What we contemplate mentally we cultivate mentally Gita 02.62

Transcript

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what we contemplate mentally we cultivate mentally suppose we had a garden we would be very careful about what we cultivate there we would not want to waste that garden in cultivating weeds and certainly not toxic plants our inner world is like a garden but unfortunately we are not very careful about what we cultivate there and that’s because what is the inner world is subtle what is cultivated there is subtle and the process by which it is cultivated is also subtle what is cultivated there are thoughts and the process by which they are cultivated is contemplation when we contemplate something some thought that arises inside us it starts growing if we compare thoughts to seeds seeds in the outer garden require physical ingredients to be provided and physical action to be done for the cultivation but thought seeds require just one resource contemplation and the more we contemplate the more thoughts grow the bhagavata describes how this trajectory occurs 262-263 says 262-263 262-263 262-263 262-263 262-263 262-263 262-263 so as a thought grows it becomes invested with emotion and desire we start feeling attracted captivated irritated that we can’t have it then we become deluded about the consequences of craving for it then we become stupefied losing our intelligence we become oblivious of consequences and eventually we end up succumbing now something is always growing inside us because we are always thinking of something and it’s growing because we are thinking about it, we can’t stop thinking therefore we need to start thinking seriously about what we are thinking about or and then we can carefully choose what thoughts we give our attention to when we are inattentive we are actually giving our attention to the object of our inattention that means to the object that is distracting us and thus our attraction to it grows and sometimes it can grow to disproportionate and destructive dimensions that’s how we may end up doing habitually things that earlier we wouldn’t even have given too much thought to that’s how attachments grow, addictions grow and our whole life can be ruined thankfully this principle of contemplation causing cultivation applies to positive thoughts too and this principle is the driving fuel of bhakti yoga the whole process of bhakti centers on thinking about Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita 12.9 states that if we think about Krishna as a discipline our desire for him will grow till we eventually become filled with love for him and become ecstatically absorbed in him … … … … so by learning to give you attention to what we are contemplating we can choose to cultivate thoughts that will bring satisfaction and joy not agitation and misery