Dining with a monkey

Prerana Lecture at Radha Gopinath Mandi on 26-2-16 Lecture Ppt

Gitai Gaur Premanande Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Grateful to be here with all of you to discuss on a very important practical topic from the Bhagavad Gita.

Let's start with some prayers. Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers Prayers So we are discussing today on the topic of dining with a monkey. So the word dining conveys the idea of settling down to a congenial, cordial agreement of some level.

Now the monkey as most of you may have heard refers to what the Bhagavad Gita calls the mind. So let's look at this. Firstly within all of us there is a mysterious inner sabotager.

Sabotage means to destroy but sabotage is a specific kind of destruction. Say if two armies are fighting against each other. So the normal attack comes from the opposite side but if the opposite side has got some spies and so there is Army A, Army B, both of them have got their tanks and they are fighting with each other.

So the B will shoot the tanks at A A will shoot the tanks at B but if B has got some spies who have put some explosives under the tanks of A then even without an attack, frontal attack from B A's tanks will be destroyed and they will be easily defeated. So an attack from inside is called a sabotage. So in modern psychology one of the most talked about phenomena is called as self-sabotaging tendency that often we work out to be our own worst enemy.

This sometimes we see very prominently in sports. Suppose a player is batting when now a cricket tournament is going on. So suppose a player is batting very well and suddenly for no reason that player hits a rash shot.

It is the circumstance, the situation does not require that shot. There is danger in that shot and still some dare-devilish instinct comes into the person and person hits the player, hits the rash shot gets out and then the whole subsequent batting line collapses and one match is lost. So this happens and later on not only the cricket commentator may comment, why did this person play such a stupid shot? But that person also gets bewildered.

What happened? Why did I do such a thing? So what we see sometimes this self-sabotaging or sometimes it is called as choking. Certain players or certain teams, they are said to choke under pressure. So choking basically means that people crumble not because of external pressure but because of internal pressure.

So now throughout the world history there has been recognised by thinkers there is something within us which makes us act against our best interests and this is most prominently seen in today's culture in the modern and the post-modern times because today's times we have acquired in some ways more knowledge and more power through that knowledge than what we had in the past at least in recent history. So with greater power comes greater capacity to misuse that power. So for example in America in San Bernardino, we know there were shootouts where just some people go crazy and with the machine gun they kill so many people and then they kill themselves quite often.

Now if we look at many of the times if we talk with the neighbours or the journalists talk with the neighbours of these people the neighbours say, you are just a nice person you never thought you would do something like this. So what happens is people just snap. So what is it that makes people do such self-destructive actions? So the Bhagavad Gita explains that within us there is a self-sabotaging force which it calls as the mind.

Now the word mind has many meanings and some of them are positive. For example, Albert Einstein often called as the greatest mind of the 20th century. Here mind refers to the intelligence he was the most intelligent person of the 21st century.

Or sometimes we may say where is your mind? That means if somebody is not paying attention we say pay attention. There we say mind simply refers to attention. So like that the word mind can have many different meanings.

The Bhagavad Gita uses the word mind in a very specific sense. So when it uses the word mind, it first of all explains that there is a tripartite ontology. No need to get agitated by the words.

So tripartite basically means three levels. And ontology refers to the nature of existence. So just like in a computer setup we have a hardware, we have software and we have the user.

So like that there is a within our existence itself our existence has three levels. The physical which is like the computer hardware, the mental which is like the computer software and the spiritual which is like the user of the computer. So the physical, mental and spiritual these are the three dimensions of our existence.

Modern science progressed and progressed enormously but by focussing on the physical side of reality. There is physical, there is mental and there is spiritual. So modern science has progressed by focussing on the physical side of reality and the physical side we have acquired a lot of control as compared to recent history.

But when attention focusses on one thing, it is natural that attention dis-focusses from some other things. When we focus on one thing, we don't notice other things. So as a matter of the whole civilisation itself our modern civilisation and also the post-modern civilisation that is focused largely on the physical side of reality and the result of this is that our attention from the mental and the spiritual side has been substantially distracted.

And Martin Luther King, he said more than 50 years ago that we live in an age of guided missiles and misguided men. Guided missiles and misguided men. So we have phenomenal technology to control the missiles without.

But our own insides we are not able to control. And the Bhagavad Gita explains that the mind can act as a self sabotaging agent. Just as the software in a computer it is meant to enable us to use the hardware for a constructive purpose.

But the hardware can get damaged. But the hardware cannot be used if the software gets corrupted. There may be malware, there may be viruses, whatever.

The software gets corrupted, the hardware cannot be used. Similarly, if the mind gets agitated, the mind gets contaminated, then we may be physically healthy but we will not be able to function perfectly. So the software is essential for using the hardware.

If there is no software in the computer, I just get a fresh computer with nothing installed, we can't do anything with it. So similarly, the mind is like the software. And we need the mind as the agency for interacting with the body.

The Bhagavad Gita Krishna says in the 15th chapter, 9th verse, that So he says that all the senses shotra, chakshu, sparsha, rasana, grana, like the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the skin, all of them just as the fingers are centred around the palm. So like that the senses are centred around the mind. So the mind is the integrator of the sensory inputs.

And after integrating these inputs, they are presented to the consciousness, to the soul for decision. Now the scientific world view, it just doesn't understand what all is there beyond the physical. Why? Because its focus is the physical level of reality.

Just like if I have now, nowadays almost everybody has colour TVs, colour cameras, but suppose there is a black and white TV. No matter what we do, we cannot get a colour image on a black and white TV. The apparatus and the output are incompatible.

So just as with a black and white TV, we cannot get a colour image. Similarly, by material science we cannot understand spiritual truths. The methodology and the knowledge required, they are incompatible.

So that's why we need an alternative source of knowledge for understanding our inner side. And that's why we see in the world, there are, especially in the western world, which has progressed enormously, there are millions of people who are turning towards spirituality and especially towards eastern spirituality, towards yoga. Yoga has millions of practitioners in America, in Europe and many other westernised parts of the world.

So why is this? Because people have recognised that the modern knowledge systems can provide us control over the outer world but they cannot guide us in our inner territory. And through meditation, through yoga, through chanting, through all these spiritual means, we understand and gain some amount of control over our inner world. So the point I'm making through all this is that the Gita's tripartite ontology, the physical, the mental and the spiritual, this is not just some sectarian belief system.

This is something which any individual person can understand that this is not non-scientific or anti-scientific. This is trans-scientific. Science has a particular focus and in that focus it can give us tremendous power.

But there are things beyond what science can show us. There is of course spiritual science which is a different subject which we'll come to a little later. But what is taught in today's university education and what is thought of as science, that is material science.

And it is phenomenally powerful in a particular area but it doesn't help us in practically learning to control the mind, learning to manage the mind. So we talk about this topic as dining with a monkey. Often we talk about controlling the mind, disciplining the mind, purifying the mind.

All this is important but at the same time we have to ultimately live with the mind. Just as for working with a software, working with a computer the software is indispensable. Similarly we need to learn to work with the mind.

Shri Radha Gopinath Bhagwan ki Jai! So let's look at a further understanding of what the Bhagavad Gita teaches. So one of the first teachings of the Bhagavad Gita is that everything inside you is not you. What it means is usually we think of external and internal.

Okay this desk is outside me and there are some thoughts, some ideas there inside me. So we think of external as outside and internal that is mine, that is inside. But this differentiation of external and internal is based on a bodily reference point.

From the body's point of view what is outside is external and what is inside is internal. But the Bhagavad Gita explains that our essential identity is not the body. It is the soul.

And from the soul's point of view not just the physical but even the mental is external. So inside us there is the mind and there is the soul. And the mind's voice is not exactly our voice.

We'll discuss about the various, the different major voices in the mind later. But everything inside us is not us. There are voices within us which are alien to our essential nature.

They are contrary to our actual desires. And many times we feel impelled to do certain things. Eat this, wash this, go here, do that.

And then afterwards we feel why did I do that? Why did I do that? So here if you think about this deeply why did I do that? This means there is an I who did it and there is an I who is wondering why I did it. Isn't it? Now, these two I's, the I which did and the I which observed. So what exactly are these two I's? And how do they interact? So we will discuss this later but suffice it to say at this stage that everything inside us is not us.

