Healthy self-understanding 2 – How the mind can hurt the self

[Retreat in Leicester, UK]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, welcome back. So, we continue with our second section. In the first section, basically I talked about the three modes and how they shape our self-understanding.
In the mode of ignorance, we look at our negatives and beat ourselves up. In the mode of passion, we just look at our positives and bloat ourselves up. In the mode of goodness, we are more realistic and holistic in assessing ourselves.
So, now, before we move forward, I said the modes affect the mind. And let us understand how this mind works. By which we will be able to understand how the modes are working on us and then we can endeavour to correct their working.
So, our existence is three-dimensional presently. There is the body, mind and soul. So, we could say they are like the hardware, the software and the user in a computer system.
So, the hardware is like the, what is the hardware like? The body, yeah. Software is the mind and the soul is the user, yes. So, now, in this case, if we consider the software, it is vital for us to use the hardware.
So, if a person is using a computer system, their performance is shaped not just by how good they as a programmer are. It is also what kind of programme is there, what kind of device is there. If a device has a particular speed and even the programmer is very good, the person cannot work faster than what the device is working.
So, from the functional perspective, that programmer, the programme and the device, all three are one unit. Similarly, at present in our embodied condition, we are souls but the soul, body, mind together are one functional unit. And we need to see that we understand ourselves as souls but we also understand the body and the mind so that we can function properly.
Now, to understand what the mind is, let us do a simple thought experiment. So, wherever you are, you can sit comfortably and then you can close your eyes. Now, with your eyes closed, you can take three deep breaths.
You can continue your deep breathing and while you are breathing deeply with your eyes closed, try to look at what you see in front of you. Because your eyes are closed, you can’t see physically what is in front of you. But there is as if a screen inside you and on that screen, various images come.
You may see an image of this room or of your home, of your car, of a loud one or of your phone or various images may keep coming and going on that inner screen. Or you might just see a dull haze of colours on that inner screen. Whatever it is that you particularly see, there is a screen on which you see it.
Now, while you are observing this inner screen, try to take a step back and look at who is it that is looking at that inner screen. Try to take a step back and try to catch sight of the inner seer who is observing that inner screen. Try once again.
Take a step back and see the inner seer. No matter how many steps you take backwards, the inner seer steps back with you. What you are looking for is what you are looking with.
You are that inner seer. You are the soul and the inner screen is your mind. You can take one deep breath and then you can open your eyes.
So, now when you are looking at me, I am looking at you. There is, this we can say is the outer scene. So, for proper perception to take place, there is the inner seer, the inner screen and the outer scene.
All three have to be in line and that is when we can perceive things. However, this inner screen is very versatile. It can, it is meant to normally act like a window.
Not just a simple window, but a sophisticated window which integrates inputs from the outer world and displays them. But sometimes this inner screen can become like a TV. I was at one devotee’s house and they had a big window.
But that glass of the window was designed in such a way that at one moment it can act like a window. But if a remote you change it, then that window screen becomes a TV screen. And so they were just showing how optical illusions are created.
And you just, there is a nice greenery behind, outside the window, big window and you can see the greenery. And while you are just talking, you just press one button and somebody else may, that remote may be a small device somewhere, it’s not even seen. They press the button and suddenly, just outside that window, it’s as if you see a huge gorilla.
It’s about to pounce, smashing at the glass. Actually, there is no gorilla out there, just outside the house. What has happened? They had created it in such a way that it was now acting as a TV and on that TV screen, there is a gorilla in a similar wilderness.
So, it appears as if that gorilla is just out there, outside the house. So basically, the inner screen is versatile. At one moment, it is acting like a window.
At another moment, it becomes like a TV. Say, we go to office and a boss looks at us with a strange look in the eyes. And immediately, why is my boss looking like this? Is he going to fire me? Oh no! If I am fired, how will I pay the mortgage of my house? If I can’t pay the mortgage of my house, I will be evicted.
If I am evicted, I will have to find another house. Oh, if I can’t find that house, I will be on the streets. And it’s so cold.
How will I live in the streets in the cold? Right now, I may be feeling cold because of the AC. But what has happened, the mind has started a movie and in that movie, I am out on the streets in the cold. So, at one moment, the mind was a screen where I was looking at my boss.
But that one look in the eyes of the boss started off a movie. And when the mind is acting as a window to the outer world and when it has become a TV screen taking us off somewhere else, that, unless we are very perceptive, we don’t catch it. We just get carried away by it.
Suppose we are at our home watching TV and a thief sneaks in. Thief looks around. I want to steal something.
