How can we realize that we are different from our mind?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Any other question? Most of us, when we are practicing bhakti, we don’t realize that we have a mind and an intelligence.
That’s why we get consumed by the situation. So, what can we do about it? Yes, actually, it is, at least at an intellectual level, it is not so difficult to understand I am not the body. But, to understand I am not the mind, it is much more difficult.
And the reason for that is, at a practical level, you know, say, this phone, it is outside me. And I can realize it is outside me. But, my mind is inside me.
We live with our minds. We live in our minds. So, we live inside.
So, what happens, whatever is inside me, I tend to think that is me. So, we identify with it much more. But, if we go deeper into philosophical understanding, when I think because it is inside me, so it is me.
But, my reference point for me is the body. So, from the body’s perspective, the mind is inside me. But, from the soul’s perspective, the mind is also outside the soul.
So, the mind is also external to the soul. So, usually, there are 2-3 things which we can do ourselves to start understanding that I am different from my mind. One of the things is that we try to do something which the mind doesn’t like to do.
And one thing is chanting. So, at the time of chanting, sometimes, we just chant. Why do I have to do it? Sometimes, chanting is such that on few days, we get taste.
And we feel chanting should never end. I just want to chant more and more. Other days, we feel chanting never ends.
It is just going on and on. Why is it not ending? So, actually, when we just take the determination, I am going to chant Hare Krishna attentively. And at that time, we’ll see, I want to focus here.
And it’s going there. It’s going there. My thoughts are going here.
My thoughts are going there. My thoughts are going there. At that time, we start realizing, oh, there is something inside me which takes my thoughts away.
It’s like, say, if I am riding on a horse, and if I simply go wherever the horse is going, I won’t even realize that the horse has its own will. It’s only when I try to go in some direction and the horse starts going in other direction, I have to pull. Then I start realizing, hey, this horse has a mind of its own.
The horse is going elsewhere. So, like that, just making a resolution to do something constructive which is against the mind. That forces us to realize that there is something inside me which is not me.
So, sometimes, devotees get disheartened when chanting that, oh, my mind is wandering everywhere. At least, protesting that the mind is wandering is a step forward over wandering with the mind. And even we get that realization that my mind is wandering everywhere, that also is spiritual advancement.
Because in the past, we were simply wandering with the mind. So, another thing which we can do is, just look back at our day and think of things which we later realize, I should not have done that. Most of the times, we may get angry.
Suppose, you know, suppose we get angry and just blast out. You know, just blast out things. And then suppose somebody else records what he spoke.
And then they play it back to us. How could I have spoken this? I never intended to speak this. Somebody said the tongue has no bones, but the tongue can break bones.
People get angry and they can beat us. Or they don’t beat us. The tongue which has no bones, it can break hearts.
Other people may feel heartbroken. So then, what happens is, if we look back and say, I never intended to speak this. What made me speak this? So that, looking back at our day and recognizing the times when we did something which we didn’t intend to do.
Or which we intended not to do. That also helps us realize that there is something inside me which is not me. So that periodic introspection, especially of actions which you did not intend to do.
Sometimes what happens is, we simply beat ourselves up. I was such a fool, I did that. But no, once you are beating yourself up, just introspect.
That means there is something inside me which is not me. So it’s like say, if, and third step is for dealing with the mind. We need to treat the mind like a child.
Although the mind can be far more dangerous than a child, but still the mind is what we have to live with. Even if you say the mind is like an enemy, but still, I am from India, so I give an example. For India, Pakistan is like a constant trouble.
But India has to live with Pakistan. So like that we have to live with the mind. We can’t do anything about it.
You know. So, actually speaking, so we have to understand that I have to live with the mind, then say, what do we do? We treat the mind like a child. A child’s feelings can’t be denied.
A child is feeling like that. But that doesn’t mean that the mother indulges in all the child’s feelings. A child says, Mummy, I want a chocolate.
And the child’s teeth are getting spoiled. And the mother will pacify the child without giving the chocolate. So what happens? The, if we just understand this mind is there inside me, it’s like a child.
And I have to deal with it properly. So, the problem happens if the mother becomes sentimental and starts doing whatever the child is, whatever the child asks for. So like that, you know, we need to treat the mind like a child.
But instead the mind treats us like a child. The mind says, do this. And we say, okay, do this.
I’ll do it. But if we treat the mind like a child, then we’ll be able to evaluate. Okay, it’s feeling like this.
I acknowledge I’m feeling like this. But it’s not that, that doesn’t mean I have to act on that feeling. Say, if somebody unknown has come at the door, and somebody knocks at the door, the child may just go and run and open the door.
But the mother says, hey, don’t open the door yet. First, let’s check who is there. So like that, any desire comes popping into consciousness, the mind says, yes, let’s do it.
But the mother says, no, let’s evaluate. Should we do it or should we not do it? So like that, if we understand this mind to be like a child, and make our intelligence like the mother, then we can, we can unresentfully deal with the mind. It is our mind, and over a period of time as children grow up and mature like that, if we keep practicing bhakti, the mind will also mature.
But we do need to do, start becoming internally vigilant to understand how the mind works. Otherwise, we get carried away by our emotions, and we can’t move towards Krishna, because the mind tends to choose the path of least resistance. And it goes wherever it finds the easy way out, instead of going steadily towards Krishna.