Just as in a computer I may want to do certain functions in a computer but you know many times if you browse certain commercial websites or any website for that matter we browse on one tab and suddenly there are dozen other tabs which come up. Not only there, there are some pop-up windows which come up. Now, we don't want to surf over there.

But sometimes what happens is not only the pop-up windows come up but sometimes there is a ready-made multiple choice option with a particular option already ticked. For example, the simple way we understand if we are working on a word file, we may have an option Do you want to save the file? Yes or no? So now, if sometimes there is a bug most of the times the default option is yes. And that is good.

But sometimes if there is a bug in a computer the default option becomes no. And if we don't notice it we think the default option is yes, we just tap it and what happens is the file gets deleted. It's not saved because the default option there was no.

So, just as in a computer software there are default options which are actually faults. The default can often be a fault. And if we are not vigilant while working on a computer a default option can take us off track.

So like that within us also there are different options, there are different ideas that come up and not all those ideas are our own ideas. So, we will look at how the mind works as a monkey through an acronym MIND. So, misdiagnosis, indirection, negativity and double root.

So, let's discuss this one by one. So, the mind is compared often to a monkey. Why monkey? Because the monkey is by definition restless.

All of you are sitting and hearing a class. If there was a monkey in this room, what would the monkey do? The monkey would not sit peacefully. The monkey would just jump here jump here, go there, go there, go here like that.

Why is that? That is the nature of the monkey. The monkey is by definition restless. So, Krishna describes and Arjuna also says in Chanchala chanchalam himanah Krishna.

The mind is chanchala, restless like a monkey. So, now if we observe often when we sit in a class also even when we physically sit but our mind like a monkey goes here and there. The mind goes for sightseeing walks here, there and everywhere.

And sometimes when there is a joke the mind comes like, hey I want a joke. What was the joke? So, the mind is by nature restless. So, it is like a monkey.

But if suppose somebody has got a monkey, somebody is a monkey trainer or somebody has got a monkey as a pet then training pets or training an animal as a circus animal it is also a skill. It is not that just any animal can be caught from jungle and it can be put in a circus and it will start performing. No, it requires training and it is not just that any animal can be brought in.

The animal also has to be handled by an expert. Trained by an expert and handled by an expert. So, similarly to manage the mind we also have to become experts.

And often there are trainers of wild animals that they know if there are horse trainers. Nowadays people don't use horses so much but in the past horses were a primary mode of communication. And when horses had to, they used the word breaking a horse.

Breaking doesn't mean physically breaking the bone of horse. It means breaking the obstinacy of a horse. The horse it has never seated a rider on its back before.

It doesn't want to. If the horse has been caught in the jungle and brought in, then they say it is not broken. That means nobody has sat on it.

So for the first time breaking a horse is a difficult and often dangerous process. Because first time somebody sits on a horse, the horse will just throw that person. And not only throw that person that horse may charge and try to stampede on that person.

Stamp on that person. So it requires an expert horse trainer to break a horse. And after the horse is broken that means after it has been rid on, then slowly it becomes biddable.

Biddable means it can become manageable. And only when the horse has become manageable then it is sold. Sold in the market or if it is directly sold then the purchaser has to get a horse trainer who will break the horse and then the horse can be used.

So that is the way normally a horse is used. But we all are born with an unbroken horse within us. The mind is not trained.

And every horse that has to be broken or a horse or a monkey if it has to be trained whatever. You know every monkey is an individual. And there are certain broad principles but along with those broad principles every monkey has its own or every horse has its own idiosyncrasies.

It likes to do this it doesn't like to do that. So then the horse trainer has to customise its training. So has to take into account the individual nuances of that particular horse and train accordingly.

So here what we are discussing is the broad ways in which the mind acts like a monkey. So when the mind acts like a monkey it goes off in various directions. But which are the directions in which it goes we will try to understand it here in a broad way.

And then we will discuss how we can deal with this. How we can dine with the monkey. That means how we can break the horse and how we can learn to use it for our purposes.

So misdiagnosis. What does this mean? Let's look at it first. So if any of you use the word many times any text editor there is something called autocorrect.

So the autocorrect if you type something wrong it is meant to correct it. So I use autocorrect. First time I used it with the editor.

So I wrote the soul is Satchitanand. And then I was reading it again I found the soul is Saturday Chitanand. So by its own programme Sat is what? It's a short form for Saturday.

Now I had typed it in correctly. But the autocorrect was incorrect. So then what I had to do was I had to conscientiously correct the incorrect autocorrect.

So like that what happens is the mind has certain modes of interpreting reality. And when the mind interprets reality in a particular way it often has certain default formulas for solving problems. So it is said that if one has a hammer the whole world seems to be nails.

If I have a hammer I think everything around me is a nail. I just hit the hammer everything will get solved. So the mind comes all of us have certain pet ways of dealing with problems.

So for example if somebody is a is an addict in some way. So if somebody is addicted to say drinking alcohol then what happens anytime a big problem comes up the solution is drink. There is no problem so big that alcohol can't solve it.

Just drink. Now quite often actually that alcohol itself will be the cause of the problem. But the mind has developed that particular pattern of thinking that this is the solution.

In any treatment any therapy the first step is accurate diagnosis. If the diagnosis goes wrong then after that whatever treatment I give it will be in vain. About 10-15 years ago I had a severe case of TB.

And I took almost 1 year treatment. I recovered fully. And after that after 3 years after that again I got severe fever weight loss and similar symptoms.

Then I went to the doctor and the doctor did some preliminary checkup and he asked me how was my diet, what was my allergy. And then he came to me very great. He said you got a relapse of the TB.

Now resistant TB is supposed to be very very difficult to cure. In the past TB was fatal also. Now also TB is fatal if it is not treated.

So now already I had a 1 year treatment. So now our TB he said you will have to take almost 3-4 years of treatment. And even then how much will be cured we can't see.

So the doctor was very grim. I was very grim. And then just about to start the medicines.

And at that time suddenly the doctor actually literally the nurse had come and she was giving me the medicines. And the doctor phoned don't give the medicines. What happened? The doctor came back and he told me that I had sent your samples for multiple tests.

And just now one report has come and he said actually your test has come positive for that disease. Some disease I don't even remember the name now. Very unusual kind of disease.

And he just gave me treatment. So what I was not able to get cured in 1 month, in 3 days I was cured after that. So what happened was there was a potential misdiagnosis and the doctor although he is a good doctor but still because I had the past track record of TB so the default thought was this must be a relapse of the TB.

If the doctor had been a little less vigilant and had not done that particular kind of test then I would have taken 3 years of treatment and still I would not have got cured. So misdiagnosis can be disastrous. Similarly for us when we are having some trouble when we are having some problem understanding what the problem is is very important.

And the mind tends to misdiagnose the problem. Misdiagnose the problem means it makes us believe quite often that that which is the cause of the problem is the cure for the problem. The very thing that has caused the problem the mind makes us think this is the cure for the problem.

So as I said if a person is an addict, currently I am working on a book on de-addiction based on Bhagavad Gita. So I have been reading narratives of different addicts and how they deal with it. Often we think that if you are dissatisfied in life we think dissatisfaction is because of frustration of desire.

I had a particular desire that desire was not fulfilled that's why I am dissatisfied. That's why we think that's what we think is normally the cause of dissatisfaction. That can be a cause of dissatisfaction but a more common cause of dissatisfaction is not frustration of desire but domination by desire.

What does domination by desire mean? So there was this alcohol addict and see when desires come it is Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya Maya Vekam Sharanam Vracham. When a desire catches actually people just give up everything. Just chase after that desire.

See often Bhagavad Gita talks about we are bound, there is bondage and we have to become liberated. So we may ask where am I bound? I can go anywhere I want. I can go to a shop, I can eat, I can go to a garden, I can go to a movie.

I am free. See there are different kinds of bondage. There is one bondage is a prisoner's bondage.

That the prisoner is shackled and that bondage makes a person motionless. But there is another bondage that is a puppet's bondage. A puppet is bound and the puppet moves but the puppet has no freedom to choose how to move.

So the prisoner's bonds make the prisoner motionless. But we are bound not like a prisoner, we are bound like a puppet. And the bond of desires they don't make us motionless they make us restless.

When we are bound by desires we run here, we run there, we run there. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita 16.12 Asha, Pasha, Shatayir Baddha. Hundreds and thousands of desires we are bound by it.

