SB 5.11.16 – The mind is the foundational designation on avoiding which all other designations crumble

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. … … … … Here again, Jadbharat is describing how the mind is the field of suffering for the soul.
Two words are significant here, ātmalingam and samsāra-tāpāvapanam. So, ātmalingam, the proper translators are the designation of the soul. We say that we misidentify and we have various designations.
I think that I am an engineer. I think that I am a CEO. I think that I am a software professional, whatever.
So, where are these designations situated? They are not situated in our ID cards. They are situated in our subtle body. And because of these misidentifications, we suffer in different ways.
The arena, the fundamental ground where the suffering is rooted is the mind. So, our designations may change, but the principle that as long as the soul is designated, that soul will have to suffer. What all? Illusion is there.
So, if I think that I am a software engineer, that is an illusion. Then, if I feel, oh, if I lose my job, if there are other vocations that give more salary than mine, if other people get more prestige than me, if I lose my job, then there is I want to grow bigger. Whichever field we are in, the material world sets a series of goals for us for material improvement.
And they often so completely occupy and pervade our mind that they leave us no time to think about spiritual improvement. And none of these material designations can free us from the basic problems of material existence, that is old age, disease and death. Then, Raga refers to attachment, we become attached correspondingly.
And then, then we become greedy for getting more and more of the things which we are attached to. And then those who oppose that, or those who have more than what we have, then we develop a desire for them. This whole thing about the gamut of material emotions that dominate our consciousness, they may vary in their specifics.
A software engineer may have a different set of desires and fears than a business executive. But all these designations are ultimately situated in the mind. And the mind in that sense is the samsara tapavapnam.
Tapavapnam, Prabhupada writes over here, the growing ground for the miseries of the material world. So all designations accrue in the mind. The mind ultimately is the greatest designation for the soul.
And then through the mind, the soul suffers in various ways. And as long as the soul’s consciousness is occupied in the mind, till that time, anubandham mamatam vidhate So anubandham, the consequence of bondage will come, mamatam, the feeling of I-ness, attachment, affection will come. And these will cause the soul to suffer.
So how do we break free from the cycle of suffering? Atma lingam. Rather than identifying ourselves with the mind, we have to identify ourselves as servants of Krishna. And the best way to do this is by doing what the mind doesn’t want to do, especially if that activity is devotionally empowering for us.
So for example when we do devotionally intense activities, like say chanting, like praying, like singing Vaishnav songs. So at these times, at least for that time being, we become so absorbed that manatma lingam, that we are not conscious of the mental platform. So by forcing ourselves to act on the spiritual platform which is above the mental platform, we can gradually break the mind’s hold on us.
And we can break the mind’s unending misconceptions which perpetuate our miseries in material existence. So by remembering that the mind itself is a designation which we need to break free from. Sarvopadhi vinirmuktam, bhakti means to become free from all designations, but manatma lingam, the mind itself is the root of all designations.
So if I may decide that I am not, I may resolve, I won’t think of myself as an angel, I won’t think of myself as a woman, I won’t think of myself as this or that. But as long as we don’t disassociate ourselves from the mind, all that will happen is we will just change our designation from one to another. I may become attached to a spiritual designation.
I am a brahmachari, I am a counsellor, I am a temple president. And if these designations are not increasing our Krishna consciousness then they will also become samsara, tapa, vapanam, janasya. Because of these designations also we can suffer from their tribulations.
So the root cause because of which we become attached to various designations is the mind. So we understand this nature of the mind and distance ourselves from the mind. Now distancing ourselves from the mind is not easy but our directly devotional activities which give us a higher taste, which force us to confront the mind, offer us that opportunity to distance ourselves from the mind.
By often we are overwhelmed by many emotions which is trapped in our devotional period. And we can try to battle with those emotions one by one. No, I will not feel worried.
No, I will not feel lusty. No, I will not feel greedy. But if we can distance ourselves from the mind itself then in that one stroke we will be able to distance ourselves from all the set of illusory emotions which the mind is tormenting us with.
And that can happen through introspection and meditation.