Learning to live with the mind – 2

Talk at youth centre, NIT Rourkela

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Yesterday, I started discussion from 6.27 onwards. I came to 6.35 primarily, where we discussed how when the mind becomes peaceful, we become joyful.
And when we become spiritually equipoised, and when we become spiritually realised, then we become materially equipoised towards all living beings. And we discussed what Krishna tells, not in a specific way, what process to use for controlling the mind. But he says, we keep practising and we detached.
And detachment means, we discussed, being detached from the mind at one level, it’s infatuation. At another level, it also means being detached from our inability to attain perfection, our inability to stick to our resolutions. We don’t become frustrated by that.
We just move onwards. So, now, in the last verse in this section, this is 6.36. So, in the previous verse, Krishna has said, yes, undoubtedly, it is difficult to control the mind, but you should practise and endeavour with detachment. Now, he says, Sanyam is restrained, if our control, if there is no control of the mind, then yoga, the word yoga sometimes refers to the process, and the word yoga also refers to the goal of that process.
So, we know, what is the meaning of the word yoga? Does anyone know? Connection, connectedness. Actually, the word yoga is connected with the, it comes from the same root as we have the English word yoke. You know yoke, when a bull is supposed to plough a field, then a yoke is put on its head.
And then the bull, or in a bullock cart also sometimes a yoke is put, but primarily for ploughing. So, yoke is something which connects two distinct things. So, basically, the idea of connection or connectedness is in that root, which gives us yoga, and uses yoke in English.
So, yoga can refer to the process of connection, or it can refer also to the fruit of becoming connected. And Krishna uses yoga in the sense of the fruit earlier also, in 6.20 to 6.23, when he says that, he gives four verses which describe the process of samadhi, which describe the state of samadhi, of deep spiritual absorption in Krishna. So, Krishna says, tam vidya, we conclude the series by describing, know this, tam vidya, dukha, sanyoga, vyoga, yogasangita.
So, Krishna, the Bhagavad Gita is a poetic work. And here we see the poetic alliteration, the same word yoga Krishna uses three times. tam vidya, dukha, sanyoga, vyoga, yogasangita.
So, the same word yoga comes in sanyoga, vyoga and yoga separately. So, what does it mean? tam vidya, know this to be, dukha, sanyoga, dukha, sanyoga is contact with misery, and vyoga, vyoga is disconnected. So, know that this stage, when there is a disconnection from the connection with misery, when there is disconnection from the connection with misery, that is a state of yogasangita.
That is known as yoga. So, yoga means a person becomes free from misery. Actually, why does Krishna use this double negative? Somebody says, it was not a large dog.
It was a small dog. Why do you want to say it was not a large dog? So, why does Krishna use a double negative? Sometimes, a double negative is used to stress some point. You know, if somebody has just come running, hey, there is a dog out there, and then he says, it is not a large dog.
So, why are you afraid of that dog? So, sometimes to stress a particular point, a double negative is used. So, here Krishna uses double negative, disconnection from the connection with misery. So, why does he do that? Because he stresses the point for the atma, for the soul, misery is alien.
The soul is by nature, and it is because of the soul getting caught in matter, that the soul suffers. In 13.22, the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, Purusha refers to soul. The soul becomes situated in material nature.
Desiring to enjoy. The products of material nature. And because of desiring to enjoy these material things, the soul goes through transmigration various species, meeting good and bad.
So, what this means is, say a child is watching a horror movie. Now, the child is sitting comfortably at home, the mother is nearby, the bed or the couch on which the child is sitting is very comfortable. But, when the child gets caught in watching a horror movie, because of watching that horror movie, the child will be trembling, scared, screaming, crying, horrifying.
Now, actually, there is no need to do all that. But why is he doing that? Because the consciousness is caught in the movie. And when the consciousness is caught in the movie, there is a whole gamut of emotions which are experienced, which are superfluous.
They needn’t be experienced, but they are experienced because of the consciousness being caught in the movie. So, like that, the soul is different from matter. The soul is different from matter.
Yesterday, I explained about chitta and chitta. So, chitta is the embodied consciousness. So, Krishna also uses that word.
So, here, first Krishna uses the word yoga, yoga sevaya, by the practise of yoga. So, in that same sequence from 6.22 to 6.23, first he uses the word yoga to refer to the process. And then in 6.23, he uses the word yoga to refer to the product of that process.
That is the state of disconnect, the state of connection with spiritual reality or disconnection from material reality. So, when the soul’s consciousness gets attached, Now, why does a person watch a horror movie? Because they think they will enjoy it. It’s a desire to enjoy, which makes them watch that.
And once they start watching that, actually they don’t get enjoyment, they get some misery. They get misery over. They get fear, terror, misery.
So, like that, the soul desires to enjoy the material world. And because of that desire, the soul’s consciousness gets latched into matter. And then there are miseries experienced.
So, for the child who is shaking and screaming, what is required to get rid of all that fear? Just stop watching that movie, isn’t it? The mother comes in the stand between the child and the horror movie or the mother turns off the screen. The mother just turns the child’s head away. All the things will stop.
So, here, what does the mother do? The mother brings about a disconnection from the connection with the movie. The child doesn’t have to watch the horror movie. But by watching the horror movie, the child is getting miserable.
There’s a connection which has happened because of the projection of consciousness. The consciousness is projected onto the movie screen and into whatever is being depicted over there. So, when there’s a disconnection from the connection, then the misery ends.
So, like that, for the soul, when there’s a disconnection from the connection with matter, there’ll be freedom from misery. And that is called as yoga. So, here, Krishna uses the word yoga to refer to the fruit, not the process.
It can, as I said, it can refer to both. So, similarly, in 6.36 also, Krishna uses the word yoga to refer to the fruit. Krishna says, this is my understanding.
This is my opinion that it cannot be attained. What cannot be attained? Yoga. Yoga means disconnection.
Cannot be attained if if the mind is not controlled, you cannot attain success in yoga. You cannot attain a disconnection or disconnection from matter and reconnection with spirit. You cannot attain that.
So, by this first half of the verse, Krishna stresses to Arjuna that you have to control the mind. He says that, Arjuna, Krishna sympathises, says it is difficult to control the mind. But without controlling the mind, you will not be able to attain success.
And then, this may sound very sobering. But what to do then? Next part he says, Upayata means some remedy, some treatment or some solution. So, with the proper method, if you do it, it is possible.
So, there is, there is, that we can say there are three stages. There is the control of the mind, there is the conquest of the mind and there is the conversion of the mind. So, my whole class today will be based on these three stages basically.