The desires make us restless. So I was telling this anecdote of this alcoholic how he got the epiphany. Epiphany means realisation.

He got the realisation I am actually bound. So one night around 3.30 4 in the morning he had slept at 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock and he woke up at 3.30. Suddenly he had a desire to drink alcohol. He woke up and he was literally dragged out of the bed.

He went to his fridge and he found there is no alcohol there. Got frustrated. Then he took out his car.

This has happened in America. He took out his car and went to the nearest bar. And along the way his car sputtered and broke down.

So then he went out and he went to the bar and he went to the bar and what happened is that the particular alcohol brand that he wanted, it was not there. So now he had to go almost half a mile to another place. So around 3.30, 4 in the morning he just went there to that particular bar and finally he got that alcohol.

And now it was cold at night just walking along. His car was somewhere in the middle. He just left the car there itself.

Because the desire is so strong. So then he was just going along. He took one sip.

He said it's so cold. Let me go in my car and then I'll go to my home and I'll drink it. And as he was just going along with the car, walking along, suddenly there was some stone or something and he slipped.

And he fell on the ground. And he had just taken a sip. At that time, the lid was loose.

And the whole alcohol got spilled all over his body. Then he was lying on the ground and then he just looked up and he saw all the skyscraper buildings, all the lights closed. What am I doing? I could be sleeping peacefully in bed.

What am I doing here with the car broken, with my clothes filled with alcohol? I am really enslaved. I am enslaved by desire. But this sort of epiphany, this sort of realisation, it can act as a moment of awakening.

Now, unfortunately, what could have happened at that time if he had not been alert. Some level of alertness is possible and it was accessible even at that time. But if he had not been alert, the mind would have said, you are a stupid fool.

You lost the alcohol, go and get another alcohol. So, the normal tendency would have been, oh, I am frustrated. Why? I am dissatisfied and frustrated because my desire was not fulfilled.

But the cause of dissatisfaction, the cause of misery here is not the frustration of desire. That, oh, I did not get the alcohol in the particular bottle. It just got spilled.

The cause of the suffering is deeper. That is domination by desire. And if that domination can be removed, then a lot of misery can be avoided.

So, this does not mean that all of us have to live desireless lives. There are different kinds of desires and we will discuss that towards the later part of our class. But suffice it to say that actually the mind misdiagnoses our problem.

It makes us believe that often that which is the cause of the problem, the mind makes us believe that is the cure for the problem. So, this is one of the ways in which the mind misdirects us. The second is indirection.

Indirection is a noun which comes from indirect. Indirect means something doesn't speak directly. So, there is a problem.

Instead of dealing with the problem, the mind makes us go here and there and there and everywhere. Suppose, say, I am supposed to go for a programme. And then I am going in a car and the driver doesn't know where to go.

And the driver takes me to a wrong place. And say, the programme is at 7.45 and it's already 7.30. And I can just blast and shout at the driver, shout at myself. I can get angry with myself.

Now, why did I go here? Why was I so foolish? But, if I have gone wrong, I have gone to a wrong place, now chastising myself or chastising anyone else is not going to get me to the right destination. As soon as I realise that I have gone on the wrong path, what should I do? Take a turn and come back on the right path. But, on this, if we physically get lost, we understand this.

Because you are on track, we will immediately do this. But, when this happens mentally, mentally this happens means that something goes wrong in our life. At that time, we, our mind misdirects or indirects our energy towards resentment.

Resentment of reality often hurts much more than reality. So, yes, I was late for a programme or I was late for an appointment. But, if I just keep beating myself up, I am going to become later.

I am going to become more and more later. Just turn around and go to the programme. Or, suppose, we are supposed to go for a picnic with some friends, some outing somewhere.

And just before the picnic, I get a flu and I feel that we will fall sick. I will get frustrated. That, why is it everybody else is going and enjoying and I am lying over here on this bed, miserable.

Now, yes, if the treatment is going on properly and we are recovering from the flu, then, we will not be in a state of acute physical discomfort. Yeah, the temperature goes, temperature comes. But, overall, physically, we are not in such a terrible discomfort.

But, at that time, if we are resenting, okay, why couldn't I go? Why couldn't I go? Why couldn't I go? Then, that can often cause far greater misery than what would be necessary in that situation. Some amount of misery is unavoidable. Now, life determines our problems.

We determine their size. Life determines our problems. We determine their size.

How is that? Now, when we keep thinking about a problem, stewing over a problem mentally, it tends to become bigger and bigger and bigger. Sometimes, there are coolies. If you tell them, okay, you have to carry this 20 kg, they will say 100 rupees.

Okay, fine. 50 rupees, whatever. We may give that.

Now, imagine a coolie is going to get 100 rupees and that coolie is carrying say 20 kg on the head and that coolie puts 20 more kg on the head. See, you're not going to be paid for this. Why are you carrying this? No, no coolie will do like this.

But unfortunately, what happens is, our problem is 20 kg and on top of that, our resentment is 100 kg. And we crush ourselves, not under the problem, but under the resentment of the problem. So, yes, sometimes, life does give us a rod in.

Things go wrong. And when things go wrong, life treats us unfairly. What to do? First thing is, we accept the reality.

Accepting the reality is not passivity. Accepting the reality is proactivity. Passivity means I'm doing one thing.

Proactivity means I'm focussing on what I can do the best. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the most defining lesson that they teach us is, how to respond to adversity with integrity. Now, Ram, he was just about to be coronated as the king.

And for no fault of his, he was suddenly sent to the forest. He doesn't exhibit any resentment. It was something which is worth becoming resentful about.

But there was absolutely no resentment. He accepted it. So, it's not that when we resent the reality, we don't solve the problem.

We actually aggravate the problem. So, the present is here, the past is here, the future is here. So, the mind, indirection means what? The mind, instead of focussing the energy on the present, the mind takes the energy to the past.

And we can't change the past. So, in this way, the mind says, why did I do like that? Why did he do like that? Why did they do like that? Why did this happen? The why questions often are the questions to frustration. Especially at other life events, we may not get the answer to the why questions.

So, rather than asking why this, a far more intelligent question is, how now? How should I act now? If we shift from that why question to the how question, what can I do now? How can I act now? Our energy becomes constructively channelised. So, one way the mind indirects our energy, misdirects our energy towards the past. The other is towards the future.

The future is the source of both anxiety and fantasy. Anxiety means we worry that so many things will go wrong and fantasy means we dream so many things will go right. So, whatever it is, the important thing is the future is not in our control.

What is in our control is the present. The present is the only thing we have and the present is the only thing we'll ever have. Because if we think, okay, now my present is difficult, my future will be bright.

Okay, fine. Even if it is so, if we dream about a future, some future, remote future, things will be better at that time. Hope is positive but hope has to be grounded in reality and that connection between a bright future and a bleak present is based on the actions that we do in the present.

So, the mind if it just makes us go into daydreaming and fantasising, we don't achieve anything. So, there is definitely learning from the past and there is planning for the future. Both are important.

But when we learn from the past or when we plan for the future, we are in control. That means we are in control, we think about, okay, this happened, this happened, this happened. What can I learn from this? What did I do wrong? So, if we are calm and composed, we can learn from the past and we can plan for the future.

But if our mind is in control, if our mind is in control, then when we think about the past, we don't learn from the past, we simply lament about the past. And if the mind is in control, when we think about the future, we don't plan for the future, we simply fantasise about the future. And in both ways, we don't achieve anything constructive.

So, this indirection has to be avoided. And this is one of the ways in which the mind becomes restless. Rather than staying where it is and doing something constructive, the mind jumps here, there and everywhere.

Then, another problem related with the future as well as the present is negativity. So, now fear is not the problem. Fear of what comes after fear is.

What does this mean? There are many times, our mind, we go into too much hyper-anxiety. This is a few months ago, I was in America. I was in Ohio State University.

I was giving a talk over there. So, there I made this point that actually many Indians were there and many Americans were also there. So, I was quoting from a book called Anxiety Epidemic.

And normally, we think anxiety is caused by uncertainty. Isn't it? Suppose, you have to go somewhere and you are late and you want to catch a local. Now, whether you will catch the local or not, will you reach on time or not? So, when there is uncertainty about that, that causes anxiety.

