How can we make our subconscious choices wise choices?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Any other questions? So, what is your name? Ishant. Oh, Ishant.
Very intelligent question. Precocious question. So, is there a way we can make our subconscious choices also wise choices? Like say, if we are going to eat, even when we are not thinking, we eat healthy, instead of eating fatty food.
Yes, actually, what we do consciously, what we do at a conscious level repeatedly, that percolates down to the subconscious level. So, if we keep doing the right thing conscientiously, again and again and again, then as a matter of, because that’s what we have been doing, it becomes a habit. And habit basically means, we don’t have to invest our thought and our intention in doing it.
We just do it automatically. So, if we want to make a particular choice, choice, a default choice we could say, we want to make the right choice subconsciously, then it begins by making the right choice consciously, again and again and again. And one way to make that easier, because that takes some time, is basically, when our mind is not just, it’s not ethereal, the mind is also real.
So, for example, if this floor is here, if this floor is inclined like this, and if water falls on it, I say the water should go this way, but no, if the floor is inclined like this, the water will naturally go this way. Just my desire, the water should go this way, it’s not going to change it. If I want the water to go this way, then I’ll have to push it, push it consciously in this direction.
But over a period of time, if I want the water to go this way, then I’ll redesign the architecture, redesign the flooring, so that the floor is tilted this way. Then the water will naturally go this way. So, in the initial stages, we’ll have to consciously push the water in this direction.
But over a period of time, if the floor gets redesigned, the water will naturally go in that direction. So, similarly, initially, we have to consciously make the right choice, again and again and again. And when we do that, by that conscious repetition, that gets ingrained, that gets percolated.
And then it is like, just by repeated flow of water in this direction, or repeated flow of our thoughts, actions, in a particular direction, then the flooring of our mind gets retilted, we shift. And then we’ll naturally do the right thing consciously. One thing which we could do to make this process easier, whichever choice we don’t want to do, we make that relatively more difficult for us.
So, if we keep it easily available, if we keep fatty food easily available, then we will eat it. But if the fatty food is not so easily available, then what happens? Then, you know, maybe we have to go outside and purchase it, or we have to go here and get it. And by the time we go outside purchasing it, by that time what happens? I was supposed to not eat this, why am I eating this? We come back to our awareness.
If there is time lag between the desire coming in the mind and the actualization of that desire, the greater the time lag, the greater the chance that we will come back to our awareness. We won’t do it subconsciously. So, we’re creating a distance between the thing which we don’t want to do and ourselves, that also helps.
But over a period of time, by doing the right things consciously, that will percolate to our subconscious. And additionally, the process of bhakti yoga itself actually purifies us. So, when we chant Hare Krishna, practice bhakti, it purifies us.
Krishna is all-pure. It’s like, if we come in touch with a hot object, we become hot. When we come in touch with all-pure Krishna, we become pure.
And purification essentially means that the unhealthy desire that we have, they become weaker. And the healthy desire that we have, they become stronger. We all have a good side and a bad side within us.
So, the purification means that the bad side starts becoming weaker and the good side becomes stronger. So again, like the earlier answer, same point I said that, if a specific habit is there, we can do something specific to deal with it. That is, consciously do it again and again.
But at a more foundational level, generically, we purify ourselves. And by that, the positive things, the good things, we’ll become more inclined to do them. And the bad things, we’ll be less inclined to do them.
Thank you for your intelligent question, Krishna.