When the mind cries wolf, don’t fall for its bluff

Congregation program on Gita 18.35 at Ashbury, USA

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you, Shri Prabhupada. Hare Krishna.
So, I welcome all of you to today evening’s program. And, Hare Krishna. Am I audible behind or not so clear? Hare Krishna.
Is it better now? Hare Krishna. So, I welcome all of you today evening for this program and I’ll speak on the topic of when the mind cries wolf. Now, when the mind cries wolf, most of us may have heard of the story in childhood of the boy who cried wolf.
Now, this boy was told to guard a village. Anytime when a wolf would come, the boy was supposed to tell, wolf, wolf is coming, wolf, wolf, wolf. And then all the people would take defensive measures, maybe run to shelter.
And this boy thought, oh, I have so much power, I have so much control. So, even when no wolf would be coming, the boy would start calling, wolf, wolf, wolf. And then everybody would become fearful, panic struck.
And then they find, actually there was no wolf, this boy was simply playing a trick. And once, twice, thrice, four times, five times the boy did trick. Like this, the people got fed up.
And eventually, when the boy was standing at the guard, a real wolf actually came. And when the real wolf came, at that time, the boy cried, wolf, wolf, wolf. But nobody paid any attention to him.
And the result was, that the wolf came and the boy tried to run away, but before the boy could run away, the wolf pounced on the boy. And when the boy screamed and was terribly injured, afterwards the villagers realized this was a real wolf. So, the boy first cried wolf, that means he tried to portray an illusion that there was a wolf.
But when the real wolf came, nobody believed him. So, our mind is also like that. Our mind has multiple tendencies.
And I have acronym mind, which is a long seminar, M, I and D. The mind magnifies problems, M. I is the mind imagines pleasures. N is it neglects opportunities. And D is it denies reality.
So, this is a whole seminar. I cannot take all of it, because we have less time. I’ll be focusing only on the first part today, how the mind magnifies problems.
So, when I was just introduced to Bhakti about 20 years ago, at that time, it’s a big news, sad news actually. In the college student circle, there was a girl in one of the top colleges, top medical colleges in India, the JJ Medical College in Mumbai. So, she was a student there.
And throughout her medical career, she has always been the topper, number one. And then her final exam was there, the last paper. And she had been a topper throughout.
And she had studied well also. She had, she was well on track of becoming a topper now. And somehow, just a few days before the exam, thoughts started entering into her mind.
What if I don’t top now? What if I don’t come first? She said, Oh, all the prestige that I’ve got of being a consistent topper. Hey, if I don’t top in my final exam, all the prestige will be lost. And she became increasingly demoralized.
Her friends tried to encourage her. Come on, you’ve done well. You studied well.
You will do well. Don’t worry. But somehow she became more and more depressed.
And the day before the exam, she committed suicide. For no reason, no relationship issue, no major other problem in the life. Just the thought, what if I couldn’t come a topper? Now, actually, the exam has not even come.
The reality of whether she’s a topper or not, that is also not materialized. But just that imagination, what if I don’t come a topper? Now, that itself devoured her. So the mind actually is, can become very dangerous if it is not regulated.
And we can all look at our lives and we will see that we often get worked up about problems that often don’t materialize. Of course, we often, there is other tendency also, you know, we are not concerned about serious problems also. But quite often, if we look at the things that we worry about, 80 to 90% of those worries don’t materialize.
Those things don’t happen. What if this happens? What if that happens? What if that happens? And we get so worked up about it. So there are multiple problems of the mind, which people have.
And one of them, which people often have is called a panic attack. Now, a panic attack is a situation where people’s brain stops functioning. They start trembling.
They have emotional collapse. They just can’t think of anything. So, and this is a, sometimes it can be a pathological condition where there’s some imbalance in the brain chemicals.
But most often, it is not a pathological condition. It’s primarily a psychological condition. So, say somebody is going along the road and they see a overturned car.
And now, or somebody is going to fly by a plane and they see, they hear the news of a plane that has crashed or a plane that has disappeared. And then they just start thinking, what if I travel and such a thing happens? And then just that thought itself makes them paralyzed and paranoid. Paralyzed means they can’t do anything.