Now, relatively speaking, in the developed world, in the first world, as compared to the developing world, in the developed countries, the external uncertainties are much lesser. In India, if we, in some places, if we turn on the tap, we don't know whether the water will come on. If we turn on a power button, we don't know whether the power will turn on or not.

So, there is a lot of uncertainty. And that level of uncertainty is not there. So, normally, we will think that the lesser the uncertainty, the lesser should be the anxiety.

But curiously, it is in the developed countries that the anxiety levels are more than in the developing countries. And not only that, consistently, surgeons have also found that when people from the developing countries emigrate to the developed countries, their anxiety levels go up. So, why is it that when there is lesser uncertainty externally, why is it that there is still anxiety? So, anxiety is caused not just by external uncertainty.

Anxiety is also caused by internal instability. If our mind is unstable, if our mind is restless, we can get into anxiety for little or no reason. Sometimes, people get panic attacks.

Suppose, somebody is going along the road, and they see there is a road break over there, and there is an accident. The accident is quite costly. But, suppose you see an accident and you think, people start thinking, oh, what if, you know, if I am driving and I meet with an accident over there, you know, maybe when I am driving, my brake will fail.

Or, when I am driving, maybe I just get a heart attack when I am driving, and then the car will go out of control. Or, maybe I am driving and somebody else, maybe a drunk driver, may come along the way. Yes, now, there are, these are possibilities.

But, these are not probabilities. Possibility means something that can happen. Probability is something that is likely to happen.

So, one of the problems in today's world is because of instant round-the-clock media coverage. So, you know, we get reports of problems very quickly. We get reports of things going wrong very quickly.

So, for example, if one aeroplane crashes, yes, an aeroplane crashes is a tragic thing, but there are millions of planes which travel, and then one crashes. So, the probability of something happening to us like that, it is small. Whatever reasonable precautions are there, we should take those precautions, no doubt.

If we are driving a car, we should take necessary precautions. But, if the mind is uncontrolled, it becomes paranoid. Paranoid means perpetually fearful.

Constantly fearful. If we let fear rule our life, we will not be able to do anything. We are sitting here and we are fearful.

What if the roof caves? Or, instead of looking at the beauty of the chandelier, what if the chandelier loses and falls? So, many times, the uncontrolled mind goes into irrational fears. यया स्वप्नं भयं शोकं विषादं मदमेवच नविमुञ्चिति धुर्मेध दुधी सापार्थ तामसी So, दुधी सापार्थ तामसी. So, Krishna said in Bhagavad Gita 18.36 that यया स्वप्नं भयं शोकं So, that intelligence, actually sometimes when people imagine daredevilish situations, imagine terrible situations.

Utopia is a very unrealistically positive situation, positive future. The opposite of utopia is dystopia. So, dystopia is a unrealistically negative situation.

So, now to imagine some negative situation also requires some level of intelligence. Isn't it? I had gone to a medical conference and there, at an international medical conference, one doctor was telling over there that, he gives the example of how people get diseases and insecurity unnecessary. There was this lady, every three months she would go to a doctor to check, Doctor, do I have cancer? Do I have cancer? Do I have cancer? Doctor, you don't have any problems.

Don't worry. She went like this for 25 years. After 25 years, doctor said, you have cancer.

See, doctor, I was right. So, now, taking precautions, having a yearly medical check-up or whatever, that is a reasonable precaution. But being paranoid about future problems, yes, after 25 years one got cancer.

But why live in worry for 25 years? That's not required. So, sometimes we need to confront our fears. Our mind has certain irrational fears.

And if we let the mind go along those irrational fears, even without much of a real problem, we will be really worried. We will be really anxious. We will become really paralysed.

So, by taking realistic precautions, assessing the situation properly and taking realistic precautions, we need to move onwards in life. The mind has this tendency towards negativity. And this negativity can work in various ways.

Anxiety is just one symptom of the negativity. The negativity also works out in terms of scarcity. Scarcity means the mind always makes us feel you don't have this, you don't have that, you don't have that.

So, imagine, suppose, no need to imagine, after this lecture, you are going to have a feast. So, now, suppose, here comes the imagination, suppose this is a special feast and everyone of you is going to get an individual menu feast. So, everybody is going to get different items in their feast.

And suppose, now, in such a situation, the mind, instead of relishing what is in your plate, will say, oh, he has got that. Oh, he has got that. So, rather than enjoying the delicacies on one's own plate, the mind starts lamenting, oh, I don't have that, I don't have that, I don't have that.

This is how the mind is negative. See, all of us, just like we could have a feast, individual feast like that, all of us have our own individual set of talents. We all have our talents, we have our strengths, but quite often, because of external cultural glamorisation or because of our upbringing or whatever, certain talents, certain skills are glamorised in society.

And we crave, oh, if I would be like this, if I had been like that, oh, that person looks so good, that person speaks so well, that person walks so smartly, that person has got this. You know, we keep looking at what others have and we don't look at what we have. You know, one of the easiest ways to make ourselves miserable is to compare ourselves with others.

It is a shortcut, a surefire shortcut to misery. You know, God has created each one of us special. Every one of us is special.

Every one of us is unique. What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.

What we are is God's gift to us. So we also have a feast. But rather than looking at what God has gifted us, we see, oh, what has God gifted that person? What has God gifted that person? You don't have to look at others.

What we are is God's gift to us. And what we become, whatever talents we have, we use those talents constructively and we can make positive contributions. What we become is our gift to God.

So the negativity of the mind comes subtly by making us see all the things that we don't have. Manaprasad Saumyatvam. Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita in the 17th chapter, 16th verse, talks about austerity of the mind.

So there he says, Manaprasad is a satisfaction, is an austerity of the mind. Normally we think of satisfaction as an emotion. I am feeling satisfied or I am not feeling satisfied.

Yes, satisfaction is an emotion, but along with that, satisfaction is also a decision. Satisfaction is not just an emotion. It is an emotion, but along with that, it is also a decision.

What does it mean, it is also a decision? If I have a feast in my plate, if I keep looking at the feast that others have, that emotion of dissatisfaction is going to increase. But if I decide okay, this is what I have got and I will be happy with this. I take the decision of satisfaction.

Then we will be satisfied. So Krishna says that this satisfaction we need to cultivate in austerity. Rather than looking at what we don't have, we look at what we have.

And often if we look at what we have, we will find that we have many hidden talents which we didn't have, which we didn't even know about. Or we have some talents which we can tap more and more. So this negativity of the mind, the tendency, whatever is the situation, look at it, look at its negative.

That is a tendency which we need to correct. The last we will discuss is, D is double rule. This is among the most insidious ways in which the mind tricks us.

So suppose we decide I don't want to become obese, so I will regulate my diet. And then there is a feast and then we eat and start a decision I am not going to overeat today. But then what happens? We start eating little more, little more, little more.

And then what is happening all this time? The mind is saying, one more piece, what is the problem? One more helping, what is the problem? One more helping, what is the problem? And then we overeat. And then afterwards the stomach starts bloating. And then the same mind says, what a fool you are! Don't you have any common sense? Why did you have to eat so much? You are a glutton! So the same mind first makes us do wrong and then justifies us for doing wrong.

So now if you have done something wrong now guilt is good. But there are say there is this wrongdoing and then this is this is wrongdoing we are here. Now guilt should come between us and the wrongdoing.

But when the mind chastises us what happens is our strength to do right, we will discuss in the concluding part, our strength to do right can come from many sources. The strongest source from which it comes is Krishna. When we connect with him through spirituality then we get tremendous inner strength.

So ideally speaking say if this is Krishna over here, we are over here and whatever undesirable activity is there, whatever wrongdoing is that's here. So the guilt should come here between us and the wrongdoing. But when the mind makes us guilty that is pseudo guilt and that guilt comes here means we feel I am good for nothing.

The mind says I am a fool. You are a fool. You are good for nothing.

Yes, you are good for nothing. Give up Bhakti. So this when the mind chastises us there are two kinds of people who give corrections.

There is a coach and there is a critic. So coaches are those who point out our wrong but they focus on our potential for good and they bring out the good within us. But the critics or among the critics also there are cynics.

Cynics they just focus on the negative and if we hear the voice of the cynics too much, we often can get completely devastated, shattered. So the mind is not a coach. It is a cynic.

