How the mind harvests the bad within – and how to harvest the good within

[Hall Program at ISKCON, Sydney]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Thank all of you for coming today evening and I’m honoured to be here with all of you. So, I’ll speak, as was mentioned, on the topic of harvesting the good within us.
In the Bhagavad Gita 6.6 is one of the most intriguing verses. Krishna says therein, uddhare dātmanātmānam nātmānam avasādayet ātmai vayātmano bandhan ātmai vāripurātmanah The literal translation of this verse is that elevate the self with the self, don’t degrade the self with the self. The self is the friend of the self and the self is the enemy of the self.
So, what exactly is going on here? Self, self is coming so many times. Actually, there is the self and there is the self-conception. Self-conception means how we think of ourselves.
So, who we are and how we think of ourselves are not necessarily the same. That on many occasions the two are substantially different. For example, all of us have certain scripts within us.
Certain ideas which are like unexamined beliefs about ourselves, about the world around us, about people and these shape how we look at things. So, just as if we have coloured glasses, then what we see is coloured by the particular kind of glasses we wear. So, our conceptions, they colour our perceptions.
Conceptions are in the mind. Perceptions are what we take in from outside. So, our focus here is on the self-conception.
What I think about myself. Sometimes I may think of myself too positively. So, that means if say from a physical perspective, a person can lift 25 kg weight and that person thinks that I can lift a 50 kg weight.
In overestimating one’s capacity, they will crush themselves, get injured. So, the self-conception can sometimes be too inflated. And sometimes a person may think 25 kg, what if I get injured, I just lift 5 kg.
With 5 kg there will be hardly much of exercise if they want to build their body. So, usually these two are not necessarily isolated. The same person can at some issues have a very high self-conception and in some issues have a very low self-conception.
And in this way, what we identify with is what determines how we function. For example, if we come to speak in public, there may be a voice inside us which says that, this voice inside us tells us that you are going to make a mess of yourself. You are going to make a fool of yourself and people are going to laugh at you.
Now, as soon as this voice starts speaking inside, then that voice starts discouraging us. And if we start listening to this voice, then irrespective of our ability, whatever it may be, our performance will be sabotaged by that. So, the voice which comes within us, there are many voices actually, but these voices reflect our scripts.
So, we all have certain conceptions and the accumulation of those conceptions we can call our script. So, script is the language of psychology. In our philosophical language, we may use the word conditioning.
But essentially the concept is the same, that we function in particular ways whereby we frequently sabotage ourselves. We act against our best interests. We end up doing things which hurt ourselves.
Normally speaking, hardly anyone is a masochist. Masochist is a person who delights in causing pain to oneself. In a normal physical sense, there are some peculiar religious rituals where people flog themselves.
Now, that is very unusual and that looks painful. Why are they doing something like this? Now, most of us will not do it at a physical level, but we do it at a mental level. At a mental level, often by the thought patterns that we have, we beat ourselves up.
And when we are beating ourselves up, the beating can be we make some mistake, we beat ourselves up, you are such a fool, you are this, you are that, you are that. And by that we beat ourselves up. Or sometimes if somebody else does something wrong to us, they do that wrong in one moment or maybe a few moments, but after that for years we keep replaying that.
How dare he had done that? How could he have done this? We just keep resenting it. And that resentment becomes like a whip which beats us up. So, the mind, which Krishna is telling, use it to elevate yourself.
This mind can often act to hurt us. So, normally even we hear in spiritual circles that this mind can be our enemy. Normally what does the enemy do? Enemy wants to hurt us, the enemy wants to maybe destroy us.
The mind is considered to be the worst enemy because it makes us our own enemy. The mind is our worst enemy because it makes us our own enemy. That means that, say, if two armies are fighting and the enemy is coming from ahead and the enemy is a threat and we have to fight against it.
But if that enemy somehow penetrates into the defending army’s ranks and poisons some of the soldiers and then gets those soldiers to defect over and then that soldier who is in this rank starts shooting their own army. That defector will cause far more damage than an invader from the opposite side because the defector is already in the ranks over here. So, in India, recently in the Indian army there was a soldier he was thought to have been martyred while fighting with the terrorists in Kashmir and then the army decided to give him a ceremonial burial and then they found the same soldier who was supposed to have been martyred was there on the website of a terrorist group with a gun and he was a part of that group.
So, there was a huge alarm and enquiry. So, they found actually he was never an army soldier. He had penetrated first and he would have gone back there.
