Debunking the mind’s fake news – 4 points
Hare Krishna… I welcome all of you to the Sunday Feast programme today… And… I'll speak today… On… Bhagavad Gita… On… Fake news… On… Nowadays there is a lot of… Talk in the media… That… There are some portals which give fake news… And… Whenever anybody is labelled as a… Fake news agent… They bristle… And… Actually speaking… There may be many different fake news… Portals… But… Inside us is the most dangerous fake news portal… And that is… Our own mind… So the mind… How does it give us fake news… I'll talk this class in three parts… First I'll explain with a metaphor… What is the mind… Second is… How it gives us fake news… And last part… I'll talk about… How we can counter that… All of us experience… Sometime or the other in our life… That… There is something within us… That works against us… So… When we are doing something… There is some voice which is speaking inside… I remember first time I spoke in public… There was that voice… You are going to make a fool of yourself… Even now that voice pops up… But now… I've spoken so many times that… It has recognised that… It's not going to have much effect on me… So it has become more or less silent… But whatever we do… There is some voice which speaks within us… Not only whatever we do… Even when we meet people… There is something which speaks within us… And… Sometimes it elaborates… On what is happening outside… But sometimes it's completely disconnected… So normally… If we consider… The way we function in the world… There is the outer world… The physical reality that is there… We are something inside us… That is the consciousness… Whatever it is… We may not know… But there is something inside… We'll come to that a little later… But from outside… We take in information inside… And then we process that information… One of my hobbies in childhood was… Astronomy… Stargazing… So I had my own telescope… I would look up at the sky… One time I was eagerly waiting… To see a lunar eclipse… And for many days… I had been anticipating that… When the time of the lunar eclipse came… I was waiting… Looking through my telescope… And suddenly… Some thought came in my mind… And I started thinking about it… And then… That thought just carried me away… For a few moments… By the time I looked at it… The eclipse was almost over… Initially I was annoyed… I missed this whole eclipse… But then I started thinking… I am so interested in the skies… And I want to know… What is out there… I want to see this eclipse… And yet… It seems that there is something here inside… Which has… Such power to catch my attention… That I can forget something which I like also… Externally… So what goes on inside? That time my curiosity started… And generally we say… We get distracted when… There is nothing very interesting going on outside… But the power of distraction inside… Can be so great… That even when something very interesting is out there… Something can catch our consciousness… And take it away… So… In my teenage years… I completed my engineering around that time… And I studied the Bhagavad Gita… And I understood… We all talk about the word mind… But what is the mind? That I understood first time… When I studied the Bhagavad Gita… And I will use a contemporary metaphor… To explain… The Bhagavad Gita's conception… Of what the mind is… The Bhagavad Gita says… That we have five senses… We have five senses… The eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the skin… From which we acquire information… So we take in inputs from all these senses… And they are all integrated on the mind… So the mind is like an inner screen… On which… The inputs from the outer world come… And then we observe those inputs… And we respond to those inputs… So to get an understanding of this… Let's do a simple thought exercise… So you can sit comfortably… And you can close your eyes… Don't go to sleep… Just close your eyes… And take three deep breaths… Two… With your eyes closed… Look in front of you… Obviously… Because the eyes are closed… You can't see what is in front of you… But still… It is as if there is some kind of screen… In front of you… On which you may see various things… You may see this… You may see this temple room… You may see your home… You may see a loud one… You may see your phone… You may see your car… You may see a series of images coming and going… Or you might just see… Just a dull haze of colours over there… But whatever it is… That specifically you see… You see it on some kind of inner screen… Now… As you are observing this inner screen… Try to take a step back… And catch sight… Of who is observing that inner screen… You can see an inner screen… Try to take a step back… And look at… Who is it that is looking at that inner screen… Try once again… Take a step back… And look at… The seer of the inner screen… No matter… No matter how many times you try to step back… The inner seer steps back with you… That inner seer is you… What you are looking for… Is what you are looking with… That inner seer… You… Is the soul… And the inner screen… Is the mind… You can take one deep breath… And then you can open your eyes… You can open your eyes now… Thank you… So… Normally when perception occurs… There is an outer scene… I am looking at you… You are looking at me… And whatever is in