If we keep whimsically repeating a mistake, what to do?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
If we do something because we resolve I will not do something and not oversleep and then again we oversleep and then we pray to Krishna for health.
So, if we keep praying and it happens whimsically, what do we do? Somehow, I don’t like the word whimsical. I feel that it is just too judgmental a word. We all have our minds and we all have to deal with our minds.
So, sometimes the mind just misleads us and we have our conditionings. So, what one person might feel is whimsical for another person it might just be irresistible. That’s how they are.
So, sometimes some body, some mind just need more sleep and that’s what we need and that’s what we have to provide. So, we first of all, we have to acknowledge that this is the mind I have. This is the body I have.
Now, this mind, this body may not be the best for my service to Krishna but this is what I have. If I don’t acknowledge that only then I keep fighting a battle that is not winnable. If say, I am trying to if I have a if I have a Fiat and that I am trying to run like a sports car a racing car and it’s not running I am very frustrated.
It’s not going to run. So, we just, our body our body and our mind this is the only body and the only mind we have. We can’t change it.
Change it means we can’t replace it. Yes, of course, we can train to make it better but one important step in attaining transcendence is self-acceptance. Self-acceptance means this is what I am.
So, yes, if I find that I have a tendency to oversleep, I know that this is my weakness and in general, negative resolutions are very difficult to keep. So, actually it’s no point making resolutions that dead people can keep better than us. If I say, I will not overeat.
A dead person is not going to overeat. They are not going to eat only. I won’t oversleep.
A dead person is not going to do that. So, general negative any negative resolution we make all dead people can do it better than us. So, certainly there are certain things which we have to give up but our focus cannot be on giving up.
It just creates so much negative energy within us. Our focus has to be on taking up. Rather than thinking I will not sleep, I think, okay, how can I meaningfully fill my day? If I have many things to do, then, I won’t sleep.
Thinking I won’t sleep, as the nature of the mind is, it just doesn’t like, you shouldn’t do this. It just doesn’t like that. But, if you give the mind something more positive to do, even with respect to renouncing anything in this world, don’t indulge in this.
Don’t do this. I was at an Alcoholics Anonymous program. Some devotees in America are working with them.
So, when they have to give up alcohol, there are 12 steps program. So, actually only the first step is about giving up alcohol. All the remaining 11 steps are about understanding who you are and understanding who you want to become.
If I am an alcoholic and I don’t want to be alcoholic, they are still staying in the same level of consciousness. You understand, you are a child of God. You are a part of God.
You are meant to do something wonderful in this service. And then, the alcohol falls away. So, generally, we may have to make some resolutions to give up something.
But, always complement that with something positive. To the extent we complement the negative with the positive and focus on the positive, to that extent, the resolution will be sustainable. But, if you don’t complement it with the positive, then it won’t be sustainable.
So, if you focus more on not on I want to sleep, but what will I do? If we have plans, okay, suddenly I find that I have half an hour free now. By that time, I sit in half an hour, okay, what should I do in this half an hour? Then I may think, okay, I can do this, I can do that, I can also take a nap. And then the mind will choose the path of least resistance.
So, rather than just focusing on the negative, focus on the positive. Did I answer your question?