Something like that. So, the point is that if somebody from inside becomes the enemy and because they know all the inside secrets, they are already situated in here they can cause far greater damage than anyone from outside. So, many times if we make a resolution.
Okay, I am going to do this and we make a resolution that Okay, I am going to exercise, I am going to regulate my diet, I am going to practise my spiritual life, whatever diligently, whatever it is. We make a resolution and somebody else comes and tells us, Come on, let’s go for a party now. No, no, I want to do this.
When somebody else suggests, we may stick to our resolution. No, I will not do this. But when the same idea comes from inside, why not go for a party? Yeah, why not? Let’s go.
So, when the same suggestion is given by someone from outside, we will evaluate it critically. But when it comes from inside, then we just uncritically accept it. And then if I myself decide to break my resolution, then how much can anyone else stop me? So, the mind is great danger is that it’s the most dangerous enemy because it makes us our own enemy.
It makes us our own enemy. So, this can have consequences at various levels. Suppose a diabetic person is told, don’t eat sugar.
And that person says, okay, I am not going to eat. And no, the relatives won’t give sugar. But then if that person, somehow I want to eat, I want to eat some sweet food.
And then if that person goes to a shop and gets a lot of sweet foods and eats it. Now, who can stop? So, if we lose track of our best interests and we start working against those best interests, then there is practically no one who can help us. And this is in today’s world happening at many levels.
At a most extreme level, we can see suicide. Where the mind makes people kill themselves. Suicide is of course a very tragic social phenomenon.
But it is also a very widespread phenomenon. Over one million people commit suicide every year. One million means, since we started this talk, it’s one suicide every 40 seconds.
So, almost 25 people have committed suicide already, since we started this talk. This figure is actually more than the number of people who are every year killed in wars and murders and terrorist attacks all combined together. So, in Las Vegas there was this insane person who went and shooting spree and killed so many people.
And till now they have not been able to find out what made him do that actually. But that is an example, whatever be the specific cause. Now, this one person killing so many people, but the uncontrolled mind is causing thousands and thousands of people to kill themselves.
There may be specific causes. Okay, there was a frustration in relationship, insecurity of job. There can be various specific causes.
But no cause is enough to make a person want to kill oneself. The problem is out there, but in the mind magnifies the problem. The mind is unbearable, unbearable, unbearable.
How can I bear it? Better let me end my life. So, actually the mind has a tendency that it magnifies problems. The problems of today are always manageable today.
But the mind adds the problems of yesterday and the problems of tomorrow. And then it becomes unbearable. If I have to carry 10 kg or 20 kg, I can carry it.
But if somebody puts 60 kg, I get crushed. So, the mind, we all face problems in life. And sometimes the problems can be devastating.
But still no problem is such that one has to end one’s life for that. But at that particular point, when the mind starts becoming only problem conscious, this problem is so big, how can I deal with it? How can I deal with it? How can I deal with it? Oh, the only way I can deal with this, end my life. So, this way, at a very extreme level, we see the mind becomes an enemy and the person kills oneself.
Now, those who attempt suicide and normally in any activity, success is a cause of celebration. In suicide, failure is a cause of celebration. Somebody doesn’t succeed in suicide, that’s good, they’ll survive.
But then such people are put on suicide watch. They make sure that they don’t attempt a suicide again. They are told always be with someone, always be reporting to someone.
But if that person gets the determination, how much can somebody else watch? So, at a very extreme level, the mind becomes our enemy when it makes us want to kill ourselves. At another level, at a more, we could say, still damaging but a more moderate level, the mind becomes our enemy when it makes us fall for self-destructive habits. Addictions.
So, addictions can range from, again, lethal such as drug addictions or they can be not so lethal as simply device addiction. Some people just hook on to their devices. Clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking.
And, actually, there was a boy in Thailand. He was surfing on his device, on his phone, and he was surfing, surfing, surfing for 54 hours. And he just got so caught in surfing that he forgot to eat, forgot to sleep, forgot to drink and finally just fell unconscious.
Fortunately, he was rushed to a hospital and he survived. But, he just gets so completely caught. Now, we will say device addiction is not so harmful, but anything, when the mind gets hooked to it, it can be taken to extreme disproportionate quantity.
One of the weaknesses of the mind is that it doesn’t have a sense of proportion. Srila Prabhupada, in the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, defines intelligence as to see things in their proper perspective. So, to see things in their proper perspective, okay, this is important, this is important, this is this important, this is this important.
