How can we control our mind especially during chanting?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
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So, how can we control the mind, especially when we are chanting? So, Jiva Goswami, in his Shat-Sandarbha says that, you would like to answer this? No, please. Sorry.
So, he says in the Shat-Sandarbha that, that the Shuddha Bhaktas, the pure devotees, they stay at the spiritual platform because of their priti, because they have love for Krishna, affection for Krishna. He says, the sadhakas, they stay at the spiritual platform because of their buddhi, because of their intelligence. So, the intelligence is vital for us sadhakas when we are practicing bhakti.
If the intelligence is not strong, then we will drag down to the material platform. So, specifically this with chanting, one of the best metaphors I personally find for dealing with the mind is to treat it like a child. Say, there is a child who is sick.
The mother takes the child to the doctor. The doctor may smile at the child, gives a little chocolate to the child. Doctor will talk all the serious business with the mother.
You know, this is his problem and you have to give him this medicine, morning, afternoon, evening. And the doctor gives the medicine to the mother. And then, the mother and the child go.
Now, it is the mother’s responsibility to make sure that the child takes the medicine. And it is not just a ritual. Put a spoon in the bottle and move it towards the child’s mouth.
The child moves his mouth away and all spills off. No, it is the mother’s responsibility to make sure that the child takes the medicine. So, similarly, in this example, there is a guru, our spiritual guides, they are like the doctor.
The holy name is the medicine. The mind is like the child and we, or more specifically, our intelligence is meant to be like the mother. The spiritual master, you know, when we meet our spiritual guides, they may be nice with us.
They may talk nicely with us. They may bless us, hug us, talk with us nicely, whatever. That’s very good.
But that is, feeling good is nice. But the real business is, they speak the message of Krishna. That they speak to the intelligence.
So, it is the intelligence which has to be like the mother. And with the intelligence, with the intelligence strong, the child may say, this medicine is so bitter, I don’t want to take it. And the mother starts thinking, oh, you know, my child is so unhappy.
Why should I give him the medicine? Let him be. If the mother becomes sentimental over there, the child will be ruined. So, the mother has to be convinced.
Although the child may protest, I have to make sure that I give the medicine to him. So, usually our mind will wander. But if our intelligence is strong, we will get it back.
And that’s why we will find that if we hear regularly, not just hear general philosophy, general philosophy also helps, but hear especially about the importance of controlling the mind. The importance of connecting with Krishna. Hear about that, with that strength in intelligence, thereafter when we chat, we will be able to chat with greater conviction.
So, the mind may stray away. But don’t let it stay away. It will stray away.
But we can get it back. We can get it back. And we may think, how long can I keep doing this? Every day it strays away, every day I get back.
But through it all, little drops of medicine are going in. Even if, you know, we chant 16 rounds out of which, even if a few mantras we are hearing nicely, that medicine is going in. Even the mantras that we are not hearing attentively, still some medicine is also going in.
But every day the medicine is going in, the mind’s taste is changing. See, bhakti, basically progress happens in two ways. Intelligence and taste.
First comes intelligence. This is what I should do, this is what I should not do. Although I may not like it.
But just as the child is also growing. And as the child starts growing, the child also understands. This medicine is important for me, I will take it.
So, it’s not that the bitterness of the medicine will go, but the child will take it. So, as we keep practicing bhakti, the mind also starts growing. The mind starts realizing, you know, I am getting so excited about this thing.
I am getting so agitated about that thing. You know, these sort of things always keep coming and going. There is no need to get so worked up about it.
Or just living life helps us understand it. So, always some problem or the other is there. There is no need to get worked up.
Problems come, problems go. We calm down. We ourselves calm down.
So, like, if you consider a sine wave, the mind just goes ups and downs. So, initially the sine waves are like huge. Now, one day I feel like, oh! He says, chanting should never end.
I am a pure devotee. And the next day we feel, chanting is never ending. So, it’s like the mind goes to the other extreme.
So, these sine waves are there, ups and downs. But if you keep practicing bhakti, the sine waves, the amplitude decreases. Amplitude decreases.
And the mind wavers, but the range of its wavering is lesser. So, with intelligence, when we persevere, gradually the taste awakens. When the taste awakens, then it becomes much easier.
Because the mind naturally wants to go towards Krishna. That’s why hearing about the importance of fixing the mind on Krishna is vital for us to be able to use our japa time constructively. Otherwise, the mind will just waste that time.
And we will also feel, I am wasting my time. Why am I doing this? We are spending a little time regularly reinforcing our intelligence. It helps us, gives us a conviction to focus.
And along with that, we can also find out, the mind is going to wander. So, there is this concept that there is a point of concentration and then there is a circle of concentration. That means the mind, it’s very difficult for the mind in the initial stages to just stay fixed on the sound of the holy name.
So, at that time, we can give the mind something related with the holy name, related with Krishna around which to wander. That means keep a picture of Krishna, keep a picture of our favorite deities. If the mind wanders at that, this is the lord I am calling out.
Maybe keep a picture of our spiritual master taking vows. No, I have taken a vow, I will chant seriously. Keep some maybe, the printed Hare Krishna Mahamantra, move our eyes along that.
That might calm us down. You might find that some of us might keep some quotes about the importance of the holy name, importance of fixing the mind. And basically when the mind wanders, rather than letting it wander all over the universe, or the lower planets, as we said, letting it wander like that, we let it wander within a limited range.
We don’t completely control it, but we let it wander a little bit. So, whatever it wanders to, it looks at the picture of Krishna, it looks at things about this quote, oh, I should really focus on Krishna. It brings it back.
So, that way, if we do, we will be able to gradually spiritualize the mind. So, rather than thinking about chanting as a digital process, I am concentrating or I am not concentrating, we can see chanting as an analog progression. Every day that we are chanting, the graph of our consciousness, the indicator, the marker of our consciousness is moving towards Krishna.
The movement may be slow every day, but it is happening. And as I said, about chanting, about the whole process of Krishna consciousness, the process is evolutionary. But the result is revolutionary.
The result is revolutionary. Eventually, if we keep practicing, then our heart will be turned from the world towards Krishna, absorbed in Krishna. And then we will attain Krishna.
That is the ultimate revolution, where we go beyond the control of the mind and we will absorb in loving union with Krishna in a mode of eternal service. Does this answer your question? Thank you.