​Isn’t it better to address misunderstanding right away instead of letting it distract us later during japa?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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so sometimes when there is a misunderstanding happening we may feel let’s talk and get this over with rather than deal with it later because then in between all our japa gets distracted with what we can speak and what we should not speak yes we all have to learn how we work the best so there is no absolute principle about this so sometimes some people may need a little time to process their emotions and then they are able to come up with a mature response, some others they may be able to think on their feet faster it’s not necessarily a strength sometimes we say that I can think on my feet faster but we might be able to think better later also so we have to find how we can best deal with situations that’s the first point with respect to this sometimes dealing with a situation immediately might also work, so if something is a simple misunderstanding or misinformation and clarify the misinformation is over but if something is a much more deep rooted thing then it might require more thought, more discussion so we have to see the current time, place, circumstance now second day with respect to japa yes whatever is the strong emotion going on in our life that comes up even stronger in japa so now to be concerned that the mind is wandering is also advancement over wandering with the mind that means my mind is wandering and I am also wandering with it there is a Maharashtrian saint Tukaram Maharaj he was asked when we try to chant the names the mind wanders everywhere what to do let the mind wander why do you wander with it now what does this mean what does it mean mind is wandering I don’t let the mind wander actually at the very least we observe the mind is wandering I don’t want to go there so we don’t focus on the mind there are thoughts going on in the background it is the if we focus on those thoughts those thoughts grow so now consider suppose say you are reading some news on a page and now other side there are many clickable links if you click a link immediately another article will open another picture will open another story will open and we will get caught on it we will get we will just loose a lot of time one click one link another link like that but now suppose there is a ultra sophisticated computer in which the computer simply notices where your eyes are and if your eyes go on that link immediately the link opens up laughing laughing you know we would be in big trouble so our mind is like that computer that means you know there is one thing we are trying to focus on and there are many other thoughts going on in the background we just give it some attention it opens up it becomes big so what we have to do is we recognize all these links are here all these thoughts are there and I can’t wish away those thoughts but as soon as I catch myself ok my thoughts are going there and mind is wandering bring it back so so in 6.26 Krishna says in the Gita that wherever and whenever the mind wanders bring it back under the control of the self what this means is Krishna is not telling us that your mind should not wander he is not demanding that the standard of perfection is that the mind should not wander he is saying that the standard of sadhana is that when the mind wanders we bring it back so that’s why when these emotions are very strongly going on in our head naturally they will come at the time of chanting because that is the time when we are trying to focus the mind so we shouldn’t be worked up about the emotions, the emotions come but we don’t dwell on them we don’t dwell on them ok this thought comes this thought comes ok fine now I am getting this idea maybe I could speak this maybe I could speak that now all that is true we might get good ideas also but if we are Krishna conscious in the sense that we think ok this good idea is coming this good solution is coming where is it coming from ultimately it is coming from Krishna so that same Krishna I am trying to serve now so that if I am serving Krishna now Krishna will give me this idea and therefore let me not bother about this now if some extreme situation again this is also not absolute principle we have to see what works for us sometimes some idea may just be pushing us so forcefully ok I will complete this round maybe note it down maybe record it quickly and then start my japa there is no need there are practices there are practices and there are principles the principle is we focus on Krishna the practice how we do it we have to see sometimes I may decide ok I will write something down I start writing and then I spend an hour in that so we have to see see suppose a war is going on when a war is going on the army has to have some strategy to deal with it but the army cannot just always operate according to strategy army also has to respond to how the enemy is attacking and we may decide to attack the left flank but if the opposite army is full forces on the right flank and they are going to destroy us if we don’t counter that we may have to deal with it so like that we can have some plan for dealing with the mind but we don’t have to make that plan an absolute principle so we have to see for ourselves what is the best way we can deal with sometimes just noting something down or just verbalizing something that can get it out of the mind that can happen for some people or for some other people you give a little moment and the mind just goes bigger and bigger so we have to see what works for us but we needn’t expect that our japa can be isolated from the rest of our life what is happening in the rest of our life is going to affect our japa but then if we are striving to focus the mind on Krishna Krishna sees that see Krishna is also seeing the force with which the thoughts and the desires and the distractions are coming and if at that time we are trying diligently to resist even if we don’t focus on the holiness but the very fact that we are resisting that itself is appreciated by Krishna and even we don’t succeed in concentrating but just the endeavor to resist will please Krishna and we will make spiritual advancement even through that thank you yes ma’am