When the mind gets hooked with something, it makes that thing all important. And then for getting that thing, the mind is ready to pay any price. And of course, the mind has nothing to pay, so it is we who have to pay the price.
So, the mind when it becomes our enemy and it gets hooked on to some idea, I want this. So, people can end up just when their mind gets hooked to a particular desire, I want to eat this, I want to drink this, I want to do this, it just loses all sense of proportion. So, when there is addiction, it’s actually, again, addiction is a uniquely human phenomena.
There are, say, rats which will be caught, a mouse may be caught by cheese, a fish may be caught by bait. But none of these animals know in advance that it is a trap. None of them know that whatever they attract to it looks like food.
But for human beings, it doesn’t look like food. Nobody will mistake cigarette to be a food item. Almost everyone knows it is harmful.
But still, we get caught. Now, of course, there are some dogs also who smoke. But that is because those dogs are contaminated by human association.
So, the humans want to smoke and they think, how can I smoke alone? Let my dog also smoke. But generally, animals don’t do activities that are self-destructive. So, even if they do some activities that are self-destructive, they don’t do it knowingly.
They don’t know in advance. Now, do humans know in advance when a person is taking drugs or drinking or whatever it is they are doing? At one level, they know this is dangerous. But at another level, the mind is so cunning.
It makes us believe that you can be the exception. That yes, everyone else gets trapped, but you can escape. You can be the exception.
And in that way, even if we know, in a sense, for practical purposes, we don’t know. Because we imagine I can be the exception. So, here the mind acts as our enemy by making us do self-destructive things, which gradually destroy ourselves.
So, suicide is sudden destruction, but here it is gradual destruction. And there are millions and millions of people all over the world who are addicted to various things. Now, beyond this, at an even more widespread level, the mind becomes our enemy by infusing us with negative emotions.
So, first is this immediate destruction. Second is destructive actions. And third is destructive emotions or negative emotions.
Every situation that we are in, there are some things right and there are some things wrong. And when people study the Bhagavad Gita, there is something called as the Gita Saar, which many people have at their homes or in their shops. Now, so one of the statements in the Gita Saar is, Jo hua, wo achcha hua.
Jo ho raha hai, wo achcha ho raha hai. Jo hone wala hai, wo bhi achcha hi hoga. So, whatever happened was good.
Whatever is happening is good. Whatever will happen will also be good. Now, I have recited the Gita over a thousand times.
I never found any verse which comes anywhere close to this. There is no way. The Gita is not talking so much about what happens.
It is talking about what we do. Arjuna is not asking Krishna, what are you doing? Arjuna is asking Krishna, what should I do? Prichaami tuam dharm samudh cheta. What should I do? So, now, but it is not Gita philosophy, although it is attributed to Gita.
But the idea is, this is trying to give some positive thoughts. So, when bad things happen, think that it is good. Don’t have negative thoughts.
That intent or that consciousness is good. Don’t have negative thoughts. But still, actually, the nature of the mind is that whenever we face problems, the mind starts building negative thoughts around it, negative emotions around it.
And with these negative emotions, we start feeling depressed, we start feeling rejected, we start feeling disempowered. So, the nature of negativity is that it is highly infectious. That means, that if there is one person who is pessimistic, that person can spread pessimism very rapidly.
So, pessimism is a very infectious disease. And we may be in a very cheerful mood. And then, if we associate with a person who is very negative, not only does our cheerfulness go away, we start thinking we are foolish to be cheerful.
And somehow we start thinking, that my being so miserable, being so gloomy, is actually a proof of how intelligent and how realistic I am. Now, yes, we have to face reality. And in reality, there are problems.
But we don’t have to obsess over the problems. So, the negative emotions that are there, if they consume our consciousness, then we just get mentally blocked. And even if we don’t get into some negative habits, even if somebody doesn’t go into, say, drinking, or doesn’t become suicidal, but still those negative emotions just don’t let a person function.
And thus, the mind, by inducing negative emotions, is causing us harm. So now, our topic was harvesting the good within us. So, before I came to that topic, I was building that how our mind actually very expertly harvests the bad within us.
It actually makes things worse. So, with respect to the mind, the key is understanding that the mind can never be inactive. Say, if I have some kind of itchy sensation, and then I decide I will not touch this garland.
I can decide I will not touch it, and I will not touch it. That is the nature of physical things. We can avoid them.