And a thief comes in and says, the most expensive thing here is the TV. They come and pick up the TV. And say, it’s a very exciting cricket match going on.
So, then we are so caught in the cricket match that when the TV starts moving, instead of seeing the thief and stopping the thief, we also start walking along and keep watching the TV. So, that’s how our mind sometimes, we just get captivated by the mind. So, various things will appear on the inner screen.
And we have to actually be evaluating whether what is appearing on the inner screen is real or it is just some fictional. Fictional means, yeah, okay, I may be fired in future, but it may happen, it may not happen. So, right now it is just fictional.
So, if we consider this metaphor of the inner screen, then if this inner screen goes into the past or it goes into the future, when it goes into the future and starts thinking, this may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong, that causes anxiety. Anxiety results when the inner screen of the mind, instead of acting like a window, becomes a TV and starts broadcasting a horror movie. In that horror movie, we are not the spectators, we are the victims.
This may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong. Just get completely overwhelmed, paralysed. Or, sometimes this inner screen can go off into the past and it starts again becoming a TV screen which starts replaying the movie reels of all the bad things that have happened in our life.
No, this happened like that, this person did like that, this went like that, this went wrong, you made a mess over here, when all the bad things that have happened to us in our life in the past, when they start getting replayed, that’s when we get depression. So, anxiety happens when the mind goes off into the future and starts painting all worst case scenarios from the future. And depression happens when the mind goes off into the past and starts replaying all the bad things that have happened.
And then, we start thinking, oh, so many bad things happened in my life, future is going to be more of the same only. Now, of course, depression in some cases can also be a clinical condition which may require medication. But, that is exceptional.
Most often when we use the word depression, it’s just we are feeling negative, we are feeling bad, we are feeling hopeless, we are feeling dejected, that happens primarily because we are replaying the bad things that have happened in our life. Now, the fact is that everyone in life has had bad things happen to them. If we consider, the very fact that we are alive right now means some good things have happened in our life.
Most of us are either 30, 35, 40, 50, whatever our age may be. There are so many people who die before the age of 30. The fact that we are alive means something good has happened.
Not only we are alive, most of us are reasonably healthy. We are well to do. There are so many things that are right in our life.
But, when the inner screen starts showing all the bad things that have happened, that’s when we get depression. So, these are two broad patterns. The mind is the inner screen.
It may go off into the past or it may go off into the future. Now, where it goes off depends on the modes. If we consider, if you have a TV at home.
On that TV, there are certain channels. Now, some channels may be having horror movies. Some channels may be having very violent action movies.
Now, if you have kids at home, you say, we don’t want to watch this. So, some channels may have two very explicit romantic or sexual movies. Some channels may have sports.
Some channels may have news. Some channels may have some spiritual stuff going on. Spiritual subject matters being displayed.
So, there are various channels. And, if we go home and the TV is on. We don’t just look at the programme.
We also look at, okay, which channel is going on over there. So, when our children are watching TV, we say, okay, don’t watch this. You can watch this, this, this.
We might create some filters by which certain channels don’t come to our home if we don’t want our kids to watch that. So, basically, when something is going on on the TV, we don’t just start watching it. Especially, if somebody else is watching it and we are responsible for that person.
We look at, okay, what is going on. Before we get engrossed in the show, we try to evaluate the show. Okay, what programme is this? Which channel is this? And, should you be watching this? Should you not be watching it? So, similarly, if instead of becoming engrossed with the mind, instead of becoming engrossed with the mind, we first evaluate what is getting displayed on the mind.
Then, we will be able to protect ourselves from much unwanted anxiety and trouble. However, because the mind is a screen inside us, we get carried away by it. Something appears and we just get carried away.
So, we might come to our home in a cheerful mood and then some, say, tragedy movie is going on. We start watching that and within 2-3 minutes, our mood may also become very sober. Or, we might again be in a cheerful, lively mood and we come and a horror movie is going on.
We may also start trembling. So, with respect to a physical TV and a physical moment, we easily understand that, okay, that TV is there, I am here and I can choose whether to watch the TV or not. But, with respect to our inner screen, at one moment, we might be in a very good mood.
You know, we come to the temple, we have heard some nice class, had nice kirtan, we are feeling very good, peaceful, spiritual and then, suddenly we see some person. Say, that person has hurt us, insulted us and immediately, a movie starts. They did like this to me.
How dare they do like this? What a terrible person they are. In future, I am going to show them. I do this, this, this.
