Using our functional identification to realize our transcendental identity

[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Sydney, Australia]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. So today, we are discussing about the name-giving of the various children. The two children precisely, Balram and Krishna.
So, on being requested by Gargamuni that, by Nanda Maharaj, that Gargamuni should perform the name-giving ceremony in secret. So accordingly, he does that. And then, based on his wisdom, he predicts the qualities which this child is going to exhibit.
And based on that, he gives names. So he talks about three characteristics of Balramji over here. Accordingly, there are three names, Rama, Baladeva or Balaram and also Sankarsha.
He will exhibit great strength, he will bring great joy to everyone and he will unite two families. So, in this section, the overall theme is the chronology of Krishna’s life in Vrindavan is now moving forward. We all have a certain sense of identification.
I’ll speak today on the theme of our identity and our identification. Our identification is a particular name or in a particular country, we may have a social security number or we may have a particular licence number. So, this is our identification.
We may have a country, we have a passport number. If a child is in a class and there is a roll call, then each child has a roll number. So, in this world, at a practical level, there are different ways in which identification takes place and that names are required for identification.
And then there is our basic identity, which is who we are. That means there are two things, who we are and how the world identifies us. So, identity refers to who we are.
Identification refers to how the world identifies us. Now, if we look at the world around us, when we look at people around, we often identify them in different ways. We say, oh, this is tall, this is short, this is fat, this is thin, this is Indian, this is Western, this is African American, this is male, this is female, this is youth, this is a middle-aged person.
So, we all, when we look at people, the very nature of the human mind is that it needs to make sense of things. And for making sense of things, it places its observations within certain conceptual categories. So, for example, if you talk with someone, that person asks very intelligent questions.
Oh, he’s an intelligent person. Somebody talks very incoherently. Okay, this person seems to be a little less intelligent or whatever.
So, basically, the way we look at the world and the way we identify people is that we have certain conceptual categories in our mind, which we have acquired from our past upbringing. And based on those conceptual categories, we place people in those categories. And then naturally, we place ourselves also like that.
So, the identification is essential for practical functional purposes. At the same time, this identification is not just for social interactions. When we identify someone in a particular way, at that time, it is not only we who identify them that way.
That person also starts identifying oneself that way. So, I talked yesterday about the impressions that we acquire. So, the impressions are not just particular desires or particular thought patterns.
They are all there. But the fundamental point of the impression is the identification. Who do I identify as? So, the world may identify as in a particular way.
But internally, how do I identify myself? What is my self-identification? Do I identify myself as Indian? Do I identify as a male? Do I identify myself as a monk or whatever? I may have all these different identities. But among these different identities, we also have different levels of affiliation with those identities. So, for example, for people in Australia, everybody from India may seem like they are all Indians.
But for people who are from India, the difference between say a South Indian and a North Indian will be huge. And say a person from South India, that person may be able to connect very nicely with a South Indian. But a North Indian, it may be a little more difficult.
So, we could say Indian is a big category. And the world identifies me as an Indian. But what do I identify myself? Sometimes people, when they identify themselves, they have certain narrow categories by which they identify themselves.
And sometimes say there are some neighbouring states, say Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in India, they have a lot of quarrels among them. So, India and Pakistan for example. Towards the end.
Towards the end. Let me complete this. So, India and Pakistan, they have a lot of conflicts.
But from the rest of the world’s perspective, India and Pakistan is actually South Asian. So, South Asian now, the world may identify somebody as South Asian, but there will be huge conflicts among those people. So, the point which I am making is that the world uses a certain identification, but we have a certain identification.
So, if somebody identifies me as a South Asian, it’s true. But then they say that person is from Pakistan. You two can be good friends.
No. If I have a nationalistic Indian and that person a nationalistic Pakistani, there will be a lot of conflicts. Although there is a big category in which we fall together, but there is a smaller category in which there is division.
And this kind of identification, which we all accept, that can lead to another form of illusion. Sometimes we take up a particular identification even for religious purposes. Oh, I am the disciple of so-and-so spiritual master.