Control of the mind, conquest of the mind and conversion of the mind. So, yesterday, I gave a metaphor to explain, an example to explain how, although the mind troubles us, we need the mind. What was the example? Does anyone remember? A horse, yeah.
So, we cannot live without the mind. The horse is essential, but it can also be dangerous. So, now, while breaking the horse, while disciplining, training the horse, making the horse rideable, for that, what does the horse, the horse has to be controlled.
And now, controlling the horse doesn’t mean killing the horse, isn’t it? We kill the horse and we are not going to use it only. So, it’s not that we can get rid of the mind, but we have to discipline it. So, control, normally when I talk about controlling something, what does it mean? There is opposition.
There is opposition, but we have, maybe have superior force or whatever, then we try to control it. So, for example, right now, there is a lot of insurgency in Kashmir. When there is insurgency, in Kashmir, then the Indian force, Indian not just the police is there, the Indian military is also there.
And it is trying to control that insurgency. So, when there is opposition, and when there is attempt to, when there is the endeavour to curb that opposition, that is the stage of control. This control means there is opposition, and we try to curb, we try to curb that opposition.
But conquest means that the opposition has stopped. The opposition has stopped. And the third stage will be conversion.
So, for example, now, control means there are insurgent elements, the Indian government is still trying to stop, suppress it. Conquest means all the insurgent elements are eliminated, or they are expelled from the country. And the border is sealed so that nobody comes in.
Then, there will be conquest. But even if the insurgent elements are conquered, still, there may be general Kashmiri people sympathetic to the insurgent cause. Then, actually, they need to be converted.
Converted doesn’t necessarily mean religious conversion from one religion to another. Converted means, instead of seeing India as an enemy, it is important that they start seeing India as a friend. If the Indian government helps them in their economic development, takes care of their material needs, then the government is not bad.
And then they may become sympathisers. So, similarly, Krishna says that the mind can be both our enemy and our friend. So, right now, quite often the mind acts as our enemy.
And that’s why we need to control it. Eventually, we need to convert the mind. Now, convert means make the mind into our friend.
Most of you must have seen the drama of mind-the-mind, isn’t it? I and my mind. Where we see initially the mind is the enemy and eventually the mind becomes a friend. So, the mind becoming a friend will take a long time.
But it does happen. Now, there is, again there are, I talk about these three stages, control, conquest and conversion. So, I’ll talk about how this happens also in three stages.
First, there has to be the conviction of the intelligence. Then, there is the concentration of the mind. And then there is the conversion or purification of the mind.
We are more familiar with the word purification. I’ll explain this one by one. First, there has to be conviction of the intelligence.
That means, we have to be ourselves convinced that the mind is saying, come on, do this, watch this, eat this, go there, do that. And it is having a million plans for enjoying. But all those plans are not going to give any real satisfaction.
They may give a little titillation but no satisfaction. So, we need to be convinced that actually there is no real happiness in the material world. Sometimes people ask, is there no happiness in the material world at all? Or is there some happiness? So, Prahlad Maharaj, in a verse in the 9th chapter of the 7th Canto, when he is offering prayers to Narasimhadeva, he talks about both.
So, he says, kutra shishya shruti sukham triditrishni rupa vedam kalevaram ashe sarujam viroham nirvidyate nathu jano yada pihiti vighvan kamaanallam madhula vaisyamayan dhuram vayam So, Narasimhadeva is telling Prahlad, ask for some benedictions and Prahlad says, kutra shishya What benediction can I ask you, O Lord? kutra shishya shruti sukham triditrishni rupa shruti sukham In this world, I am constantly hearing about this enjoyment, that enjoyment, that enjoyment. But, what is the reality? triditrishni rupa I try to enjoy it. It is like actually a mirage.
There is no pleasure over there. Somebody will say, you are young, healthy body, you can enjoy life. vedam kalevaram ashe sarujam viroham This body is a breeding ground for unlimited diseases.
ashe sarujam viroham Therefore, nirvidyate nathu jano yada pihiti vighvan Unfortunately, even knowing all this, still, wise people, not just foolish people, but even wise people are not able to restrain themselves from worldly indulgence. Vighvans are not able to do it. Why? kamaanalam madhulavai shamayanduravai kamaanalam The desire for enjoyment, analla, it is like a fire.
And in that fire, when one indulges, there is pleasure. madhulavai Madhu is honey or nectar. Lava is a very small fraction.
There is a little bit of pleasure over there. But that little bit of pleasure is so intoxicating that for that pleasure, people are ready to give up everything else. Krishna also talks about this in the Uddhavita.
He says, kshudrasukh uru trishna Kshudrasukh, the happiness is so little, but trishna, the craving is so great. Sometimes people dream and fantasise for hours and days and months and years for a pleasure that actually ends in a few moments. It just doesn’t last for very long.
And this is not just some religious propaganda that the pleasure doesn’t last for long. Actually, objectively speaking, the body’s capacity to enjoy itself is limited. And no matter what one does, most often our mind imagines that I am not able to enjoy because I don’t have a sense of objects.
If I just had a good sense of objects, then I would be able to enjoy. So, a poor person would think, oh, if I could just go into this five-star hotel and I would eat, I will enjoy. Fine.
There may be some enjoyment there, but in that five-star hotel, there is a five-star hotel only. But even that five-star hotel owner cannot eat the same food, bro, 24 hours a day. He can eat only two or three or four times, whatever.
And that also, we can’t really… So, just as we cannot enjoy eating unlimitedly, similarly, no matter the enjoyment can be indulged in unlimitedly. So, we think that I am not able to enjoy because I do not have good enough sense of objects. But even if we had the best sense of objects available for us to enjoy, still our enjoyment would be limited because the limitation comes not because of the unavailability of sense of objects.
The limitation comes because of the limitedness of the capacity of the senses to enjoy itself. Even if I had unlimited food to enjoy, my stomach’s capacity to eat is limited. Similarly, for all the senses, the capacity to enjoy itself is limited.
So, it’s a very small enjoyment. So, earlier Prahlad said that it is a mirage. And now, in the same verse, in the first line, normally, in scholarly circles, when we refer to a verse, if we refer to the first line, like A, B, C, D. So, in 7.933 A, he says that actually, this is Muruga Trishni.
Muruga Trishni means it’s a mirage. But then later he says, it’s Madhu Lavai. There is some pleasure.
So, in D part, last line he says, there is little pleasure. So, what is the reality? See, there is pleasure in material existence. The illusion, the mirage is not about the presence of pleasure.
It is about the magnitude of the pleasure. There is little pleasure, but the mind imagines there is huge pleasure. And if there were little pleasure, we would not get so excited about it.
