How to ensure that our mind is not disturbed when disturbing things happen?

So when we face demanding situations, we feel agitated, anxious, and even if we try to remember Krishna, we still feel that emotion at that particular time, although it goes away after some time. So how can we deal with it at that time? See, there’s a fundamental misconception about the relationship between Krishna Consciousness and emotions. That the mind is mechanical as much as the body is mechanical.

So if the temperature drops, will the body feel cold? It will. Now, philosophically, I understand I’m not the body. That’s true.

I’m not the body, but I live through the body and the body is feeling cold right now. So we may have to wear warm clothes at that particular time. If somebody’s hand is fractured, then they have to wait for that hand to recover before they can function normally.

So what applies to the body also applies to the mind. That whenever there is some very stressful or distressful situation, that’s like an attack on the mind. And the mind will be shaken by that.

So there are broadly two levels at which Krishna Consciousness works with respect to the mind. When we talk about the mind, there is a subjective element and there’s an objective element. So for example, if I say that I’m really angry with you.

Now there is a subjective element to my anger. Now whatever you have done, there is some objective action you may have done. Now that action may be wrong and he may also feel angry about it.

But his anger may be lesser, mine might be more. His might be even more. So the degree of the anger is subjective.

But the cause of the anger, if you’ve done something wrong, there is an objective cause also. So the problem in the mind is that quite often the subjective and the objective gets mixed up. So our spirituality is meant to help us minimize the subjective.

So that we can actually focus on the objective and address the objective. So for example, Krishna tells Arjuna in 2.14 that there is the temporary appearance of happiness and distress. Therefore tolerate it.

Now when he is asking Arjuna to tolerate, what is he asking him to tolerate? Is he saying that all the Kauravas did so many atrocities towards you and your family. They tried to disrobe Draupadi. Tolerate it now.

Why are you fighting a war? Is he saying that? No. He is telling that tolerate the fact that you have to fight against Bhishma and Arjuna. Although they are worshipable for you, they have chosen the wrong side and it’s painful for you to fight against them but tolerate it.

Because you are fighting for a just cause. The Mahabharata war was a war for justice. A dharmic war.

So there is in that context, there is a subjective feeling of pain which Krishna has to be tolerated. But there is an objective cause of the pain which has to be addressed. So to come back to your point that when something has gone wrong in life, there is an objective issue.

So the objective issue is going to affect us. Now subjectively we might be disproportionately affected by it. And as we keep practicing bhakti, that disproportionate subjective effect will decrease.

That means the same thing which agitated us a lot previously will now not agitate us that much. But to expect that we never get agitated at all is just dehumanizing and it’s unrealistic. Because the mind is just as real as the body is.

And so as a solution part what we can do is, we try to find out ways in which we can quickly direct our mind towards Krishna. We can do many things but if there are particular kirtans which we like, particular songs which we like, particular shlokas which we like, particular philosophical points which we find persuasive, keep them accessible to us. So that at that time we can quickly turn towards them and get a better handle on our mind.

But getting a better handle on our mind does not mean the mind will become completely calm. There are two different degrees I said. One is that disturbing things happen and the mind gets disturbed.

The second is the mind is disturbed but we are not disturbed. So the more we realize ourselves spiritually, what will happen is we will not be disturbed even when the mind is disturbed. But there are disturbing things that happen in the world and they may cause the mind to be disturbed.

But we won’t be disturbed in the sense that we won’t be completely shaken up, completely devastated or shattered by it. So that’s an incremental way in which we learn to better respond to life’s challenges.