Within one minute, you know, we might be just breathing heavily, our fists might be clenched, our teeth might be gnawing. They are angry. Actually, nothing happened.
In a sense that, it is not that the person has come and attacked us. It is just that, our mind has suddenly started broadcasting a movie. We could call this, say, the revenge fantasy.
Or we all have a channel within us. We can call it the resentment channel. This person did like this, this person did like that.
We are resentful of it. So, how many of you had this experience that you are cheerful sometime and then suddenly within moments, your mood changes suddenly. How many of you had this experience like that? Isn’t it? Yeah.
It is just so drastic, it happens. One time, I was in America, I was giving a class. And just before that class, one devotee from India had written a mail that I found infuriating.
I said, how dare I write like that? I was so upset by that mail. He was accusing me of something which was completely baseless. And I thought, he also knows it is wrong.
Anyway, so I was so upset by that. And then, I had to give a class. I gave a class there.
And after the class, there were question and answers. And now, in question and answers, most people, they want to ask questions so that they can understand things. They can gain knowledge.
There are some people who ask questions not to gain knowledge but to display knowledge. So, they will ask a question only for 15 minutes. The question will go on and on and on.
At the end, they say, now I will summarise my question. No, no, I will summarise. So, there is this person, after the class, he is going on and on, asking the question.
So, now if we have been speaking for 15-20 years, then we understand who are actually seeking to understand, who are just trying to show off their knowledge. So, then we would rather spend time with people who want to gain some knowledge. So, there is this person.
And I was just trying to politely end the conversation with them so that I could move on. And as I was doing that, it just struck me. This person is right next to me over here.
And I don’t want to spend more time than necessary with them. But that person is all the way in India. I am thousands of miles away in America.
But, you know, in my mind, I am arguing with that person. How dare you write like this? Could you think of this? How did you do like this? I said, if I am not ready to give my time physically to this person right here, why I am so cautious that I should not give my time, waste my time over this person, then why am I wasting my time on that person? Why should I give my… Actually, we give our time not just physically by how we interact with people. We give our time mentally also.
Many times we feel that, you know, I don’t have time. Sometimes we want to practise spiritual life also. We feel, I don’t have time to study scripture.
I don’t have time to come to temple. I don’t have time to chant. We are very hard pressed for time.
It is true. And we have lot of things to do. But actually, our time is taken not just by our activities.
Our time is taken also by our thoughts. The same example, if we are doing some course, maybe in college or as a part of our professional training, we are attending a class. And just before that class, we see acquaintance and we greet them.
And they just snub us and go away. Immediately, how dare! How dare you snub me like this? And then that interaction might have happened in 10 seconds. But then, throughout the whole class, the mind is going, next time at the biggest party in my company, I will publicly snub them.
The mind is replaying and replaying a fantasy, a revenge fantasy. And that whole hour, we don’t hear one word in the class. So, from the physical activity point of view, we spend that hour in the class.
But we didn’t get anything from it. That one thought of revenge, it just took hour, it took the whole hour. And sometimes not just hours, it can take hours and hours, and sometimes people hold on to grudges not just hours but for years.
Sometimes there are some families, they have revenge sagas, you know. They buy your grandfather this, this to buy grandfather. Therefore, I am going to do this to you.
This goes on and on. So, basically, I am making this point that even thoughts take time. And when we practise bhakti, we get better understanding of where our thoughts are going.
We get greater capacity to manage our thoughts. And so, in that sense, actually bhakti, it will save our time. It will save the time that we waste on unwanted thoughts, on waste thoughts.
So, more about bhakti I will talk later. But here, the point which I am making is that this inner screen starts a movie suddenly. And we don’t even realise it.
So, in this case, for me, the physical contrast between how I was not ready to spend too much time with this person and in contrast with how mentally I was sparring with this person, arguing with this person for so long, that just struck me at that time. But for all of us, our mind also has its channels. Channels, just like TV has channels.
So, based on our particular conditioning, we may have particular channels. Say, we can identify, this is the resentment channel. Why did you do like this? Why did you do like that? This is the revenge channel.
I will do this to you. This could be the depression channel. Okay, this went wrong, that went wrong, that went wrong, that went wrong.
This could be the worry channel. This can go wrong, that can go wrong, that can go wrong, that can go wrong. So, we might come in a, this could be something else, this could be the craving channel.
No, I have not got this, I have not got this. When will I get this? When will I get this? So, we go through our life normally, but while we are going through our life, in our inner screen, there is something else which is going on inside. And what goes on in the inner screen affects us, sometimes much more than what is going on in the outer scene.
