Can the mind sting us – how?
So for example when we get say and somebody is an alcoholic and at that time the desire for alcohol comes within them and say the doctors have told them you should not drink your health is dangerous a relapse into alcoholism can be harmful for you so still the person may drink now there are some countries especially European countries which are welfare states where if a person is unemployed the government provides some dole some unemployment support for the people unfortunately many young people who have got into drugs or into alcoholism they take the money which the government provides for their subsistence and instead of they may be starving but they take drugs so the uncontrolled mind can be an enemy not just of the soul but also of the body the body's basic need is food but when the mind gets infatuated with a particular thing with say drugs or drinks then even at the cost of basic bodily needs a person may crave for that and may use one's limited resources for that so we can get in a sense stung by the mind even at a physical level so when we when we take in substances that are harmful for us when we take in it can it do not be substances it can be even ideas it can be taken desire we may take in expose ourselves to certain desires certain by ideas I mean negative unnecessary criticisms offenses then they can poison our consciousness so one of the most common ways in which we may get stung by the mind is by resentment when things go wrong quite often resentment of reality hurts more than reality say if we are suppose we are planning to go for a outing a picnic with our friends and just the night before that outing we get fever we get a flu now flu itself is not very painful it's weakening and we may just have to lie in our bed but inside there is almost like someone whipping why did this happen? why did this happen? everybody else is enjoying why am I suffering? why am I why did this happen? why is life so unfair to me? so at a physical level the reality of having a flu is not that painful but the resentment of that reality is far more painful so resentment can be one way in which the mind can sting us and it's alcoholism or drug addictions may be extreme but resentment is quite common and I recently gave a talk on how we can't be grateful for all situations but we can be grateful in all situations that means I can't be grateful that I have flu yeah that's bad but even when I have flu I can be grateful at least I am in a city where where there are doctors I got the appropriate medicine there is an environment where I am taken care of if something goes wrong there are people who will care for me we can look at the many things that are right in our life and we can be grateful even in that situation so resentment is a way in which our mind can poison us and cultivating a grateful attitude is one way in which we can counter that poison of resentment in general pibamana shri krishna divya aushadham that the remembrance of krishna is the antidote for the poison that is present in the mind so whatever negativity that is present in the mind which poisons us if we can repeatedly expose ourselves to krishna we can take in more and more devotional impressions into our consciousness then that will serve as an antidote to the poison within the mind and not only will not the poison not sting us but the poison will gradually stop being there also so sometimes we may be going through a territory where there are there are rattlesnakes if we have to walk through that territory then we have to be cautious and alert that we don't that we keep a distance from rattlesnakes so like right now our mind is like a rattlesnake infested territory and there is there is there is poison in it there are agents of poison like snakes in it we just have to be cautious right now the poison of resentment can come in the poison of we could say even anger can come in but gradually if say by by using certain certain means the rattlesnakes are moved from the territory then there is no poison so like that when we first of all when we bring in Krishna the remembrance of Krishna even if we have been poisoned we can cure that poison that poison that that poison effect can be curbed by the antidote of remembrance of Krishna and further if we keep invoking Krishna's presence in fact if we establish Krishna's presence in our consciousness that means we become convinced that we are meant to be that we are souls who are servants of Krishna and whatever happens I am meant to serve Krishna then that can remove that can remove the rattlesnakes from the mind entirely so then the mind will not stop will stop poisoning us and then Krishna says at that stage the mind will become our friend right now our mind is our enemy but when we learn to purify the mind by fixing it on Krishna when the mind becomes permeated with the presence of Krishna then it becomes a friend okay any other questions?