And paranoid means they become so fearful, constantly insecure. Now, there is a difference between possibility and probability. The possibility of danger is always there in this world.
But that does not mean we can stop living. Isn’t it? If we are simply going to consider possibility of danger, well, there is a fractional possibility that while we are sitting right now, the roof may collapse on our heads. But what can we do about it? We can’t just live the rest of our lives constantly in a state of perpetual fear.
So, possibility is that which can happen. Probability is that which is likely to happen. So, we can’t live our life constantly fearful about possibilities.
Now, probability means, say, if I have a car in which the brakes are not working, and then if I’m driving fast, then there is not a possibility, there is a probability of an accident. And then I have to do something. Maybe I don’t drive, I take some other, I hire a cab, or I get the car brake fixed or whatever.
So, there are problems which we, there are problems where we can do certain things to fix them. But suppose a plane crashes, what, can we do anything about it? You know, we can’t do anything. So, and relatively speaking, if we consider the number of planes that fly safely and the number of planes that crash, it’s an infinitesimal percentage.
The danger is always there, but the danger is a possibility, it is not a probability. So, most often our mind makes us worried, makes us worked up about problems that are not really problems. So, for example, you know, we are sitting and chanting one day, and then we are sitting in the temple, and then we see some devotee.
That devotee walks in. Now, 15 years ago, that devotee had taken $10 from me. And he didn’t return it to me.
And he is so irresponsible, you know. He calls himself a devotee, a big devotee, but doesn’t even keep his word. And you know, that $10, we didn’t remember for 15 years.
But now we remember and we get worked up about it. And as we are chanting, we are cursing. The tongue may be chanting, but the mind is cursing.
So, both of them are running on two parallel tracks. So, that’s how we sometimes get worked up about things which are inconsequential. And then we decide, I will go and ask him.
That, you know, you took $10, you didn’t give me. I’m about to explode. He says, no, I gave it to your wife.
Oh, really? You go, yeah, he gave it to me. I thought it was a small amount. Why should I tell you? So, there’s no problem at all, actually.
So, the thing is, sometimes there’s no problem and the mind makes it into a big problem. Or the mind, there’s a problem, but the mind makes it much, much bigger than what it needs to. So, we can all see in our life when we get worked up about things.
See, there is, most of you must have heard the word utopia. Utopia means a very unrealistic positive reality. Don’t live in a utopia, we say.
Now, don’t imagine that everything will be perfect. So, the opposite of utopia is dystopia. Dystopia means everything is terrible.
An imagination that everything is terrible. So, the mind actually often has a tendency to bring about a dystopian picture of reality. You know, if you want to meet someone and that person says, I don’t have time.
Then the mind says, you know, everyone is busy. No one has time for me. No one loves me.
No one cares for me. I’m so lonely. Oh no, I’m so sad.
I’m good for nothing. Life stinks. You know, so just from one person saying, I don’t have time right now, the mind goes, life stinks.
So, this is how the mind actually takes a small incident and makes a huge problem out of it. So, now when this happens, the mind is basically a crying wolf. There is no real problem, but the mind is a wolf, wolf, wolf, wolf.
So, once there was a lady, she believed that there was a frog in her stomach. You know, there’s a, what is it? There’s a name for this. It’s a patho, it’s a disease.
It is called, I forget the name, abdominal parasitomosis or something like that. It’s a technical word. So, she was imagining that there’s a frog.
The doctor said, there’s no frog. Your frog cannot live in your stomach. So, I go, no, no, there is a frog.
I can feel it moving inside. How they did the sonography, there’s nothing inside. She’ll go to one doctor, second doctor, third doctor, fourth doctor, and nobody, there’s no frog.
They couldn’t do anything about it. But finally, she went to a doctor. Doctor, they’ve got a frog inside.
Now, doctor realized that she was not going to listen. So, she said, okay, yes. You know, there’s a frog inside.
We need to remove it. So, we’ll do a surgery. He gave her anesthesia and then he told a nurse to go to nearby lake and get a frog.
And he just gave her a small injection on her stomach. And then, when she came out with anesthesia, they showed her the frog. See, this frog we got out.