I am the member of this organisation. This is identification. Once there was a Catholic nun and she used to take care of orphan girls as a girl was growing up.
She asked her, what do you want to become in future? I want to become a prostitute. Oh God, what have you spoken? Hail Mary, what a filthy thing to hear. Oh, sorry.
She just plugged her ears. She says, what do you want to become? She says, I want to become a prostitute. Oh, thank God.
I thought you wanted to become a protestant. From the world’s perspective, Catholics and protestants are both Christians. But from her perspective, protestants are so bad that being a protestant is worse than being a prostitute.
So what happens over here, that we all have certain identifications. And we look at the world filtered through our identifications. Based on the identification we have, we look at others.
We identify, this is like this, this is like this, this is like this. So the process of bhakti is about we want to serve Krishna. Bhakti, what is bhakti? With our senses, we serve the lord of the senses.
But how do we serve? At all designations, renouncing them. All designations that are there, we renounce them. Now designation is basically an identification.
So we get different identifications from the world. And for functional purposes, these identifications are required. But from the transcendental perspective, those same identifications can become the cause of illusion.
We have Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in a celebrated verse that he offers as a prayer to Lord Jagannath. When Jagannath would come out on a yatra, he would say, He says, So in the Vedic system that was there, a person was identified by their varna and their ashram. And Lord Chaitanya is saying, I am not a brahmachari, I am not a grhastha, I am not a sanyasi, I am not a vanaprastha.
I am not a brahmana, I am not a kshatriya, I am not a vaisya, I am not a shudra. What am I then? I am the servant of the servant of the servant of the lord of the gopis. That is my identity.
Simultaneously, we also see that Lord Chaitanya acted like a strict sanyasi. As a sanyasi, he was expected to follow certain rules. Keep a distance from the opposite sex.
He would do that. As a brahmana sanyasi, he is expected to follow certain rules. So when he was in Kashi, in Varanasi, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had, most of the people over there were impersonalists, monists.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had two followers over there, Tapana Mishra and Chandrachekaracharya. Tapana Mishra was a brahmana and Chandrachekaracharya was from a lower caste family. Now at that time, it was considered brahmanas, especially sanyasis, should take food only from the house of a brahmana.
They take food from anyone else, they would be considered contaminated. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at one level didn’t want to accept this. But at the same time, he knew that if he did not follow this, he would be condemned by people, he would be criticised by people.
So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did something very radical. For the time when he was in Varanasi, he stayed at the house of Chandrachekaracharya. But everyday, for prasad he would go to the house of Tapana Mishra.
Can you imagine if a sanyasi is staying in some virahastha’s house? A virahastha would naturally expect that the sanyasi would take prasad at my house. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not do that. So he acted according to the ashram that he was in.
Out of what? Deference to public perception. That means, if people are going to get agitated, people are going to criticise, people are going to say that this sanyasi, he doesn’t understand what is shuchi and what is mochi. He doesn’t understand what is pure and what is impure.
Then if they criticise him like that, then he, if he speaks philosophy, you don’t even practise basic conduct of cleanliness, what philosophy can you speak? So the credibility of his message would have been affected. Because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu acted according to the appropriate conduct expected from him as per his social position. At the same time, he flayed the convention also.
Although a sanyasi, obviously, if you are not going to take prasad at a brahmana’s house, that also means stay at a brahmana’s house. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu flayed that and stayed at a non-brahmana’s house, at the panishwara’s house. So there is this delicate balance between rejecting one’s functional identity or transcending one’s functional identity and engaging one’s functional identity.
So for example, sometimes devotees are asked, are you Hindu? Now, if somebody asks, are we Hindu? We can answer in different ways. Now, if we want to, if we are to be classified in this world’s system of classification, then obviously we can’t say that we are Christians or Muslims or Parsis or Jews. We will be placed in the category of Hindus.
But at the same time, we are non-sectarian. We are transcendental. So, if you want to say, where is Vrindavan? Vrindavan is a spiritual world.
