When chanting requires mind control, why do we say that chanting leads to mind control?

Transcript

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beneficial for us, thank you question when we say that chanting will help us to control the mind but then we say that you should control your mind while chanting and concentrate so it’s contradictory do we need to first control our mind and then chant attentively or if something is required for practicing the process how can we say that is the result of the process answer there are degrees of mind control and the point here is that mind control is not a zero one stage it’s not like digital logic it’s progressive analog so we all have some level of mind control with us even now if we had no mind control we would not be able to do anything constructive in life so even hearing this answer requires some level of ability to concentrate the mind on one subject so like that we all have some level of mind control and the process of chanting by connecting us with Krishna gradually purges, cleanses the mind of those influences, those impurities that make it distracted that tend to make its focus go from desirable objects to undesirable from worthy objects to unworthy objects so lust, anger, greed envy, pride, illusion these impurities, these anarthas are the primary eroders of concentration they are the central forces that actually cause distraction that make it difficult for us to concentrate it, not impossible now there may be other complexes people have inferiority complex, people may have depression, now all these are variants of this only so pride when it is unexpressed it becomes inferiority complex when it is when one has pride but one is not able to do things which will boost one’s pride which will express one’s pride and one gets inferiority complex, one may get depression and whatever else, so the point here is not to analyze the various emotions that may cause distraction that may erode our ability to control the mind but the point is to recognize that there is there is a certain level of mind control we have and there are factors which erode our mind control so our capacity to have greater mind control now one way to control the mind is by the sheer power of the will so I will focus on this, now that can definitely help because we have willpower and we are meant to use our willpower so we may use our willpower for say studying and I may be tempted to just somebody, some student may be tempted to serve some site while exams are there tomorrow but then the student says no I have got to study so we use willpower to do the, to control the mind so that’s possible for us to some extent but this use of willpower does not cleanse the mind of the impurities so that means that say somebody so now if we can say somebody has a disease now in that disease the person gets a craving for a particular food so now we may say that actually you take this treatment you take this ayurvedic treatment or whatever I just take a hypothetical, somebody has jaundice or typhoid or whatever consider some disease which impels one to say which is being caused by eating oily foods and at the same time so now if one has to stop one has to become free from that disease one has to stop eating that food but at the same time there is also the craving for that food so now or let’s take another example of some form of addiction so now therapy, suppose somebody is alcoholic and the therapy is meant to free that person from addiction but then therapy also requires controlling their addiction so now is it that the therapy is how can we say that if the therapy end of the therapy is to control to get the control over the addiction but the therapy requires control of the addiction and how do we say what kind of therapy is this no, therapy certainly requires us to use whatever existing willpower we have but along with that the therapy also provides us powerful aids powerful supports by which that control will become easier so for example during therapy a person may be taken to some therapy clinic or retreat center where the person doesn’t have exposure to alcohol and is protected from stimuli about alcohol and that itself makes the control of alcohol easy, control of the urge for alcohol easier but still the urge will be there and still some level of control is required so the control becomes easier when one is following the therapy but still there is control which is required so similarly at one level for chanting also the control is required but if we keep chanting then chanting will cleanse the mind of the influences that make it uncontrolled and in that way eventually the mind control will become much easier so for example say somebody might have been addicted to tea or coffee or meat or eggs or whatever and as soon as one sees that one starts getting a craving but if one keeps chanting its purified then that craving goes away and then even if somebody else is drinking tea or eating non-veg or whatever one doesn’t feel agitated so what has happened actually one is no longer in the phase of mind control, there is mind conquest or we could say mind conversion so control means somebody is opposing something and we have to control it but when the mind is converted that means the mind has understood that okay just eating these sort of foodstuffs is not good so I don’t want to eat them so then the battle of mind control is entirely won and how does that happen because chanting has purified the mind of those cravings and the chanting has given the mind higher taste so now we require to use whatever willpower we have for concentrating on any activity and similarly we require to use some willpower to control the mind for doing chanting but chanting will eventually convert the mind and that’s how it will give us mind control, it will give us something better than mind control it will give us mind conquest, the mind will become our friend joining us in doing what we would like to do, so its not like that say India conquers Pakistan Pakistan still remains enemy but India controls it but if Pakistan becomes India’s friend, that is even more remarkable and instead of travelling both India and Pakistan work together, so that’s like that so the mind will not only be controlled but it will be converted it will not only be controlled, not only be conquered but it will be converted and that is the wonder of the holy name which it will bring about so Krishna says the mind will become our friend eventually but during the process we do have to use our willpower and sometimes it may appear that during chanting or for concentrating in chanting we require more endeavor we require more exertion than what we may require for concentrating on studies or other activities why is that? that’s because the mind knows that if there is concentration in the holy name, if there is concentration on Krishna then I will lose control the mind is under no threat like this when a person is studying or say when a person is watching cricket or watching a movie at that time there is no threat for the mind because this is what the mind wants us to do because we are doing what the mind wants us to do so actually the mind not only cooperates, mind incites us but even if there is something like studies the mind may initially oppose but mind doesn’t oppose so much sometimes because the studies is not going to threaten the mind’s control on us, ok during this time you study but afterwards you are under my control you will do what I want so the studies don’t, generally I am talking about academic studies or academic or professional work whatever we do we concentrate for that also but that doesn’t purify the mind and so in that sense that is not a big threat for the mind but focusing the mind on Krishna comprises a threat for the mind because the mind understands that if this person develops a taste for Krishna then I will no longer have control, I won’t be the boss of this person Krishna will become the boss and Krishna will not only become this person’s boss Krishna will become my boss also so the mind resists and that’s why sometimes when chanting we may find a vehement resistance from the mind but we should know that this is like the last gasp of the rebelliousness that is there within the mind and that will gradually go away and eventually the mind will get converted and then we will be able to practice bhakti joyfully, Krishna says when the passion is gone at that time the mind becomes peaceful Shant Rajasam Prashant, the passion has become peaceful, the mind has become peaceful and then Yoginam Sukhamuktamam one will experience the highest happiness so we whatever mind control we have capacity we use that for controlling the mind and as we use it then we grow further and further and eventually our mind we will get conquest over the mind just like when a person is lifting weights, at that time it is said by weight lifting your muscles will develop but then it is also said that to develop to do weight lifting we have to use our muscles, you may say how is this what I am going to get at the end how can I do it at the beginning initially we use whatever little muscles we have but by doing weight lifting regularly our muscles become greater and stronger and then we have a very strong healthy body, so similarly whatever little mind control we have we use it and by that our mind control will become greater and chanting differs from other activities where we may just use our existing mind control to concentrate in two ways, one is that chanting purifies the mind and therefore not only controls but not only conquers but converts the mind and secondly chanting helps us to focus our mind on Krishna chanting is a means to focus the mind on Krishna who is the supreme attractive person and becoming attached to him is life’s supreme perfection that will give us everlasting happiness something that will not come by concentrating the mind on other things so chanting is an exercise in mind control but the result of it is not just mind control or mind conquest, it is mind conversion and not only just mind conversion it is attainment of supreme everlasting happiness which is life’s supreme success thank you so when trying to