If somebody tells us, oh, today there is going to be sweet rice. But we will get one drop of sweet rice. Say, forget it.
I don’t want it. I mean, we will not get excited about it. But actually, with respect to all sense pleasures, the pleasure is always limited.
But the mind imagines there is a huge quantity of pleasure. That’s why we get agitated. And then we indulge.
So, the mind gets very excited about these pleasures. Excited, agitated. And it makes us restless.
So, currently, within all of us, these desires are there. And because of the mind’s imagination, we get agitated. If the mind would not imagine, we would not get agitated.
Nowadays, a big problem in today’s world is that with internet access everywhere available, many people succumb to pornography addiction. And when this happens, actually, there are various forms of addiction. But porn addiction is often the most dangerous.
Why? Not necessarily in terms of health consequences. But if somebody gets into drugs or alcohol or smoking, they have to go somewhere to get it. But with respect to porn, it just comes right to us wherever we are.
And whereas, for other addictions, we have to spend time and money to get those things. But in today’s world, often people have to spend, if they are always on the internet, they have to spend time and money to avoid getting into it. Because we might just be visiting some site and suddenly something pops up.
So, there are whole programmes of internet filters, which are often paid programmes, especially parents use it for making sure that their children don’t get into it. But actually, even the parents need it quite often. But either way, people have to spend time and money to avoid this.
So, in that sense, it is actually a very dangerous form of addiction. Now, what has happened is, just a couple of months ago, like one and a half months ago, in Times, the magazine in America, they had come an article about young people in America are opposing pornography. They are saying you should give up pornography.
It’s not that they have become pure hearted. Why are they opposing pornography? Because by watching all kinds of pornographic images, there is nothing left to the mind’s imagination. So, when in real life, they want to enjoy with a woman, they don’t get excited only.
And they are saying that that enjoyment is depriving us of this enjoyment. Therefore, we’ll give it up. So, it is not because they have become renounced, but rather the point which I’m stressing by this is, that actually, when there is nothing left for the mind to imagine, then there is no pleasure.
The real act of sense enjoyment, it’s basically a simple biological act of coupling. There is, all the pleasure comes to the imagination. And then whatever fantasies a person may have, they’ve all been seen, and they’ve all been, all person’s imagination is more or less exhausted.
Then in real life, actually what has been done in imagination, that cannot be done in real life. So, people don’t get, people are not able to, people feel that they are not able to enjoy at all over it. So, the point here is that, it is the imagination of the mind that causes us to get distracted, that causes us to get entangled.
And to avoid that imagination, see, if somebody is imagining, some child says, hey, there is a, there is a, some child is saying, there is a thief in that room. What do you do? No thief in that room. Oh, there is a thief in that room.
Just take the child into that room, and look all around, see, there is no thief over there. So, the best way to counter imagination, is by presenting facts. So, if you present facts, then imagination cannot stand for long.
So, like that, if our intelligence is convinced, it can be based on scriptural teaching, it can be based on our own experience, it can be based on hearing from others. If our intelligence is convinced, I said the first is conviction of the intelligence, then there is the concentration of the mind. If the intelligence is not convinced, then when the mind wants to think of this, think of that, think of that, do that, do that, we will pander to it.
But if the intelligence is convinced, then the mind says, I want to do that. We use our intelligence to analyse, to contemplate, to understand. As the mind is imagining, hey, to do this, there is so much pleasure.
But we present the calm, clear facts, based on our intelligence, based on our intelligence, which comes from studying scripture primarily. Then we understand, we present to the mind, actually there is no pleasure over here. At least there is no pleasure of the kind you are imagining.
So, that conviction of the intelligence is the first stage in becoming steady in the practise of mind. Krishna talks about how to combat lust specifically from 3.36 to 43 in the Bhagavad Gita. And in that section, the last verse, he concludes in 3.43 by saying, evam buddhe param buddhva samsthavyatmanam atmana jaishatram mahabaho kamarupam durasadam So, evam buddhe, in this way with your intelligence, evam buddhe param buddha buddha means to understand.
With your intelligence, understand that you are param, you are transcendental, you are beyond the body, you are beyond the mind, you are beyond the senses. So, you are transcendental. evam buddhe param buddha samsthavyatmanam atmana So, here the word atma, one atma means mind, the other atma means soul.
So, samsthavyam means situate. Situate the mind on the soul. That means, Prabhupada says, situate yourself on the spiritual platform.
So, the mind wants to go towards worldly things for enjoyment. But understand, actually I am spiritual. Everything is material.
It cannot give me real pleasure. So, samsthavyatmanam atmana Situate yourself on the spiritual platform and then this way, jaishatram mahabaho jaishatram, conquer your enemy. Arjuna, you are a powerful warrior, you are mahabaho.
But know that your power will be seen not just by how you defeat Karna and all the other enemies in the Kaurav side, your real power will be tested by how you defeat the inner enemy. jaishatram mahabaho kamarupam durasadam Krishna wants enemy durasadam. It’s not very easy to conquer.
But for a Kshatriya, for a fighter, when there is another big fighter, he is excited, yes, this is going to be a good fight, let me fight anyway. Now, if India is going for a cricket match, if India is playing a cricket match with Zimbabwe or with Kenya or some country like that, which are called in the cricket parlour minnows, minnows means, you know, they are very like tiny birds. So then there is not much excitement in the match.
But if India is playing Pakistan, India is playing Australia, then there is rivalry and the two teams are equal, so then there is excitement. So, you know, rather than thinking that, oh, my desires are so strong, how can I win? I think, yes, there is Krishna is invoking within Arjuna a fighting spirit. Yes, Arjuna, you are a Kshatriya, you fight.
And it’s a difficult enemy to conquer, but you can conquer. Fight. So, similarly, we shouldn’t become disheartened thinking that our attachments are very difficult to control.
Yes, they are difficult to fight, they are difficult to give up. But if you have a fighting spirit, then actually the joy of bhakti doesn’t come only in winning. The joy of bhakti comes even in fighting.
Sometimes we may get too caught in our target. My target is, I’ll not fall down again or I’ll not do this, I’ll not do that. And our whole consciousness gets riveted in whether I succeed in avoiding that or I succumb to that.
But the purpose of bhakti is not just to give up some wrong things. The purpose of bhakti is to focus on Krishna. And because these various things distract us from Krishna, so we want to avoid those things.
But when we actually develop the fighting spirit, what does it mean? We… How do we fight against temptation? This is also very important to understand. We cannot fight against temptation simply by raw willpower. Raw willpower means Just raw willpower is not enough.