Oh, doctor, thank you so much. I’m feeling so relieved. Thank you.
You’ve ended my nightmares. You’re so great. You’re so effusely grateful.
And everybody thought the doctor was very clever. Everybody appreciated. Okay, we solved the problem now.
But after 10 days, that woman came back. Doctor, the frog had babies inside. The babies are still inside.
You have to do surgery again to remove the babies. So, there are situations when the mind can make a fool out of us. Now, in this particular situation, we’re laughing at the person.
When that person is going through that situation, it is not a laughing matter for them. For them, it is a very serious matter. So, sometimes say somebody is very worried about something.
Now, we tell them cool down. Quite often that doesn’t work because this is an important point to understand that our thoughts or our thought patterns, they are not just choices. We think, we may think, think about this, don’t think about this.
You have a choice. You know, why do you worry about future problems? Don’t worry about it. We may think, we think of thoughts simply as choices.
You think about this, don’t think about this. At one level, they are choices. But at another level, our thoughts are also tendencies.
We have a tendency to think in a particular way. So, for example, if this floor is inclined in a particular direction, if the floor is inclined like this, if water falls on the floor or ground, then naturally the water will move this way. Why is that? Because the inclination is like that.
Similarly, by the way we have thought in the past, our thoughts have also developed an inclination. That’s why by default, our thoughts will go in particular directions. And that’s why if I say the water, why is it moving this way? Why can’t it move that way? Well, it’s inclined like that.
It’s inclined like that. And because it is inclined like that, there is the tendency of the water to move in that direction. Now, the water can be forcibly, you know, I may have a cloth or I may have some mop or something by which I can push the water in the other direction.
But that requires force. By itself, the water will move in a particular direction. See, the mind and the brain are two different things.
The brain is a physical structure, whereas the mind is subtle. So, in a sense, the brain, we could say like the, in a computer that you have a CPU, central processing unit. That is the, where is the brain? And the mind is like the software, you could say the operating system.
So, scientists have found, if they study the brain, that based on the way people think, certain, the brain’s connections also get rewired. That means if people who are habitual alcoholics, now there in the brain, there are synapses. Now, there are different brain cells, the dendrites, which connect through synapses.
And the way the brain cells get connected more and more, that is the way we think repeatedly. So, they found that if people do meditation, then the brain centers, the brain area, which is capable of deep thinking, the synapses over there get more developed. That part of the brain gets more developed.
And that is why whenever people start thinking, they think deeply. Because now, meditation is not simply those synapses developing. Meditation also is a deeper reality we are getting connected with.
But the point I am trying to make here is that our thoughts are not just choices. They are also patterns. They are also tendencies.
And if somebody has a habitual tendency to worry, tell them, don’t worry. They get angry, how can I not worry? Oh, there is so much problem. Sometimes, you know, if people who are chronic worriers and somebody else is not worrying, they get angry, how can you not worry? It’s such a serious problem.
For them, the problem is serious. For others, it may not be serious. But for them, it is serious.
So, now, of course, when I talk about the brain connections being formed, the brain connections are not permanent. They are also changeable. So, brain patterns can also be changed.
But the thing is, when the inclination is formed in a particular way, by nature, thoughts will go in that direction. In the Bhagavad Gita, it analyzes the world in terms of the three modes. Satvaguna, Rajoguna, and Tamoguna.
The mode of goodness, the mode of passion, and the mode of ignorance. Actually, Prabhupada translates it. So, now, these modes are basically are subtle forces that shape the interaction between consciousness and matter.
The soul has consciousness and there is matter all around. So, the subtle forces that shape the interaction between consciousness and matter, they are the modes. So, as an example of how the modes function, say there are three people in a bus who are traveling.
And they are sitting in three successive windows. The first is in Satvaguna, the second is in Rajoguna, third is in Tamoguna. And all three of them look out of a window and they are going through a green forested area.
The person in Satvaguna looks and this person is reading a book. And the bus is shaky. The person is not able to read.
That person looks in the forest. He says, oh, how peaceful, how serene. I can just lose myself in the wisdom of this book if I were under a tree in this greenery.