the outer scene… We could say… That is projected onto the inner screen… This is the outer scene… This is the inner screen… And then the inner seer sees that… And the inner seer responds to that… So that inner seer… Is different from the inner screen… However… When we are not very alert… When we are not very discerning… We equate… The inner seer and the inner screen… To be one thing… And… This inner screen is such that… It doesn't always show… What is there in the outer scene… That means… Right now I am looking at you… Or you are looking at me… But suddenly… I came from my home… Did I lock my home or not? What will happen if I don't lock my home? Somebody will burglarize it… Where did I keep the keys? Is my key in my pocket? Who else has the key? Did I turn on the alarm? What all do I have in my house? Just that one thought… Can start a whole movie over there… And as that movie starts off… Then… We may be here… But we will not hear anything at all… When I was… Trying to watch that eclipse… That's what happened… Some thought came in… A movie started over there… On that inner screen… And I couldn't see what was there in the outer scene… So the inner screen… Is meant to act like a window… Which brings in inputs from outside… And… Helps us observe and process them… But sometimes… This inner screen… Starts becoming like a TV… And it starts… Starts any programme on its own… We don't know what programme it will start… And if we get caught in watching that programme… We miss out on things… Sometimes at one moment… We may be very cheerful, happy… Life is going on nicely… And then suddenly a thought comes… We remember somebody who has insulted us… How dare that person insult me? Next time I meet that person… I am going to give them a piece of my mind… Who do you think they are? I will show them who I am… And at one moment we were being cheerful… And a few moments later… We might be panicking… Our blood pressure may go high… Our fists may be clenched… Our teeth may be… We may be rubbing our teeth… And we may be… Furious… So physically speaking nothing happened… What happened? On the inner screen… Some movie came up… We got busy watching that movie… And… We got caught in watching that movie… And that shaped our emotions… When people… Watch movies… One reason why they want to watch movies is… They want to forget the reality… Nowadays all movies are available… Most movies are available on… On the internet… Or you can buy and watch it on your TV or computer… Still people pay a huge amount of… Money to go to theatres and watch it… Because theatres offer… What is called… Immersion… Just forget everything else and get absorbed… Like the movie… The story is enjoyable… We want to enjoy it fully… So we immerse ourselves in it… But… The mind is also like a storyteller… It also displays a movie… And… The more… The better directed a movie is… The more engaging it will be… And the more it will make us… Forget everything else… So… The mind… Often shows movies like that… Once the mind starts off a movie… We just get completely immersed in it… We get disconnected from reality… And… Our moods may change and… We may just do things afterwards… Why do we do that? We may get angry with someone… And blast at that person… And then… Once that whole thing ends… What happened? Why do we do that? There is a Greek saying that… Anger is temporary insanity… People get angry and they do things… One of my friends was a very short tempered person… And… He would normally be very… Normal and nice… And suddenly he would just become insane… And shout and speak all kinds of crazy things… And afterwards it was… He said… Why are people so upset with me? Why are people so afraid of me? So then one day once he just got so angry… And he spoke some things… So another of his friends… He recorded what all he spoke… And then he replayed all that he recorded… He said… My God! I spoke all this? How could I have spoken this? That's what we were wondering… How could you speak such things? But what happens… Once the movie starts… We are not actually connected with reality… We are connected… We are living in our head… And we are responding… Not necessarily to what is happening out there… We are responding to what is being shown… In the movie… Sometimes… If cricket world cup is going on… Cricket season is there… Sometimes in India… On the streets we see some young people… They are just walking along… And they are swinging a bat… Imaginary… There is no bat in their hands… But they are thinking… I am the next Sachin Tendulkar… I am going to hit a sixer… So now… There is no bat… No ball… No cricket field… But they are in their head thinking… I am playing a cricket match… So what has happened… There is a movie going on in their mind… In which they are the next cricket star… And physically they are acting it out… So our mind… Is inside us… And what it is displaying… When it will display… And how it will affect us… It is often very unpredictable… And that's why… It makes us unpredictable… The more the person's mind is wild… The more that person… Becomes unpredictable… So if… We want… To protect ourselves… So the fake news means… Sometimes there may be no problem at all… But the mind makes a big issue out of it… Mind may start a small thing… Sometimes we just… See something… We see somebody