But, at the mental level, we can’t decide not to think of a thing. Psychologists call this, there are various different names, sometimes they call this the pink monkey experiment. You tell the audience, for the next 30 seconds, please don’t think of a pink monkey.
You can think of anything else. And their whole life they will have not thought of a pink monkey, but then they will start to think of a pink monkey. So, actually, with respect to the mind, if I think that I will not think of something, I am already thinking of that thing.
Because, thinking itself is actually an act of contacting it. So, we can’t not think of anything. We have to think of something positive, and then that thought will be avoided.
So, whereas we can avoid touching something physically, we cannot avoid thinking about something consciously. We have to become conscious of something else. So, this principle is key for harvesting the good within us.
That means that, if the normal idea of harvesting is used for the agriculture. So, the principle we could say is that, by default, in the field of our body-mind machine, or the word Kshetra is used in the Bhagavad Gita to refer to the body-mind machine that we have. There are two words in the 13th chapter which refer to matter.
There is Prakriti and there is Kshetra. So, Prakriti is general material nature. Kshetra is that aspect of material nature over which we have control.
So, my body, my mind is what I have control over. Your body, your mind is what you have control over. So, that is your Kshetra, this is my Kshetra.
That is that child Kshetra. So, now we all have our particular Kshetras, particular areas and within those areas we have certain functionality. We have certain control.
We don’t have absolute control but we do have some control. So, by default, if there is no agriculture done in a field, it’s not that the field is going to stay parallel. Weeds are going to grow over there.
So, by default, some harvest is going to come within us and most often the harvest is going to be negative. The mind is going to either at the level of extreme self-destruction, self-destructive habits or self-destructive emotions. So, by default, the negative harvest is going to come within us.
And if we want the positive harvest to come, then for that purpose, we need to make conscious endeavour. And for this harvesting the good, what do we do? The mind is very restless and the way to control the mind is by engagement. The mind is always going to be engaged.
We need to keep it constructively engaged. Even people who don’t have any bad habits, it has been observed when do the negative emotions start coming into them. It is in the time when people relax.
See, when we are busy doing something, we are engaged. But the time when people think, now I have done my work, now I will relax. Now is my leisure time.
The leisure time is the time when the mind works overtime. So, it is the leisure time in which mind starts thinking, what if this happens? What if that happens? What if this goes wrong? What if that goes wrong? What if that goes wrong? In worrying about all that may go wrong, we go wrong. So, it is when the mind is engaged, then it is doing some work.
But as soon as the mind is left idle, then it starts working as our enemy. So, the key thing for ensuring that the mind doesn’t work against us is that we have to make it work for us. It has to be engaged.
Now engaged doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to be running around all the time. Even if we are sitting peacefully, we are still sitting purposefully. It is, it is, okay, I am sitting, now I am relaxing, I am going to think about this, I am just going to calm my mind down, I am going to take a few deep breaths, whatever it is.
It is not that I sit down and think, what should I think about now? When we start thinking what I should think about, the mind will say, hey, think about this. And that’s the time when we get carried away. So, at one level, we may say that I already have too much engagement.
Isn’t it? I have got so many things to do in my life. How can I manage it all? So, actually, we often feel we are over engaged. And it is not necessarily a feeling.
We all have a lot of work to do. But there is a big difference between having a lot of engagements and being engaged. There is a big difference, because although I may have 25 things to do, but my mind, even when I am doing 10 out of those things, my mind is running 100 other places.
And then the mind is not engaged. So, the engagement for the mind has to be something which is not just work, because work is often tiring, it is draining. And that is why in today’s society, because people want some kind of rest, relaxation for the mind, that’s why there is the highest paid industry in the world.
Who are the highest paid professionals in today’s world? Psychologists. No, psychologists, right? They are highly paid, but something more, much, much more. Movie stars.
Yeah, movies, not just movie stars, movie stars and also sports stars. A doctor who can heal a broken foot doesn’t get even one hundredth of the pay of someone who can kick with a foot. Isn’t it? So, now why is it that entertainers, because sports stars, movie stars, comedians, top show hosts, whatever, why are they paid so much? It’s obscene amount sometimes they are paid.
So, the reason for that is people so desperately need some rest for the mind. The mind is going crazy with all the work, with all the anxiety, with all the negativity. And when we can’t control the mind, we want the mind to be somewhere engaged where we feel it will get something positive.
Something cheerful. Something exciting. So, you know, what a society pays for is indicative of that society’s needs.
Say for example, Indians value gold a lot. And gold prices are high. Now, in some other economies where gold is not so, countries, gold is not so much valued.