The second person is in the mode of passion. And as soon as he sees the greenery, he thinks of the latest romantic movie he has seen. He thinks, oh, you know, if I just had a partner, I would dance and I would enjoy.
I would have such a great time. The third person is in the mode of ignorance. And that person is trying to sleep.
And the bus is shaking. He is not able to sleep. So he looks in the forest.
So green, so peaceful. I could just sleep so joyfully here. So it is the same greenery, but the effect, the thoughts that go in each person are different.
Why? That is the effect of the modes. So the modes shape what the interaction between matter and consciousness. Consciousness is the person and the matter here is the greenery.
So how that same greenery will be perceived by different people will vary depending on what mode they are in. And if we live in a particular mode regularly, then that mode becomes habitual within us. So worrying is not just a choice that we can make or not make.
Worrying is a result of the mode of ignorance. यया स्वप्नं भयं शोकं विशादं मदमेवचन विमुञ्चति दुर्मेधा दृति सापार्थ तामसी। Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita talks about, this is 18.35, he talks about determination in the mode of ignorance. दृति सापार्थ तामसी, दृति is determination, तामसी is ignorance.
So now we may say, what do you mean by determination in the mode of ignorance? Normally we consider determination as something good. But when determination is directed for something bad, something unhealthy, something harmful, then that determination is often, it’s not called as determination. We usually use the word obstinacy, stubbornness.
So Duryodhana was stubborn. He didn’t hear anyone’s advice, give up one half of the kingdom to Pandavas. Why do you want to ruin the whole dynasty and court your own death? So he was determined to hold on to the kingdom, but that determination was perverse and so it is called as obstinacy.
So Krishna gives characteristics of what comprise determination in the mode of ignorance. And he says, यहाँ सोपनम्, यहाँ सोपनम् doesn’t refer to sleeping, it refers to daydreaming. Just idly daydream, I do this, I do that.
So it is said that, vision without action is a daydream. Vision without action is a daydream. And action without vision is a day nightmare.
You have no plan, I do this, I do that, I do that. I just increase complexity of life. यहाँ सोपनम्, second he says, भयम्, fearfulness.
Constant fearfulness, this may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong, that may go wrong. That paranoia, that constant fearfulness, Krishna says it is a characteristic of the mode of ignorance. यहाँ सोपनम्, भयम्, शोकम्, शोकम् means grieving, lamenting basically.
So now, something has gone wrong in our life. Yes, when things have gone wrong, we will feel bad about it. But life moves on and we also have to move on.
Something has gone wrong and we don’t get over it. We all face problems in life, we all face sometimes failures, sometimes adversities. But if we don’t get over, then what happens is grief, lamentation rather, see there is the past, there is the present and there is the future.
So our consciousness should be in the present and we prepare for the future. What lamentation does is, lamentation creates a wall that blocks the path from the past to the future. And lamentation locks us in the past.
This went wrong, why did it go wrong, why did it go wrong? In getting worked up about why it went wrong, you are going wrong now, isn’t it? What can we do about it? So in the Mahabharata it says that grief, that lamentation achieves nothing other than to sap the energy of the lamenter. Lamentation achieves nothing. The only thing it does is it saps our energy.
Now there are natural emotions which whenever things go wrong, naturally we’ll feel bad, that’s perfectly understandable. But we have to move on with life. So when some people are constantly lamenting about all this went wrong, that went wrong.
And that is also in the mode of illness. Vishadham means, actually it is moroseness. Moroseness means, it is habitual pessimism.
It’s like, you know, a person is always pessimistic. You know, every situation, this problem can be there, this problem can be there, this problem can be there, this problem can be there. And such people, they just can’t do anything in their lives.
They always try to discourage themselves and then they discourage others. Vishadham, madham is intoxication. So basically to think that the solution to every problem lies at the bottom of a bottle of alcohol.
I’ll drink, I’ll drink away all my problems. That is an illusion. Actually, the problems simply get aggravated.
But all these, Krishna says is, this is, Vishadham madham evacham na vimunchati durmedha. Medha is intelligent, durmedha is misdirected intelligence. Na vimunchati is that which does not give up.
