Can we get rid of unwanted thoughts by neglect?
So can we give up unwanted thoughts by practice yes generally neglect is a very powerful way so basically it's a war and in a war we cannot always go with a predefined strategy it depends okay if the enemy is attacking with guns we'll have to counterattack with guns if the enemy is attacking with cannonballs then i may have to attack with cannonballs so our purpose remains same but our practice may vary so like that when some negative thoughts come we just neglect them they go away but some negative thoughts they persist they persist and they stay on then we may have to do some reasoning with them this is not worth it you can consider something like a salesman sometimes the salesman comes and knocks on the door just don't open the door that person goes away sometimes some salesman comes and then that person knocks on the door and keeps knocking and keeps knocking and not going away then we have to open the door and tell them i don't want this we have to attend but not attend in the sense that we have to take what they're saying then no so like that sometimes when some negative thoughts are coming unwanted thoughts are coming we may have to give some philosophical reasons like some desire comes just let it pass if it's a stray desire you don't dwell on it, it will go away but the desire keeps coming again and again then we may have to have some philosophical or intellectual reasoning this desire is promising me so much pleasure but it has done that in the past and it's not there's very little pleasure over there there's so much trouble i'm not going to do this whatever it is so neglect is one way to deal with it reasoning is another way to deal with it third way to deal with it is sometimes some desires keep coming again and again and then if the desire is not very harmful we just in a regulated way do it and move on suppose i'm fasting i'm feeling a very strong desire for food food, food, food, food, food but i say i'll not take food but i'm just thinking of food again and again better take a little food and move on with life and again whatever we are doing we are chanting we are studying we are hearing whatever it comes back to devotional activities again so if that desire doesn't go away at all then we in a regulated way indulge in it not to give into it but to move on with what we want to do that is also one way of dealing with the desire but the important thing is the best way is that we connect with Krishna very strongly if not through chanting it can be through other ways it can be through the studying through kirtans whatever works for us when we are connected with Krishna that way then after that whatever other thoughts come in we have the maturity the clarity to see them properly Prabhupada says that intelligence means to see things in their proper perspective so okay this unwanted thought has come how to deal with it and over a period of time we also learn you know while passing along i see some movie holding i think maybe i should watch the movie but i just pass by i neglect it and the thought doesn't come in the mind also but then some that way some thoughts can be just neglected and they go away some thoughts can be reasoned and rejected some thoughts need to be engaged in a little bit and then they go away so but essentially if we primarily stay connected with Krishna strongly then that center for our consciousness will guide give us the guidance about how to deal with other thoughts unwanted thoughts appropriately we don't have to necessarily stick to one strategy so neglect may work 10 out of 10 out of 11 times but 11 times it may not work and if neglect is the only strategy we are using then we may be overwhelmed we should also have some other strategy ready usually neglect is the best way stray desires they come we neglect them they go away yeah they stay and go away like the salesman knocks on the door don't pay attention they go away so but we have to be open we should have like a Siri like a weaponry with us you know these weapons are there whichever works I'll use it this is my standard weapon and most often it doesn't work so this is what I'll use but if this doesn't work I have other weapons ready.