Two young boys in Mumbai approached Bapa one morning. They respectfully bowed to Bapa and gently touched his holy feet. “We have resolved to give up watching television,” they told Bapa. “We need your blessings!” Swami was pleased and blessed the boys. “Be firm in your resolve and beware that you don’t get swayed by your friends or submit to the temptations of your mind,” warned Bapa, stressing the two very important parts that often come in the way of our niyams or resolutions: bad company and the mind. Along with personal effort, Bapa’s blessings give us the added help to accomplish such difficult tasks.

Addiction to television destroys the education of thousands of young students each year. Some slowly break and sink to wicked and violent depths. All the violence, thrills, instant success, etc. take us away from understanding what’s right and wrong. Indiscriminate viewing of television wears away our moral values. Even after knowing all this, one finds it difficult to even control one’s viewing hours, let along giving up entirely. Only a firm, merciless resolve can free us from this “curse.