So, it will not be so much. So, what is highly priced or what people are ready to pay for a lot indicates that that is considered to be a very great need. Whether it is actually a need or not, that’s a different issue.
But it is felt to be a very great need. So, the very fact that entertainers are being paid such obscene amounts indicates that it is felt as such a great need. Such a great need.
There is a joke about a Christian pastor. He went to some people who were into all sorts of sinful activities and told them, you will go to hell for this. He said, okay, what is hell? He said, hell is a place.
Now, where there will be this problem, this, this, this. Okay, no problem. And then he finally said, not this only.
Hell is a place where there is no TV. Oh no, I don’t want to go there. So, for people, entertainment is felt as such a great need.
And to lose that is almost unbearable. So, the mind needs some engagement which is relaxing, which is rejuvenating, which is providing some rest. So, our work involves some engagement for the mind.
But the nature of the work is that it will tyre us physically. But more than that, it tyres us mentally. Especially if we don’t like the work so much or we don’t like the people with whom we are working or whatever.
And when we are mentally tired, at that time, the need for a break is what impels people towards entertainment. And in the entertainment, the mind does get some rest. But unfortunately, that kind of relaxation, that kind of just enjoyment, it comes at a heavy price.
The price is not just what people are paying directly, indirectly, whichever way, to the entertainers. But the price is that when we expose ourselves to entertainment, especially the kind of entertainment that is peddled in today’s world, that entertainment gives fuel to what causes the mind to run wild. Because ultimately, what makes the mind go wild? It’s two things.
Desires and worries. Desires. I want this, I want this, I want this, I want this.
So, desires make the mind go wild. And associated with desires come worries. If I don’t get this, what will happen? If this goes wrong, what will happen? So, Krishna says that these two are intrinsically connected.
So, he is talking about the ungodly people who live materialistically. And he says, In their life, there is unlimited anxiety. Till the moment of death, the anxiety goes on.
And why is there so much anxiety? Because the desire for worldly enjoyment, that they have ascertained that worldly enjoyment is the goal of life. Sri Prabhupada translates this as, they have ascertained that it is the prime necessity of life. So, prime necessity means that they just believe, this is one thing I want and ready to give up anything else for it.
I was in Europe a few months ago. So, many European countries are welfare states. Much more than, say, I mean, Australia is also somewhat of a welfare state.
But in some welfare states, if people are unemployed, then the government gives some dole, some support so that people can maintain themselves. And many people, they use this not to get food, but to get drugs. So, what is happening over here? The mind has ascertained that drugs is life’s prime necessity.
More than even food. So, this is how, basically when there is desire, it drives the mind wild and there is worry, there is fear, there is anxiety, it drives the mind wild. And when we expose ourselves to the entertainment that is presented in today’s world, most of the entertainment fuels our desires more and more.
We see people with very attractive figures. We see people with very smart personalities. We see people who are performers.
And then we compare ourselves with them and we feel, I’m not good enough. I want to get a car like that, I want to get a phone like that, I want to get this, I want to get that. So, just the desires keep coming more and more and more.
And it’s fine to be ambitious. But even ambition requires focus. If a student decides that, okay, I want to get in, I want to become a, I want a PhD in this, I want a degree in this.
He has to focus and study. If somebody wants to become a sports star, even if a person wants to become a sports star, they have to decide, okay, I’m going to play this sport. You cannot play ten sports.
You play one sport and focus on that. Even ambition requires certain focus. But the nature of the entertainment is that it creates so many desires within us.
Often if there is a 30-minute show, some kind of TV serial, the show itself is 25 minutes and then 5 minutes commercials. And quite often, you know, every, if there is one minute commercial, the amount of money that is spent on that 25-minute TV show is less than the amount of money that is spent in making that one-minute commercial. Why? Because from the TV’s perspective, that one-minute commercial is the real call for action.
This is what they want people to do. Okay, buy this, buy this, buy this. So, the, much of the entertainment is at one level, it seems to provide relaxation for the mind.
But at another level, it creates desires within us. And those desires also lead to worries. Because whenever we desire something, and if it is not in our control, it leads to worry.
So, we need, the point I was making is that to control the mind, we need to keep it engaged. And we need an engaged, the work provides us some engagement. We can’t work 24 hours a day.
So, we need something apart from that. And that is what people seek in entertainment. Now, when we practise spirituality, especially devotional spirituality, but the Bhagavad Gita repeatedly tells us, fix the mind on Krishna, man-mana-bhava, fix the mind on me.
