spirituality: When addressing disorders like bipolar or split personality, the speaker advises against using supernatural explanations (such as possession) right away. Instead, one should consider psychological factors. Sometimes, extreme behaviors may appear like a different personality, but it’s more about deep-rooted impressions rather than an external entity. Resources should be provided to help people address their issues, and explanations should not be used to outsource responsibility.

 Temptations and Purity: Whether temptations are completely eradicated or simply dormant depends on the individual’s spiritual state. It’s best not to assume that temptations are fully gone but rather be cautious and humble. One should avoid putting themselves in tempting situations to test their inner state, and focus on being grateful if they’re not actively being tormented by those temptations.

 Addiction and Sensitivity: Addiction can extend beyond substances to include emotional or psychological dependencies (like approval addiction). While medical definitions of addiction are clinical, it can be more broadly used to describe unhealthy attachments. To overcome such dependencies, introspection is crucial to understand the underlying emotional needs. For example, the craving for approval might stem from childhood experiences of criticism, and understanding this can help address the root cause.

 Desires and Spirituality: At a deeper level, unhealthy cravings are often distorted expressions of healthy needs. Spirituality offers a resource for transforming these cravings. Understanding the source of desires and learning to fulfill them appropriately is essential. The key to healing lies in introspection and spiritual understanding of where desires originate and how they can be satisfied in a wholesome way.

 Setting Boundaries for Approval: Not all cravings for approval are rooted in ego. The human heart naturally desires acceptance, belonging, and value. However, it’s important to set boundaries and determine whose approval is worth seeking. Demoniac approval should not be valued, and one should focus on seeking appreciation from those who align with higher, more constructive values.

And then those people, if they are people with character and principles, then trying to act in a way by which they appreciate us will also help us to become better human beings. And in general, we have to find out who the people are who value us. There are some people who will never value us no matter what we do. So this is a principle of relationships on which I will be talking later also, but I have a Gita Daily article on my Gita Daily website. It is, “Don’t overvalue people who devalue you and value people who value you.” So if you decide this way, don’t overvalue the people who are never going to appreciate you, but find out the people who value you, and if they also have good values, then value them, and then there we can have our need for appreciation fulfilled. So thank you very much. Hare Krishna.