(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 08 June 2014, Stockholm, Sweden, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.14)
We are not against material desires – no problem at all! Material enjoyment and material desires are no problem but no sinful desires and no sinful enjoyment are allowed. That is where the borderline is. There is scope for enjoying the material energy, it is not by renunciation that one can attain the spiritual world; it is by service and by love! By serving Krsna and developing love for Krsna, we can rise above this material energy.
It is only then that we will naturally lose the taste for the lower things. Sinful activities are to be given up and that maybe difficult at first because for a long time, we were accustomed to some forbidden activities. But those activities do not bring happiness, sinful activities bring us suffering and misery. They bring suffering, different types of suffering. So therefore, it is not much to give up really because what we really give up is suffering.
Even pious enjoyment can capture the mind! Even that which is allowed can still capture the mind and one starts dwelling on such enjoyment. Therefore, we see that some wise persons, they leave that also, they say, “Forget it, you know, why even bother with this enjoyment.” Because even desires for material enjoyment, which is allowed, can never fully satisfy the mind anyway!