What is the point of this? The point is, actually, we need some rest and some strength for the mind. So, when we can fix the mind on Krishna, and if we are able to do that, we’ll find our mind becoming calm, calm. And then, after it becomes calm, it becomes strengthened.
Not strengthened to work against us, but to work for us. To the extent, we can connect what we are doing with Krishna. Learn to fix the mind on him.
Then, to that extent, the mind starts becoming our friend. How does this work? The mind is essentially looking for pleasure. So, the mind wants to avoid pain and get pleasure.
And whatever it makes us do, even when the mind makes us our own enemy, it is basically thinking that this will make you happy and that will help you avoid pain. So, when we fix the mind on Krishna, then, initially the mind says, I think that is better, that is better, that is better. Go there.
Think of that. Think of that. But somehow, if we can fix the mind on Krishna, then we start experiencing, this does give me relief.
This does give me calmness. This gives me strength. And when we experience that slowly, by that experience, then the mind starts getting reoriented.
Instead of looking for shelter in other things, start finding shelter in Krishna. Now, Krishna is not just one, one object of thought. Ok, I think of my job, I think of my studies, I think of my family, I think of Krishna.
Krishna is one object of thought among the hundreds of objects of thought I may think of. That’s one way of looking at it. But Krishna is actually the supreme being.
He is connected with everything. And in that sense, He is not one object of thought. He is the foundation of all objects of thought.
He is connected with everything. So I have my job. Ok, whatever abilities I am using to serve Krishna, those abilities are coming from, whatever abilities I am using for my job, those abilities are coming from Krishna.
I have my family members. Family members are also parts of Krishna. So once we get a more inclusive understanding of Krishna, inclusive means we see the connection of Krishna with everything.
If we have an exclusive understanding of Krishna, that means, we think, oh Krishna is something, I go to a temple and I think of him, I chant his name, then it will seem, thinking of Krishna will seem extremely impractical. Or rather, always thinking of Krishna, how is it possible? Not possible. But when we have an inclusive understanding, Krishna is the source of everything.
He is the sustainer of everything. He is the summit of everything. With this understanding, actually we can move upwards and connect everything with Krishna.
And when we do this, when we learn to connect everything with Krishna, how do we connect? We connect by two basic understandings. One is that Krishna is the controller of everything. Second is, I am the servant of Krishna.
Whatever activities we may be doing, we may be driving an aeroplane, we may be riding a fighter pilot, as a fighter pilot into a war territory, we are doing any activity. If we have these two understandings, deeply ingrained, that Krishna is ultimately in control of everything, and I am the servant of Krishna, then with these two understandings, whatever we are doing, we can connect with Krishna. Remember, I am doing this as a service to Krishna.
And the more we practise bhakti, that means we chant Hare Krishna, associate with devotees, study the scriptures, by that, the more Krishna starts coming in the foreground of our consciousness. Initially Krishna will be in the background. Yes, Krishna is there, I know Krishna, he is God, and I go to temple and sometimes worship him.
He is in the background. But slowly, as we keep practising bhakti, Krishna starts coming in the foreground. We are doing various activities, Krishna remains in our consciousness.
Yes, I am doing this for Krishna. Vishwanath Chakraborty Thakur, one of the prominent Gita commentators, gives an example for this. He states that suppose, a family member is working, working away from home, having a job, dealing with different people, selling, buying, doing all kinds of things.
Now, there, at a practical level, they are fully engaged in doing those things. But, in their hearts, they are thinking that I am doing this for my family. I have my spouse, I have my children, and I am doing this for them.
So, that connection at an external level, they are far away. But their connection is through the intention. The connection is through the intention.
So, he says, just as, a family member thinks that I am doing all this for the family, it’s connected to the family with the intention. Like that, a devotee is connected with Krishna through the intention. We may do various things in life.
We have our responsibilities, we do those responsibilities. But, this is for Krishna. With that intention, Krishna comes more and more into the forefront of our consciousness.
And, with this understanding, Krishna, you are the Lord, you are in control, and I am your servant. With these twin understandings, the more they get ingrained in our consciousness, the more the mind’s wildness goes down. The more, Bhaktivinoda Thakur says, Krishna das, ei vishwas, korle to aara dukkha nahi.
If you just get this faith that Krishna is the Lord, I am his servant, then there is no more distress. It doesn’t mean that there is no problem. Yes, there will be heat, there will be cold, there will be old age.
