How can we overcome discouragement due to constant mental lethargy?

From: Raja Rama Dasa

Eventhough we know that services such as book distribution, preaching etc. are very much required to uplift us and others as well, sometimes feel morose, lethargy in actually taking the body and mind out to service. I feel this is definitely the effect of modes of nature on me. How should I get out of this? I want to do more service but many times mind doesn’t favour. Due to this I lose enthusiasm altogether. How to overcome? Please help..

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Rajaram Prabhu even though we know that services distribution, teaching etc.
are very much required to uplift us and others as well sometimes I feel morose because lethargy is actually taking the body and mind out of service I feel this is definitely the effect of modes of nature on me how should I get out of this I want to do more service but many times mind doesn’t favour, due to this I lose enthusiasm altogether how to overcome please help answer yes you have diagnosed the cause of the feelings of lethargy and moroseness as the three modes of material nature and Arjuna precisely asked this question to Krishna in the 14th chapter of the Guru Eka and he also asked he says how does one transcend the three modes so Krishna after describing the symptoms of one’s transcendent modes describes the process in fact Arjuna asks three questions over there so he is asking in 14.21 how what are the symptoms by which one can know that one has transcended the modes what are the characteristics of the behaviour of such a person and how can I transcend the modes so in one sense Krishna is being asked by Arjuna about the internal and external symptoms for transcending the modes so Krishna answered Krishna is primarily in 14.22 he describes the internal symptoms which he continues in 23 and then 24 and 25 he describes the external symptoms that means how should we think if we wish to transcend the modes and then how can we know if somebody has transcended the modes so in 22 and 23 he describes he says that prakasha pravrtti and moha prakasha is illumination pravrtti is activity and moha is illusion these three are the characteristic three modes as Krishna has described earlier illumination is the characteristic of goodness activity or hyperactivity activity according to one’s inclination is the characteristic of passion and moha illusion is the characteristic of ignorance so so Krishna is saying to a person when he sees these emotions coming up these sort of feelings coming up then it is not wishty, one is not envious one doesn’t resent them when they come and then when they go away, one doesn’t hanker for them then he says next to us one is situated as if one is detached one is not disturbed by the modes one understands that actually this is the action of the modes one is not shaken that means one understands this is just the influence of the modes and one doesn’t let oneself get shaken by the shaking of the modes so this is at the level of gyan that means when I start feeling lazy, if I have had enough rest at night and still I start feeling lazy and sleepy that means that it’s not that my body needs rest, it’s that the mode of ignorance is acting on me so at such time the internal symptom is that we should be able to at least recognize that this is not the feeling the desire of my authentic self this is actually the feeling that is coming in my mind because of the influence of the modes, so there is a small gita daily article on this on how our feelings are not our feelings it talks about this now going further once we recognize this still those feelings don’t go away but at least we understand that these feelings are external and I can and I should resist them then Krishna after describing that the external symptoms of a person who is transiting the modes is that he is equi-point how much happiness and distress, honour and dishonour and everything like that and then in 14.26 he says how can one transcend the modes? by unbreakable devotional service so it is no distraction one stays fixed in devotional service so how can one stay fixed in devotional service like that? if one can stay fixed like that Krishna says then one will transcend the modes and come to the spiritual platform now this seems to beg the question that actually it is because of the modes that we experience breaks in our devotional service that means say I am rendering some service like book distribution or studying scripture and because of the modes I feel I don’t want to do the service so the modes create a break in the service and Krishna is telling us that by practicing unbreakable devotional service we will go beyond the modes so how is it possible that we can actually practice unbreakable devotional service while the modes are still attacking us and impelling us to cause breaks break our devotional service so that actually comes by the intention to serve the spiritual master and Vishnu Vishwanath and other Acharyas in their commentaries not just in this verse but on the topic of dealing with the three modes in general they explain that actually speaking by the process of Jnana one can understand ok this is the mode of passion acting, this is the mode of ignorance acting but Jnana alone is not enough to transcend the modes actually one has to practice Bhakti and Bhakti to Krishna is for us often an abstract concept because Krishna is somebody who is far away and most of us at our level of consciousness are not able to perceive when something pleases Krishna, when something displeases Krishna we can’t perceive whether he is pleased or not the spiritual master is the representative of Krishna who is much more accessible to us so who gives us guidance in how we should serve and he also gives us feedback when we actually do service so that we know whether we are on the right track or not so therefore whenever we have to do some services which we know are difficult for us because of the influence of the modes it’s best to do them in association of devotees or not just physically being in association of devotees or we should do the service by making commitments to senior devotees because especially not just any other senior devotee but a senior devotee whom we feel is close to us spiritual master or is close to Krishna and that means if we make a commitment like that I want to do this service and I will do this service come what may at least try my very best to do the service so that way we will be able to transcend the modes because even in material life we see that people often go beyond the modes at least at a limited contextual level by the practice of their occupation when a person is working in a company they feel extremely bored by the work and they just feel like I need a break, I just want to go and sleep or I want to do something else yet a person can’t do that and he won’t do that because he knows that his job, his livelihood is better than what others take and so that person will control and discipline himself so especially if that person thinks that I have my own mother and father whom I have to take care of and I have my wife and my children whom I have to take care of, how can I just let my feelings drive me away like this and that will also help in building a bonding relationship so in this way by practicing devotional service and not just in a generic way but in a specific way as an offering you can