Don’t let the mind send the intelligence on a vacation

The intelligence doesn't need to be sent on vacation the mind needs to be sent on one and inside us there is a force that works for our good and there is a force that works against us broadly speaking in terms of the terminology used in the yoga texts the force the factor the agent that prompts us to act wisely is referred to as the intelligence and the force that goads us to act impulsively imprudently sometimes insanely that is the mind now suppose there is a there is a office in which there are two people who have some degree of authority and ideally those two should work together but if the two have differences of opinion on some issue and then at that time one of them wants to get something done then what they may do what that person may do is somehow get that other person sidelined maybe send the other person on a vacation sometimes it happens in office politics that there are two people both of them are more or less equally capable of doing an important project and that project is coming up so one of them who wants to somehow grab the project that person persuades the boss and tells the boss somehow that you know this other person has been working so hard he deserves a vacation and sends that other person on a vacation for a month or so and now that is the time when this project is to be done and when the other person is sent on vacation during that time then this person automatically gets the project so normally vacations are considered to be times for relaxation and enjoyment but sometimes those vacations may also be misused by which by which somebody may be sent on a vacation so that they can be deprived of their say their contribution their role even their rights so like that our mind and intelligence are often at loggerheads inside us and when the mind and intelligence are at loggerheads at that time we need to be careful to understand what we are to do you know who is going to be in charge say if the boss as I said in the earlier case when one of the two competitors two rivals they manipulate the boss and have the other rival sent off on vacation during the time of a critical project then that person gets monopoly on the boss because other person is not there to express any contrary view so like that we as souls are like the influenceable boss and as the influenceable boss although the boss is supposed to have influence and the boss is supposed to make the decision we are not we as souls are not the influential boss we are the influenceable boss so when we have to make decisions say as souls the energy coming from the soul is the consciousness and this consciousness is meant to take us towards Krishna it's meant to take us towards constructive things it's meant to enable us to progress positively in some or the other direction by which we can become constructive by which we can become committed by which we can become positive in doing whatever needs to be done however when we find that our mind starts reeling whenever we find that our consciousness starts becoming depraved whenever our inner tug of war goes towards the situation when the mind starts gaining the upper hand then at that time sometimes the mind manipulates us and sends our intelligence on a vacation so you just listen to me so when the intelligence speaks a contrary voice no no there is no need to do this, this should not be done, just neglect that, just do what I am saying and in this way when the mind takes charge and sends the intelligence on a vacation then at that time we become we become foolish we become puppets of the mind and the mind makes us act like fools so thus we end up actually caught and consumed by the vicissitudes by the whimsical arbitrary ideas that grab the mind and then which grab us thereafter now once an employee has been sent on vacation even if we want to get that employee back to get that person to come back and to understand the situation and to take a stand on the situation all that takes time so similarly when we let our intelligence be sent on a vacation then we become puppets of the mind and even if we sense something is wrong, this is not the way I should be acting but somehow we just don't get the idea of what's wrong and what we should do and that's how we end up trapped that's how we end up depraved, that's how we end up unable to decide things about regarding what is to be done and how it is to be done, so we need to ensure that the mind doesn't send interviews on a vacation, that means when the mind starts proposing something especially when the mind starts demanding monopoly on our attention and it does not want us to listen to anyone else and it tries to silence the voice of the intelligence it basically tries to silence any alternative perspective that becomes a big big challenge so for us as spiritual beings evam buddhe param buddhva samsthabhyat manamatmana jahe shatrum mahabhavo kamarupam drasidam, Krishna says in the third chapter 43rd verse that evam buddhe with your intelligence situate yourself on the spiritual platform, param buddhva samsthabhyat manamatmana that be situated on the spiritual platform so it is what will situate us on the spiritual platform is the intelligence the mind, the body won't situate us there with the soul it is the intelligence which will situate us there so by our intelligence we understand that we are higher than the mind, we are higher than the body we are param buddha and once we understand that then we can take things forward and plan out how to take things ahead, thus what we could do is we can actually move onwards towards focusing on nourishing our intelligence strengthening our intelligence increasing our connection with our intelligence when we do that at that time we learn to focus on determined resistance of the mind so it's not that our mind is incorrigibly bad and it's not that the mind is always bad it's just that we have to be cautious and often it is the intelligence that will be the voice of caution so to the extent we can listen to the intelligence to the extent that we can strengthen ourselves by strengthening our intelligence strengthening our intelligence happens when we study the Bhagavad Gita when we internalize its wisdom and by internalizing that wisdom we move towards purification we move towards strengthening our higher side and weakening our lower side so purification is not something abstract purification essentially means that it works as a means by which our essential core can be the interest that is promoted by our actions rather than some preferable stray desires that just come that possess us and then break us afterwards just like say we have had some family members who have been there with us for a long time and you know they have cared for us we have cared for them they have helped us in our times of need we have helped them in their times of need and then suddenly some new person comes in our life and that person seems so attractive that person seems so irresistible that person seems so mesmerizing that we make that person the most important person in our life and once that person becomes the most important then the result is that we are no longer able to take things forward we are no longer able to say we trust that person so much we may even entrust our money to that person and say that person eventually swindles and takes the money and goes away so our stray desires can sometimes work like that that we shouldn't give more importance to our stray desires than to our central purposes just as we wouldn't give more importance to an occasional acquaintance than to a close family member who has stood by our side for a long time by thus keeping our priorities clear and it is our intelligence that helps us to keep our priorities clear not our mind our mind gets infatuated by ideas oh this should be done that should be done let's try this out let's try that out and by such ideas the mind makes us crazy the mind makes us do things which we would never do if we were clear headed just as we would never invest heavily in some scheme proposed by some stranger or someone whom we know only occasionally not very closely like that overall if you understand that in the intelligence there is the purpose and in the mind there is the there is their desire now ideal situation should be that the the purpose and the desire can be in harmony so whatever is our purpose we make that our desire also whatever is our intention we make that our emotion also but when that doesn't happen then we need to focus on the purpose the intention not the central purpose the main intention not the stray desire not the incidental emotion when we keep studying discernment like this then we will be able to protect ourselves from being misled by our mind even when we find ourselves being beguiled by the mind being seduced by the mind the voice of the intelligence will strike a strong cautionary note and tell us Tom don't do this and over a period of time if the mind starts becoming recalcitrant if the mind starts becoming obstinate if the mind starts becoming noisy then with our intelligence strong we won't let the noisy mind silence the intelligence or sideline the intelligence rather with the strong intelligence we will send the noisy mind on a vacation sending the noisy mind on a vacation means that no matter how loudly it screams we just don't pay any attention to it and by this determination gradually the mind will become silent and thus the mind will learn to become more reasonable and more amenable so the regular study of scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita and the rigorous practice of activities that purify us that strengthen our intelligence are what will ensure that our inner radar stays focused and doesn't become dis-focused that we never let our intelligence be sent on a vacation by a manipulative mind that we never become so manipulable and gullible but that we use our intelligence to discipline the mind to get it to cooperate and when it refuses to cooperate to silence and sideline it.