Tap the mind dont be trapped by the mind 1 – The pressure for pleasure

[Seminar at ISKCON, Seattle, USA]

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, that is my small intellectual appreciation of Tumhar Krishna Maharaj’s works. Prabhu Nithyananda, Sri Advaita Gadadhara, Sri Vasadhi Gaurav Bhattavrinda, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
Hare Krishna. I’m grateful to be here amongst all of you today at the lotus feet of their lordships, Sri Radhanil Madan. And I’ll try to speak today and tomorrow in some sessions on the topic of tapping the mind and not being trapped by the mind.
Today I’ll speak on the topic of the pressure for pleasure. What do I mean by the pressure for pleasure? Basically, when we all function in the day-to-day course of our lives, we all have certain conceptions of pleasure. So, we all have certain conceptions of pleasure.
And those conceptions after some time, they start pressurising us. And that pressure can often make us act in unhealthy ways. So, essentially, when, say, consider a person who is an addict.
They may be addicted to alcohol or drugs or smoking. Initially, they may do it for getting some pleasure. But after some time, that particular urge becomes a pressure, an unbearable pressure.
And then they start acting on it because they can’t resist the pleasure. So, if we look at overall our own life, we will see that we do more actions to avoid pleasure than to gain, sorry, to avoid pain than to gain pleasure. Nowadays, entertainment is a big business.
In fact, in some ways, entertainment is among the biggest businesses. Professionals who are artists or entertainers, they get paid phenomenal amounts of money. And people are also compulsively hooked on to movies and other forms of entertainment.
But if, say, people are watching TV, it is not so much that when you’re watching TV, the programmes are that enjoyable. It is rather life is so boring that we want some break from it. And after some time, life is boring and you watch the TV programmes and they also appear boring.
Then we want something with more aggression, more stimulation. And in that way, we try to, more often than not, when we are watching, say, TV, we watch it not so much to get pleasure from watching TV, but just to avoid the boredom of normal life. So, our mind is habituated to choosing the path of least resistance.
The path of least resistance means that whichever path seems to the mind to be the way to pleasure in the easiest possible way. That’s what the mind will go towards. Now, for an alcoholic, actually, they may have to go through a lot of effort to get alcohol.
One of my, I was talking with a devotee whose brother happened to be an addict. He said that if they are put under control, they have to put in a de-addiction centre or somewhere where they are not given access to alcohol, how they can become enormously creative. So, there is an alcoholic who actually, he was in that addiction centre, he was so desperate to drink and he had no access to drink.
So, what he did was, when he was driving a car, he filled the car tank with alcohol. And then he devised a pump to take it out so that he could drink it. Now, a pipe sort of thing, a structure with a pumping unit.
So, he is an engineer by design. So, he knew how to take out the alcohol from the fuel tank. So, it’s a dangerous thing to do, to put alcohol in a fuel tank of a car.
But the point is that it may not at that time appear very easy. Going through so much trouble to fulfil that urge for drinking. But for the mind, what is easy or difficult is determined not just by the external difficulty or external availability.
For the mind, what is easy or difficult is determined by the kind of impressions that are there on the mind. So, for example, we may come to a temple and taking darshan of Krishna is so easy. But still, our mind may be caught in, I want to look at some attractive images of some movie stars, this, that.
And we may go through good effort to look at those images. The beauty of the deities may not get so attractive. So, it’s that deities are beautiful, but and they’re right in front of us.
But our mind may wander in various directions. So, basically, the mind functions according to its inclinations. So, inclination means, let’s understand this first for the physical conception.
So, if this floor were inclined like this, then, say, if that is the, this is the other wall and this floor is inclined like this. Now, if water falls here, it may be, it may be falling just 10 millimetre away from this wall. And this distance may be 150 metres till it goes to some drainage or somewhere.
And there might be a drainage right over there also, 10 millimetre away. But if the floor is inclined like this, in the waterfalls, it will simply flow in this direction. And cover all this distance and then it will go out or wherever it is supposed to go.
So, the inclination makes certain direction, a particular flow very easy. Although in terms of distance for that water to go in that side in the drainage is much easier. But because of the inclination will go all this way and this is the way that will appear easy.