That is why, we might just come in a cheerful mood, say, from the temple to home, but in one moment, say, the depression channel starts off inside us. And if we do not understand, this is a depression channel, I do not want to watch this. If we do not understand this, if we do not identify it, we start watching it.
Then within a few minutes, our whole cheerful mood will disappear and we will end up depressed. So, if we talk about self-conceptions, we also have certain self-conceptions. Each self-conception, we could say, is like a channel on our TV.
There is sometimes, there is a multiplex which is going on in the theatre. So, sometimes, if there are four theatres within a multiplex, one theatre might just be having always action movies, another might just be always having tragedies, one might be having horror movies, another might be having adult movies. So, that is the characteristic of that theatre.
Once we go into that theatre, if it is a horror movie theatre, we are going to see horror movies. There are certain channels within it. in this situation, mind starts a horror movie.
In this situation, it starts the depression movie. So, if we, instead of identifying the mind, instead of identifying with the mind, we identify the mind. Identifying by the mind means that if, oh, that is the mind speaking.
Actually, this, I will elaborate on much more in our next session, but suppose I am feeling angry. Instead of, the mind is saying I am feeling angry. If you just preface it that way, whatever thoughts come in our mind, I want to eat this.
Suppose I have diabetes, I am not going to eat sugar. I want to eat some sweets. If I say I want to eat the sweets, no, I cannot eat.
Why can I not eat? I want to eat. But as soon as we preface, instead of identifying, I want to eat the sweet, the thought comes, I want to eat the sweet, we preface it with, the mind is saying, I want to eat the sweet. So, if we just preface it that way, whatever thoughts come within us, instead of identifying with them, we identify them.
The mind has started the worry channel. If we just identify that, now this does not necessarily mean, that I am not saying that, whatever is happening in the mind is false. Sometimes, there can be genuine causes for concern.
Sometimes, when I say resentment, it is not necessary that, it is all just in the mind. Sometimes people may have done something, which is bad, and we have genuine grievances. But, they need to be addressed in a healthy way.
Not in a passive way, and letting ourselves feel, worse and worse and worse. So, becoming an observer, of our inner world, is one part of the solution, that Krishna gives, in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. When he talks about, dealing with the modes, in the 14.5, he introduces the concept of the modes, and he describes the modes, and their effects in 14.20. And then, in 14.21, Arjuna asks, three questions.
Arjuna Vacha, Kair Lingais, Trin Guna Netan, Atito Bhavati Prabho, Kimacharah, Katam Chaitams, Trin Gunan, Ativartate. He asks, Kair Lingais, O Krishna, what are the characteristics, of a person, who has transcended the modes? Kimacharah. How do they behave? So, linga, characteristic, refers to internal characteristics.
Achara, refers to external characteristics. And Katam Chaitams, how do we transcend the modes? So, while answering the first question, Kair Lingais, Krishna tells this, in 14.22 and 14.23, Prakasham cha pravattim cha, Moham eva cha paandava, na dveshti sam pravrttani, na nivrttani kankshati, udhaseenava dhaseenam, gunairyona vichalyate, gunavartan tityeva, yo vatishthati nengate. This is Prakasham, pravatti and moha.
Remember, these are the characteristics of three modes. Illumination, action and delusion. Goodness, passion, ignorance.
Krishna says, these will arise in your consciousness. They will come and they will go. na dveshti sam pravrttani, don’t resent when they come, don’t hanker for them when they go.
udhaseenava dhaseenam, as if detached, observe them. gunairyona vichalyate, without being agitated by the modes, gunavartan tityeva, understand, this is produced by the modes. yo vatishthati nengate, be situated as if detached, as if indifferent.
Now, because it is happening inside us, we can’t be entirely detached. Krishna doesn’t say udhaseen, he says udhaseenvat, it is as if detached. So, in English, there are two words, disinterested and uninterested.
The two can sound similar, but disinterested means, not having any vested interests, not partial, that’s disinterested. Uninterested means, not having any interest at all. I don’t care for this.
So, if we say, consider a cricket match. In the cricket match, there is an umpire. The umpire needs to be disinterested, not uninterested.
So, the umpire, and the players appeal, how’s that? And, the player should not be on the side of the bowler, oh, every appeal, I’ll just give out, out, out. No, the umpire should not have any vested interest. But, the players appeal, how’s that? And the umpire says, I was not watching the match.
He says, what? What are you doing here? As an umpire, you are meant to watch the match. But, while watching the match, the umpire has to not just accept all the appeals of the players, nor reject all the appeals. The umpire has to evaluate the appeal of the players based on merit.