So the dhruti, the determination that does not give up this kind of thought patterns, that is determination in the mode of ignorance. Dhrutisapartha tamasi. So pertinent to our discussion, bhayam, fearfulness, worrying, this is actually a characteristic of a mind caught in the mode of ignorance.
So, now this is not to say, when we say that we should not worry or the mind makes us worry about problems, this is not to say that there are not real problems. Real problems are there, just like a real wolf also exists and a real wolf can also attack. But the child, the boy should be warning about the real wolf when it comes, not scaring people by talking about a wolf even when no wolf is there.
So like that, the mind, what it does is, it drains our energy about imaginary problems and then leaves us no time for real problems. Sometimes people say that, you know, sometimes people come for a spiritual program and they come to program and you tell them this world is dukkha le, there is so much misery in this world. They say, already I am miserable, I come for relief, why are you telling me there is so much more misery? But the point is that, it is not that, when we come in the Bhagavad Gita’s message, the message essentially is optimistic.
But it begins with a realistic diagnosis. Just like if a doctor tells a patient, you have got cancer, the patient may say, I had some pain in my chest, now there is going to be a pain in my head also, why do you tell me such a thing? Well, that cancer is curable, then it is important for the doctor to tell about the disease and not just tell about the disease, tell about the seriousness of the disease also, how it might grow further and then what will happen? By understanding the seriousness of the disease, the patient will take the treatment seriously. So, the point of the doctor’s diagnosis or diagnosis actually tells the problem, prognosis is to tell what is going to happen in the future.
The doctor gives a grim prognosis, the point is not to scare the patient, the point is not to be pessimistic, the point is to prepare the patient to take the treatment. Similarly, there are real problems in life, there is janma, mrityu, jarab, yadhi, there is old age, deceased death and then there is rebirth. These are serious problems.
Why are they serious problems? Suppose we are going in a car and say we are going in a car on a hilly road and then ahead of the road we see there is a pothole or we see there is a speed breaker and I get, oh, I should avoid this pothole, I should avoid this speed breaker or I should, but we get so caught in trying to see that, okay, this pothole I should avoid, this speed breaker I should avoid, but that road is actually just a road that rides off a cliff. We may expertly avoid the potholes and minimize the bump because of speed breakers, but if we are going straight ahead and we are going to fall off a cliff, then getting consumed by the small problem and not realizing the big problem ahead, that is a far bigger problem. So like that, we all have problems in our life and we need to deal with them, but if we get consumed by these problems, we forget that, okay, whatever I achieve, ultimately old age, deceased death, they are going to take everything away.
If I should invest enough energy to achieve something that these things, these old age, deceased death will not take away, I should increase my spiritual credits, I should increase my attraction to Krishna, that is the asset that will go with me life after life. So when the mind gets us worked up about small problems, then it makes us blind to bigger problems. Like a person is so caught in avoiding potholes that they forget that there’s a cliff of which I’m going off.
So there are real problems in life, and even in the day-to-day course of our life, there are real problems, not just old age, deceased death. We might have real relationship issues, we might have real issues in our profession, real issues with finances, but we have to make sure that the mind does not make the problem bigger than what it is. That means, say, in the past, maybe in America also, there were slaves in the past.
Now suppose a slave was called and told to carry 20 kg weight. Now the slave has to carry it because that’s what the master has taught. But instead of carrying 20 kg, the slave puts 20 kg more and then tries to carry 40 kg.
He’s struggling. He gets crushed under 40 kg. Now no one told him to carry 40 kg.
The slave had to carry only 20 kg. So what happens when the mind magnifies problems, yes, there is a problem that is 20 kg, but the mind adds 20 kg more to it. And then the problem becomes much bigger than what it needs to.
There’s a problem. Okay, say I lost my job or I am in the danger of losing my job because there is a layoff in future. So now, okay, if that is going to happen, I’ll have to prepare for it.
How can I prepare for it? Maybe I have to prepare my CV, I have to contact some friends who might connect me with some other sources where I can get a job. Maybe I’ll visit some online sites. You know, there are practical things which you can do to prepare for that eventuality.