So, similarly, when our mind becomes inclined to something, then it is almost like a physical inclination. That means our mental floor gets shaped in a particular way that consciousness automatically flows in that direction. And when consciousness automatically flows in that direction, then at that time, even if an alternative course of action is very easily available, but it doesn’t seem easy for the mind.
It seems very difficult. So, suppose an alcoholic gets a desire to drink. And an alcoholic is a part of a de-addiction programme.
And they have a counsellor in the car. Counsellor, call me anytime. I’ll talk with you.
Now, at that time, when the urge to drink hits, some assistance might just be one phone call away. And they may have no alcohol in their home and they have to go one mile away to buy a bottle. And the one phone call, the phone is just in their pocket.
But that phone is like the floor is inclined in the opposite direction. So, they would rather go one mile to drink rather than press a few buttons to call someone. So, depending on the inclination of the mind, something which is easy can seem very difficult.
So, for the mind that is attached to alcohol, the path of least resistance is going that one mile away to get the bottle of alcohol. So, the mind chooses the path which it conceives is the easiest to pleasure. And what defines what is easiest? That is by its past experiences.
The mind is a creature of experience. Whatever is impressed on it repeatedly, that is what it expresses. So, whatever we keep doing repeatedly, it starts proposing to us after that.
And not only proposing, it’s also practically imposing. Just do it. It doesn’t impose actually, but it appears as if that’s what we do almost unthinkingly.
So, after a particular period of time, say if a person has been drinking regularly, then their mental floor has become inclined in a particular way. And the pressure for pleasure, the pleasure can be got in 100 things. They may eat some good food, they may talk with a loud one, they may watch something entertaining, they may read something thought-provoking, they may go out and play a sport that they like to play.
There are 100 ways in which, not just devotional way, there can be any other ways in which somebody can get pleasure. But if the mental floor is inclined in that way, that is what they equate with pleasure. And that is what they feel I have to do this.
So, in this way, the mind puts a pressure on us with the promise of pleasure. Do this and you’ll enjoy. And at that time, not doing it seems unbearable, intolerable.
So, initially, say if somebody is at this level of consciousness, I’m just bored, let me just take a drink, I’ll go high. They take a drink and go high. But after that, they don’t come back here.
They go here. And after some time, they drink not to go high, but to feel normal. They drink to feel normal.
Sometimes people say that we have progressed so much in today’s world. In the past, people must have been so bored. You know, we have so many TV channels now.
We have smartphones. We have so many programmes. There’s so much to entertain us.
In the past, people didn’t have any of this. They must have been so bored. Actually, it is we who are so bored that we need all this.
It is not that people in the past were very bored. Yes, boredom is always a feature of material existence. But the obsessive dependence on entertainment that is there in today’s world, that signifies that for us, normal life itself is no longer very stimulating.
So again, what has happened over here, we get habituated to a particular level of entertainment. Say, if we consider Bollywood movies, most of you here are Indians. So in Hollywood movies also, if you consider 50 years ago, action meant maybe a little dishoom dishoom fighting.
And romance was no two people just dancing together. But now, if you want to want some action, a big building is blown up. Then we feel there’s some fun over there.
Otherwise, no fun. Sex means it has to be very graphic. Otherwise, no stimulation.
So what has happened? The stimulation has been hyped up, because that is the need for stimulation, which people did not feel in the past that much. Now we feel. Why? Because the more, as I said, when alcoholic drinks more and more, then the result is that normal consciousness goes down and down.
And then to come even to normal level of functioning, they need a higher and higher dosage. Similarly, with respect to entertainment, we had a particular level of entertainment. But now when we depend on that too much, that becomes our sole way in which we try to escape boredom.
After some time, it no longer appears to be giving relief. Then what do we do? We intensify the stimuli coming to us in order to gain relief. And then after some time, that also stops.
Then we intensify it more. We see it in the history of cricket. Earlier, there were 5-day cricket matches.
Then we had 1-day 50-hour matches. Then we had T20 matches. Then even having T20 matches with people from one country only, that is not stimulating enough.
So we have these leagues, IPL and other leagues, where you have people from different countries, they all come together. And if you see, consider entertainment India has two main forms of entertainment. One is Bollywood and the other is cricket.
So I think about 10 years ago, both of them got married. And their progeny is IPL. Where you have Bollywood stars and sports stars, both come together.