Similarly, Krishna is telling us, become an umpire of your consciousness. Become an umpire of the emotions that arise within you. So, be disinterested, not uninterested.
It’s inside us. It’s okay, the horror movie starts off. Now, there will be some genuine grievances which need to be addressed.
So, yes, if I see a strange look in my boss’s eyes, and immediately, the worry movie starts off. What if you lose your job? What if you lose your job? Okay. What is the actual problem? The problem is that if my boss may fire me, well, what can I do about it? I just do my assignment right now properly.
If I am doing my work properly, then my boss will not fire. That is the best I can do to prevent fire. Okay, let me start my work.
So, there is a grievance which needs, there is a concern which needs to be addressed. So, when we learn to distance ourselves, earlier I said, I don’t identify with the mind, identify the mind. But after identifying it, we have to address it.
It’s not that we wish it away. So, when I say the worry channel has started, the horror channel has started, the resentment channel has started, that doesn’t mean we dismiss it. It simply means that we recognise that there are situations which need to be addressed.
But they don’t need to be addressed the way the mind is thinking it should be addressed. Because the mind is not addressing it. What is the mind doing? Simply starting the worry channel and making us feel paralysed.
There is a difference between worrying about the future and planning or preparing for the future. You remember earlier I said that the goodness and ignorance appear very similar. The similarity is that in goodness and in ignorance we don’t focus so much on action.
But in ignorance there is not even systematic thought. It’s going back to the metaphor of the inner screen. In ignorance the inner screen just goes off into the future and we don’t even understand it’s gone off into the future.
We are just mutely watching it. And we get horrified. This may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong.
But in goodness we are in charge of the inner screen. Say, it’s a window and the window is now changing into a TV. So, we have the remote in our hands and we consciously decide now is the time when I have to consider what are the things that can go wrong in the future so that I can prepare for it.
And consciously in charge we take the inner screen to the future. If this happens then what can I do? I can do A, B, C. That’s a decent plan. If this happens what can I do? I can do this A, B, C. If this happens I am not yet prepared for it.
What can I do about this? I could do this or maybe I can ask someone else, I can consult some expert to know this. So, when we are in charge and then we take the inner screen to the future then looking at the future helps us feel more confident. If this happens I can do this, this, this, this.
And thus that kind of planning and preparing is healthy. Again, if you go back to the earlier dynamic of something is in our control something is not in our control. When we are in the mode of ignorance and the mind just goes out in the future it just shows us one bad thing happening another bad thing happening another bad thing happening and before we can think about how to deal with the bad thing the mind has come up with another bad thing, another bad thing, another bad thing.
So, we basically look at all the things that are not in our control and we just feel powerless. But instead if we focus on the things that are in our control then ok, if this happens I can do this, this, this. So, that way we will be able to deal with our inner world better.
So, this Krishna talks about becoming a this is in yoga tradition called as the Sakshi Bhav. Sakshi means observer or witness. Be a witness of your inner consciousness.
Sakshi Bhav Bhav means disposition. Sakshi Bhav and then later on in the same chapter Krishna will talk about Seva Bhav. Seva Bhav is the service attitude which he says is the ultimate solution for dealing with the disruptions of the mind created by the modes.
That we will discuss in a future session. But this becoming an observer of the inner world can help us from minimising the unwanted disturbances that are created by the mind. So, I will summarise and we can have a few questions if you want.
So, I spoke today about in the second session understanding how our mind functions. So, I took we did a thought experiment of how we can see an inner screen inside us but we can’t see the inner seer. But there is an inner seer different from the inner screen.
So, that inner screen is the mind and the inner seer different from that screen is the soul. So, in normal perception the inner screen acts like a window and shows the outer scene. That’s how we are able to perceive.
But this inner screen is very versatile and very fickle. So, at any moment it can change from a window to a TV and it changes to a TV it just drives us wild. So, if it goes into the future and starts showing all the wrong things that may happen in the future we get anxiety.
If it goes in the past and shows all the bad things that have happened in the past we get depression. So, just as there are fixed channels on certain TV which are going to go on and if we are monitoring someone mentoring someone then our children we will not just get caught in the show that is going on we will evaluate which show is going on should they be watching it or not. The same thing we can apply to ourselves that when the mind starts based on our past conditioning certain channels will be there and we can’t stop the broadcasting of those channels those channels will be there in the mind but we can choose whether we watch them or not.
I talked about how it is not just our activities that take our time thoughts also take so much time. One revenge fantasy can consume a whole hour or can sometimes consume years for people. So for dealing with the mind we talked about first is don’t identify with the mind identify the mind.
