Radhanath Swami on The Vicious Cycle

When you commit a sinful activity, then the seed of the reaction gets stored in the heart and it starts to grow. And ultimately, the physical reaction comes upon us. It is unavoidable. It may come in this life, it may come in a future life, but the reaction will come! If you cause any pain to any living entity then that reaction, that pain must come upon you with greater force, you cannot avoid it. It is just a matter of time. But worse than that, not only will the reaction come, but also the inclination to do it again becomes deeper and stronger within the heart. A gross example is, if somebody smokes cigarettes then he can’t stop smoking cigarettes, in fact he gets addicted to it. It is true for all types of material activities - the more we do them, the more we become internally addicted to the tendency to do it. And then the reactions come, and along with the reactions, the inclination grows. It’s a vicious cycle! How to get out of this cycle? When we chant the holy names of the Lord, it cleanses the heart at all different levels - it actually extinguishes the seed of inclination for sinful, materialistic, egoistic, selfish, envious activities.