doing something… This person must be doing this… Our mind starts a whole story… Oh it's like this… In fact the whole Bhagavad Gita starting… Is something similar… Arjuna had been preparing for that war… Practically throughout his life… As an archer… He was meant to… Be a martial guard in a society… Those who were disruptors of law and order… He had to check them… And he trained for a long time… And he knew the opponents… The Kauravas… Were very evil people… And they had refused… All peace propositions… So finally… After every single peace proposal… Had been refused… Krishna… God himself had gone… To petition peace… In today's world… People are very uncomfortable with the idea of… Any religious text talking about violence… So in the Bhagavad Gita… Seems to be talking about violence… People feel very uncomfortable with that… But the Bhagavad Gita is not primarily talking about violence… It is talking about… Transcendence… It is not talking about… It is talking about how we can live a transcendental life… And for Arjuna… Living a transcendental life meant… In his situation… Taking aggressive action… So… He had… His peace proposals… Had been repeatedly scorned and rejected… Sometimes we say… I have done everything humanly possible… To prevent this… But it is still happening… For the case of the Pandavas… They had done everything humanly possible… And everything divinely possible also… Because Krishna himself had gone… As a peace messenger… As a peace envoy… And… His attempt had been rebuffed… And the rebuffing can also be in different ways… Suppose we invite someone for a programme… And… They tell you… I want this to do… That's why I can't come… That's one kind of refusal… But if you invite someone for a programme and say… Even if I die… My dead body will not come to your programme… If they say like that… That is not just a refusal to the programme… That is a rejection of the person itself… Isn't it? So when Duryodhana and Krishna told… First the Pandavas… You should give them half the kingdom… Because that's what is their right… They said give them at least five villages… And his response was… I will not give enough land… To put even the tip of a needle through… That means… He is not just rejecting the proposal… He is rejecting the person itself… So the Pandavas had to fight… Because he was a vicious person… And he would have wreaked havoc on the earth… So now… Arjuna had been preparing for this fight… For a long long time… And yet… Here he is a formidable warrior… One of the best archers in the world… He comes ready to fight… And he has even lifted up his bow… And everybody has blown their conscience… So… To be a contemporary… A sports metaphor… Say there is… A cricket world cup final… Thousands and thousands of people are there in the spectator… The toss has been done… All the spectators are there… The fielders are in their fielding position… The batsman is in the batting position… The bowler is in the run up… At that time… The batsman says… I can't play this match… What? How can you not play the match now? Everybody is waiting… So Arjuna… What have he said? I can't fight… And why can't he fight? He said… If I fight… All our relatives will die… Then who will take care of the dynasty? I kill my relatives… I incur sin… And I will have to go to hell for that… Now… Not one of the arguments… That Arjuna makes over there… Is based on any new information… It was not that suddenly he found… That… There is some very close friend over there on the opposite side… Who was on the opposite side… He already knew that… And… Actually… Before the Kurukshetra war started… There were elaborate discussions about ethics… But at this point… Arjuna's mind started a story… This will happen… This will happen… And that warrior… Who was such a hero… Nobody could defeat him… That warrior practically… Accepted defeat… By just putting aside his bow… So… In his mind a horror movie started… This will happen… No… This can't be… He just quit practically… So it's all… Going on in the mind… And the Bhagavad Gita depicts… Right in its opening scene… The battlefield setting… Serves various purposes… One purpose is… To demonstrate how formidable… An enemy the mind can be… That warrior… Who could not be… Brought down… By even the greatest of enemies… Was brought down… By inner enemy… That warrior who could have fought… And withstood the attack of thousands of arrows… Was brought down… Without the shooting of a single arrow… Because that is the power of the mind… Now… What did Krishna do? Krishna… Brought Arjuna… Back to reality… There is physical reality which is around us… Right now what we are seeing… You are seeing… There is mental reality… The mind has its own thoughts going on… Ideally speaking… The mental reality… Is meant to elaborate the physical reality… Explain to… So we see something… Now if… We see somebody with a scar… Now if they have particular kind of spots on their face… If we are medically educated… This person might have had some kind of pox before… That's why they have got these spots… So what happens is… Now we are seeing only the spots… But what our inner world does is… It is meant to elaborate… To explain what we see… To make sense of what we see… But sometimes… Our inner world… Starts working against us… And instead of helping us