It doesn’t exist in the material world. It exists in the transcendental world. But for, if I want to go to Vrindavan, if I have to take a visa, a visa of Pakistan will not help me.
I have to take a visa of India. Because within this country, in this world’s geographical classification, Vrindavan is located in India. Similarly, within this world’s religious classification, if we are to place ourselves somewhere, we place ourselves in the identification as Hindus.
But then we clarify. The ISKCON Communications Ministry has got a statement that ISKCON is a part of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which is a monotheistic tradition within the broad family of traditions which are known as Hinduism. So, we accept our belonging, but we also specify our difference.
So, there are basically two perspectives. There is the vyavaharik and the paramarthik. Vyavaharik is practical.
Vyavahar, what is required for conducting us in this world? And paramarthik is transcendental. So, at a transcendental level, we do not belong to any religion. At a transcendental level, we do not belong to any social designation.
At a functional, practical level, we do need to have a particular identity and function according to that identity. So, Srila Prabhupada himself, at different points, he would speak in different ways. So, for example, Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter to the Pope at that time.
It was John Paul, I think. So, when he wrote, he said that all religions need to come together, all theists need to come together to counter atheism and materialism. And he said, we can meet and discuss how to do that.
So, here, Prabhupada took a very inclusive identification. He said that we are not just belonging to a particular religion, we belong to a broader category of theists. So, theists can be of different religions, but we belong to that category.
So, for a functional perspective, for a yavaharic perspective, the devotee may identify oneself with different social classifications. Social, cultural, national, whatever, religious, whatever it may be. A devotee’s internal understanding is that I am a servant of Krishna.
Now, when we get initiated, we get particular names. So, are our names that we get at the time of initiation, are these names eternal? The Das part of it is eternal. The Dasi part of it is eternal.
We are servants of the Lord. So, the point is that even in this world, we would like to have an identification that reminds us of Krishna. So, here, our servant Balram is given an identification.
Of course, there is a difference between us, we are souls, and we are going through different lifetimes. And when we go through different lifetimes, we get a particular body, and based on that body, we get a particular name. So, we get as a surname, then the name of our parents, then we are given a particular first name.
Now, we see the child exists even before the name is given. Of course, the mother or the father may have already thought of some name also. But the point is, the child’s existence and the name’s existence are two different things.
And they are brought together at one particular time. And the name-giving ceremony. Now, in some cultures, there will be no name-giving ceremony.
They will just decide this is the name of the child. Some cultures, there is official name-giving ceremony. The important thing is that there is the identity and there is the identification.
So, we all have for different functional purposes, different identifications. Now, in bhakti, we operate with anything material according to the principle of yukta-vairagya. Yukta-vairagya means we have engaged renunciation.
If something is usable in Krishna’s service, we don’t reject it. anāsaktasya viśayāt yathāraṁ upayanjataḥ anāsaktaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandha vairāgyam nirbandham kṛṣṇa-sambandha vairāgyam yukta-mucchate We are not attached to the sense objects. We don’t want to be attached and bound by them.
But we see their relationship with Krishna. And by seeing that relationship with Krishna, we use that identification for serving Krishna. So, if we have a particular identification.
Srila Prabhupada was very expert. At one level, philosophically, he would tell, you are not Indians, you are not Americans, we are simply souls or parts of Krishna. But, when Srila Prabhupada came first in 1970s to India with many of his disciples and he wanted to, in 1971, organise a big pandal festival.
And his western disciples, they had no experience of organising anything like this. How will we be able to do such a big thing? Prabhupada said, we’ll have 20-30 thousand people coming for the pandal festival. So, how will we manage? What did Prabhupada tell them? Prabhupada told them that the whole world thinks of America as great.
So, what is the use of your being Americans if you don’t do something great? We should do something. And they actually did a wonderful festival. What they did is, at that time, they organised near the CS, at that time it was VT, Victoria Terminal railway station.
They organised a huge balloon. And in that balloon, they wrote Hare Krishna. And the balloon was practically, at that time, there were not so many skyscrapers in Mumbai.