And you get a heavy dosage of entertainment. And still people want something more. Now there is a proposal to have T10 matches.
It’s for 20 hours, 10 hours only. So the idea is, when we go in for stimulation, then the more stimulation we seek, the more the absence of the stimulation becomes unbearable. And then we need more and more heavy dosage of stimulation to feel normal.
It’s like when people go to watch movies. At that time, you’re getting a lot of stimulation, visual stimulation, audio stimulation, seeing and hearing. And we want to be stimulated.
But most of the times, when people go to watch movies, they always take something, some popcorn or something to eat. Why? Because everything is imaginary. Something has to be real.
So all that stimulation, actually it is vicarious. Vicarious means it’s second hand. So it’s entertainment can also be in the three modes of material nature.
It can be sattvic entertainment, where there is some moral value stored, there is something that is uplifting that is being conveyed through the entertainment. Entertainment can be a break from living. Or for some people, entertainment is a substitute for living.
That means that becomes their real world. This, I just have to live over here. This is so boring.
I just escape into that world. So now, if you see the scriptures tell us that eating, sleeping, mating, defending, these are bodily drives, which are common to humans and animals. And if humans do only these things, then they are basically living in animal consciousness.
They’re not using the basic human endowment that they have been given. However, if we see in entertainment, especially say movies, it is people can become so lazy that they don’t even want to endeavour to eat, sleep, mate and defend. They watch somebody mating, they watch somebody defending.
And they think it’s so nice. Imagine if I was there, it would be so nice. So it is not even animal life.
It is second hand animal life. So essentially, again, what is happening? Real life doesn’t appear to be stimulating enough. So we become compulsively pushed towards something that appears to be stimulating.
So all this I’m giving as example, that once the mind becomes inclined in a particular way, it starts pushing our consciousness in that direction. And that is what seems natural. That is what seems the way to pleasure or the only way to pleasure.
The mind chooses the path of least resistance, but going along that path is often not easy. Entertainment is a multi-billion dollar industry. And people often, often to get entertained, people go in through a lot of effort.
We have to pay money. We have to watch advertisements or we have to do so many things in order to get entertained. But at the end of the day, it is not that entertainment is that entertaining also.
It’s just some break from the boredom of daily living. And we need that break so much that we just can’t function without it. So if we consider, there is the physical world around us.
And the physical world is basically not a very stimulating place. Especially if somebody has defined their happiness in terms of sensory stimulation. If somebody is in Annamaykosh.
Annamaykosh means they are in the level of consciousness where they see everything as potential food. Newborn babies are in that consciousness. Whatever they get, they pick up and put in their mouth.
So now some people are, they may grow up, but they still are constantly thinking of food, food, food, food. When can I eat? When can I eat? What can I eat? So now if they are very much in food consciousness, then what is going to happen is that, how much can we eat? There are 24 hours in a day. Suppose somebody sleeps 6 hours, 8 hours, 10 hours, whatever.
In the remaining 16 hours, how much can one eat? Well, maybe half an hour, one hour, one and a half hours. Maybe two hours at the most. Then if we define pleasure in terms of eating, when we get good food to eat, at that time it’s enjoyable.
When we don’t get good food to eat, that’s miserable. And most of the time we can’t always be eating. So the remaining time is basically boring.
Because for me the main stimulation, if I am, as they call it, like we have alcoholics, there is also called foodaholics. People are compulsively addicted to food. So if somebody is that, then if there is no food, then what is the point of living? What am I to do? So then the normal nature of material existence is, if I am seeking pleasure through sensory stimulation, then because sensory stimulation is not available constantly to me, therefore I will sooner or later end up becoming bored.
When the sensory stimulation is there, so much pleasure. When the sensory unfavourable stimulations are there, that’s painful. In between, it is boring.
So one survey done about people in the western world, and that people in the western world, 5% of their life, normal healthy life, 5% they are happy, 5% they are miserable, and 90% they are bored. 90% of the time they are bored. So again, normal physical level of consciousness is a level where sooner or later we will get bored.
And the purpose of this is to inspire us to raise to spiritual level of consciousness. At physical level, there is not much pleasure. We need pleasure.
Therefore, where is pleasure available? Athato Brahma Jigyasa. Actually, Prabhupada was in America. He was giving one of the first Rath Yatra, second Rath Yatra programme actually.