But if at that time I just sit down and think, hey, if I lose my job, what if I don’t get another job? What if I’m not able to pay the mortgage of my house? What if I become homeless? What if I will starve on the streets? Then I will die. Well, right now you’re sitting comfortably in an air-conditioned office with a paycheck assured at the end of the month. But the mind starts imagining, oh, I’ll starve on the streets and I will die.
So now there is no need to. So I don’t have to imagine about all those things right now. So there is a problem and there is the mind’s imagination about the problem.
Now, there is a difference between preparing for the future and worrying about the future. I’ll conclude with this point and then you can have question answers. What is the difference between preparing for the future and worrying about the future? The difference again is that in terms of the Bhagavad Gita’s analysis of three words, when we are preparing for the future, we are in goodness.
When we are worrying about the future, we are in ignorance. And in terms of the analysis, in terms of the mind, when we are preparing for the future, the intelligence is in control of the mind. We are in control of the mind.
We take the mind in the future and we think, okay, if this happens, I can do this. If this happens, I can do this. If this happens, I can do this.
So when we are preparing, we are calm, we are in control and we are planning, we are preparing. If this happens, what can I do? If this happens, what can I do? If this happens, what can I do? But when we are worrying, we are not in control. The mind is in control.
And the mind takes us on a free show to a horror movie. But in this horror movie, we are not the spectator. We are actually the victim.
So when the mind is in control, the mind is like, this may go wrong, this may go wrong, this may go wrong. So when we are preparing for the future, we consider the possibility, we evaluate whether it is a probability and we plan, okay, what can I do to deal with it? But when the mind is in control, we only think out of the possibilities. And not only possibilities, extremely unrealistic possibilities also.
And thus, every time we think of a negative situation, this may go wrong. Because we are simply thinking about the problem and because the mind is in control, it doesn’t allow us to think of the solution. So what happens is, each time we think of one problematic scenario, we feel insecure.
We think about the next problematic scenario, we become insecure. We think about third problematic scenario, we become even more insecure. And by the end of it, we are paralyzed.
So, this is how the mind gets us into a state of big, big misery. So the mind is not, in that sense, the mind is not just the boy who cries wolf. The mind is also the wolf who comes and devours.
Because the mind is not only telling, this problem is there, this problem is there, this problem is there. By telling like this, by telling like this, the mind itself is creating a big problem and then that problem crushes us under its weight. Therefore, actually, now when we say don’t worry, that is not a, it is not something which we can simply do by stop worrying.
Actually, yes, we can consult others, we can talk with others, they may relieve us. But if we want to minimize the habit of worrying, we need to raise our consciousness from ignorance through passion to goodness. And the more we raise our passion, consciousness to goodness and ultimately to transcendence towards Krishna, the more the worrying will become less.
So, at one level, specific worries, we can try to, we can try to deal with them by discussing with others, by getting others to solace or pacify us. But the worrying habit, we cannot just wish it away. We’ll have to purify ourselves.
And that’s why when we practice bhakti, we may feel, I have so many problems in my life, there are so many dangers in my life, what is this bhakti doing for me? But actually, if we practice the process of bhakti diligently, fixing the mind on Krishna, then we will find that over a period of time, the worrying habit will decrease, will decrease. And every day, do we have a time for worrying? Every morning, 7.30 to 8 is my worry time. No, we don’t have a worry time.
But worry, worry goes on practically all the time. Isn’t it? It’s like a background noise which is there, constantly distracting us. If we could minimize the worry, we would save so much time, we would be more available for doing the things that we need to do.
And then we will be able to deal with problems whenever they come more effectively. So the time that we spend in worrying, if we focus on remembering Krishna more, absorbing ourselves in Krishna more, then we will raise our consciousness upwards. And as we come to goodness, the worry will go down and we will be able to prepare for whatever problems are going to come, may come.
We will be able to evaluate whether they are possibilities or probabilities. If they are probabilities, we’ll be able to prepare for them. So fear is a natural human reaction to danger.
So if a fear is good, if a child comes near the edge of a 10-storey building and the child doesn’t feel fear, the mother will feel fear. Isn’t it? Hey, you should be afraid, don’t go there. So fear is a natural and desirable human response to danger.
