Five People Who Are Spiraling Out Of Control

By krishnasmercy on March 21, 2025 • ( 0 )

“Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.20)

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कामैस् तैस् तैर् हृत-ज्ञानाः
प्रपद्यन्ते ऽन्य-देवताः
तं तं नियमम् आस्थाय
प्रकृत्या नियताः स्वया

kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ
prapadyante ‘nya-devatāḥ
taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya
prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā

1. The gambler

“I just couldn’t help it. The next roll of the dice. I had a feeling. I think what really hurt me is that every now and then I would win. So my losses would diminish. I wasn’t down by that much. I know they refer to it as ‘the gambler’s fallacy.’ If I lost five hands in a row, the next five should go my way. To sort of even the playing field. The law of randomness.

“Well, that certainly didn’t happen. I lost so much. It was ridiculous. I look back on it now and cringe. I should not have brought my ATM card with me, that is for sure. The wagering does keep you awake, I must say. That might be the only good thing to come from it.”

2. The consumer

“They just kept bringing out more food. It is like they were so happy that someone was enjoying it. I inherently understood that the taste would diminish over time. Leftovers simply do not taste the same. This was a rare opportunity to consume everything as soon as it exited the oven. I was not thinking straight.

“Anyway, I am really suffering for that decision today. Breathing is difficult. I have no energy to do work. I can barely maintain a steady thought. I just want everything to go out, to be eliminated. I regret what I did, but at the same time I cannot guarantee I won’t slip up again in the future.”

3. The drinker

“The problem is that once you get a buzz going, you feel that you need more. That is the effectiveness of the proposition. It is like this snare, this never-ending loop that you cannot get out of. I should know better. I do know better. But I kept going back. I dipped into the well too often. I lost my mind.”

4. The influencer

“I have no idea how that escalated so quickly. When you are online and scrolling through the latest posts, it is like the process never ends. You are trying to get out of a tunnel. You see the light at the end, but it seems that the more you walk ahead the further away that light gets. It is like the progress bar moves backwards with the passage of time.

“People think I am stalking that one person. I posted so many negative things about them. I had to get in the last word. I don’t even mean any of those nasty things I wrote. The moment got the better of me. I lost my mind.”

5. The worshiper of the devas

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, on the strength of the authority of Bhagavad-gita, makes what might be considered a controversial claim: the people staunchly devoted to the various devas of the Vedic tradition have lost their mind. The Sanskrit is hrita jnana.

This is like saying that a person’s knowledge has been seized. It is not lost entirely, but it is being kept somewhere else. Sort of like the casino taking a deposit before you can sit down at the gambling table. That deposit is your sanity, your knowledge, your understanding, your patience, and your careful deliberation. It is right there, in plain sight, but for some reason you fail to access it. You think you can recover it at any time, not realizing that you are slipping further and further into a dark abyss.

The assessment is not an indictment of the devas. They are living up to their role, assigned to them by the highest being of all. They are something like business intermediaries. They are delivering goods and services after proper payment. Rather than an exchange of currency or units of a particular commodity, the customer offers worship. It might be something simple like a leaf or a little water. In return, they expect something amazing, like enhanced abilities, acumen for a standardized examination, or the clearing of obstacles in their path towards success in an upcoming venture.

It might not be easy to detect, but this attitude indeed indicates the loss of intelligence. The knowledge has been taken away, based on the time factor alone. The worship in this case is pass or fail. There will be success or the deva might not oblige. If there is success, how long does the result last? For how long will the impact stay? After the fact, what will be the way forward? The worshiper will have to return and make another payment. They are essentially right back where they started. Like putting another coin into the arcade machine.

अकाम: सर्वकामो वा मोक्षकाम उदारधी:
तीव्रेण भक्तियोगेन यजेत पुरुषं परम्

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
yajeta puruṣaṁ param

“A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 2.3.10)

Shrimad Bhagavatam says that the wise person chooses to worship the Supreme Lord, who is the complete whole. This is irrespective of their incoming position. They might be full of desires, sarva-kama. They might be completely free of desire, akama. They might only be interested in liberation from the cycle of birth and death, moksha-kama.

It does not matter since their decision to bypass the temporary represents udara-dhih. This is a broad outlook. It is higher intelligence. Whatever might have been stolen through other decisions is now returned. That intelligence is inside of everyone; it is inherent to an existence. The respected spiritual guide, exalted for their merciful nature, helps to bring out that intelligence, to make it prominent. They show the way through their own behavior, in holding onto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as everything.