So when it plays this double role, makes us do wrong and then chastises us for doing wrong, at that time that chastisement it doesn't inspire us to do right. It actually sinks us in self-pity. Self-pity is I am good for nothing.

I am useless. I am helpless. I am just good for nothing.

So one time a devotee came to Prabhupada and said, Prabhupada, I am the most fallen person. Prabhupada said, you are the most nothing. So most nothing means to think that I centred this.

That is not at all empowering. That is disempowering. So even if you have done something wrong, what do you do after that? You get up and start off.

If we just wallow, why did I do this? I never do right. I am always a fool. I am good for nothing.

That way we never learn. Often sometimes we feel, I don't have confidence. I lack confidence, some people say.

Actually, it is not that we lack confidence. More often than not, the problem is not lack of confidence. The problem is overconfidence in our cynical mind.

We have overconfidence in our cynical mind. If you speak in public, you know, you will make a cake of yourself. You will make a fool out of yourself.

If you do this, you will be embarrassed. If you do this, nothing is going to happen. If you do this, nothing is going to happen.

So now, is the mind a prophet to know what is going to happen in the future? No, the mind is not a prophet. The mind is a cynic. And if we listen to the mind, we will never be able to do anything constructive.

So the mind, when it takes this double role, it actually discourages us and it paralyses us. Suppose a boxing match is going on. Two boxers are fighting.

And suddenly there is A and there is B. And then B suddenly gives a big punch on A. And A is knocked down. At that time, if A is on the ground, what should A do? It is a shattering blow actually. But if A is to fight, A should turn and look at the coach.

Or A should look at the coach, come on, get up, you can fight. You can even get up. But if A looks at B only, can I win this match? Never! So, if there is a boxing match going on, the opponent who has knocked you down, we don't take his opinion seriously.

We take our coach's opinion seriously. So like that, what happens? The mind knocks us down and then we ask the mind only, can I win this? Well, the mind is going to say, no! You can never do it. So we all, whatever we try to do, often when we say, I can't do it.

I can't do it. Often, underlying that is what? There is the mind with its twisted ego. Which means to say, you should not do it unless you do it perfectly.

That's not necessary. Nobody starts off being perfect. Nobody starts off being perfect.

Now even the world's champion athlete, say champion runner, the world's Olympic gold medallist runner, you know, he or she was not born running. Even they began by crawling on the ground, taking few steps, falling, rising. So that's how we all grow.

So often the mind, when it does this, this double role, first it makes us do wrong and then it castizes us for doing wrong. So in anything that we do, the mind makes us strive for unrealistic perfectionism. And in trying to be perfect, we become perfectly nothing.

We don't do anything at all. So there is double role we have to avoid. So now I talked about all these ways in which the mind can mislead us.

It can misdirect us. So how do we deal with this mind? So what all is inside us, we need to understand this. The Bhagavata explains that inside us are many things.

So there are superficial desires generated by the corporate controlled media. What does that mean? There is a British author, Oscar Wilde, he said fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that you have to change it every six months. Fashion is a form of… Fashionable means beautiful.

Fashion is a form of ugliness. Why ugliness? The very thing which looks attractive, captivating today, after six months when it becomes old fashioned and the very that saying, you are so old fashioned, you are wearing this, you are carrying this, you are doing this. It becomes ugliness and it becomes intolerable ugliness.

So fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to change it every six months. So when we let the contemporary culture define our self-worth then we have to acquire so many things, get this, buy this, eat this, go here, go there, get this and then we will be considered fashionable, we will be considered cool. So many of the desires which dominate us, many of the desires which create dissatisfaction within us they are often superficial desires.

They are not very important for us. So although because of repeatedly being exposed to those desires again and again from outside there is propaganda for those desires so because of them we may start thinking these are my desires. But they are not our desires, they are desires which have come from outside and they have been ingrained within us because of repeated exposure to particular things.

So these when we start going inward we start practising spirituality when we understand the Bhagavad Gita. Normally if we have a mirror mirrors make people self-conscious you know how is my hair combed, how is my dress, how are my looks mirrors make us self-conscious. The Bhagavad Gita is also like a mirror but it doesn't make us self-conscious it makes us conscious of the self.

It makes us conscious of the self it makes us understand who we actually are, what are our actual priorities, what are our actual necessities. So when we study Bhagavad Gita this is not really important. Now this doesn't mean that we should be unambitious and we should have no desires at all.

That's not the point. Bhagavad Gita also talks about certain desires that are natural to us. Now by natural there can be two things.

As I said we have a material side to our being and we have a spiritual side to our being. Our core is spiritual along with that we have a particular body in which we live. Shraddha Gopinath, Bhagwan Akhil So all of us have a certain nature and according to our nature.

Earlier I talked about how all of us have been given certain gifts. We all have our feast. So when we act according to our nature then we live compatibly.

We live satisfied. So Krishna did not tell Arjuna that because you want to be spiritual you renounce the world. Krishna told Arjuna you are an archer fight as an archer.

Live as a warrior. That is your nature. So all of us have certain desires certain inclinations that come from our nature.

And that nature Bhagavan doesn't say we have to renounce it. Swakarmana tam abhyarcha siddhin vindati manavah Bhagavad Gita 18.46 Krishna says Swakarmana by your work tam abhyarcha worship him. Some people mistranslate this as work is worship.

But Krishna doesn't teach work is worship. Krishna teaches worship him with your work. Work is not automatically worship.

If work were automatically worship then a donkey would be the greatest worshipper. So this is not to minimise or denigrate work. This is also not to minimise the idea the feeling under work is worship is that no work should be minimised no work should be denigrated.

That is true. The dignity of labour if work is worship is used to convey the dignity of labour that is fine. But if work is worship is used to say that there is no need for worship.

Whatever you do work that itself is worship. Then that is a misunderstanding. Krishna doesn't teach that.

Krishna says Swakarmana tam abhyarcha by your work worship him. That means we have time for our spiritual side where we develop devotion for him. We develop the mood of worship through our sadhana, through our study of scripture, through our mantra meditation we develop a mood of worship and after that we carry that mood of worship in our work.

That is how our work will become worship. Krishna doesn't say we have to give up our work. He says we can spiritualise our work.

Do it in a mood of worship. And when we do this so that there are these desires which are according to our innate nature and Krishna doesn't tell us to give them up. He tells us spiritualise them, harmonise them with our spiritual purpose and then at our very core is our soul and the soul's innate nature is to love and serve Krishna.

That is the innate nature. Wherever a person may be, whichever part of the world, actually there is a longing within the person all people, what is their ultimate goal in life? What is the ultimate goal of life? We all want to love and to be loved and this longing when it is directed towards an eternal being, then it brings us eternal satisfaction. So this longing to serve Krishna that is our innermost desire.

But serving Krishna doesn't mean renouncing the world. It means connecting what we are doing in the world with Krishna. But there are often many desires within us which neither connected with Krishna nor are they connected with our innate nature.

So we do them because of pressure from outside. So for example, students may pursue a particular career because that is a glamorised career. Somebody may want to actually have talent to become an artist but their glamorised career is engineering or medicine and people pursue that.

Of course, over a period of time even within the career we have pursued, we can find out. Yes, I get into engineering but I am not so much interested in this aspect of engineering. I am more interested in this aspect of engineering.

So when we are living if we observe ourselves Krishna says guna-karma-nibhagasya. Guna-karma means actually inner compatibility and outer competence. Inner compatibility and outer competence.

Whatever is our nature, we will find that we are good at doing it and we feel comfortable. This is what I would like to do. Inner compatibility, inner comfort and outer competence.

If we observe ourselves, we will discover our nature and developing that nature will actually bring us satisfaction, will bring us peace. Then this is the last part, living with the mind. What are they required? Distance, determination and devotion.

Distance means that because the, suppose imagine say you are doing something say you are writing something you are learning to write, maybe have your own blog or you are learning music and somebody came along, some friend came along and he said, you are good for nothing. Actually, if somebody spoke like that, it could very well invoke a fighting spirit, I will show you how good I am. We would feel affronted, we would feel insulted.

How dare such a person say you are good for nothing. But when exactly the same thing, the mind says inside you are good for nothing. What happens is because the mind is inside us, we don't realise that it is the mind speaking.