So, from every part of the city, people could see the balloon, Hare Krishna. And it created such a sensation, such publicity. Even corporate companies had not thought of advertising like this.
And thousands and thousands of people came for the programme. And Prabhupada encouraged them, yes, what is the use of you being Americans if we don’t do something wonderful? Then when Sri Prabhupada wanted to build a temple in Juhu, actually we needed funds. So, once he was addressing a group of businessmen over there, and he said, Bhagavad Gita is your book.
You are Indians. Bhagavad Gita has come from India. But to teach Bhagavad Gita in India, I have to get people from America.
This is your message. Learn it and share it. Share it all over the world.
Prabhupada, if you wanted to use something in Krishna’s service, he said that you people, India at that time, 20 years from independence, India still had that feeling that we lost Pakistan. Pakistan was a part of our country but we lost it. So, Prabhupada said, you are feeling that you have lost Pakistan, you teach Bhagavad Gita, the whole world will become Hindustan.
Everybody will start following this. So, just read this message. So, Prabhupada, what is he doing? He is expertly using the functional identity for the transcendental purpose.
So, the functional identity is something which we need while operating in the world and we identify with it. Even if I think that I am a devotee, even if I think that I am a servant of Krishna, but still we have a particular body and we need to function according to the body that we have. But we don’t work for the body.
We don’t work against the body. We work with the body. Work with the body means, the body is the tool that we have.
And with respect to body, we have everything else. Okay, I am African, I am American, I am Indian, I am Australian. This is what my identification is.
So, I work with that for serving Krishna. Working for the body means identifying ourselves completely with that and looking at the world only through that perspective. If I am an Indian, I think, oh, India is good, China attacks India, China is bad, Pakistan attacks India, Pakistan is bad.
So, my whole world view gets filtered only through that particular identity which I have. So, we don’t want to identify to that extent. We don’t work for our material identity.
We don’t work against our material identity. At a practical level, somebody asks, who are you? All of us say, I am a spirit soul. Well, all of us are spirit souls.
From a practical perspective, we need some functional identity. So, when we are given certain names at the time of initiation, the purpose is that it’s not just a new name. We want the soul is always the soul.
Whether the person is a devotee or a non-devotee, whether the person is a materialist or a spiritualist, the soul is always the soul. But, what do I identify with? So, when we are given a new name at the time of initiation, the purpose is that we change our identification. Our identification should be that, oh, I am a devotee of Krishna.
I am trying to be a devotee of Krishna. And, when others call my name, I refer to my name, that reminds me of Krishna. So, bhakti ultimately is not just of changing our desires.
It’s not about changing our activities. It’s ultimately about changing our identification. Unless we change our identification, we will not be able to function.
If I think I am a male, then I may always feel that I need a female. If I think I am a female, I may think I will always need a male. That emptiness I will feel.
Incompleteness I will feel. But, if I identify I am a soul. The soul is actually a part of the whole.
Krishna is complete and all emanations from him are also complete. But, this completeness is perceived in relationship with the complete. So, what we do right now is, we are trying to change our self-identification.
What do I identify myself as? So, I may identify myself, okay, I am a brahmachari from this temple. Okay, I am a devotee from this temple. I am a disciple of the spiritual master.
Now, all such identifications should help us in our service to Krishna. If my identification becomes so strong that it doesn’t help me to serve Krishna, it doesn’t help me to raise my consciousness upwards towards Krishna, then even a spiritual identification can become a cause of dissension. Can become a cause of conflict.
If I think, okay, I am the disciple of the spiritual master and then my spiritual master is the best, therefore I am the best. And I look down at others who are disciples of other spiritual masters. So, actually that I am a disciple of a particular spiritual master is meant to bring a spiritual identification.
But, I take the spiritual identification in the material consciousness. Material consciousness means I think I am projecting it on my ego. And I want to prove my greatness.
So, in the Vedic context, when the names were given, the names served three distinct purposes. First was, of course, the names were connected with some sacred personalities. And that itself brought auspiciousness.