make sense of what we are seeing… It starts… Showing us there is something else… And it makes us… Panicky… It makes us react in unwanted ways… So… In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna… The mind can be our worst enemy… And in today's world… The mind is causing… Enormous problems to people… Everywhere… Mental health problems are the single biggest… Health challenge… That has arisen in the last century or so… In America… And most of the western world… Before 1950s… There was no such thing as… Tranquillizer or antidepressant… Now that is the single medicine… That has sold maximum over the counter… So what exactly is happening? To take the metaphor of the screen… When we get… Depression… What exactly happens? This inner screen… Instead of staying in the future… Or staying in the present… Looking at the situation as it is… This inner screen goes to the past… This went wrong… That went wrong… You made a mess of things over there… You made a mess of things over there… That person betrayed you… All the bad things… That have happened in the past… The mind becomes like a screen… Which starts replaying that… And… As we keep watching… This went wrong with me… This happened… We start feeling more and more depressed… We think this is what happened to me in the past… And this is what is going to happen to me in the future also… So when the inner screen… Starts showing a tragedy movie… With all the bad things that have happened to us in the past… We become depressed… And… When the inner screen… Becomes like a movie… The inner screen again starts showing a movie… About the future… And all that may go wrong in the future… That causes anxiety… This may go wrong… That may go wrong… That may go wrong… And actually depression and anxiety… Are the two major… Mental health problems people have today… Sometimes… These can have clinical dimension… They need to be clinically treated with medication… But more often than not… They are… Human problems… Caused by the inability to manage… The mind… So what do we do? When… The mind suddenly starts going off… Here, there, everywhere… How do we get… The mind back to focus? How do we… Ensure that the mind's reality… The mind's movie… Doesn't disconnect us from reality… So for that purpose… If you look at this… At the outer scene… There's the inner screen… And there's the inner seer… So now… The outer screen… We have some issue out there… Which we have to deal with… But the inner screen… Starts showing its own movie… Which makes things appear to be… Much much worse than what they are… And beyond them is the inner seer… So I'll talk about an acronym… FEAR… For dealing with the mind… F-E-A-R F is focus… Focus means… Mind says… This is the problem… Focus means… Get it back to the present… What is the exact problem right now? What is the… Exact problem right now? There may be many problems… But what is the problem right now? Suppose a student has an exam… And… Or suppose we have a job interview… If I fail in this interview… Then what will happen? Where will I get a job? How will I earn money? Where will I live? How will I pay my mortgage? What is the problem right now? I have to give this interview… What is the problem right now? I don't know what kind of questions… What is the exact problem right now? Well, I am not adequately prepared… So… Once we… If there is a… If there is a smog… We can't see anything… If there is a smog… Which is spread everywhere… Then… We just get blinded… And smog is something which we can't fight… We can't use our hands… And beat the smog down… Sometimes the mind spreads the smog… This, this, this… So, by focussing… We get it down to a specific… Yes, there is a problem… But it is not a whole vast… Waste… This is the problem right now… So we reduce it down to a specific… Actionable item… E is Engage… Engage means… What can I do about it right now? What can I do about it right now? Okay, I got this interview… What can I do about it right now? Let me prepare, let me revise what I have learnt… These two questions… Basically, I earlier said that… We take in inputs from the outside world… And we act on the outside world… So… The soul is here, that is the inner seer… And there is the inner screen… And there is the outer scene… So by focus and engage… What we are doing is… When the inner screen starts becoming like a movie… Showing something else… We get it back… Okay, what is the exact problem right now? And what can I do about it right now? It is very important for us… To ensure that… This mind doesn't become like a movie… Movie screen… It doesn't become like a TV screen or a movie screen… It stays like a window… And for the mind to stay like a window… Which helps us see the outer reality… These two questions are very helpful… Okay, what is the problem right now? What exactly is the problem? And what is the problem right now? Focus… And then… What can I do about it right now? Now once we start doing something tangible… The fear decreases… Not that the problem goes away… But the problem's hold on us decreases… There's a survey done about… When do people feel the most anxiety, worry, fear? We all have fear… But how many of us have a daily… Time allotted in our schedule? Evening 7 to 7.30 is worrying time… We don't have any time like that… But… Worry is like a constant