Is constantly thinking of Krishna and doing our work an example of multitasking – how can it be done practically?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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so we are we have to do multitasking at our work and because of that when we come and chant at home the focus of the mind on one thing becomes difficult not necessarily we have to see that the mind has certain energy that energy needs to be used so some people’s mind some people actually need to multitask it’s not that their job requires them to multitask if they are just doing one thing they feel bored you know you have one tab open on your computer browser no, there are ten tabs open ten programs open see different people’s minds are different so for some people multitasking is a burden some people multitasking is a joy so it’s just the way the mind with respect to music some people they just like the kirtans simple, sweet kirtans some people have high musical intelligence they just sing such complicated tunes and they delight in that they are not just doing it to show off they delight in that actually but others they struggle to follow that tune sometimes their musical intelligence is high so their need is high they need to have some musical gymnastics over there others don’t need that so different people’s mind is different some people need to multitask some people don’t need to multitask now whether a job requires you to do it that’s a different issue now specifically with respect to the mind it’s not necessary that the habit of the work culture of multitasking is what distracts us even people who don’t multitask it’s not that they are easily focused what causes the mind to get distracted is rajoguna now in rajoguna sometimes people who are in sense gratification they are not doing multitasking they are completely absorbed when a cricket match is going on people just want to close when people want to watch a movie what do they do? first thing is they switch off the lights no multitasking I just want to watch the movie no distractions so sometimes people while doing sense gratification also may be completely absorbed in one thing so actually what distracts us from Krishna is not whether we are habituated to doing one thing or doing many things what distracts us from Krishna is the level of our consciousness if our consciousness is materialistic then we will be distracted towards material things if our consciousness is spiritual we will be focused on Krishna I have seen many advanced devotees also do multitasking some advanced devotees they try to just focus on one thing at a time whichever way they are all different they will work differently which is perfectly fine the important thing is we try to spiritualize our consciousness so the more our consciousness becomes spiritual the more we will be able to focus now sometimes if we have the tendency to multitask we can use that in bhakti also in chanting also chanting means at one level chanting means just hear the sound of the holy name but sometimes that doesn’t work we can put a picture of Krishna in front of us we can write the written Hare Krishna Mahamantra in front of us we can have some verse which talks about the glory of the holy name written in front of us so the idea is the mind can’t focus on the holy name then let it focus on something connected with the holy name so the mind needs something more than the holy name to chew on we can give it instead of letting it take something from the material world and distract it give it something connected with Krishna some devotees after chanting a few mantras they stop and they recite the shikshashtakam one verse just give the mind something to churn on so we have to find out how best we can focus on Krishna because as I said our mind is the only mind that we have now how your mind can be best focused on Krishna will be different from how my mind is best focused on Krishna so I have to take inventory of my life my mind and find out how I can best focus it so each of us need to do it similarly some of us may find that we sit and chant, we just struggle against it we walk and chant, we chant better but some days we are fresh and that day we walk and chant that walking is distracting so it’s like basically dealing with the mind is like fighting a war in a war general has a strategy for fighting the war but every general knows that we can’t simply translate the strategy into action because the enemy may attack in a different way and we have to modify our strategy according to the way the enemy is attacking so like that we do have a plan for how to deal with the mind but the mind comes up with different ways of trying to distract us in different ways so we have to find what works so in that sense if we rather than affixing the blame either on our conditions or on our conditionings we recognize that this is where I am this is the battle I have to fight ok how do I best fight this battle you will find a way ahead and each day also we may require slightly different things or some days we may require some things more, some days some things less so we, if we keep that purpose in mind that this is the battle I want to fight this is what I want to do we will get the intelligence to fight that battle and over a period of time we may find these are things which work for me you know when I just feel bored, I feel distracted you know I can do maybe I can recite some verses maybe I can just read some section from scripture maybe I can just pause and pray maybe I can take a few deep breaths maybe I can just chant loudly maybe I can chant softly there are various things which we can do just because the mind is not focusing doesn’t mean that we have to just accept it or we have to resent it we have to find out what works through all this resourcefulness and trying various things we are showing Krishna I want to focus you know Krishna doesn’t just see our feelings he also sees our feelings about our feelings that means I am feeling bored while chanting, but Krishna I don’t want to feel bored, I want to focus the other is Krishna I am feeling bored when will this japa end that means I am accepting the feeling of the mind as my feeling but Krishna sees our feelings about our feelings I am feeling bored I am feeling tired but I want to be fresh, I want to be focused Krishna help me so if Krishna sees that he is pleased with that even if we are not able to focus the intention will please him and we will grow in bhakti just by that intention even if it is not translated into concentration does that answer your question?