Why? Because in our tradition the anarthas are considered not just enemies. There are no metaphors. Metaphor means an example.
No metaphor can ever describe reality precisely. All metaphors are pointers towards reality. So, sometimes when we want to invoke a fighting spirit, we may use the metaphor of an enemy.
Selfish desires, which has lost their enemies and we have to fight with them. But we also… In this battle, we just don’t need judgmentality. We shouldn’t be out judging others.
You know, this person is sense gratified. This person is like this. This person is like that.
And we don’t have to be judgemental towards ourselves also. Because it’s a difficult battle and sometimes we slip and fall. We need to… We need to encourage ourselves and rise.
And that sympathetic vision can come if we see the… see our attachments not just as enemies but also as diseases. Now, if somebody is diseased, somebody is sick, you know, at that time, we don’t feel hateful for them. We feel sympathetic that this person is suffering.
So, sometimes some diseases can be very messy. Somebody sometimes… When people are diseased, they may throw up. Vomit has come all around.
And it’s a very messy thing. But still, you know, we may feel appalled by seeing the mess all around. But still we understand it’s like this person is suffering.
It’s when a person is diseased, even if they themselves have done something to get diseased, they have eaten through something which they should not have eaten because of their disease. But still we feel sympathy because we see they are suffering. And we try to help them.
So, like that, we can see at one level lust or greed or anger, the anarthas as enemies. At another level, we can see them as diseases. So, diseases means what? That actually those who are afflicted by the disease are suffering and they need some treatment to be cured.
So, quite often, it is difficult to see, maybe when a person gets angry, we may be able to see this person shouting like crazy, you know, maybe beating someone or doing all sorts of violent things. You see, this person has gone mad. But when a person becomes lusty, we may often feel that they’re enjoying.
You know, when a boy and a girl are enjoying with each other, we may feel they’re enjoying. But actually, yes, there may be a little enjoyment over there. But actually, when we enjoy, two things happen.
One is, as we enjoy, the capacity to enjoy goes down. As I said, the capacity is limited. So, as we enjoy, it’s like eating.
When I eat, everything that I eat, my stomach is getting full. So, my capacity to eat more is decreasing. So, on one side, the capacity to enjoy goes down.
But on the other side, the desire to enjoy goes up. Why? Because that enjoyment acts like a fuel for the fire of desire. So, when people stop self-gratification, it is not because they are satisfied.
It is because their body’s capacity is exhausted. When people stop self-gratification, it is not because, oh, now I’ve enjoyed enough. Now, I’m completely satisfied.
It never happens like that. The desire to enjoy more is there. But the body’s capacity is got exhausted.
That’s why they stop. So, what has happened is, the body’s capacity has got exhausted, but the desire has got aggravated. And because the desire has got aggravated, that desire tortures them from within.
Do it, do it. But I don’t have the capacity to do it. Do it, do it.
I don’t have the capacity to do it. What to do then? So, then, sometimes people go old and they lose their body’s potency to enjoy. Then they sometimes take some drugs, some medicines to try to, again, boost the body’s capacity to enjoy.
So, there was one drug which became very popular called Viagra. So, Viagra was meant to make old people young. That was their idea.
And their idea of old people young was not black hair becoming white. Their idea of old people becoming young was recovering sexual potency. And then, what happened was, people started taking that drug and they started enjoying.
But then, initially, whenever a new drug comes in, people, the government and the medical agencies, pharmaceutical companies, they do some testing. But they often don’t do exhaustive testing. And even if there are some negative reports, often those reports are suppressed.
So, what happened, this Viagra, actually, it was very, it was very dangerous for heart patients. So, what would happen, whenever people get sexually excited, the heart beat starts increasing. The pressure on the heart increases.
So, old people would take Viagra and then they would get excited and they would enjoy. And while trying to enjoy, they would get a heart attack and they would die. So, then there’s a big alarm.
And then the government decided, we will ban this drug because people are dying because of it. But all the young people or the middle-aged people, they said, why are you depriving us? You know, and there’s so many people who say, we don’t have any heart problems. We want to enjoy.
And this drug is helping us to enjoy. So, then the government decided that this drug will not be available directly from pharmaceuticals. It is only when you get a doctor’s letter saying that you don’t have any heart problems, then you can get this drug.
Actually, those who want that drug already have the heart problem. Lust is in the heart only. But anyway, so, they said that you have to show that this is a contraindicative for heart problems.
So, only those people who don’t have any heart problems, they only can take this medicine. Now, some people were so desperate that what they would go, their normal physician will not give them this letter. So, they will go to some new physician, tell that physician, I don’t have any heart problems, get a letter, go and take that drug and go for enjoying and then get a heart attack and die.
So, it is, you know, the desire. So, when I’m giving this example, we may laugh. But if you actually think about those people, you know, we can, by this example, understand that they are enslaved.
They are themselves so tormented that to get that enjoyment, they are ready to even risk their life. So, when we see somebody tormented like this, if in a party or in a movie, we see a party where people are saying cheers and they’re drinking, I think they’re, we may think they’re enjoying. But then if we see a person, you know, who just, just recently, now, especially in Punjab, there’s a huge drugs problem.
You know, drugs are so freely available that, that, you know, thousands and thousands of people are just addicted to drugs. And when people get into drugs, somebody may say, taking a drug, I’m enjoying. But then to get that drug, people do all sorts of terrible things.
So, I read one news of a young man, a young boy, actually. He, you know, he wanted money, money for getting drugs. And his mother said, you have spent a lot of money.
I will not give you money. And what did this boy do? You know, he took an iron rod and bit his mother. Bit his mother to death.
And her body was a bloody mess. And then, you know, she had her purse inside her blouse. And he ripped the blouse after the mother had died, took the purse and went into drugs.
Eventually, that boy was arrested. But, you know, here, we can, there are various ways of looking at it. We can say, how degraded, how depraved a person is that they’re attacking their own mother.
But at the same time, you know, when a person is doing this, we understand that that person is also suffering. That person is also suffering because that, that desire has enslaved the person so much that the desire is making that person do something which normally he would never do. So, the point I’m making here is that lust, at one level, we see it as an enemy which attacks us.
But when a person becomes lusty, we can see, or when we ourselves become lusty, we can also see that as a victim. You know, a person who’s afflicted, just like a patient, a person who’s sick, that person is victimised by that disease. Similarly, lust victimises us.
So, when people become lusty, they may victimise others. You know, a man may abuse a woman. A man may molest or violate a woman.
So, the woman is a victim of that crime. But that man is also a victim. So, it is not that men and women are enemies of each other.