Secondly, the names were also given with some astrological understanding so that the names reflected the quality of that person. So, here at one level we could say that Balram, that’s his eternal name Balram in the spiritual world. Simply come to this world and descend it.
But, the way the Leela is being performed, the lord doesn’t always act as if he is the supreme. He acts as if he is a Narada. He acts as if he is an ordinary human being.
So, in the Leela, when he is given a name, that name is an indicator of the qualities, of the activities. So, in that sense, the name and the character are having some connection, some similarity. Sometimes some people have names which have no connection with their life.
Sometimes we may meet a beggar on the streets in India and that beggar’s name is Lakshmipati. That beggar’s name is the lord of the goddess of fortune. Actually, he is a beggar, functionally.
But the name is Lakshmipati. So, in the material world, when there is no consideration of the qualities, there is no consideration of the activities, no understanding of the character of the person. When the name is given, the name may sometimes have no connection with the character.
So, that’s why astrologically, there is consultation by which the name is an indicator of the character. Of course, to do this, the astrologer has to be very expert. Otherwise, the astrologer may not be able to understand these things.
So, in today’s world, mostly what they do is, astrology is also quite a difficult way of predicting. So, they just give first letters. You know, you want to have a child, try to give a name by this.
Try to give a name which starts with this. They do that. Some people, some devotees adopt that, some devotees don’t adopt that.
But the point is, in the Vedic culture, this is the second purpose. The name was an indicator of the character of the person. Thirdly, the name serves as a reminder of what one is meant to be.
So, for example, first verse, for example, in Bhagavad Gita 2.13, Krishna tells Arjuna, you are not the body, you are the soul. And yet, in the next verse itself, 2.14, he says that, So, after telling Arjuna that you are not the body, Krishna is addressing Arjuna using two names which are related with the body. First name is Bharata.
That means you are a descendant of the Bharata dynasty. And secondly, Kaunteya. You are the daughter, you are the son of Kunti.
If he is not the body, then why is he called Bharata? Why is he called Kaunteya? Prabhupada explains the purport over there, that our belonging to a particular dynasty, it brings with it a responsibility to act to keep the honour of that dynasty. So, Krishna is implying to Arjuna, yes, distancing oneself from the body, tolerating body ups and downs, this is difficult. But you can do difficult things because you belong to a glorious dynasty.
You are the son of a glorious mother who has done difficult things. Although she became a widow, still she took care of all of you. She helped you all to grow up.
So, because you belong to, you have glorious antecedents, therefore you can work in a glorious way. So, the name can also be an indicator of how we are meant to behave. So, this way, the name is a reminder of Krishna, a name is a predictor of the character and the name is a pointer to appropriate worthy behaviour.
So, whatever names we have in today’s world, the names are, of course, for practical purposes, they are for conversation, they are for interaction. So, when we have this, whatever name we may be used to address ourselves, others may address us, we have to, the process of purification means, we essentially change our identification so that we identify with the reality of who we are. That I am a servant of Krishna and I am meant to serve Krishna.
The more this identification becomes deep-rooted, then we will be able to move steadily in our practise of bhakti. When Srila Prabhupada came to Mumbai, at that time there was a member of the VHP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, who came to, who supported us when we had a problem in the temple. Some hooligans had attacked and they were trying to take over the Juhu temple.
So, after that, this person, Mahadevya, when he was talking with Prabhupada, he said that, Swamiji, you pronounce Sanskrit verses in a very different way. You see, in India, Bengalis pronounce Sanskrit verses in a particular way. South Indians pronounce in a different way.
So, the Bengali way of pronunciation of verses is quite non-standard, if you consider South India to be the standard way. So, Prabhupada, very nonchalantly replied, what can I do? I have a Bengali body. So, Prabhupada, even in normal conversation, he doesn’t say, I am a Bengali.
He says, I have a Bengali body. And based on that Bengali body, my pronunciation will be accordingly. But the important thing is, I am using, quoting the verses to serve Krishna, to glorify Krishna.
So, a devotee is aware of one’s material identification. But a devotee’s focus is always on serving Krishna. And gradually, as we become purified, our identification changes till it harmonises with our identity.
