How does the holy name penetrate beyond the mind intelligence and ego?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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so you said the holy name penetrates beyond the mind intelligence and ego how can we understand actually in terms of our experience that the mind is that the holy name is going beyond these three subtle elements the process of bhakti is primarily a process of experiencing Krishna just as if our consciousness is very distracted looking here looking there looking everywhere then sometimes we may not notice anything at all but if we focus on one thing if say then while we are focusing on one thing then we become we become aware of other things in relationship with that thing also so for example if we focus on the deities when we are taking darshan of the deities we don’t just see the deities we see ok which is the dress that they are wearing what is the setting the background behind them what is the ornament that they are wearing so basically when our consciousness becomes focused on Krishna then in focusing on the other we become more aware of ourselves also because we become aware of ourselves as the as the person who is focusing on the other now when we are when we start practicing the process of bhakti we start seeing that by that practice our consciousness will become as it becomes more and more focused on Krishna in that focus on Krishna in that connectedness with Krishna other things will become more and more visible to us not in the sense that we will focus on them but in their relationship with Krishna we will become more and more aware of them so for example if we strive to so when we are trying to focus on Krishna then the way the mind, intelligence and ego are functioning whether they are taking us closer to Krishna or away from Krishna how they are functioning they will become clear for us just like to give another example if I am working on a computer and if I am if I am focusing on one particular program say if I am surfing the net if I am reading something on a browser and at that time there is a pop-up window which comes up so if I am trying to work on the computer then if the computer there is something wrong with the computer I will come to know about it and if I am really focused working on the computer then anything that interferes with the effective working of the computer I will become aware of it relatively easily but if I am not focusing on the computer may be sometimes jumping here sometimes jumping there sometimes going here going there just fooling around with the computer then I may not even realize that there is some problem I may not even realize that actually there is some then something wrong with the computer so just as focus on one object makes us aware of other objects also in connection with that object so similarly it is the more we become focused on Krishna and our service to Krishna at that time we become aware this is my mind which is distracting me from focus on Krishna this is my ego so I know that I should be acting in a particular way but when somebody does not respect me properly then I feel a very strong sense of I feel very strongly impelled to react to that and may be become vindictive and punishing towards that person then I understand this is actually my ego acting no need for me to act like this let me calm down let me this is not favorable for my service to Krishna similarly if we start becoming hyper intellectual then we start realizing that oh I have become hyper intellectual now and we realize that because we recognize that this hyper intellectuality is interfering with my focus on Krishna that’s why as devotees we don’t strive too much to focus on other other thing we try to focus on Krishna if we strive to become conscious of the intelligence conscious of the ego that is not a very easy thing to do and that is not a very constructive thing to do it’s quite difficult to do that thing so what we can focus on is striving to become focused on Krishna as much as possible and while trying to focus on Krishna we can actually become detached become aware of other things and stay detached from other things ok this is the mind acting this is the intelligence acting and this is not the way it should be acting let me put it aside let me move away from it in that way we can move onwards by becoming aware of Krishna we can become aware of the way the mind, intelligence and ego are obstructing us in our journey towards Krishna and thus we can not only become aware of them we can also counter their influence