He was speaking to his audience, many of whom were hippies. So he told them that all of you are not very much appreciated by Americans. They say you are frustrated people.
But he said, I appreciate you. Human life is meant to be frustrated. Why? Because only when you are frustrated, then Athato Brahma Jigyasa.
Then you will enquire about spirituality. And human life is meant for enquiring about spirituality. So at the physical level of reality, when we don’t get our need for pleasure fulfilled, then that prompts us to explore, where can I get pleasure? And then the healthy way of living is to explore life’s spiritual damage.
And thereby, our pressure for pleasure that is there within us, that will raise us upwards towards spiritual level of consciousness. Unfortunately, in today’s world, instead of the boredom with the physical leading to the elevation to the spiritual, it leads to degradation to a fictional world. So the whole entertainment industry and various forms of sensory stimulation that come with it, they offer us a fictional world.
You go there and you can enjoy. And as technology is advancing, this fictional world is being created in more and more graphic, vivid, virtually real kind of ways. So technology is not bad.
The purpose for which people use technology that often is not healthy. So this fictional world becomes the escape way from the boredom of the physical or the world that we consider real right now. And the more we go into the fictional world, and the more we experience stimulation over there, then the less the physical world appears to be pleasurable.
Because the very nature of the fictional world is that we can hype up stimulations over there. We can make everything much more attractive. We can make everything much, much more variegated and enticing than what is available in the physical world.
And the result of that is because anyway, living at the material level of consciousness means most of the time we will be at the physical level, we will be bored. But when we get exposed to a lot of sensory stimulation, then the normal way of living seems even more boring. And that becomes like a vicious cycle.
So I feel bored, so I watch entertainment. But when I watch entertainment, I get so much sensory stimulation over there, that whatever is presented to me in real life, that appears even more boring. So because of that, I watch more entertainment.
And then when I watch more entertainment, again, my consciousness becomes inclined in that direction. That is where I look for pleasure. And in real life, nothing seems to be pleasurable.
So the result is again, instead of when I come to the physical world, it’s boring, let me go down. So this way, we get consumed. Nowadays, for many people, there’s a big concern about device addiction.
People have their phones and it’s clicking away, clicking away. I saw one video, there are three people, they’re showing that they had come to a hill station. And all three of them on their phones were looking at natural scenery.
Natural scenery was there all around them, they were in a hill station. But they would look around, just looking there to see the natural scenery. So the nature of the mind is once it becomes habituated to something, it just keeps going along that direction again and again and again.
Now devices can be very useful for connecting with people for getting things done. But what is the purpose or what is the consciousness that you are doing it? If I’m using a device to get things done more effectively, more expeditiously, that is good. But if I’m using devices to run away from reality, to escape from the boredom and the meanness of life, then that device can become a chronic dependence for me.
So that can lead to even what people call as device addiction. Earlier people used to think of addiction in terms of substances, you get to alcohol or drugs. Now people talk about behavioural addiction also, the substance addiction and behavioural addiction.
We’re just clicking on the button, clicking on the phones, that can also become addiction. So the pressure for pleasure often makes us go in certain directions. And that happens because the way we act makes our mind inclined in a particular way.
And conversely with this, one is that we start feeling that I want pleasure. And this is the way to pleasure. Along with that, this is what I’ll speak more elaborately tomorrow, that there is an increased intolerance to unpleasant sensations.
Any kind of discomfort, any kind of unpleasant sensation is there, we become increasingly intolerant towards that. And real life will sooner or later give us unpleasant sensations. You’re too hot, too cold, people will not behave nicely with us, whatever, we will get unpleasant sensations.
So on one side, we become compulsively dragged or pushed towards getting pleasant sensations of an intensity which we can never get in real life. And that’s why we get dependent on the sources which give us those simulations. And conversely, we just can’t tolerate any unpleasant sensation.
So for example, if I’m bored. Now, as I said, by living in the world, boredom is just a feature of life. But if I can’t bear it, little boredom, no, I will do something about it.
A little negativity in life. All of us go through problems, we may, somebody may disappoint us, somebody may betray us, somebody may leave us. And then these are normal human issues which we all go through.