When our self-identification becomes that I am a servant of Krishna, I am meant to serve Krishna, when that becomes our identity, then we will no longer need any more identity. Then when we die, we will be returning to the spiritual world to act according to our eternal identity. So, that is the ultimate purpose of whatever functional identifications we may have in this world, to restore our consciousness to the level of our eternal identity.
I’ll summarise. I spoke today about how, here, the name-giving ceremony of Krishna and Balram has been taken place. And there, Balram is given names according to his qualities.
So, I talked about how there is the identity which we have for functional purposes. And there is the identification which, identity which we have, that means who we are. And identification is how the world sees us or how we look at the world.
So, for functional purposes, we have conceptual categories. This person is Indian, this person is African. And we put them in those categories and we function appropriately.
So, although the world may put us in a particular, identify us in a particular way, we have to see how I identify myself. The world may call me South Asian, but I may identify myself as Indian. The world may call me Indian, I may identify myself as South Indian, Maharashtrian, whatever.
So, the process of bhakti ultimately means we have to change our identification so that we identify as servants of Krishna. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, I reject all varna and ashram designations. And I am simply the servant of Krishna.
So, from a point of view of consciousness, he rejects all of them. At the same time, from functionality, he acts according to his identity. Very strictly following the rules and conduct expected of a sannyasi.
So, there is the vyavaharic practical and paramarthic which is transcendental. So, we cannot conflate the two. So, as devotees, we are transcendentally simply servants of Krishna, beyond everything material.
But functionally, in the world’s religious classification, we fall somewhere. Just as Vrindavan is transcendental to the material world, but it is placed in a particular country in the material world. So, for our service to Krishna, whichever identification is functionally favourable, we accept that.
But, if we identify too much with that identification, then that may constrict our world view. And we may start conflicting with others whose identification is different. Like a catholic considering that a protestant is worse than a prostitute.
So, we have to be careful that our identification doesn’t become another source of illusion. Rather, it becomes a source towards freedom from illusion. So, for serving Krishna, if a particular identification can inspire, then we can refer to that.
Prabhupada encouraged Americans. What is the use of you being Americans if you don’t do something wonderful? Prabhupada encouraged Indians. India, Bhagavad Gita is your book.
Why are you not studying and sharing it? So, functionally, we adopt whatever identification works for us, so that we become inspired to serve Krishna. Krishna tells Arjuna, you are not the body. But then he says, O Kaunteya, O Bharata, act according to the way in which you can eventually realise that you are the soul.
Purification is not just about changing our actions or our desires. Ultimately, changing our identification. So, by the end of our life, if our identification has become that I am a servant of Krishna, then we won’t need another birth with another identification.
But rather, we’ll be restored to our eternal identity as servant of Krishna and we will attain Krishna’s abode. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
So, are there any questions or comments? Did you say something? Yeah, some people are very astute. Even just a little accent. Oh, you are from South India.
You are from Maharashtra. You are from Bengal. So, like that people can make out.
Yeah, some people are very sharp in that. Yes, thank you. Any questions or comments apart from that? Yes, go.
Okay. I’ll answer briefly. How do we improve our chanting? See, basically, there is material reality, spiritual reality, and there is, you could say, material fantasy.
So, for example, if I am sitting for chanting, my mind may go into material fantasy. This person did like that. How dare he could have done like that? I will do like this.
I will show this person. So, we are sitting in a temple to chant, but our consciousness is not, leave alone in spiritual reality, it is not even material reality. It is in material fantasy.
So, actually, chanting is a process by which, it’s like, the holy name is meant to be like an elevator for our consciousness, by which it takes us from material reality to spiritual reality. But unfortunately, it’s like the elevator keeps going up and down, but we are chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. The elevator is going up and down, but we don’t enter the elevator only.
There is another elevator which is going down, and we enter into that elevator. So, the elevator which is going to take us towards spiritual reality, that is externally being recited, but we enter into another elevator, which takes us down to material fantasy. So, basically, to improve our chanting, we need to become more conscious, first of all.