So fear is not the problem. The imagination that runs loose after fear, that is a problem. When I see a problem and I start imagining, this will go wrong, this will go wrong, this will go wrong, this will go wrong.
And then I let the imagination consume me. That becomes a problem. And that imagination is what can be countered through purification.
When we start practicing bhakti, the process of bhakti itself raises our consciousness and it frees us from the influence of tamoguna. Along with that, when we practice bhakti, we are actually connecting with Krishna. And Krishna himself is the supreme security.
Krishna says, if you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace. So when we are worried about problems, sometimes when we go to Krishna and we are chanting, but we are thinking about a problem. So we are not Krishna conscious, we are problem conscious.
So he says, don’t tell God how big your problems are. You can do that, but more important is, don’t tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big God is. Tell your problems how big God is.
That means when the mind starts making a problem very, very big, don’t worry, Krishna is bigger. Krishna can solve this problem for you. So let me focus on Krishna.
When we focus on Krishna, we find that the best way, in a practical sense, to prevent the mind from making the problem bigger and bigger, is to direct the thoughts towards Krishna, to pray to Krishna, to chant Krishna’s names, to absorb our consciousness in Krishna. And as we become aware of Krishna’s greatness, especially, we hear pastimes of Krishna and that is good. But we may think of pastimes as entertaining stories.
But if we understand the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, then we understand that Krishna is right there in my heart. Krishna is with me. Then when we think about Krishna, the thoughts of Krishna will actually not just be entertaining, but they will be reassuring.
They will be uplifting. Because you know, this same Krishna is so great, he is a protector of his devotees. He is there with me and he will help me deal with problems.
So don’t tell God how big the problems are. Tell the problems, how big God is. That means, tell the problems means, tell the mind which is imagining the problem is very big, that understand how big Krishna is.
He can deal with the problem. And thus, we can make our mind peaceful and we can counter this habit of unnecessary worrying. So when the mind cries, wolf, we should cry Krishna.
We should say, wolf, wolf, wolf, wolf. We cry Krishna. We call out to Krishna and then we’ll be able to silence the mind or at least neglect the mind.
I’ll summarize. I talked about how the topic was when the mind cries wolf. So yesterday, the boy who cried wolf, he created, he made people fearful about a wolf when no wolf was there.
And later on, when the real wolf came, the people were unprepared. He himself was unprepared. So like that, the mind imagines problems.
It magnifies problems, making them much bigger than what they actually are. So I give example of that girl who committed suicide just because she was afraid that I may not top in my last exam in medical college. There’s no problem at all, actually.
I discussed the other story also of the woman who thought that there’s a frog inside my stomach. So when we talk about fear and worry, we discuss that there is possibility and there’s probability. So we can’t let our mind go on a wild ride, worrying about every possibility.
If there is a probability, we do realistic things to deal with it. Like accidents can occur anytime. But if there’s something within my control, which I’m not doing, which is going to cause the accident, then I deal with that.
So if my brakes are not working, I make sure that I repair it. But I can’t just stay at home thinking that an accident will happen. So then we discussed that if somebody is habitually worrying, then worrying is not just a choice.
It has become an inclination. It has become a tendency. In that connection, I discussed the example of how water flows on a particular direction when the floor is inclined.
Like that, our thoughts flow in particular directions when we are repeatedly thought in that way. In fact, the brain itself gets, brain’s connections get reshaped based on the way we are thinking habitually. So for people who are habituated to worry, just telling them don’t worry doesn’t work.
No, they need to actually change their conditioning. And that is the process of bhakti. The process of bhakti, it purifies us and it raises our consciousness from the mode of ignorance to the mode of goodness and beyond the transcendence.
And with respect to mode of ignorance, we discuss 18.35 in the Bhagavad Gita, how daydreaming, fearfulness, worrying too much, shokam, lamenting. So lamenting, I discussed that. Lamentation is the wall that blocks the flow of the past to the future.
This keeps us locked in the past. Vishadam madamevaccha, habitual pessimism and intoxication. All these are ways in which the mind locks us in self-damaging behavior, self-hurting behavior.