Men and women, for both of them, lust can be an enemy. So, when we see that in such a situation, what is happening? If we see lust as a disease, you know, when it’s a disease which causes not just the person to cause suffering to others, but they themselves are suffering because of that. So, when we see some selective depictions on the media, say a boy and girl dancing and singing and hugging and enjoying, you may think this is enjoy.
That is enjoyment. But actually, if you see the full picture, is when lust goes out of control, it causes far, far more suffering than what pleasure is. So, when we see that lust causes suffering, then we can see it like an infectious disease.
And when there is a disease, now, why am I giving these two examples? First example I gave of lust as an enemy, which, for which we need fighting spirit. Fighting spirit to fight against determination, willpower. But the other example which I am giving is, if you see lust as a disease, when there is a disease, a disease cannot be cured by willpower alone.
You know, if I have got loose motions, and then I say, I won’t. It’s not going to work. I’ll simply be tormenting myself and eventually, I will say, I can’t resist it.
So, when there is a disease, a disease cannot be cured by willpower alone. Even in curing a disease, a willpower, willpower is required. But that willpower is required for taking the treatment.
Isn’t it? So, if the doctor tells, okay, your stomach is upset. So, now, don’t take any heavy foods for the next two, three days. Take only soups.
I will say, I want to eat and I want to enjoy. Why should I take only soups? But then, I have to use my willpower. So, what is going to cure my disease is not willpower alone.
It is willpower used to follow a process. It is willpower, when it is directed towards following a process, then I can cure the disease. Similarly, when we have to combat our lower desires, when we, at that time, willpower alone is not enough.
The willpower has to be coupled with a proper process. So, if I, if I am just thinking that I won’t do this, I won’t do this, I won’t do this. Then, our whole focus is on whether I am doing it or not doing it.
But, that is not curing anything. We all have an innate desire for happiness. We all have an innate need for happiness.
And, purification means changing our subconscious definition of happiness. Purification means changing our subconscious definition of happiness. All of us have certain definitions of happiness.
Now, when we start practising bhakti, at a conscious level, we accept, oh, one sense gratification cannot give me happiness. But, at the subconscious level, we, we secretly disbelieve this. I think, actually, yeah, I say that there is no pleasure over there, but there is pleasure over there.
And this, this, this subconscious belief comes out in our unconscious actions. See, unconscious actions means, most of the times, it is not that when we do, when we indulge in some sense gratification, it is not that we consciously do it. It’s just that, you know, that okay, if I have, I have internet on my mobile, and I am thinking of something, suddenly, I click some buttons, and I type something, and suddenly, I find out that, how did I get here? Why did I do this? So, what is happening there is, it’s not that at one level, we are conscious of what we are doing, but at another level, we are not really thinking.
It is unthinkingly that things are happening. So, when that happens unthinkingly, the, that happens because subconsciously, still we believe that this thing will give me happiness. Consciously, we may, we may know, okay, this doesn’t give me pleasure, but subconsciously, still that belief is there.
So, first, there is intellectual conviction. The intellectual conviction means, at least at a conscious level, I understand, these things are not going to give me any pleasure. So, then, if I think that, because they are not going to give me pleasure, so I will not do them.
That is trying to use only raw willpower. And that will not work. Because we need happiness somewhere.
And if that is the only, if through self-gratification is the only way we know about happiness, then when we don’t do self-gratification, it is like selling it is how am I going to be happy? So, Krishna also uses this word when he says, We feel as if when we are told, don’t enjoy the sense objects, we feel as if we are being told to starve. Now, we may say, I can fast for one day, two days, but if I told starve from food for the rest of your life, I say, I can’t do that. So, for us, if our, if we still have a materialistic definition of happiness, if our definition of happiness is that material things will make me happy, then giving up sense gratification will seem like starvation.
And we will not be able to continue it. So, that’s why we need to change our definition of happiness. So, at a conscious level, by studying scripture, by deliberating on the nature of material happiness, deliberating on our own identity, then we can, we can get this at least conscious understanding that there is no happiness over here.
But after we get that, that’s why the first step is conviction of the intelligence. But after conviction of the intelligence, that’s not enough because I may say, okay, I’ll not enjoy like this, but I have a need for happiness. So, where do I get that? For that, there is next step is concentration of the mind.
You have to concentrate the mind on Krishna and that connection with Krishna, which gives us higher happiness. Krishna says that one can experience gradually unlimited happiness, happiness that does not get exhausted, inexhaustible. Sensual happiness is going to get exhausted.
If I’m eating something delicious, with every morsel that I’m eating, what is there in my plate is getting exhausted. So, it is exhaustible happiness. But spiritual happiness is inexhaustible happiness.
And when we turn inwards, when we focus on the Atmani and Sukham, Atmani, we turn inwards, turn towards the soul and turn towards Krishna for getting happiness, we experience higher happiness thereby. So, now, there is a concentration that is required. Now, when we talk about concentration, what does it mean? Does it mean that 24 hours a day, we are supposed to just chant Hare Krishna? No, Bhakti is, Bhakti has two aspects to it.
There is, Krishna actually, this is a whole subject, I’ll just mention briefly, from 12.8 to 12.12 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about various levels at which you can practise Bhakti. 12.8, he says, just fix your mind and conclusions in me and you will live in me. 12.9, he says, if you can’t do this, practise Sadhana Bhakti.
If your mind doesn’t naturally stay fixed on me, then strive to fix your mind on me. Even if it goes away, strive, labour to fix the mind on me. At that, he says, if you can’t do that, if you can’t do that, work for me.
So, our goal is to come to the first level. Now, our mind becomes naturally attracted to Krishna. That is the stage when our mind will become converted.
It will become purified. But right now, we have endeavoured to fix the mind on Krishna. Endeavoured.
So, that is what we do in Sadhana Bhakti. So, when we are chanting, when we are doing deity worship, when we are studying scripture, when we are hearing classes. So, the direct devotional activity that we are doing, that we are doing at the level of 12.9. No, that is Sadhana Bhakti.
Abhyas, we are doing practise. But below that, now, we cannot do that all the time. It is not just not practical because, say, because we have our job, we have our careers, we have our families, we have to maintain them.
It’s not just because of that. Even as brahmacharis, we cannot do this 24 hours a day. We also, that’s why there are various other services.
Madhkarma means work for me. Work for me means, we do our work in a mood of service to Krishna. That work for me, there are various levels.
It can be directly work for Krishna, the seva that we do, you know. So, there are practical services. Say, for example, if you are managing the base, if you are organising a programme.
