The Weakness of Willpower & The Power of Attention
5/19/202659 min
Willpower is fundamentally the wrong tool for inner transformation. French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil argued that attention — not discipline or force of will — is the true engine of inner change. Raghunath and Kaustubha bring this insight into conversation with the Gopīs of Vṛndāvana, whose loving meditation on Kṛṣṇa accomplished what no effort of will could. The Bhagavad-gītā's method of inner transformation is simple: turn your attention toward Kṛṣṇa. And the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam promises that faithfully hearing about the Gopīs' love for Him is itself enough to conquer material lust, the deepest disease of the...
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First 90 secondsKaustubha Das· Host0:00
We're getting to this really fas- fascinating verses today, um, in Bhagavatam, i- in this Rasa Lila. I wanna read you some ... This is a very short reading here, Raghunath. Just a couple sentences, okay? So don't freak out.
Raghunath· Host0:12
All righty. Read me a sentence.
Kaustubha Das· Host0:14
This is, this is also from Dance of Divine Love by Graham Schweig, who writes, "The special nature of lila," of Krishna's lilas, Krishna's pastimes, "is both playful and didactic." Right?
Raghunath· Host0:30
What does didactic mean?
Kaustubha Das· Host0:31
Didactic means it's teaching something.
Raghunath· Host0:34
Okay.
Kaustubha Das· Host0:34
You know, it, it, it has a lesson, you know, to, to convey. "Although lila is for the pleasure of Krishna and his devotees, and everything that occurs in lila contributes to the delight and celebration of supreme love and beauty, there are aspects that also instruct those who have yet to enter into its esoteric domain." So, what we're reading about, Krishna playing the flute, the gopis coming running to him, this is, this is Krishna's play. It's he- he's doing it because he enjoys it, because it, it is an expression of his own love and of, of his own joy. But what ... There's something for us to learn in it as well, something to learn about the gopis. And, and w- and what we can learn here is that their attention was drawn to Krishna, and that they're, they're glorified as the high yogis because it, they were the most fixed.