First of all, I have to become conscious of material reality. So, being aware of our circumstances, being aware of our situation, that is the characteristic of the mode of goodness. If I am not even conscious of my circumstances, if I am in material fantasy, then, that is, I am either in the mode of passion or ignorance.
So, once I am conscious of material reality, this is the time of my sadhana, I am serving Krishna in manifestation of the holy name, I am sitting in the temple now, I am going for a japa walk, whatever it is. Become aware of our reality. And, once we are aware, that awareness brings purposefulness.
If there is no awareness, then there is no purposefulness also. Because, if I am thinking, this person did like this, that person did like that, that person, then our mind just wanders everywhere. So, if I bring that awareness, what am I doing right now? From that awareness, the purposefulness comes.
Okay, now this is the time, I am going to focus on Krishna and absorb myself in Krishna. The mind will wander. You just can’t avoid it.
And Krishna also doesn’t expect that in the early stages of our bhakti, the mind will not wander. yato yato nishchalati manas chanchalam astiram tatas tathoniyam yaitat atmanyebhavishyam naye Krishna says, whenever the mind wanders, bring it back under the control of the self. So, what we need to do is that when the mind wanders at different places, we most often, we want the mind to go towards spiritual reality, focus on Krishna, the sound of Krishna’s holy names, but it’s going off towards material fantasy.
Yes, I’ll do this. Why did this happen? What about that? So, when that happens, get the mind back. The mind may stray away, but let it not stay away.
Get it back. And often to get it back to Krishna becomes very difficult. So, at least get it back to material reality.
After one round, or after two, three rounds, after four rounds, if you find the mind is wandering too much, take a few deep breaths. Remind yourself, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? How am I doing it? These three questions, they are very strong awareness generators. What am I doing? Why am I doing it? And how am I doing it? So, if we periodically ask these questions, and even if our mind wanders off, we’ll get it back on track.
We’ll get it back on track. If it wanders off, we’ll bring it back. Again, if it wanders off, we’ll bring it back.
So, at least if you are aware of the material reality, oh, there is this deity of Srila Prabhupada. There are the deities over here. There is this picture of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu performing Sankirtana.
This, at one level, is not aware of Krishna, of this holy name. At least we are connected with something connected with Krishna. So, there is the point of concentration, and there is the circle of concentration.
So, point of concentration means I just hear the holy name. But that’s quite difficult to do. And when we can’t hear the holy name, we let the mind wander all over the universe.
So, we go off into material fantasy. Instead of going to spiritual reality, we go off to material fantasy. So, at the very least, if we have around the point of concentration, I have a circle of concentration.
That means I keep some picture of Krishna in front of me, maybe picture of my spiritual master, picture of my initiation ceremony, or I can keep some quote about the glory of the holy name. I can keep printed letters of the holy name. I can keep something which reminds me of Krishna and reminds me of chanting nicely for Krishna.
Then even if the mind wanders, so letting it wander all over the universe, we let it wander within the circle of concentration. So, my mind wanders, I see, okay, this is I maybe keep a verse from the Shastra, keep some thought about the holy name. Oh, I need to chant nicely.
So, the mind wanders there and from there it comes back. So, in this way, if we can get our consciousness back to Krishna from wherever it wanders, then gradually the chanting will improve. Chanting improvement is basically that the mind will always get distracted but over time the frequency and the amplitude of the distraction will decrease.
It will wander but it will come back soon. It will come back sooner, we will become more aware. It’s a gradual process and at one level we want to avoid distraction, at another level we want to cultivate attraction.
So, hearing about Krishna is extremely important. If we just sit and chant the holy name, it may be difficult to experience Krishna but if we are hearing about Krishna regularly, then that brings awareness. This is the Lord whom I am trying to connect with and I want to connect with.
Then we can connect wholeheartedly. So, by cultivating awareness and purposefulness, by having a circle of concentration to which we can let the mind wander and get it back from there and by hearing about Krishna to infuse our calling His holy names with intensity, with awareness, by all these we can gradually improve our chanting.