But when the unpleasant sensations come up because of this, if we just can’t tolerate it, again, we look for an escape. So the escape way could be that I just bury myself into something in order to hide my grief, in order to deny my grief, in order to desensitise myself to whatever negative feeling I’m experiencing. And this leads to a problem of its own kind that we end up not being able to do anything constructive.
Our whole focus becomes, I somehow want to get some pleasant sensations, and I somehow want to avoid unpleasant sensations. And this twofold dynamic consumes our consciousness. Prahlad Maharaj says in a prayer in the 7th canto, 9th chapter, So Narasimhadeva is telling Prahlad, please ask for some benediction.
And Prahlad is saying, what benediction can I ask for you, O Lord? Janma. Janma is our life. So Priya is that which is pleasant.
Apriya is unpleasant. Viyoga is separation. Sanyoga is union.
So he says throughout our life, we are looking for union with the pleasant and separation from the unpleasant. So we want pleasant sensations, we want to avoid unpleasant sensations. But unfortunately, life does the opposite.
Life gives us union with the unpleasant sensations and we have separation from the pleasant sensations. And because of this, all living beings are burning in the fire of lamentation. And then he says, we try to rectify this.
I somehow get pleasant sensations, I somehow avoid unpleasant sensations. But the result of that is, Dukhaushadham tadapi dukkham, that the cure that I seek becomes a greater pain. Now my intelligence has become awakened.
And therefore, Bhuman, O Supreme Being, I have been wandering in the material world, seeking the pleasant and avoiding the unpleasant. But this has got me nowhere. Therefore, O Lord, Bhuman Brahma Vadame Tavadasya Yogam.
Please, O Lord, instruct me Tavadasya Yogam in the yoga of service to You, in Bhakti Yoga. My dear Lord, please guide me as to how I can practise devotion to You. That means that rather than simply seeking pleasant sensations or avoiding unpleasant sensations, let me focus on connection with You.
So, this will be, we will be talking in tomorrow’s seminars elaborately. I talked here about the physical world and the fictional world. When we do not get pleasant sensations, we go into a fictional world or any artificially created stimulation.
It may be through entertainment, it may be through drugs, it may be through alcohol, whatever, where we try to get more and more pleasant sensations. But this leads only to greater misery. So, he says, I am not going to seek pleasant sensations now.
Instead, let me rise upwards. Please, O Lord, instruct me in Your devotion by which I can rise to spiritual consciousness. Our urge for pleasure is innate to us.
That is not to be denied. But well, happiness is our right. We all are meant to be happy.
Happiness is our right. But finding the right way to happiness is our responsibility. Finding happiness is our right.
But finding the right way to happiness is our responsibility. And the way that society shows us to happiness, the way a materialistic culture shows us to happiness is not the right way. In fact, it is the worst way.
It just gets us further and further away from happiness. So, the urge for happiness is fulfilled not simply by seeking pleasant sensations, but it is fulfilled by gaining spiritual connection with Krishna. And ultimately, when we are spiritually absorbed in Krishna, that is the time when we will get constant and increasing happiness.
So, how we will make that journey and how that we misfire, how we get misdirected during that journey, that we will talk in tomorrow’s sessions. I will summarise what I spoke today and then you can have a few questions. We spoke about how we all get, we are talking about tap the mind, don’t be trapped by the mind.
So, today we talked about how we get trapped by the mind through the pressure for pleasure that it exerts on us. So, we are all innately pleasure seeking and the mind seeks the path of least resistance to pleasure. And depending on the inclination of the mind, some path may seem to be very easy or very natural.
For water to flow in this direction is very natural, the floor is inclined in this way, even if the drainage is very close in that direction. Similarly, for an alcoholic making a phone call to a counsellor is very easy, but going a mile to drink appears much more easy because their consciousness is inclined in that way. So, depending on the inclination of the consciousness for the mind, a particular path to pleasure becomes the path of least resistance.
And then not getting that pleasure becomes unbearable. So, people seek sensory stimulation, they want to go high up, but when the sensory stimulation is no longer there, they don’t come back to normal, they go further down. And then again, they seek stimulation to go higher, but when they don’t get it, they go further down.
And eventually, they seek sensory stimulation simply to feel normal. So, people, so alcoholics may be an extreme example, but there can be addiction even to entertainment. And people say watch movies or watch TV or whatever, not so much because TV is so entertaining, but because life appears so boring.
