Answer
The answer to all these questions is the chanting of the holy name:
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
This is the medicine for everything.
As I explained, what we are truly craving is love. But in material life, we often mistake chemically induced sensations and temporary emotional excitement for love. This is not real love; it is called Kama — temporary, self-centered, and ultimately unsatisfying.
When we begin to experience Krishna’s love through sincere chanting, a higher taste gradually awakens. Little by little, that real spiritual taste develops, and naturally the attraction for lower tastes begins to fade.
This is the only real way to give up lower pleasures — by experiencing a higher taste. Suppression alone does not work. Replacement through a higher spiritual experience is the solution.
Why? Because our very nature is to seek taste, joy, and fulfillment. The soul is by nature Sat-Chit-Ananda — eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. Since tasting happiness is intrinsic to our nature, we cannot simply become empty or desireless. We must redirect that longing toward its true object: Krishna.
When the soul begins to taste Krishna consciousness, real love awakens, and the lower, temporary cravings naturally lose their hold.
