How can we keep the mind in the present?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
how to keep the mind in the present by asking how to keep the mind in the present that means simply by asking this question periodically what am I thinking about what am I doing self-awareness is the is both a process and a purpose we want to become self-aware but the process for that is also becoming self-aware that means if periodically may be at least at the end of every day 5 minutes and think of what did I do today did this, did this in this situation I could have acted like this in this situation I could have acted like this when in the heat of the moment we will slip back to our default patterns we can’t change those default patterns immediately so if we try that we will get discouraged but so when we are running around doing various things in life we have responsibilities we can’t just give them up we have to do them so whatever the mind is that’s how it will be but if we take periodic breaks and think back when I was doing this I was actually doing this but I was thinking of this I will think of this so basically look back at our day so when we basically look back what are we doing we are in a sense coming out of ourselves and looking at ourselves ok I was there I did this I could have done this so when we become when we take periodic breaks for looking at ourselves then by that we create a habit of self-awareness it is not constant self-awareness but it is periodic self-awareness and over a period of time as we keep doing this periodic self-awareness then that starts becoming more and more of a habit so say today I acted in one particular way in a situation I could have acted differently I was absent-minded at that time but later on if I recognize that I was absent-minded then tomorrow if I face a similar situation I will be more aware you know I shouldn’t be absent-minded so basically when an airplane say is flying from one place to another it is not that the airplane flies straight from point A to point B 90% of the time the plane is off course but there is sometimes wind pressure is there atmospheric conditions are there they make the plane go off course but it is the pilot or the autopilot program because it knows the destination it keeps reorienting itself goes off track comes back so for us our mind will go off track from the present it will go to the past or it will go to the future but if we keep having these periodic breaks and we reorient ourselves we have gone off track we come back we have gone off track we come back so that way we can train ourselves in living in the present by creating periodic breaks where we live where we come back to the present and then we look back at the past look at the future consciously and along with that the whole process of bhakti yoga centered on trying to live in the presence of Krishna that is a very powerful way of of gaining control over the mind because what prevents the mind from living in the present is is it’s is it’s desires it’s basically it’s uncontrolled right it may be worries it may be fears it may be regrets it may be desires whatever it is but once we understand that ultimately essentially I am a part of Krishna as a part I am meant to serve the whole so slowly by the process of bhakti this starts entering into us and then we simply do our part effectively so if I’m taking care of the part if I’m taking care of my part as a part the whole will take care of the whole I don’t have to worry so much about it simply by coming in the presence of Krishna regularly we will find that the mind will calm down listen in fact the best way to practice yoga the mind becomes peaceful why the passion that agitates the mind here and there that itself gets cleansed and that becomes pacified and then the mind becomes focused so by both creating periodic breaks for introspection and by regularly practicing the process of bhakti where we focus on Krishna we can become more habituated to living in the present any other questions