Now, at that time, you may not be directly thinking of Krishna. But Krishna is our purpose. We are doing it because, all this is for Krishna’s sake.
So, even if Krishna is not in our consciousness, Krishna can still be our purpose. That means, I may not be remembering Krishna, but I am doing this for Krishna’s sake. So, that is at another level.
So, now, that can be whichever ashram we are in. It can be as brahmacharis, we are directly working for Krishna. As grahasthas also, if the purpose of our family life is to help us all go closer towards Krishna, that’s ultimately spiritual purpose.
And that can also be done in the mood of service. So, when we are doing the mood of service, then what happens? In our whole life, we can connect with Krishna. So, concentration of the mind on Krishna, when that happens, then the mind starts slowly realising that actually, when I focus on Krishna, I get much better happiness than what I am getting in otherwise.
And I think I will enjoy this, I will enjoy that. Okay, I get some pleasure, but there is not that much pleasure. There is not that much pleasure, but when I actually absorb myself in Krishna, there is much better happiness, much higher, richer, deeper happiness.
And gradually, the mind starts accepting it. The mind starts accepting it. Now, we all may have this experience of the mind having accepted certain things.
Some of us may have been eating meat earlier. Now, if you practise bhakti for some time, maybe a few years, then if we are, say, travelling in a train or a plane and the neighbour opens a plate where there is meat. Now, even if we have eaten meat earlier, it’s almost never, there are many devotees who practise bhakti and they fall away from bhakti.
And some devotees may fall back to meat-eating, some devotees may fall back, sorry, some devotees may fall back to sex. That’s what mostly falls back. Some devotees may start drinking also.
But practically, no devotees go back to meat-eating because prasad is literally higher taste. So, most of us, you know, if we start getting the smell of meat or something like that, what happens? We just turn away from it. There is not even the temptation for it.
Although we may have indulged in it earlier, now the temptation itself has gone away. How did that happen? That is purification. This means here the mind is itself understood.
There is no pleasure over there. So, here the mind has become not just controlled, but converted. Converted means, controlled means the mind keeps proposing things and we say no to it.
But converted means the mind doesn’t propose it to me. So, this conversion can happen for us even with respect to our deep-rooted attachments. But that will take time.
But this conversion will happen in due course. And how does the conversion happen? Because, okay, that meat may have some pleasure, but we know in prasad there is much better taste. So, what has happened? The mind has accepted that there is higher happiness here.
And by having accepted that there is higher happiness here, this is nothing great about it. So, once we accept that, once the mind accepts that rather, then actually the inner struggle goes down substantially. There is one devotee.
He told me this is a real story. He was born in a devotee family. And usually children who are born in devotee families, they get this devotional samskaras from their childhood.
But when they come to adolescence, at that time they get a very strong urge to explore the world. They feel, oh, since my childhood, I never got any opportunity to enjoy material things. So, often in teenage, children rebel against their parents.
And they go into enjoyment. So, this devotee, he also went through this phase for a few years. And then once he decided, he went to some very famous musician’s rock concert.
And then as he was there in that concert, with all his materialistic friends, he had gone there. And they were all cheering and enjoying that he was performing over there. And suddenly, as all that loud noise was going on, suddenly he just, he says, this is just noise.
He said, this is just noise. Where is the pleasure here? He said, at that time, suddenly, it was like almost, you know, he was observing himself from above. And he said that, you know, it is as if he was looking at himself.
He was thinking, this is just noise, just beating, beating. What is this? What is this pleasure in this? And then he said, I remembered the kirtans that I would go to in childhood, that I had stopped going recently. I thought that was just sweet, soothing, uplifting music.
He said, what am I doing? He says, that was like a turning point for him. And he said, all these people are doing so much propaganda, there’s enjoyment there. But this is just, this is not enjoyment.
It’s just noise. And he said, the kirtans which I was having, that I was participating, that is much better music, much better enjoyment. So what has happened here, this was like a defining moment for him, where his own mind accepted, this is not enjoyment.
Because of the propaganda, he was also thinking, oh, if I go, my parents tell me, don’t go for those music shows, don’t go for his concerts. But I want to go and enjoy. But he himself realised, this is not enjoyment.
So like that, when we get a realisation, now often we say, get realisation. What does realisation mean? Realisation means, that that which is a reality, we accept it to be the reality. That which is a reality, when we accept it to be a reality, that is a realisation.
So in devotional service, there is a lot of happiness. In sense gratification, there is very little happiness. This is the reality.
But right now, we have not realised it. That’s why we think in sense gratification, there is a lot of enjoyment. And in devotional service, yeah, there may be a lot of happiness, but it is very far away.
So till that time, let me enjoy this. But when we get realisation, that means, that which is a reality, we accept it to be a reality. So when we consistently practise bhakti, by consistently practising bhakti, that means, we need the conviction of intelligence, so that we can focus the mind on Krishna.
And when we focus the mind on Krishna, when we concentrate the mind on Krishna, we experience higher happiness. And when we experience higher happiness, then we say, that is lower happiness. I don’t need that.
I’ll be much happier over there. And then when the mind accepts that, then there is a conversion of the mind. There is a purification of the mind.
So these three stages, especially, we cannot come to the third stage immediately. We cannot expect the mind to become converted. So right now, our mind is going to agitate.
But if we study scripture seriously, we get the conviction of the intelligence. You yourself may have observed sometimes, if we hear some class about the importance of chanting, and then we sit down to chant, then we also feel that determinedly, I’m going to focus my mind. If we have not heard much about the importance of chanting, importance of fixing the mind on Krishna, then what happens? Then we are chanting, but we are not really trying to focus the mind on Krishna.
And then when we don’t try to focus the mind on Krishna, chanting seems like a waste of time. And at the end of chanting, we don’t feel refreshed, we don’t feel rejuvenated, we feel exasperated. Because the mind has been going everywhere, and we neither… Because we are chanting, we can’t do anything for our other activities.
But we are chanting and not really connecting with Krishna, so we are not benefiting materially and not getting spiritually also. So naturally we feel frustrated. But if we develop that conviction of intelligence, now, okay, if I’m going to fix the mind on Krishna, I’m going to fix the mind on Krishna.
That conviction of intelligence enables us to get the inner determination to focus. And then when we focus, then we experience, yes, chanting is… My mind becomes so calm, it becomes so focused. I feel so strong.
So when we get that concentration, the mind leads to purification. So we need to go through this stage. And that’s why regular hearing of classes, regular study of scripture is very important for us.