In the past, people did not have so many channels for entertainment, but that does not necessarily mean they were bored. Because for them they were, they were habituated to the normal sensory perceptions, and they would find some stimulation there and be satisfied with that. But when we seek artificial stimulation of our senses beyond what is naturally available, then that becomes an increased need and we become dependent.
So, cricket movies become more and more passionate and violent, more and more say sexually explicit, sports become more and more, more action packed, more assertive, more violent. And in this way, we, the more sensory stimulation we get, the more normal life seems boring. And then again, we need further sensory stimulation.
So, I talk about movies, all the sensory stimulation is false, because it is just we are seeing and hearing, not experiencing in real. So, we want something real through so there is the physical level of reality. And there is a fictional level where we go, we try to get more and more stimulation.
But that is something which does not give us happiness. It simply increases our dependence on that. So, I give three broad examples.
One is alcoholism, second is entertainment, third is simply device addiction. Now, devices can be constructively used to make our living more fast or convenient. But if devices become substitute for living, I just don’t want to face real life.
Then I am in close to nature, but I am looking not at nature around me, I am looking at nature on my phone, then I get completely misdirected. So, I talk about this may be like a second hand animal life, where we are not doing anything spiritual, we are not even doing anything materialist, we are drawing into an artificial world. The pressure for pleasure can decrease the quality of our life or it can even devastate our life, depending on what we do under that pressure.
So, device addiction may not be dangerous, alcoholic addiction may be very dangerous. Now, to counter that, we can’t give up our longing for pleasure. Happinesses are right, but finding the right way to happiness is our responsibility.
So, Prahlad Maharaj says, my dear Lord, I am no longer going to avoid unpleasant sensations or seek pleasant sensations. I am going to focus on connecting with you. Please guide me how to do that.
And that connection will eventually lead to elevation of the consciousness from the physical level to the spiritual level. When there is absorption in Krishna, then there is constant spiritual stimulation and there is a supreme spiritual satisfaction. How to get to that, we will talk in our future sessions.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments? It’s just a matter of one speaker.
So, I mean, it seems like, especially with Prahlad Maharaj, I mean, he speaks to them more. It’s not able to distinguish whether, how to actually, they are getting badly into it or they are moving away from it. So, most of the times, we have, our mind says, okay, right, so I need this device, I am doing this, I am doing this.
There is certain mode, how do we not take the path of the device? So, because devices are so easily accessible to us, with a few clicks, we can, we can just go to some other place entirely at the level of consciousness. So, how do we know whether we are using it or we are getting dependent on it? Yes, that line is not always very easy to discern. There are two, three broad things which we can look at.
First is the purpose. Okay, this is the purpose. I am using this, this A, B, C, I use this for this.
Now, in the heat of the moment, it is very difficult to perceive what, not so easy to perceive whether I am doing that or something else. But maybe afterwards, in retrospection, okay, you know, maybe at that time, I wanted to read the news, but I could have read for five minutes, I spent an hour over there, I need not spend that much time. So, generally, the nature of the mind is to go off course.
We have a particular path, but the mind will find something and go off course. So, in planes, it is said when they are flying, so 90% of the time, the plane is off course. So, if a plane, I just came from India to America about 15 days ago.
So, 90% of the playtime, the plane is off course. And how does it get to destination? Constant reorientation. So, because of the wind pressure, because of its momentum, it will go off course, get it back on course, off course, back on course, off course, back on course.
So, for us, to expect consistent focus is to have an unrealistic expectation. Krishna says this is for internally with respect to the mind. And now with devices, it applies externally also.
Krishna says, wherever and whenever the mind wanders, bring it back and focus it. So, Krishna is not telling us that our mind should not wander. That will happen when we are purified.
At our stage, our mind will wander. But Krishna says, get the mind back. So, like that, we may get off track.
But if there are times when we do some introspection, we think calmly, okay, that time I did a little bit more. So, having periodic introspection to see whether our use of our device is serving a purpose or it is diverting us, that is helpful. Another thing which helps is that we can have external supports to curve or regulate certain things.
That means that if I have, if I find out, I just spent too much time surfing the net or I spent too much time on this, then I may just use some net filter or something which checks me. See, for us, generally, we get two kinds of desires. One is circumstantial or a casual desire.