But, he is talking about the mind magnifying the problems. That will go down. What will happen? Yes, I am a servant, let me do what I can.
So, the concluding point I am going to make is, that how does actually understanding that I am a servant of Krishna, affect the mind? See, the mind’s wildness can work in two ways. Basically, in every situation, something is in our control, and something is not in our control. The mind can go wild about the things that are not in our control.
What if this goes wrong? What if that goes wrong? What if that goes wrong? And in that way, the mind can distract us and disempower us. It can make us distressed by worrying about that which is not in our control. If we practise Krishna Bhakti diligently, we understand that Krishna is in control.
Then what happens? Then, that which is out of our control, we understand it is in Krishna’s control. And in the mind’s wildness goes down. Whatever happens, Krishna is in control, Krishna will take care.
And, with this, if I understand I am a servant, I am meant to serve Krishna, then we focus on what we can do. See, sometimes in today’s world, the idea of being a servant is seemingly very demeaning. Sometimes, a devotee was telling me that he has some default signature in his email.
So, sometimes when devotees greet each other, they say, okay, please accept my humble obeisances and you are servant. So, one day he sent a mail to his boss and he forgot to remove the signature. So, he said, you are servant.
So, then, when he sent a mail like that, his boss said, why did you say that? You are not my servant. We are all colleagues working together. So, they feel that the idea of servant is very demeaning.
But, actually, if we understand that we are a servant, yes, in today’s world, we may have the experience where servants are looked down upon, not treated badly, not treated well. But, the understanding that we are a servant, in a philosophical sense, is actually empowering. How is it empowering? Because, if I think I am the controller, the opposite of servant is say the boss, the controller.
If I am the controller and if I can’t control, and it becomes unbearable, then it becomes, what am I to do? It becomes a complete crisis. If I think I am the controller, I can’t control, what do I do then? But, if I understand I am a servant, then, ok, I was planning to do this, if I can’t do this, what can I do? I can do this. So, when we talk about a conditioned soul, what do you mean by conditioned soul? The conditioned soul is a soul who needs certain conditions for functioning.
Without those conditions, the soul can’t function. A soul who is conditioned to say alcohol, if that soul doesn’t get alcohol, I can’t live without alcohol. Actually, that person is probably not able to live because of alcohol.
But, a conditioned soul is a person who can’t function without certain conditions. Whereas, actually when we understand I am a servant, then we become unconditioned. Whatever situation comes, I can serve in that situation.
So, how can I serve? So, the mind doesn’t like to feel powerless. Mind always likes to feel I am in control. And, if I think I am the boss, and if I can’t be the boss, then again the mind goes wide.
Because, I thought I was in control, I am not in control. But, being a servant means, actually, I can always find some way to serve. And, I can move on.
So, in this way, both, that which is out of our control, we leave it to Krishna. And, what is in our control? It is never that nothing is in our control. What happens sometimes is that what is in our control decreases.
At the very least, what I think of is in my control. There is a problem, there are 100 problems in my life. If I keep thinking of those 100 problems, I will get more and more worried.
But, if I think of one thing right in my life, and focus on that, and build on that, I have that much control. So, we are never completely powerless. But, when we define ourselves as controllers, then, if things go wrong, we feel, what can I do? I can’t do anything.
I am powerless. So, when I say, what do you mean by controller? If I think, say, I am the, I am the, I am the, say, father of so and so, I am the mother of so and so, I am the husband of so and so, I am the wife of so and so, and each relationship, we think we have certain control. And, every relationship teaches us that we are not in control.
You know, as parents, as we grow up, as children grow up, you know, children come to teenagers often, just parents are feeling, what happened to my child? The sweet little boy has disappeared. Who is this sullen teenager who is there in this place? They grow through that phase. But, what happens? If we define ourselves in terms of any relationship, other than our relationship with Krishna, then, when that relationship, we lose whatever sense of control we thought we were expected to have, it just, mind goes wild.
But, if I understand, my primary identity is, I am a servant of Krishna. And, as a service to Krishna, I am the husband of someone, I am the wife of someone, I am the mother of someone, I am the father of someone. These are all services.
If we have that mood, then, even if something goes wrong, we don’t get personally threatened by that. If I define myself as a mother, and if my child starts going on the wrong track, I feel as if my whole life has gone waste. But, if I understand, I am a soul and a servant of Krishna, and this is my service, it’s an important service, but it’s a service.