Jiva Goswami says that when a devotee is pure, it is priti that keeps them in bhakti. It is priti, they’re affectionate for Krishna, they have affection for Krishna, that’s why they naturally do the activities of bhakti. But that is for the siddha souls, that is for the perfected souls.
But for the sadhakas, it is not priti but buddhi that keeps them in bhakti. For the sadhakas, we don’t have so much priti for Krishna. Sometimes we may feel some priti.
Sometimes we feel very nice when we chant in kirtans or when we take darshan. But other times we do not feel nice. So at that time, we need buddhi.
The sadhakas say it is buddhi that will keep us in bhakti. And that’s why the study of scripture, regular hearing of classes, and even when we study scripture, it’s not just any book and every book. We have to find out what kind of study, what kind of hearing nourishes our intelligence, helps us become conviction.
So by the conviction of intelligence, there’ll be concentration of the mind. And by the concentration of the mind, there’ll be purification of the heart. And I’ll conclude with one point.
When I talked about concentration of the mind on Krishna, I said that there is direct concentration on Krishna through devotional activities. And there is indirect connection with Krishna through activities that we do with Krishna as our purpose. We work for Krishna, I said.
That was level of 12.10. So now, for us to grow in our bhakti study, in terms of longevity, now right now in the initial stages, we don’t even know ourselves so much. What are our strengths? What are our weaknesses? What are our interests? We don’t know much. But as we keep practising bhakti, we need to take responsibility for our own spiritual growth.
So there is a circle of things which we like. And there is a circle of bhakti. So it is not that to practise bhakti means we have to give up all the things that we like.
No. There is an intersection between the circle of things we like and the circle of bhakti. And if we situate ourselves in that intersection, then we can stably practise bhakti.
I’ll explain what this means. That the circle of things we like, in the mind, there are two things. There is vritti and there is vasana.
Vasana refers to things like last time we were here, they need to be controlled. But vritti is like propensity. There are four varnas.
There is Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra. These are four broad kinds of natures. And now where are those natures situated? They are not situated in the soul.
The soul is not Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra. That is also situated in the mind. So the mind’s vritti, the mind’s propensity or proclivity we could say, that is Brahminical, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, that cannot be given up.
That has to be doted. So when Arjuna wants to be forgiving, Arjuna says, oh, you know, why fight? Let me forgive them. Krishna tells Arjuna, you are a Brahmin, you are a Kshatriya, don’t act like a Brahmin.
You cannot act like a Brahmin. He says that, What can repression accomplish? Some people say, what can repression accomplish? That means we should all enjoy. No, Krishna is not talking about enjoyment over there.
Krishna is not talking about vasana. He’s talking about swabhava. Swabhava is one’s own nature.
Because this comes in, that comes in 3.33, 3.34, that section. But just two verses later, Krishna talks about lust and how it needs to be controlled. So our swabhava cannot be suppressed.
It has to be doted. So all of us, as we keep growing in our life, we will observe, you know, okay, I like to study scripture, I like to teach scripture. Somebody else will say, I like to cook.
You know, I like to, I like to manage. I like to do this, I like to do that. So we all should also be observing in bhakti, what is it that we like to do.
At one level, it is our surrender, and it is our devotion that we do whatever our authorities tell us to do. That is good. But we should know, if you want to practise bhakti lifelong, it is not that all the time there is some authority going to be there, do this, don’t do this, do that.
Yes, we will always have some spiritual guides, but the authorities are going to be always with us. In the kind of situation that we have in voice, it is a very special situation, where we are constantly the social devotees, we are monitored by others, we are being guided by others. Eventually, all of us will go in different directions in our life.
And we may not have constant guidance. So at that time, our bhakti will require self-motivation. Self-motivation means we should ourselves be able to practise bhakti, even if nobody is there to tell us, do this, don’t do this, do this, don’t do this.
And that self-motivation will come when we find out the intersection of what we like, the circle of what we like, and the circle of bhakti basically. So when we find out that circle, now we do what we are told to do, but along with that, whatever spare time we have, we try to do that activity. And in that way, we can draw our mind towards Krishna.
For somebody may find that, no, I like to sing Hare Krishna. I like to sing Hare Krishna and dance in various nice tunes. So develop that ability.
It’s not that when I say I like to sing, it’s not that I have to have a very good singing voice to sing. It can be just for my own absorption. I can sing.
I can recite. If somebody likes to recite verses, then put in some time, put in some effort to memorise verses. If somebody likes to learn some musical instruments, then put in some effort for doing that.
So whatever we like to do, what happens when we like to do something, our mind naturally goes towards that. And if that is situated within the circle of bhakti, that keeps us connected with Krishna. And if we discover this, even if we find one thing like this, which is in that intersection of what we like to do and the circle of bhakti, then that can help us in resisting the background temptations of the mind.
The process of bhakti means that we avoid most of the foreground temptations. You know, we avoid tempting situations as much as possible. We don’t expose ourselves directly to sense gratification.
But there are always background temptations which are there. And they pop up and they come ahead a little. So, if we have something which we like to do within bhakti, then by conscious habit, we can make that the default of the mind.
See, right now, for us, the default of the mind is sense gratification. For different people, it may be different. For some people, especially in youth, most of it may be lust, or some people may be money, it may be power, it may be prestige, whatever it is.
So, we have some worldly default for our mind. But if we find out something within bhakti, which also we like, then gradually we can make that our default. And once we make that our default, then the inner battle becomes much easier to fight.
The mind doesn’t get so much time to trouble us. Because the mind looks for pleasure. And if it gets pleasure in bhakti, then we will not go towards those things.
So, this thing is called as, technically, in Bhakti Samudra Sindhu’s language, this is called as Uddipan. Uddipan means, that which stimulates our thoughts and emotions towards Krishna. So, that which stimulates our thoughts and emotions towards Krishna.
So, example, when we come in a temple, or when we come in a voice, there are so many Uddipans. There are deities, there are pictures of Krishna, there is the Mahamantra, there are devotees, there are scriptures, there are so much devotional paraphernalia. So, all this is Uddipan.
That is fine. But along with that, we can find out, what are the Uddipans that work best for us? What is it that stimulates our remembrance of Krishna the most? And if we find that, we may find, okay, hearing some devotees’ classes, that really stimulates us. Then we can always have as many classes of that Vaishnava, and we can keep hearing those lectures.
Or if we find one book, I like very much. Then I can keep that book with me, and whenever I have few minutes, read that. Or if we like to memorise verses, we can just keep some selected verses we want to memorise, always ready with us in a folder or something like that, on our mobile or on our diary.