And the other is a deep rooted or a dominant desire. That’s an example could be from a more practical perspective. Say if we are passing by a hotel.
I want to eat something over here. So, we had no plan to eat. We’re passing by over there, we saw that and we ate it.
That’s circumstantial or casual. But if I’m passing by that hotel and say there’s a long queue over here, I’ll have to wait for one hour to get the item. Too much time.
So, the mind will say no. I’ll do it later sometime. So, if there is some external obstacle to the fulfilment of the desire and the desire happens to be circumstantial or casual, then that external obstacle will stop us from indulging in that desire.
For the mind, okay, I’m passing by, there’s some nice food to eat, let’s go and eat it. So, that seems to be the path of least resistance to pleasure. But then I have to wait for one hour.
That’s too much. The path of least resistance then is, let’s forget it. We’ll do it later.
So, what happens is, similarly, when some circumstantial or casual desire is coming in, if we have some barrier between us and the object of indulgence, then that barrier can protect us. So, for example, if I decide in the morning I want to do my japa and at that time, you know, on the phone some notification comes up, some message comes up, this happens, that happens. So, if there’s nothing very urgent or specific for my job or my relatives or someone who I’m expecting at that time, I might just say that I’ll switch off the phone, I’ll keep the phone in silent mode or I’ll put the phone in the aeroplane mode.
So, I’ll not, not only not look at the notification, I’ll not receive the notification also at that time. If that is my weakness, then I can decide that. So, sometimes in this small, creating a small barrier between us and the indulgence, it helps us in resisting the casual or circumstantial desires.
Of course, we can have much stronger desires also, which may take much more time, which may require much more effort, like alcoholic. It doesn’t matter how many barriers we put, they’ll somehow find the way. So, then in that case, something else has to be done.
But for us, quite often, the desires are just casual. Come on, let’s, I feel like doing it, let’s do it. But if we create some barrier, it helps us.
So, first is introspection, periodic introspection to check whether I’m fulfilling the purpose or not. Second is trying to create some barriers when we find repeatedly getting deviated. And third is trying to have a more focused direction to where we are going.
So, it’s like another example. So, if I come out from here, and I have to go for another programme in 10 minutes downstairs, then even if some people want to talk with me, let’s talk for a minute or two, and I’ll move on. But if I don’t have anywhere to go to, like I may spend 10 minutes, 15 minutes, half an hour, one hour.
So, what happens is if I have something else to do, then whatever happens in the circumstance, I will not let myself get to spend too much time in that. But you have nothing very important to do. And whatever comes in circumstance, we will, we’ll let a lot of time go in that.
So, if we remind ourselves of the importance of what we are doing. So, if I start something, and during that time, I know that I get distracted. Then, before that only, maybe I write, why is this important for me? Say, if a student is studying, and why is this study is important? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, write it down.
And then when that reminder is there, then when the tendency comes to get distracted, no, this is important for this, this, this, this. So, in general, we have to use the passion of the mind to overcome the passion of the mind. What does that mean? Because of the passion of the mind, the mind will say, come on, do this, do this, do this, watch this, see this, look at this.
So, that is the passion of the mind. But that same passion of the mind we can use constructively. Okay, you know, if I, if I just without a distraction, read for the next 30 minutes, then I can complete 10 pages.
That means, if every, every day I read for 30 minutes, in 10 days, I can complete 100 pages. In one month, I can complete a 300 page book. 300 page book, I can complete in one month.
I want to do that. So, we need to create some, we cannot just wish away the mode of passion. So, we have to use the mode of passion to overcome the mode of passion.
That means the mode of passion can direct me away from Krishna, or I can use the mode of passion to direct myself towards Krishna. I cannot artificially, when I am in the mode of passion, I cannot wish it away. So, we constructively find out some way to focus ourselves on the positive.
That means, I check whether I am getting distracted. If I am getting distracted, I create some barriers so that I don’t get distracted. And I create some impetus by which I can just stay focused.
And that way we can check the addiction. Any other questions or comments? So, when we have so many materialistic temptations, attractions around us in the world today, how do we focus our mind on Krishna? It depends on what kind of material attraction it is. Sometimes this categorisation, this is material, this is spiritual, it is valid, but it may not be complete.