Identify the mind means whenever any thought any emotion anything comes up within us rather than I am feeling angry the mind is saying I am feeling angry we preface it with the mind is saying become an observer of the inner world that’s what Krishna tells about how to deal with the moods and then after we preface it the mind is saying like this then after that we evaluate it just like the umpire doesn’t just unthinkingly accept or reject the appeals of the players in a cricket match but evaluates them similarly Krishna says be detached as if detached that means be disinterested not uninterested it’s happening inside us on our inner screen so it matters to us but not everything deserves to be given equal attention or equal credibility so when we thus situate ourselves in our self understanding as souls and then observe what happens on the inner screen then the negative emotions that come up within us they won’t they won’t disturb us so much this is the worry channel this is the anger channel this is the resentment channel ok instead of just watching the movie over there getting disturbed by it that’s how our mood may change from one moment cheerful other moment furious so this mood changes because suddenly our screen changes from being a window to a tv broadcasting a particular movie so if we learn to evaluate then we will be able to save ourselves from unnecessary trouble this whole process of acknowledging what is happening in the mind but then not identifying with it but evaluating it how this can be done in a devotional context we will discuss that more in our next sessions so do you have any questions ok yes yeah yeah it’s true sometimes we just feel bad feel depressed feel negative but we can’t identify any specific cause for that yes sometimes it’s as if we have a inner fog when there is a fog just can’t move forward just can’t see anything and a fog is difficult to fight also what do you do with the fog you catch it and try to fight it there is very little we can do about it so there are times when we get enveloped by a fog inside us so at that time first is taam siddhikshas of bharata that I was talking with one psychotherapist and he showed me a graph of how people deal with depression so that graph was over 30 years they looked at various studies and they found there are medication there are tranquillizers or antidepressants which are sold in millions in today’s times so people take that and that leads to say a certain amount of people getting freed from depression but then they showed almost equivalent result comes if people are given placebos people are not told that this is a sugar pill antidepressant but they are simply given placebos so it’s barely a 0.1% so the question comes up is it actually the antidepressant that are curing or just the feeling within the person oh I am in the medicine now I will feel better and then they showed there is psychotherapy difference between psychiatry and psychology psychiatrist prescribe medicine psychologist focus more on talking psychotherapy also not the same level but a significant amount of people become free from depression even by that and then the most signal amazing was time if say if somebody has depression then 3 months they take medicine they become ok 3 months they take sugar pills placebo they become ok 3 months they just go to psychotherapist and talk with them they feel ok but a significant number of people almost 75% the people who got well by the previous methods they got well just by time so when Krishna says it’s just that sometimes the just like in the external world there are seasons sometimes it becomes too cold sometimes it becomes too hot too rainy so now we when we are functioning in the world we have to acknowledge ok today it’s very rainy but that doesn’t mean that will stop us from doing what is important for us we may take a raincoat we may take a umbrella we will go out and do it so if we learn to treat it’s not easy I also struggle when I am saying all this if we learn to treat our emotions like we treat the weather we acknowledge it is there today the weather is very unpleasant but I will move on if we if we decided that if we want to study and build a career for ourselves if the weather is not good I cannot go to college today if the weather is not good I can’t study today we will not be able to do anything in life so it’s interesting in 2.14 when Krishna says he compares the inner with the outer he compares the emotional with the environmental matras parashastu kaunteya shita ushna sukha dukha daha so shita ushna is environmental sukha dukha is emotional so basically sometimes it’s a foggy weather at that time I can’t just look as clearly as confidently as swiftly as I might walk when the weather is clear just keep moving forward do what we can and over a period of time the fog clears the problem is that when when some negative emotion comes the mind first creates the negative emotion and then the mind eternalises it makes us think this is how we are always going to feel how can you live like this you have to do something about it but no this is not how we are going to always feel sometimes just we are feeling very dejected just take a good nap wake up we feel better not always but I am just saying that the mood is very fickle and just as the good mood disappears the bad mood comes similarly the bad mood will also disappear in due course so at one level if we can’t diagnose specifically what caused this then just understand this is the mode of ignorance it has come upon me for some reason just do what I can in that situation if we deny the weather that’s also not going to work if it’s rainy and I just go out without any rain cold without any I just get a cold so if I am affected by that inner fog the mode of ignorance is influencing me denying it no everything is alright that is also not going to work but just because we can’t deny something doesn’t mean we have to succumb to it we acknowledge it and do the best that we can in that situation and if we have developed some practises which can get us to goodness easily then that helps a lot now of course we can say chanting is there but the problem with chanting not the problem with chanting the problem with our chanting is that one