Is offering the heart to Krishna easier and more fulfilling than offering the head?

From Kiran P

I always find easier and effective to control the head or mind through the heart, otherwise mind is very turbulent and chaotic and needs our heart and will power to control it, orelse i get lost somewhere. Heart is easy to control and more within one’s control and more satisfying to control too.

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Kiran Prabhu. Is it easier to control the head with the heart than otherwise? And also, it is much more satisfying.
Otherwise, the heart, without the heart involved, controlling the head becomes much more difficult. Answer. Yes, of course, that is the essence of the process of Bhakti.
Ultimately, we want to offer our heart to Krishna. And because our heart gets a higher desire, that’s how lower desires go out. And so, in that sense, there is higher satisfaction and there is greater ease because of the higher taste that we get.
At the same time, it’s also important to know that at our stage, the higher doesn’t always appear higher and the lower doesn’t always appear lower. With the social glamorization of sensual pleasures, and even the mind’s continuous exaggeration of those pleasures, often those pleasures seem so special, so irresistible. So, often, if our philosophical, if our head is not very clear, our values get skewed, and the higher appears lower.
Oh, this particular sensual, I have to do it now only. And chanting, chanting is always there. I can do it some other time.
We may not think of it lower in terms of something which is immoral or something like that. But we may think lower means of lower priority. It can be done later.
Or sometimes because of some people may even make fun of us when we chant or when we do some devotional activities, we may consider also, I don’t want to do it in public. So, anyway, the point which I’m making here is that without a clear understanding in the head, the higher will not appear as higher, lower will not appear as lower, and the heart can get attracted towards the lower. So, if we have the capacity, if our heart has that natural attraction towards Krishna or we have the capacity to attract our heart towards Krishna, that’s the best.
But along with attracting our heart to Krishna, putting our head is also a part of the attraction of our heart because the head is also part of who we are and when we offer our heart, we offer our entire being. So, even then, one should not put the head aside. But apart from that, when one is especially practicing devotional service in the sadhaka stage, Jiva Goswami says that it is the buddhi that keeps sadhaka on the spiritual platform and Krishna talks about this in 3.43. एवं बुद्धे परंबुद्धः संस्थब्यात्मानमात्मनः जहिषत्रुं महाभाहो कामरूपं दुरासदु। It is by buddhi that we can stay on the spiritual platform and make steady spiritual advancement.
So, when conquer over the enemy of lust and other such selfish temptations. So, therefore, it is important for us to have our head also strong. So, our head sort of creates the foundation or the clear priority, clear perspective by which we can redirect our heart.
Now, which comes first? That will depend on person to person. If a person is more of an intellectual nature, then intellectual conviction may well be the way. The way to the heart is often through the head for intellectuals.
But for other people who are more emotional, something feels good. I want to know more about it. So, if they want to do it more, know it more because of the feeling and the strong good feeling is very important for them.
And then after they get a good feeling, then they start inquiring intellectually. Does this make sense? Then they may do that way also. So, depending on whether a person is more on the intellectual side or the emotional side.
Now, it’s not that being on the emotional side is bad or intellectual side is bad. That’s just the way different people are. So, the relative head heart balance, relative head heart proportion may vary.
But ultimately, there’s no doubt that the essence of bhakti is offering our heart. And a part of offering the heart is offering the head. And also the impetus for offering the heart can come in many cases and for many people from the head.
So, that way the head is also important. Thank you.