In material also, there may be mode of goodness, mode of passion, mode of ignorance. So, or we could put it from our devotional context, we could say something that is pro-devotional, something non-devotional, something is anti-devotional. So, we have to find out what kind of desire it is that is attracting us or distracting us.
We can’t just focus on saying no to everything in this world. If that becomes our focus, then sooner or later we start feeling choked. So, if a particular desire, the mind comes up with it.
If we consider, say this is the circle of bhakti and this is the circle of our desires, what attracts us. Say, we won’t be attracted to everything in the world. Say, if we are from India, we are attracted to cricket, but baseball, okay, we don’t feel much attraction to that.
So, the mind has a circle of attraction, circle of bhakti. So, for us to steadily be situated, we want to be in the intersection. And then as you keep practising bhakti, then these two circles start overlapping more and more.
So, for example, right now I like music. So, I love kirtans. So, I come in kirtans and participate.
My mind likes it and it’s also part of Krishna bhakti. And then as my relationship with Krishna starts developing, then I think, okay, that same Krishna is accessible to these kirtans, is also accessible through the philosophy, is also accessible to niti worship, is also accessible through service, is also accessible association of devotees. So, that way, what happens, the mind’s circle of interest starts moving more and more to overlap with the Krishna bhakti circle.
Now, where this doesn’t overlap is the whole other circle. So, we’ll have to see some of it will be very strongly anti-devotional. For example, something which involves breaking of the four regulatory principles, that is something which you have to say a strong note.
If that is not anti-devotional, if it is just non-devotional or it is pro-devotional, say, if I have the desire to learn a particular musical instrument, that may not be directly devotional if it’s more of a modern kind of instrument, but it may be usable in future in devotional service. So, that’s pro-devotional. If something is non-devotional, then say, I have a desire to learn more.
If I’m a student, I have a desire to learn more about my subject, learn some, read this book, that book. It may not be needed strictly for my academics, but that’s what I like to do. So, that may be non-devotional, but that may be relevant for my future career or my profession or just a matter of my interest.
So, I’ll have to see how much time it takes, how much of a consumption of consciousness happens by that and how much it distracts me. We can’t reject all the desires, just calling them as material. We have to categorise even the material and see how they interact with the spiritual.
Normally, if we get an urge to scratch, say, I feel like scratching, I scratch it and it’s over. Normal skin, if I scratch it, there’s no big problem with it. But if I have a disease, I have a rash and then I scratch it, then that rash worsens and I scratch it again and it worsens and then that becomes a disease.
So, we have certain desires which are already like our attachments or which are already on the direction of becoming obsessive. And indulging in those desires is like scratching a rash, a diseased skin. There we have to be very careful.
But as I said, some circumstantial desires may not be very harmful. Like I have a desire to eat something. If it is offered to me, I can just take it and move on.
So, in the world where we have temptations around us, the most aggressively bombarded temptations are often those which are anti-devotional. But if we find a way in which we can situate ourselves in this intersection of what our mind likes and what is the circle of Krishna Bhakti, then that gives us a healthy sense of pleasure. And that healthy pleasure can help us to resist the allurements of the unhealthy pleasures.
And what is in between, we can process and act appropriately. Does it answer your question? And last question? Any other Mataji’s have questions? Okay, just a comment. You were saying that people these days, looking back at how people used to live, they would say, oh my god, you must have been so bored.
And I was sitting right next to Garuda Prabhu, when he was sharing this, and he was just sharing, he’s a cowherd boy, so he was sharing how he grew up. He said in his village, nobody wore shoes, and also they didn’t have electricity, so when he got old, he had nothing. So I was telling him, oh my god, he must have been bored, like anything.
But actually, you know, he said he had the funnest childhood, because there’s nothing. And you can see now, he’s a peaceful person, and you know, he’s not needy, he doesn’t need anything, he’s satisfied with what other people are doing. And I also had the experience with my own children that when we had absolutely nothing, they seemed the happiest, because they found nature to play with.
There was no fighting amongst themselves. Only, you know, I saw when they started doing stuff, it’s doing again, there’s some fighting going on. So it’s all right, we’ll go back to the basics, keep our mind peaceful.
Yes, thank you. Thank you. Should we stop here? We’ll stop tomorrow.
So if there are any questions, we can discuss tomorrow.