“Embodied souls can acclimate to a life of discipline, even if taste for worldly pleasures persists. By knowing a higher taste, all other interests abate.”
Bhagavad Gita 2.59
For his acts of greed, Zeus’s mortal son Tantalus was made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree. Whenever Tantalus reached out, the branches rose away. Whenever he bent to drink, the water receded—cursed to being forever “tantalized.” This verse from the Gita reminds us that however drawn we may be to the “fruits” of an illusory world, nothing compares to the “higher taste” (param-dhristva) of a yogic life of devotion to God.
To develop that “higher taste,” the Vedic texts recommend chanting the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare Hare. And when you attend a yoga class, don’t just stretch your body: seek out the company of righteous men and women cultivating that “higher taste.”
With affection,
Yogesvara