Four Things That Sap The Vitality Of Human Energy

“In Kali-yuga, the duration of life is shortened not so much because of insufficient food but because of irregular habits. By keeping regular habits and eating simple food, any man can maintain his health. Overeating, over-sense gratification, overdependence on another's mercy, and artificial standards of living sap the very vitality of human energy. Therefore the duration of life is shortened.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.1.10 Purport)

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Put it in the title of your post. It’s an easy way to increase traffic to your website. People are looking for solutions, after all. The four pitfalls mentioned by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada are not rare occurrences.

They are all too familiar; symptoms of this dark age of quarrel and hypocrisy. Try to correct the situation, and then dovetail the increased energy with the highest objective of the living being, purushartha.

1. Overeating

“I did it again last night. When will I learn? I always find excuses. This time we had several people staying at the house. I ordered extra so that everyone would have enough slices to eat. The pizza pie. My go-to. Obviously, my favorite food since childhood.

“The problem is that I don’t stop eating. People are amazed when I tell them how many slices I can put down. Once you get to the third or fourth one, it is like the body asks for more. Afterwards, I feel regret. There is more fatigue than I can describe. I have a difficult time doing anything.”

2. Over sense-gratification

“When I was younger, my mother would randomly yell at me if she thought I was doing too much of something. For instance, if she saw that I was seated on the couch for hours at a time watching sports on television, she would get upset. The admonishment was the same, ‘Too much of anything is not good.’

“In adult life I see evidence of that. Too much drinking. Too much time spent at the casino. Collecting a large amount of clothes and shoes. In whatever way the senses become satisfied, going over the limit creates fatigue to the point that the same person might swear off the activity completely, like I have so many times.”

3. Overdependence on another’s mercy

“There was a recent study that showed the younger generation more open to the ideas of communism and socialism. One of the reasons given is that there is fear in trying to make it on your own. Success is not guaranteed. At least with the other side there is someone saying they will take care of everything.

“The thing is, I never had the same concerns. Actually, I was worried, but that never drew me to take the full assistance of others. That fear became the impetus to work, to make it in the real world. I was mentioning this to someone and they said that the conditions in the previous generation were different.

“Most parents didn’t provide everything. There wasn’t the option to sit around and binge-watch television shows off a streaming service. There were no smartphones to become addicted to. Children had the inherent understanding that when they transitioned into adulthood they were going to get added responsibilities.”

4. Artificial standards of living

“I am fascinated by how people spend their time. I know someone who is constantly upgrading their tech gadgets. Not only purchasing the latest devices to hit the market, but fixing issues with the ones that they already own. Upgrading to the latest operating system. Modifying the hardware underneath. Bigger and better.

“To me it seems that people spend so much time just trying to maintain their lifestyle. If we didn’t have all of this stuff, life would be much simpler. We would have more time on our hands and more energy.”

…

The extra time matches well with the increased intelligence of the human being. The time is best utilized for contemplating higher subjects, such as life and death. Pondering questions such as why am I here. Where was I before? Why do I have to die? How best should the time in this life be spent?

Rather than rely on speculation and endless argument and debate, there is firm research data available in the form of Vedic literature. Understand both the philosophical and the practical evidence behind the need for taking up spiritual life. In the process, free up your time and increase your energy. Become truly happy through the highest engagement, one that matches the qualities of the individual, who is spirit soul.

In Closing:

After that pizza pie ordered,
On bursting stomach bordered.

Since one slice after another taking,
Excuses in mind making.

Overindulgence energy to deplete,
So important work not to complete.

Of spiritual side should be aware,
Focusing on future destination where.