devotee was recently asking you know when I chant it seems that my mind wanders all the more so he says why does this happen he said that’s because we are not chanting what do you mean actually what is happening is our tongue is chanting our mind is wandering and we are thinking which of the two to do which of the two to do and for us if you are not very discerning the chanting appears to be same thing mechanical going on and on the mind’s wandering appears to be something new oh it’s gone here it’s gone there it’s gone there so most of the time during our chanting we go off with the mind’s wandering so it just remains the tongue chanting that’s why at that time although chanting is a very powerful way to spiritualise our consciousness sometimes it may not spiritualise our consciousness immediately eventually steady chanting will purify us so we have to find out what works for us sometimes we may have heard some good classes and made some notes I have got some nice quotable quotes or something like that just read that at least this is the mind that helps us shows us some ray of light in the fog so for some of us it may just be kirtans just start hearing music and forget everything else and as you keep hearing the kirtan keep hearing the kirtan gradually that Krishna sun rises and the fog dissipates some of us it may just go in front of the deities and pray to the deities some of us we have a friend with whom we can talk but we are not just here trying to do something which will get rid of the fog we are trying to do something which is in itself important for us and that also helps to dissipate the fog so many times when this fog comes people try to just somehow get rid of it and that is why they may get into entertainment just watch some movies surf on the net do this do that I am just feeling so bad I want to get rid of this bad feeling but often in trying to avoid those bad feelings we do things which in themselves have no value and then eventually we get habituated to those things and we become dependent on those things so many times when people take alcohol it is because they have some distress in their life they want some relief instead of managing those feelings in a healthy way they develop unhealthy habit to manage that and that creates its own problem so we have to at first level just okay this is there tolerate and that means live with it and do what we can in that situation second is if there are some valuable activities intrinsically valuable activities which especially help us to rise from the lower mode to the higher we do that that way we can come out of that inner fog faster any other questions now we will maybe go on till about 1.30 and then we will start at 3.30 is that okay yes question if many minds are working in a similar way i.e. in a mode of ignorance or not filtering certain thoughts and your mind is obviously more towards a mode of goodness along with the actions should you reveal your justification or filter criteria to those people who are in a mode of ignorance so that they know what you are thinking and why you are not doing certain things and if you don’t would you not eventually lead into anxiety and depression so if other people around us their minds are working in ignorance and our mind is working in goodness so should we tell them about how they are thinking and how we are thinking yeah so they are acting in a particular way we act in a different way so if we don’t tell them then eventually they may keep pushing us and we may end up doing the same thing which they are doing yes communication is good but communication has to be done in a non judgemental way may be if they are not devotees or even if they are devotees instead of saying that if somebody is in maya telling them you are in maya that may not be very helpful because immediately ego comes up what do you mean I am in maya I have these reasons because of which I am doing this this this this sometimes if we have a close relationship and they trust us that might work but instead of with respect to dealing with it ourselves we can give it a label label for quick handling that is a horror movie starting that is the but if somebody is worried tell them the worry movie has started on your channel that may come off as very insensitive because they are worried at that time so yes if we are both talking the same language and if they understand what we are saying that we are not being uncaring just helping them identify their inner mind that is good but sometimes we may just otherwise give them some hearing so that they feel understood and then we present our perspective sometimes we have a particular understanding of things and our understanding may be right but we our sharing that understanding with others will not be accepted by them unless they feel that we have understood them if they feel that simply we are just labelling them and putting them in our own philosophical categories now this is behaviour in the mode of ignorance then they just feel that you are not understanding me you are simply judging me so if it’s a close relationship if people have concerns then they need to feel understood before they will understand just like if I have some stomach pain if I have some pain if we dwell on them then that disposition which is there that will become our consciousness also but if we don’t dwell on it if we dwell on something else more constructive more positive then that disposition will be there but that doesn’t make me or rather you could say that this person did like this and that is making me feel angry so that anger is one symptom that is there within my consciousness and I acknowledge this person did this it’s making me angry but if I identify with it my whole inner screen becomes filled with anger otherwise this is there maybe I will have to talk with them and clarify at a later time when they are calm I am calm we will work it out so we note that it’s like if it’s an inner screen a pop up has happened I need to take action but not now minimise it and keep it with a reminder for seeing it later so like that we acknowledge and then we process it at appropriate time so the disposition will determine what images pop up in our inner screen but it is our intention which determines