And whenever we have few moments, we just look at that verse and try to recite that verse, remember that verse, recollect that verse. And that way, we find out the Uddipan, which moves our, stimulates our thoughts and our emotions towards Krishna. And that way, we can avoid temptation.
In this way, we can increase the concentration of the mind on Krishna. And by that, the conversion of the mind will happen more steadily. It will take time, but then not so much unsteadiness.
Because if we don’t have that default, which takes us towards Krishna, then our default will be a fault. The default will be a fault in the sense that, it will take us towards worldly things, and that will create fault, that will make us do faulty things. But if we can find out a default within Bhakti towards which we can go, then we can move forward much more steadily.
And as Krishna says, as our mind becomes purified, Bhakti becomes joyful. I’ll summarise. I started by talking about how yoga, the word yoga refers to both the process and the fruit of the process.
The process to connect with the spiritual reality and the fruit of connecting with the spiritual reality. And Krishna defines yoga as disconnection of the connection with misery. That because, he uses the double negative to stress that this connection with misery is unnatural for us.
Like a child is comfortable in a room with the mother close by, but by watching the movie, a horror movie, the child is becoming fearful, terrified. So, it’s disconnect. So, like that, the soul is by nature joyful, soul is driven from matter, but the soul has got caught in matter.
So, the disconnection of the connection with material things, especially the notion of material pleasure, that is what is yoga. And then in that connection, we discussed that the three stages, that is control, conquest, and that is conversion. So, when there is opposition, and we use a higher force to control, when there is opposition is eliminated, there is conquest.
But when the opposition is no longer in opposition, but works in our side, then there is conversion. I give the example of Kashmir for that. So, initially, at least we need control.
And for control, we need conviction of the intelligence. So, I talked about three stages. What were the three? Conviction of the intelligence, concentration of the mind, and then purification of the mind, conversion of the mind.
So, now, in conviction of the intelligence, I discussed about is there happiness in the material world? Yes, there is happiness. The imagination is actually a little happiness, but we think there is a lot of happiness. So, I discussed two ways in which we can understand how there is not all that much happiness.
That is, we can look at our own experiences and we can see that actually happiness is limited. And the example, two examples I gave is that how people, basically, all pleasure is in the imagination. And when the imagination is exhausted, people do not get any pleasure.
So, people think that, so I talked about how people are becoming, people are saying no to porn because they are not able to enjoy the real life. That is not detachment, but that is frustration. And that is because the imagination is exhausted.
So, the pleasure is in the imagination. So, even when the real sense object is there in front of them, they are not able to enjoy because the mind is not imagining anything. So, the pleasure is in the imagination.
And we discussed another way is that we think that the pleasure, I am not able to enjoy because the sense objects are not there. But even if the sense objects are there, still our capacity to enjoy is limited. And that is why we will never be able to get immense happiness and sense gratification.
That conviction of the intelligence, that is what is required. And by such contemplation, we can get conviction of the intelligence. And then I discussed that for concentrating the mind on Krishna.
Let us go to the second step. We discussed that it is dealing with our own desires, lower desires. It is two metaphors.
One is as enemy, we have to fight against it. When we think of it as enemy, we have to develop fighting spirit. The joy of bhakti, however, is not just in winning, it is also in fighting.
And for this purpose, the joy of bhakti comes not by defeating, not in defeating the temptation, but it comes by focussing on Krishna. And we defeat temptation not just by raw willpower. For that, I gave the second metaphor that I cannot cure a disease simply by willpower.
Willpower has to be coupled with a process. And to illustrate how our lower desires can be like a disease, with the example that how people who are enjoying, they may be enjoying for some time, but actually in cumulative, they suffer. They are enslaved by their desires.
They may victimise others, but they are themselves victim. You have two examples of Viagra, how people become become so mad that they record the risk of heart attacks and death because they are so desperate to enjoy. So, you know, people don’t need Viagra, they need Vairagya.
And then the second example I gave of this drug addiction. Now a child, a boy killed his own mother because of the desperate craving for drugs. So, what happens is when the desire grows too bad, too strong, actually the person becomes a diseased.
And they are suffering, they are victimising others, but they are themselves victims. And then for disease, so even when we do something wrong, we don’t have to beat ourselves up. We have to understand this is a disease and there is a relapse of the disease because I did not take the treatment properly.
So, let me now focus on taking the treatment properly. And the treatment is fixing the mind on Krishna. How is that the treatment? Because we need happiness.
And we will pursue happiness based on what is our definition of happiness. So, right now, the mind’s definition of happiness is materialistic. It thinks happiness is material things.
And that’s why, consciously or subconsciously, the mind makes us go towards material things. So, at least with the conviction of intelligence, we won’t go in that direction consciously. But by purification, by focussing the mind on Krishna, in focussing the mind on Krishna, gradually the mind understands, mind accepts that, hey, this doesn’t give pleasure.
There is actually much higher happiness is there in Krishna Bhakti. I give the example of the devotee, child, boy born devotee family. This rock music is just noise.
It is not much better. So, like that, at a particular time, the mind accepts that there is not much pleasure here. So, realisation means that which is a reality, we accept it to be a reality.
And then when that happens, then the mind stops struggling, mind stops proposing. Then the inner battle goes down. I give the example of how we may be eating meat earlier, but now we may not even be tempted by that.
Because the mind has become convoluted. So, purification means changing the mind’s subconscious definition of happiness. So, that will happen through purification.
And for concentrating the mind in Krishna, so that we can become purified, we discuss how Bhagavad Gita talks about multiple levels. So, one is just getting our mind naturally absorbed in Krishna. We may not be at that stage.
So, we have to consciously strive to fix the mind on Krishna. That is the process of sadhana bhakti that we do in our morning programme and during our sadhana process. And along with that, next level is we work for Krishna.
That means whatever we are doing, we make Krishna the goal of what we are doing. We do it in the mood of service to Krishna. And that connection I talked about how Varanashram arranged that people who are Brahmanas, they are naturally intellectual.
They are told, okay, you study scripture and teach scripture. So, what they like to do, they are told to do it for Krishna. So, now today we do not have exactly Varanashram, but we can take the essential principle that we find out the intersection between what we like to do and what is in the circle of bhakti.
And we try to situate ourselves in that. And that can become our uddhipan, the thing which directs our thoughts and emotions towards Krishna. And when we have uddhipan, then whenever our mind has nothing to do, instead of defaulting towards worldly things, we can make it go by default towards that devotional thing.
And that way, our inner struggle will become lesser and gradually, steadily we will move onwards in bhakti and then we will start relishing that bhakti is succumbing and is joyful. So, thank you very much. Are there any questions, comments?