That's why we need some distance from the mind. How do we create a distance from the mind? That distance is created first of all by philosophical education which helps us understand that there is something inside me which is not me. So we need philosophy and we need regular reminders like I said, scripture acts like a mirror which helps us understand what all is there inside.

But along with that, there is meditation. There are different forms of meditation. Mantra meditation is especially potent.

Why? Because mantra meditation elevates our consciousness. Suppose somebody is at the foot of a skyscraper. The skyscraper will seem to be huge and the person will feel dwarfed.

But if that person is airlifted by a helicopter and the person is above, the skyscraper is the same but the person is here. The skyscraper is very high. What has happened? If we compare the skyscraper to a problem in our life, then when we are at a normal level of consciousness, we feel the problem is so big.

But meditation is a tool for raising our consciousness. And if there is a helicopter above and that helicopter throws a rope down and by that rope we are pulled up. Then we can easily rise up.

So mantra is like that consciousness elevator. It's a rope that is sent down to us and when we situate our consciousness in the spiritual sound vibration of the mantra, then our consciousness gets elevated. It gets elevated.

So when it is elevated upwards, we can look at ourselves and say, this is the mind. For example, sometimes when we try to chant the holy names, at that time we realise, I am trying to chant but the mind is going here, mind is going there, mind is going there. Actually speaking, you know, Tukaram Maharaj was once asked, you know, when I start chanting the mind runs here and there.

He says, why do you run after the mind? The mind will run, but why do you have to run after it? yato yato nishchalati manas chanchal bhastiram tatas tato niyam yaita aatmanye eva kishan nahi yaita. Krishna says in 6.26, wherever and whenever the mind wanders, bring it back under the control of the self. What does this mean? That actually earlier when the mind had wandered, we would also have wandered with the mind.

So now at least we are protesting that the mind is wandering and that itself is progress. Suppose, you know, if a baby is mischievous, you know, and now the baby goes here, baby goes there, smile, they just don't know anything. If the baby grows up, then the child is supposed to become mature.

So when the child is supposed to be mature, then the child is supposed to do more constructive things. And if the child wants to play all the time, then the mother will say, okay, you play for some time, but now you have to stop. But suppose, you know, the child is playing and the mother also gives up everything and starts playing.

All day, all night, throughout the week, throughout the month, throughout the year, the mother is playing with the child. Now others will say, what are you doing? You know, you have to make the child grow. You don't have to go down to the level of the child.

Yes, you can communicate with the child, you should befriend the child, be affectionate to the child, but the child should grow. Isn't it? So what happens, if we practise mantra meditation, we expect, immediately my mind will become controlled. That is not going to work.

Because the mind has a lot of momentum. You know, even if, suppose, a train is, now there are bullet trains which are being proposed. A train is moving at 500 miles per hour.

And then, even with the most powerful brake, you cannot expect the train to stop immediately. It may take sometimes hundreds of, it may go to several dozen miles before it stops. But at least there is a brake.

So our mind has a momentum. And we can't expect it to stop immediately. But when we chant, when we start practising mantra meditation, the first thing that we are doing is, we are not running along with the mind.

We are at least recognising the mind is running, let me bring it back. So that is like putting a brake. So mantra meditation, it creates a distance.

Distance between us and the mind. Because what happens, when we try to chant, and then we, I want to chant, but why am I thinking of this? Why am I thinking of that? When we start realising what all we are thinking about, at that time, we can understand, yes, there is really a mind inside me which goes here and there. And that realisation is also a positive step forward.

So, mantra meditation, at the very least, it conferences with the reality that there is a mind inside me which goes here and there. And then it gives us the resources to control the mind. So the first step is distance.

We create a distance between ourselves and the mind. Second is determination. Now sometimes some people say, I just don't have any determination.

Actually, that is just not possible. Everyone has determination. It is just that our determination is misdirected.

Now suppose, you know, I have no determination. I am so lazy. You know, I sleep for 15 hours every day.

Suppose somebody says like that. Well, actually, to sleep 15 hours a day also requires determination. Isn't it? See, what does determination mean? Determination means, you know, there is opposition for doing something and still we keep doing it.

You know, if I sleep for 15 hours, then, you know, my relatives, my friends, they are all criticising me. Why are you so lazy? You are wasting so much time. And we also have a guilty conscience.

Why am I wasting so much time? And in spite of that, we sleep. That is determination. It is, of course, misdirected determination.

But it is determination. So no one can say, I don't have any determination. We all have determination, but it is just misdirected.

So what bhakti does is, it redirects our determination in constructive channels. When we start chanting Hare Krishna, when we start connecting with Krishna, that same force of determination which was misdirected, it starts getting redirected towards Krishna. And determination can come from various ways.

The most forceful way in which determination we can get is through devotion. So devotion. How does devotion develop our determination? In 9.14 Bhagavad Gita, Krishna states that my devotees practise bhakti with determination.

So devotion, determination is, we often think of determination as a matter of raw willpower. And willpower is definitely important. But if our determination is based only on willpower, then it cannot be sustained for long.

Why? Because suppose somebody has got a stomach upset and the stomach upset is causing loose motions. Determination. Determination.

I will not respond to nature. Determination. Well, that sort of determination is not going to work.

If there is a physical disease, determination should not be used and cannot be used to suppress the symptoms of the disease. Determination has to be channelled to take the treatment. Yes.

If I have got a stomach upset, the doctor says, you can take this medicine morning, afternoon, evening. Even if it is bitter, take it. Doctor says, now eat very simple diet.

That is, I should channel my determination properly. And then when I do that, then I will get cured. So, determination is not just a matter of raw willpower.

Determination needs to be complemented with the right process. Then it will be productive. Without the right process, just trying to be determined can very easily lead to frustration.

Suppose a person doesn't have eyes. By determination I will see. Well, it's not going to work.

Determination you can use to find whether there is a treatment available. Go to a doctor, maybe earn the money. Take the treatment, do the surgery and then you will be able to see.

So, determination sometimes people say that, you know, I have some deficiencies, but by determination I will overcome all of them. This is what is the common teaching of many books on self-help. Nowadays, as I told, because mainstream science doesn't deal with the mind so much, so a whole industry of self-help books has come up.

And all these self-help books, they just talk about positive thinking. There is a book called The Secret. It was there a few years ago.

Now there are many other books which keep coming. Just visualise, just think. Just be positive.

Everything will come in your life. Well, we should be positive, but no matter how positive I am, positivity is not going to stop me from growing old. Positivity is not going to stop me from getting diseased.

Positivity is not going to stop me from dying. You know, I will say, I am positive. Well, you have positively gone to the next life now.

So, positivity is not just about imagining something. The positivity, positive attitude is important. The positivity has to be complemented.

The Bhagavad Gita doesn't just offer us positive perception of reality. If a glass is empty, to say that it is half empty, to say that it is half empty, we could say it is negativity. To say it is half full, it's positivity.

But if the glass is empty, then to say it is full, that is not positivity. That is stupidity. Applause So, often, there is this challenge that people try to make their own thoughts, or people means self-help teachers, they often sometimes make our own attitude, our own thoughts, our own mind, they try to make it into a God itself.

You know, if you just think, whatever you think, it will happen. Well, it doesn't work like that. We do have to change our thoughts.

But, changing our thoughts doesn't just mean, say, it's good to look at how the glass is half full instead of half empty, but positivity is not a denial of reality. The Bhagavad Gita offers us not just positive perception of reality, it offers us perception of positive reality. Positive perception of reality means, okay, the glass is half empty, see it as half full.

That is positive perception of reality. But there is perception of positive reality. Perception of positive reality means that beyond our physical side, which is temporary, which is perishable, we have our spiritual side.

The spiritual side is indestructible. That beyond whatever happens in this world, there is an eternal God, and God loves us always. He's always there in our heart and He's never going to leave us and go away.

The Srimad Bhagavatam 8th Canto says that Krishna He is alaya, He's tireless. He is there to help us. He is there to guide us.

And Krishna He's there to catch us. But He's there to catch us not when we do wrong, but He's there to catch us when we fall. He's not a fault-finding God.

You did this wrong, you did this wrong, you did this wrong. That is not Krishna's fault. When we fall, Krishna is there to catch us, and He's there to lift us up.

We may be unqualified, but we are never disqualified. We may be unqualified, we may have any contamination, but Krishna never rejects us. Krishna says, you never say that you can't get out of here.