background noise… That is annoying us… But in general… We start worrying… When we don't have anything tangible to do… During our idle time… Our mind works overtime… So many problems can come up… So basically, focus and engage… What happens? These are the two ways by which we can ensure… That this inner screen… Is connecting us with the immediate reality… Not with… This in the past, this in the future… No, come back… Or something entirely in the imagination… Getting back to the present… And living in the present… Dealing with the reality as it is… That is characteristic… In the Bhagavad Gita's terms… Of the mode of goodness… There are three modes of material nature… Satvaguna, Rajoguna and Tamoguna… Goodness, Passion and Ignorance… In goodness… We think there is first contemplation… Then action… In passion, there is first action… Then contemplation… In ignorance, there is neither action nor contemplation… There is simply delusion… So, that means… In terms of this metaphor of… Outer scene… Inner screen… And inner seer… When we are in the mode of passion… Some input comes in… We panic and immediately do something… Without thinking properly… Many times, if in some crowded area… Say, there is a theatre… In which a fire breaks out… Now… Many times, the casualties that occur… Is not so much because of the fire… But because of the stampede that happens… Everybody starts running towards the door… And then people fall on each other… People stamp on each other… People walk on each other… And that causes injury… So, that's what? That's acting without thinking… See, the fire just runs… So, immediately the mind starts… This may happen… That may happen… Just get out of here… We don't think properly… On the other hand… In the mode of ignorance… There is neither thinking nor acting… It's just delusion… Some people become petrified… Fire… Calm down… They can't move… They get petrified… So, that is delusion… This is caught in a horror movie in their head… They can't do anything at all… But a person who is in goodness… First contemplation… Then action… There is a fire… There is a fire extinguisher over there… Everybody may be going in this direction… But they will move in that direction… Get the fire extinguisher… Extinguish the fire… So, some people make things happen… Some people watch things happen… And some people wonder what happened… So, those who make things happen… Are in goodness… This is contemplation and action… I do it… You do this… We make things happen… Passion… They try to do one thing… But one thing leads to another… One impulsive action leads to another problem… Hey, what happened? One thing went wrong… Another thing went wrong… They watch things happen… And people in ignorance… They are so lost in their head… That they are caught in watching the movie inside… On the inner screen… They don't even know what is happening around them… Some people wonder what happened… It's completely lost in their head… So, generally… In the lower modes of material nature… In the mode of passion and ignorance… We are much more under the control of the mind… So, under the control of the mind… In the mode of ignorance means… Practically, we are just watching the mind's movie… And not doing much physically… It's lost… अप्रकाशो अप्रवृतिष्च मोह… प्रमादो मोहे वचित… प्रकाश means reflection… Or illumination… Or contemplation… प्रवृति is action… There is no contemplation, no action… There is simply illusion… So, those who live too much in the head… They get depression… They get anxiety… They are not dealing with reality at all… They are only dealing with the mind's movie… Which… Is a distorted take on the reality… And… Those who are in the mode of passion… They just look at some fragmented part of reality… And they react based on it… It's like this… Sometimes, we see one thing… Somebody doing something… How dare you do like this… We become angry and shout at them… Oh no, I thought you were doing like this… So, we don't try to understand the proper picture only… So, people in the mode of passion also… What happens, they see something in the physical reality… But, instead of seeing it completely… What they see… Starts off a movie… And they react not to that action… But to that movie which they are seeing… And that way… They also make a mess of things… So, by focus and engage… We get ourselves… To deal with… To see things as they are… At least at the material level… And thus, we come to the mode of goodness… So, then… Third is… A… A is Arise… Arise means… Understand… That we… Actually live at a higher level of reality… Arise… Because… Whatever is happening in the outer scene… This is happening here… That is happening there… Whatever is happening in the inner screen… We are different from it… We are the inner seers… We are above all this… Because we are spiritual… Whatever happens at the physical level of reality… Whatever happens at the mental level of reality… Actually, it doesn't directly affect us… It does indirectly affect us… It matters to us… But, it is not a matter of immediate threat to us… We… Live at a higher level of reality… We are souls… Many years ago… Maybe 15 years ago… I was very sick, I was in hospital… And at that time, I had to be given some blood transfusion… So… There was a big bottle of blood… It was like half full… And then they