And, some services will work out, some services will not work out immediately. So, we get a greater sense of perspective, when we don’t identify ourselves with our roles, but we identify ourselves as a servant of Krishna, and see our roles as services to Krishna. That calms the mind down.
And then, whatever situation we face, which would normally have driven the mind wild, we can face it with greater calmness. So, whatever difficulties we face in life, sometimes a lot may be out of control, sometimes maybe more will be in our control. But, whatever it is, the mind is focused, we can make the best out of that situation.
And, thus by these twin convictions, Krishna is my master, Krishna is in control, and I am his servant. We can learn to calm the mind down, and thus we can harvest the good within us. We can actually ensure that we act, we and our mind act for us, instead of against us.
So, I’ll summarise. I spoke today about the topic of how our mind is our worst enemy, because it makes us our own enemy. So, I talked about how we have a self, there’s a self and there’s a self-conception.
And, the self-conception is often distorted because of the scripts that are present in the mind. And, we don’t see things as they are, because the mind with its ideas, it distorts perceptions. And, this distortion of perception leads to self-destruction.
It can happen at three levels, how the mind may make us act as our enemy. One is through suicide, that people just feel that their problems are so overwhelming that they want to kill themselves. And, yes, problems are always there, but the uncontrolled mind magnifies the problems.
The problems of today, it piles the problems of yesterday and tomorrow on it, and then makes life unbearable. At a more widespread level than suicide is self-destructive habits, addictions, where the mind craves for things which hurt oneself. It’s like we may not be physically masochist, we don’t whip ourselves up, but with our mind we hurt ourselves.
And, that’s because the mind has this misconceived notion of pleasure. This is what will give you pleasure, and in the quest for that pleasure, the mind loses all sense of proportion. I want this, I want it at all costs.
And then beyond that, talk about negative emotions, resentment, negativity. By that also we hurt ourselves, the mind makes us hurt ourselves. And pessimism is a very bad infectious disease.
So, how do we harvest the good? First of all, we have to understand, by default, negative harvest is going to come out. So, we can’t avoid, we can’t not think of something. Because the mind is different from the body, physical level.
So, we have to find something positive to think about. And the key for channelling the mind is engagement. The time when the mind troubles us the most is when we have nothing to do.
So, the leisure time becomes the worry time often. So, keeping ourselves engaged, the need for giving the mind, it’s not just work that engages the mind, work tyres the mind often. We need some relaxing engagement.
And that is such a great need in today’s world that people are ready to pay, fill the amounts to entertainers, to give them some break for the mind. But, while entertainment may provide some relaxation, but actually it also causes agitation because it fills us with desires. I want to eat this, I want to watch this, I want to become like this.
And then, the two things which make the mind wild, one is desires and then worries. So, how does, Bhagavata says fix the mind on Krishna. That may seem very impractical if we think of Krishna in an exclusive sense.
Krishna is just something you think of in the temple. But if you understand Krishna is God, He is the foundation of everything. Then, whatever we are doing, we connect with Krishna.
And the connection involves two basic understandings. Krishna is always in control and I am always His servant. And when we understand Krishna is always in control, when the mind goes wild because of thinking things are not in my control, that mind calms down.
Krishna is in control. And when our mind goes wild because we think based on our relationships and our roles, we should have some control. We don’t have control.
We lose that control. Understanding that we are servants is empowering. Because if I think I am a controller and I can’t control, I get disoriented.
But if I am a servant, let me find out some way to keep serving. At the very least, I can have control over my thoughts. So, our defining identity has to be not that I am a husband, I am a wife, I am a father, I am a mother.
I am a servant of Krishna. And I am doing these various roles. In service to Krishna.
Then even if there is some problem in any of the roles, we won’t get inordinately agitated. We will stay focused. And gradually by entrusting that which is beyond our control to Krishna and by exerting to do the best in that which is in our control, we will be able to do our best and gradually as the mind becomes attached to Krishna, it becomes sheltered in Krishna, then it will become our friend and help us to do, it will not work against us, but it will start working for us.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. This is Bhakti Yoga, especially how to control the mind and directing one’s mind and focus on Krishna consciousness.
This is Bhakti Yoga. And the goal is to help Krishna directly. Thank you very much.
We are looking forward for you, anytime you come to Australia, come to our programme in Black Town. We are having this programme once, first Sunday of the month. And this has been going for last 17 years.
And it is great to see all of you, all of you over here. And I hope in future, the first Sunday of the month, come here and help us. Thank you very much.
How do you like the class?