When the mind is restless how are performers like archers able to focus on one point?

Transcript

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and internal remembrance. They say that the mind is very restless and it doesn’t stick to anything because it doesn’t believe that there is any pleasure anywhere.
Then how do people who are very disciplined in a particular activity, say Olympic shoot, archers or shooters, focus on one point? Yes. When I said the mind does not believe that any object gives it pleasure, that doesn’t mean that the mind is going to abandon its search for pleasure. The mind is very convinced that pleasure is there somewhere and it is going to pursue that.
And depending on the kind of exposure that mind has had, the mind develops certain beliefs that this is what will give me pleasure. And to the extent that conviction becomes strong, to that extent, a person will be ready to pay any price for it. So for somebody who is shooting and is trying to say become an archer, if I can just hit the bullseye in an Olympics match, I’ll get the Olympic gold and then all my dreams will be fulfilled.
Then I’ll be happy. That belief is what drives them at that time. However, for most people, they are not able to achieve it and that’s why they are dissatisfied.
Some people, they are able to achieve it and then it turns out to be an anticlimax. There is a famous tennis player, he wrote his autobiography, he said that his dream in life was to become the world’s number one tennis player. And then he became world number one and then he said, it is still late now.
He said, so what? That means a computer loves me. A computer somewhere based on its ranking has decided that I am the best player in the world. What’s so big about it? Now, of course, he didn’t give up that idea.
He said, okay, what I really want in my life is that I should in tennis there are these grand slam tournaments. So if somebody can win all the four grand slams, they are considered very special. So I should achieve that.
So yes, if one goal turned out to be disappointing, why don’t you set up another goal? That’s how material life is, that we somehow based on our situation get some conviction, if I do this, this will give me pleasure. And even if we get it and we don’t get the pleasure, somehow the mind finds us some other object. That will give me pleasure.
And if we set up some goal, which we believe will give us pleasure, then we are ready to work very hard for it. In the case of, say, trying to chant and focus the mind on Krishna, somehow we don’t have that conviction that this will give us pleasure. And that’s why when the mind wanders, we are not ready to get it back.
The soul does have the capacity to control the mind. And as I say, people who achieve something material, they do have a certain level of control of the mind. But the important thing is not just the capacity to control the mind, the important thing is the purpose for which we are controlling the mind.
So somebody controls the mind so that they can get more wealth, they can get more power, they’ll get that, but that purpose is not giving satisfaction. That’s why bhakti is not just about controlling the mind. Bhagavatam is an example of how Hiranyakashipu controlled his body and mind so much that he is performing immense austerities.
And even Brahmaji said that even the great sages, a guru can’t perform austerity like you do. So it is that even while controlling the self, the self may be under the control of illusion. There is actually, the activities of self-control.
Hiranyakashipu was fasting completely, but still he was under the control of illusion. So it is, what defines a person is not just their capacity to control the mind and senses. What defines a purpose is the purpose of their life.
The purpose for which they are trying to control their mind and senses. Sometimes the sadhakas will not be able to control our mind and senses because the conditioning is maybe too strong. But if our purpose is strong, then eventually that control will come.
And the purpose is what will enable us to study more towards Krishna.