were giving the blood… And I was tired, I was sick… So, I was sleeping… And then, after some time, I felt some strange sensation in my hand… I felt as if my hand had become very light… And I looked at… At… I looked at the water bottle… At the bottle of blood that was there… And I saw… That blood bottle had become full… So, somehow… Something had gone wrong… And instead of the blood going into the body from that bottle… Blood had been sucked out of the body… And… That whole bottle had become full… So… And because blood had been sucked out of the hand… So, I was feeling queasy… My hand was feeling very odd… And then… At that time, somehow… It struck me… That actually… There is this tube over here… Which is extending up to my hand… There is a… Which I can see… There is a tube inside my hand… And like that, this whole body has tubes in it… But I am different from all this… So, it is not exactly like… Out of body experience… But conceptually, I felt… That this whole body… Is just a set of tubes and fluids flowing in it… I am different from this… I am different from this… And then… Initially, when I saw that whole bottle full… For a moment, I was panicking… But as soon as… This is just tubes outside… Tubes inside… But I am different from this… It just suddenly brought calmness… And I looked around… And I saw there was an emergency bell… With my other hand, I just pressed that bell… And… Then the nurse came running… And the nurse saw that bottle was full… She became panicky… And she started screaming… Then other nurses came… And then they fixed up the whole issue… But… Actually speaking… Actually speaking… For each one of us… Whatever be the situation… We are going through… We exist at a higher level of reality… We are souls… Who are indestructible… We have gone through… Many many difficulties in our life… In the past… And we have survived them all… We may have been scarred a little bit by it… But we have survived them… So… Arise… To the extent… We understand that we are souls… Who are different from the bodies… So… To the extent we understand… That we are souls… Who are different from the body… And different from the mind… That gives us peace… That gives us peace… That gives us strength… So Arise… The process of Bhakti Yoga… Is meant to give us a realisation… Of… Who we are… That we are different… We are souls… Who are above whatever is happening in the physical and mental… To understand what Arise means… Suppose… You are at home… And your child is watching a horror movie on TV… And the child is watching the horror movie… Scared… Screaming… Now… Although you are in the same room… You are not affected by it… Why? Because your consciousness is not caught in that horror movie… So… Because he is watching the horror movie… Consciousness is caught over there… That's why all emotions are being experienced… You are not watching that horror movie… So you are not affected… So neither you… Nor him… Are actually affected by the horror movie… But because his consciousness is caught in it… That's why he is affected… And you are not affected… If you could just… Tap him and say… You are here with me… Hug him… I am not there… I am safe… So like that… For us… We are actually… No matter whatever happens in life… It happens to our body… It happens to our mind… It doesn't happen to us… So we are safe… We are always safe… And this understanding comes… As we gain spiritual knowledge… And we gain spiritual realisation… यथा प्रकाश यत्येक कुछनम् लोकम् इमम्रवी So, focus and engage, as if they bring us to the mode of goodness. Arise helps us to become aware of our own spirituality. And release helps us to become conscious of Krishna.
So the process of bhakti, which is centred on becoming conscious of Krishna, helps us to cope with fear. Because it helps us raise our consciousness afterwards. And Krishna assures, मच्चित्ता सर्वदुर्गानि मत्प्रसादा तरिश्यसी If you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace.
To become conscious of me means that we focus that Krishna, you are my lord, I am your servant. Whatever happens, I am going to serve you. Please guide me how I can serve you.
So when we have that attitude, I am your servant, then that brings calmness and slowly that will bring clarity. So, we will be able to, whatever the movie is showing, that movie stops. Okay, this is the reality, the window, I see this and I respond to it.
And sometimes the future may appear very dark. But it just takes small, small steps. Sometimes we have a plan for our life.
Okay, I am going to do this, I am going to do this, I am going to do this. And say, it's like we are walking on the road. And suddenly the street lights go off.
And then we can't see anything. It's dark. Now we may not have the power to turn on the street lights.
But we can turn on our own flashlight. The flashlight does not replace the street light. But the flashlight can show us one step ahead.
And then another step ahead, another step ahead. It just keeps showing us one, one step ahead. So, the street light is like the plan that we have made for our life.
I'll do this, I'll do that, I'll do that. Sometimes the street light just goes off, our plan gets disrupted. Just don't know, why is this happening, what am I meant to do? At that time, turn on the street light, turn on the flashlight.