whether we go along with those pop ups or we choose something else okay thank you any other questions yes okay so if people are having difficulties mental level are there simple tips which can help them to deal with their difficulties yes if you don’t have much time I would say the inner screen metaphor is something which is very simple to understand we communicate that in a few moments and whole world of mindfulness whether it is cognitive behavioural therapy or acceptance commitment therapy or whatever these all focus on the sakshi bhav so mindfulness sometimes is equated with the buddhist practise but it is not exactly a buddhist practise it is a universal practise mindfulness we could say it equates with the mode of goodness broadly speaking mindfulness means we are aware of our situations and we are aware of our emotions that is broadly mindfulness okay this is the situation and this is the emotion that is coming within me i acknowledge that then i decide whether this is the way i want to act or i don’t want to act this way so but becoming more self aware not so much in terms of self as the soul but self aware in terms of where the soul’s consciousness is right now so that is what mindfulness is and if we explain the concept of the body mind and soul the mind is the inner screen that helps in dealing with the dealing with the dealing with the agitations of the mind at least it gives a visual metaphor which people can use and usually people are having a lot of anxiety or fear i use the acronym fear f-e-a-r for dealing with it so f is focus focus means this may go wrong that may go wrong that may go wrong focus means what is the exact problem right now so no no no i may lose my job what is the exact problem right now just ask this question again and again basically interact with the world in two ways we take information from outside and we do action so when we have fear the mind is going in a haze so focus means what is the exact problem okay the exact problem is okay my boss looked at me with a strange look what is the exact problem oh the problem is i have not completed my assignment so what happens is just like sometimes a patient may come to a doctor and say oh i am in pain i am in pain i am in pain well just saying that i am in pain does not help a doctor so doctor says okay you are in pain where is the pain is it in the hands is it in the legs oh i am in pain okay yes i am in pain but where is the pain so only when the doctor is able to zero in on the location of the pain then the doctor can think of a treatment so when worry is there just so bring it back to the specifics f is focus what is the exact problem right now then e is engage engage means what can i do about it right now so what can i do about it this may go wrong okay what can i do about it okay i have not completed my assignment let me complete it right now so as soon as we start doing something tangible to a large extent the fears hold on us decreases so fear catches hold of us by making us by disconnecting us from the immediate reality but to the extent if you see most of the times when people worry the psychologist has done a survey that actually when people are busy working at that time they don’t have the time to worry it is only when they are at home they are relaxed now let me have my leisure time during the leisure time our mind works overtime this problem that problem that problem so basically focus and engage this gets the mind to the present what is the exact problem what can i do about it right now then a is arise arise means realise that i am a soul i am different from this this is the scene out there there is a screen in here but i am different from all this i am a soul i am indestructible i am different from all this so when we raise our consciousness to the spiritual level like this that itself calms us down that we are the inertia different from the screen what happens on the screen matters to us but it doesn’t define us we are different we are always different just like the sky is different from the various clouds and storms and everything that is there in the sky like that the soul is different from whatever emotions happen in the consciousness and r is release this is more so the first two f and e is basically to bring to goodness a is to bring to spirituality i am spiritual i am different from all this and r is bringing to bhakti release means that there are some things which are not in my control but ultimately krishna is in control we will not use the word krishna for new people whatever there is a there is a higher plan there is a higher purpose things will work out so what is not in your control let go release so when we release ok now ok this is the problem i am doing but what about this goes wrong what is that goes ok that is not in your control let it go so when we actually let go of the things that are not in our control then we can better take hold of the things that are in our control suppose there is a porter and the porter is trying to carry a 30 kg weight they are trying to lift can’t lift it can’t lift it can’t lift it trying trying but they are simply straining even if they lift it for a moment it crashes down and they injure themselves but and they just they don’t move their luggage they injure themselves they don’t earn anything ok the 30 kg let go there is a 10 kg weight Let me carry that. The 20 kg weight, let me carry that. So then they move forwards.
So similarly for us, there are in every situation that we are in, there is always something that we can control. If nothing else, we can control our consciousness. That means what do I think about.
So if we let go of our thing, let go of the things that are not in our control, so that we can catch hold of our thoughts and then we direct those thoughts where we want. So this four point strategy, focus, engage, arise and release, that is a very practical as well as a powerful way to deal with not just fear specifically, but also with any kind of trouble that the mind is giving us. So we will stop here and if there are any more questions, we will discuss in our next session which we will have at 3.30. Thank you very much.
Prabhupada Ki, Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Ki, Kai Gaur Prema Anandi.