Krishna always loves us. And He's always there with us. And when we connect with Him, His omnipotence comes to our assistance.

And by that omnipotence, we can do things which we might have thought earlier to be impossible for us. So ultimately turning the mind, purifying the mind, learning to live with the mind, dining with the monkey, that essentially means dining on Krishna Prasad. Krishna Prasad is not just physical food, but it is the mercy of Krishna.

When we connect ourselves with Krishna, we connect our mind with Krishna. That's why the Bhagavad Gita again and again tells us fix the mind with Krishna. When we do that, the mind will become purified.

Just like there's a dangerous antivirus in software, there's a dangerous virus in software, the virus is removed and the software will function efficiently and we'll be able to do our work. So like that, the mind which is filled with many negative scripts right now, if we focus it on Krishna consistently, the mind will become purified. And when it is purified, then Krishna says the same mind will become our friend.

And that mind will assist us in constructing things in our life. And this change in our inner dynamics, when the mind becomes peaceful, then we become joyful. When the mind becomes peaceful, mind is currently restless.

I want this. I want that. Why is this going wrong? Why is that going wrong? But Prashantam Prashantam Prashantamanasamhenam Yoginam Sukhamuttamam Upaiti Shantarajasam Brahma Bhutam Kalmasam Krishna says in 6.27 Prashantamanasamhenam And the mind becomes Prashantam, deeply peaceful.

Yoginam Sukhamuttamam At that time, we'll experience supreme happiness. So when the mind becomes peaceful, we will become joyful. And the Bhagavad Gita and the message of devotion and Krishna himself are all there to assist us, to guide us, to inspire us towards this journey of making our mind peaceful and regaining our inner joyfulness.

I'll summarise. I started by talking about how there is something inside us which seems to sabotage us. And the Bhagavad Gita explains that that is the mind.

So there is the hardware, software and the computer user. Like that, we have the body, the mind and the soul. So the mind is like a software which is contaminated.

And it misdirects us. So we discussed about external and internal. We think of it from the reference point of the body.

But from the point of view of the soul, even the mind is external. So everything that is inside me is not me. Then we discussed the acronym MIND.

The four ways in which the mind acts like a monkey and misdirects us. What was M? Misdiagnosis. Misdiagnosis.

I discussed several examples. Sat Chitananda becomes Saturday Chitananda. So our doctor may diagnose something wrong.

So then, we or the mind often makes us think that a particular thing is a solution to whatever problem there is. But that particular form of short term pleasure, that often increases our problem rather than solving the problem. So what is frequently the cause of the problem? The mind misdiagnoses as the cure for the problem.

I gave the example of the alcohol addict. And how early and late in the night, cumbled on the ground. So our dissatisfaction is not caused so much by frustration of desire as it is caused by domination by desire.

So then, the mind misdiagnoses us and makes us think that because my desires are not fulfilled, that's why I am frustrated. We have unnecessary desires, that's why we are dissatisfied. We are dominated by those desires.

So then, I was indirection. Instead of directly dealing with the problem that is there, the mind goes to the past, the mind goes to the future. Resentment of reality often hurts much more than reality.

If I have gone to a wrong place, just turn around and come back. Why did this go wrong? Why did this go wrong? Why did I fall sick? The flu does not cause as much pain as the resentment because I have got the flu. So then, another way of indirection is about the future.

So, the way to the future is through the present. We need to focus on the present. Then, N was negativity.

In negativity, I discussed about anxiety disorder. How anxiety is caused not just by outer uncertainty, it is also caused by inner instability. The mind is restless.

Then, we will only be anxious. And then, I talked about how the mind has irrational fears, dystopia. And, it can paralyse us by thinking in terms of negative about everything.

What if this goes wrong, this goes wrong, this goes wrong. So, we need to that everything we can see is a possibility. But, we can't live our life fearful of various wrong, terrible possibilities.

But, look at what is the probability. And, prepare for the probability and do away with the mind's irrational fears. Then, negativity also, I discussed how the mind looks at what we don't have.

Instead of looking at the delicacies in our plate, the mind looks at what all is there in others' plates. So, what we have, what we are, is God's gift to us. And, what we become is our gift to God.

And then, we discussed D is double rho. So, the mind itself first makes us do wrong and then chastises us for doing wrong. So that, when the guilt is induced by the mind, that is pseudo guilt.

If anything takes us away from Krishna, if anything disheartens us in doing something positive, then that is not guilt, that is pseudo guilt. So, I described that real guilt comes between us and the wrongdoing. But, pseudo guilt comes between us and Krishna.

So, the mind, when it plays this double role, it actually, not only makes us do wrong, not only chastises us for doing wrong, but disheartens from doing the thing which will help us to correct the wrong. Just like, if a person has been beaten down, if a boxing competitor has been beaten down by the opponent, that person, that boxer should not ask the opponent, but ask the coach, what should I do? So, like that, we shouldn't consult the mind about whether we can do some things or not. We need to consult Guru, Sadhu, Shastra.

We discussed how mirrors make us self-conscious, but scripture makes us conscious of the self. We start understanding our inner dynamics. And then we discuss about what all is there inside us.

We have corporate control, we have superficial desires, we are coming from the corporate control media. Fashion is a form of ugliness, so intolerable, we have to change it every six months. So, we should put aside these desires.

And then there are desires according to our innate nature. So, if you observe what we feel we are externally competent at and internally we are comfortable doing, that is our innate nature. And then at a core level is our spiritual desire.

The longing of the soul to serve Krishna. And we, so, bhakti doesn't tell us to renounce the world, rather it tells us to connect what we are doing with Krishna and offer it to Krishna. Work itself is not worship, but work can be made into worship when we have time for worship and get a mood of worship which we infuse in our work.

And then lastly we discussed, we are dealing with the mind, the three Ds. Distance, Determination and Devotion. Distance means that just like a person who is in a problematic area, the person is airlifted above, then the problem doesn't appear so big.

Meditation airlifts our consciousness above our situations and it creates a distance. This is the mind speaking. So, rather than, even when we are chanting, if you are not able to concentrate, rather than lamenting that I am not concentrating, you can think, yes, I understand there is a mind.

That is what is causing me to distract. Let me focus and gradually the mind will get disciplined. Then the D was Determination.

We all have determination. It is just misdirected. So, rather than saying that I don't have determination, whenever we feel sometimes from within I don't have determination, we should know this is a double role of the mind.

Say that, yeah, I don't have determination. I have determination, I just have to direct it properly. And then last is Devotion.

I discussed how it is not that by our own willpower we can change the undeniable realities of the world. So, spirituality, devotion of Bhagavata offers us not just a positive perception of reality, it offers us perception of positive reality. There is, beyond all the problems that are there in this world, there is an eternal indestructible Supreme God who always loves us and who is there to help us.

By focussing on our vision on this world, we will fill ourselves with anxiety. But we raise our vision to God and that will fill us with security. That will fill us with confidence.

And then we can act constructively. And as we keep ourselves devoted to Krishna, the mind's momentum, which is going towards the wrong thing, it will slow down, it will stop and it will reverse. We can go towards constructive things.

So, when the mind becomes peaceful, we become joyful. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Applause Applause Applause Applause Applause Applause Applause It was excellent. The topic was Dining with a Monkey. But it was Mining with a Monk.

A lot of diamonds he has given us. Applause So, Krishna's heartfelt gratitude to Guruji's diamonds that he has shared with all of us by loudly chanting, Hari Ho! Hari Ho! Hari Ho! And the miner of this monk, his father is also sitting there. So, we would like to thank him also for coming.

Hari Ho! Hari Ho! Also, the guests that have come and all the new boys that the first time, those who have come, all the boys that have come for the first time, stand up. All the boys that have come for the first time. So, we thank all of you for kindly taking your turn on a Friday night.

Generally, people have other plans. So, let us thank them for coming by loudly chanting, Hari Ho! Hari Ho! So, please be connected to all our different programmes and we have this regular monthly festival every month and different localities of Bombay where we have regular programmes. So, please be connected.

So, there is a newcomer's gift stall downstairs where you can collect a free gift for you and also a prasadam for the guests and for all of you, we will take the Bhakti Vedanta. The next Prerana will be on 18th March. Please don't leave.