Krishna, I am your servant, how can I serve you? Okay, I can do this. I can take this one step. I can take this one step.
I can take this one step. We take one step forward, one step forward, one step forward. We cover a significant distance.
And eventually, we find the lights will come back. Some better plan will be revealed for us. So, faith means to keep taking small steps, even when the full path is not seen.
Krishna, I don't know what the future is going to bring, but I know that you are my lord, I am your servant. I will keep serving you. Please guide me what I can do.
When we work in this way, then the mind will get diffused. The mind which is firing with imagination and getting us distracted, will calm down. Okay, whatever you are showing, Krishna is my lord, I am his servant, I am going to serve him.
This way, whatever obstacles come, Krishna's grace will cross over them. I will summarise. I spoke about how to counter the fake news of the mind.
So, there may be some fake news portal outside, but the mind inside is the biggest, most dangerous fake news portal. What does it do? It is meant to act like a window, which shows us inputs from the outer world. But it becomes like a movie and distracts our consciousness elsewhere.
And it starts telling us distorted pictures of reality, which have only a remote connection or sometimes have no connection at all. And then we start becoming angry, we start becoming fearful, we start becoming depressed. So, this inner screen, instead of acting like a window, becomes like a TV and disconnects us from reality.
We did the thought experiment about how the inner screen is the mind and the inner seer whom we can never see. The inner seer is the soul. And the inner screen is meant to show the outer scene, but frequently the inner screen starts showing something else entirely.
And discuss how the Bhagavad Gita itself shows how dangerous the mind can be. That a warrior who could not be defeated by any other warrior was brought down by his own mind. Because the mind started showing a horror movie and he would never have given up his bow, suddenly gave up his bow, he can't fight.
So, like that, we sometimes see people, we ourselves may see, we may be cheerful one moment, a few moments we may be furious. But because we are not dealing with reality, we are dealing with the mind and then getting carried away by the mind. So, I talked about three modes of material nature.
In goodness, the mind, the screen acts like a TV and we focus on the reality as it is. In passion, just focus on one aspect of reality and react impulsively and make things worse. And in ignorance, we are practically disconnected from reality.
We are only watching the horror movie and getting fearful. So, some people make things happen, some people watch things happen and some people wonder what happened. So, how to ensure that the inner screen stays as a window and doesn't become like a TV misleading us.
So, for that I talked about four points. What are the four point acronym? Fear. F is focus.
What is the exact problem right now? The mind will make a big smog, everything seems to be dark. But what is the exact problem right now? We ask this question. Ok, this is the exact issue.
That brings us to E is? Engage. What can I do about it right now? By these two questions we come to the mode of goodness. We ensure that we don't get carried away by the movie of the mind.
But focus on the reality. What is there out there? When we don't have anything to do, at that time the mind starts, when we are in idle time, our mind works overtime. And then, even then if this problem is very big, how can I deal with it even now? Then A is? Arise.
That we are souls, we exist at a different level of reality. It's like a child who is watching a horror movie gets horrified but a mother doesn't. Because the mother knows this horror movie is not real.
So, similarly what happens to the body and the mind, it is not immediately happening to us. Many times things have gone wrong in the past in our life, we have survived it. And if anything goes wrong in future, we will deal with it also.
So, realising, raising our consciousness to understanding that we are the inner seer, this is the purpose of yoga. The purpose of bhakti yoga also. And this realising, raising our consciousness will give us peace.
This is like coming to spiritual understanding. And last R was? Release. See, what is happening in that, how do I deal with it? Focus on what is in your control, let go of what is not in your control.
So, when we let go of things not in our control, that actually is empowering because that helps us to focus on the things that are in our control. And we release with the faith that Krishna knows what is best for us. And Krishna will bring good out of whatever bad may be happening.
Faith means that even if we can't see the full journey, the full path, still we take one step forward. So, our plan for our life is like the full path, but when our plans are disrupted, then the service attitude is like the flashlight. One step forward, one step forward.
If you keep taking step forward, then with the conviction, Krishna, you are my lord, I am your servant, that Krishna will help us come to light, will help us deal with the mind and deal with the world. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
So, do we have time for questions or is it time for aarti now? So, thank you very much. Jai Krishna Prabhupada ki. Jai Gaur Bhakta Vrinda ki.