There is a nice kirtan and one or two questions that Prabhuji will take. The next Prerana will be again on a Friday. It's on 18th March, 2016.

The topic is interesting. Mera Bharat Kyu Mahaan? And this will be taken by Srishtakshika Prabhu. He has been a very excellent speaker.

So, he will be addressing a Prerana topic after a long time. So, please do come on this. We have also started a Saturday night course where we invite boys to come and get a temple experience of staying and attending the Mangal Aarti.

And after that, in the morning, 7 o'clock, we have a short youth talk, 7 to 7.30, after which you can take your breakfast and for those who want to go for your studies, you can go or you can stay over for the Guru Pooja and Bhagavatam class. So, this week our Nitayak Prasad Prabhu will be taking a topic, Practise, Practise, Practise. So, please do come for that.

Those who are interested. The next Gita course, the 6-session Gita course, Journey of Sravya Discovery will be on March 25th to 30th, from Friday to Wednesday. The fees is Rs.

500. You can get more information downstairs for registering. Today's Prerana services, the services of caring for you, serving you all is done by Billabong Bay's devotees and Karjat boys headed by Krishna Chaitanya and Mukund Malakum.

So, let us thank them by loudly chanting Hari Ho! Hari Ho! Hari Ho! And the next Prerana, please do come with pendrives. Nandu Gopal has arranged that you can get Prerana audios and videos in your pendrive. So, next Prerana, please do come.

I don't know how he is going to manage so many He is inviting all of you to come with pendrives. And after one or two questions by Brahmji, we will be having a wonderful kirtan experience with J.S.H. Nandanpur. So, please do stay for that.

Dance with the monks and also then dine with the Ram Sena that all of you are getting. So, just two questions, so one here and one there. Hare Krishna, Brahmji.

First of all, I am very grateful to you for giving this excellent presentation. And from last several weeks, I have been hearing your lectures and I have really become fan of you. Laughter So, I was asked this question by my friend.

for preaching, youths, we sometimes fail in that. It's true also that Big Bang Theory is not substantial or scientists are giving relative theories. They are not giving ultimate theories.

So, and everything is there in scriptures. So, if everything is there in scriptures then is it like to kill the curious minds of youth? And moreover, I would add in this that this is just my superficial observation when devotees, when a student becomes devotee, sometimes he becomes passive in technical events in colleges or some extracurricular activities in colleges because it will engage his time. So, the question is that if you say everything is given in scripture, then does that mean that there is no need for scientific enquiry? Does this kill curiosity? And is it that we become devotees then we students don't participate in say co-curricular, extracurricular activities because of lack of time.

Does it basically the question is that does spirituality kill our intellectual, curb our intellectual curiosity and intellectual productivity in general? No. There is a fundamental misunderstanding about spirituality that comes when we think of science and scripture as competitors. If we conceive of science and scripture as competitors, then we think that if I have to come to scripture, I have to give up science.

But science and scripture primarily offer us knowledge in different domains. Science, as I told in the class, it offers us knowledge in the material domain. But scripture offers us knowledge primarily in the spiritual domain.

Scripture also gives us material knowledge. But the primary purpose of scripture is to give us spiritual knowledge. Krishna did not speak the Bhagavad Gita to teach Arjuna archery.

Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to teach Arjuna how to use his knowledge of archery. So, material knowledge and spiritual knowledge, they are of two different domains. And depending on different time, place circumstances.

Say, in the past, in India, people, when they had diseases, they may have treated themselves with Ayurveda. Now, people may treat themselves with allopathy. But, it is what we treat ourselves with is not important as what we do after we are treated.

So, material knowledge we may acquire from different sources. The important thing is, for what purpose are we living? So, knowledge of purpose, knowledge of values, knowledge of knowledge of origin, the knowledge of the ultimate questions, this does not come from science. Why? Because science doesn't deal with these issues.

Science focus is primarily on understanding the world so that we can control the world. Science, as it exists today in the mainstream, it operates with a principle called methodological naturalism. Naturalism means science looks for natural explanations for natural phenomena.

Natural means material. So, it looks for material explanations for material phenomena. And that's why it does not look for anything spiritual.

So, what is right, what is wrong, this science itself does not teach. For that we need some other source of knowledge. And that is spirituality.

So, science and scripture are not competitors. Scripture offers us a different, higher knowledge about the higher dimensions of life. And between some specific things, there may be some contradictions.

And those we need to resolve according to time, place, circumstance. How they need to be resolved, that's a technical question which you are not going to hear. But in principle, they deal with different domains of knowledge.

So, there is no contradiction inherently. But, now regarding the killing scientific curiosity, not at all. The Vedanta Sutra says, enquire.

Now that you have human life, enquire. Science, in general, asks the how questions. How did this happen? How did this happen? So, for example, Newton saw the fruit falling.

And he asked, how did this fruit fall? But, spirituality goes into fundamental questions. Why does this fruit exist at all? Applause Applause So, actually spirituality expands our curiosity, rather than suppressing our curiosity. It takes our curiosity towards ultimate questions.

Applause Applause Applause And regarding devotee students not participating in co-curricular activities or extracurricular activities, that will depend on individual devotees' natures. There will be some devotees who are into science because of interest in science. And they will pursue it naturally.

And they will spiritualise their scientific study. But, as I said in the class, that many people get into certain careers because of the glamorisation of those careers. So, they may not, they may get into engineering or they may get into medicine, primarily for functional purposes.

They want a career, they want a job. They are not so much interested in that. And they may not participate in that activity too much.

They may think that I can use my energy more constructively in other activities. So, there is no compulsion that if one becomes a devotee, one cannot participate in further expansion of one's intellectual horizons. It depends on one's interest.

So, one may choose to pursue one's interest in one's career itself or someone may pursue one's interest in some other field. So, that will vary according to person to person. There is no restriction necessary.

Whatever our talents are, we understand them better when we become spiritual because we are not so much pressured by external circumstances. And when we understand things better, then we can pursue what are our true interests more constructively. So, if there is a devotee scientifically inclined, that devotee will actually do more constructive scientific study and contribution after becoming spiritual.

And somebody may have some other artistic interest, some other managerial interest. They will develop that and they will progress accordingly. Thank you.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … which creates a lot of unhealthy drives, unhealthy desires, unhealthy anxieties and much of the impressions in the mind also originate from the way we have lived in our previous lives. So the programming in the mind is self-perpetuating. Once a programme is there, it just stays on and on and on.

It's like if I have installable software, if I have a hard disc, if I have Windows installable, I have one computer and it gets corrupted, the installable drive itself gets corrupted. Then I go into another new computer, but I use the same installable drive to instal the software. Then the problem of the software corruption will come there also.

So like that, when we die and we give one body and go to the next body, the same mind goes from this body to the next body. So Krishna has given us a mind to assist us, but over many lifetimes, and especially even in this lifetime also, we have put in many impressions by which the mind has become corrupted and it functions negatively. But these, whatever corruption is there, whatever wrong impressions are there, they can be reversed.

And actually if you see, the mind is not always our enemy. There are many times when we also get good ideas. The most of the constructive things that have been done in any knowledge system, they come from inspiration.

And the inspiration, we could say ultimately inspiration is coming from Krishna, but we get ideas. We don't necessarily, many most creative endeavours, they happen by just ideas that are coming. Where are those ideas coming from? Even if they are coming from Krishna, they are coming through the root of the mind.

The mind is where the ideas come in. So the mind can also act as our friend, even in our present condition. Many times, as I said, we get inspiration without any previous much contemplation.

I can do this. This is a very good idea. So the mind can act as our friend also.

So the important thing is to recognise that Krishna has not created us with a mind to trouble us. Rather, by our present and past exposing of the mind to negative stimuli, it has become corrupted. But Krishna is there even now with us to help us cleanse the mind.

So yes, the mind is inside us, but Krishna is closer to us than even the mind. So even if we embrace someone, that person cannot be as close to us as Krishna always is. And when we practise bhakti more and more, then right now, the mind is very close to us.

And Krishna is also close to us, but we are far away from Krishna. That means we are turned away from him. But when we practise bhakti, then we realise his proximity.

And the more we realise his proximity, awareness of his divine presence, it purifies us. And once we become purified, then the mind, you see, it will become our friend also. Does it answer your question? Thank you very much.

Thank you.