And the way to counter this is by the practice of bhakti. So we don’t specifically spend any time in worrying, but worry is going on practically all the time. And if we can practice bhakti, raise our consciousness to goodness, then we’ll find that the worry will automatically decrease.
So, yes, we have problems and we have to deal with them. But there is one thing is preparing for future possibilities, for future problems and other is worrying about them. In worrying, we are in ignorance and the mind is just taking us on a horror movie show.
Whereas in goodness, we are in control and we evaluate possibilities, check if there are probabilities and their probabilities, we prepare practically of what I can do to deal with them. In that way, preparing makes us feel more confident, whereas worrying makes us feel more insecure, more powerless. So worrying, when we keep worrying, then we are having a 20 kg weight to carry, but we make it 40 kg.
There is a problem, but we imagine further situations far bigger than what the problem right now is. So fear is a natural and necessary human reaction to danger. But the post-fear imagination, that is the problem.
And that we can counter in a slow and steady way by the gradual purification through bhakti. But in the immediate way, when we start feeling panicky, we connect with Krishna, we remember Krishna. And when we become conscious of the greatness of Krishna, then we won’t be caught down, we won’t be intimidated by the seeming bigness of the problem.
So don’t tell God how big the problems are. That means when we are going towards God, don’t just be problem conscious, rather try to save the consciousness of God. And then tell the mind, tell the problem filled mind how big God is.
As we become more and more Krishna conscious, we will become more equipped to deal with problems more maturely. So thank you much. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, sir.
The whole topic that we are talking about is about mind. So how that is giving us problems and how we can fix the answers to those problems. So the miseries can come from body-mind or from others or from the nature.
So I’m talking about second pattern. So when the problem comes from different persons, and you, I mean, probably you don’t know the pattern, you know how that comes to you. They keep worrying you.
And then you don’t know patterns. So you cannot actually talk about probabilities, saying, you know, this is a probability, he will come tomorrow and then another day. So you will always have a possibility in that.
I’m saying, you know, he may come and do this harm to you. And you don’t know what’s going on there. So that is where the worry, I mean, we cannot stop the worry.
And it will always be mind will always be thinking, what is the next plan? Okay, that is that when that occurs, you know, with me or my near ones or my family, and I go and try to tell them, you know, let’s not worry them. So they will not listen to it. So they will say, okay, don’t do that.
So we are worried about okay. Yeah. So if we have some person who, who is irritable or creates trouble, and we cannot predict when that person is going to create trouble, so naturally we will worry about it.
So how can we avoid worrying at that time? See, in life, we can put our problems in three broad categories. One is problems which you can directly solve. Second is problems which you can indirectly solve.
And third is problems which you can’t solve. So problems which you can directly solve means, say, you know, if I wake up late every day, I put an alarm, they put two alarms, put one alarm close, one alarm far. So that is there are problems which are created by our own lack of discipline, lack of our self control, the problems which we can solve.
These are, we could say direct action problems. The others are, you know, there are some people who behave in a negative way, in troubling way. And quite often, it is the problem, we are also part of the problem.
That means we behave in a, we behave in a short tempered way, and they respond in a short tempered way, and then it just goes on. So in this case, we can only indirectly affect their behavior. That means we try to avoid being short tempered, we try to avoid being irritable.
And then by our example, they will change. Now, third situation is where they are, there are certain situations which are just not changeable. Some people are just the way they are.
And we have to live with that. So if some people are irritable, well, that is just the way they are. And maybe they will change in the future.
But maybe they will not. Now, sometimes, if we just learn that, okay, this is how I have to, this is how this person is. And I have to live with this.
Although it can seem disempowering, but actually it is, it is relief giving. I don’t have unrealistic expectations. The tolerance means to call off our war with reality.
War with reality is why is it like this? Why is it like this? It is like this. This person is like this. So now what happens that if it is with a physical issue, say, if I get a disease because of which, because of which I have some physical limitation, then I accept it very easily.
But, and if others also get limited in some way because of a disease, then we also accept it. Okay, you know, that person got accident, so they cannot walk around or whatever, they lost their eyes. So at that time, we accept, they are going to have limitations.
But there are also like that psychological limitations. So just as some people may be physically weakened in some way because of past karma, sometimes people may be psychologically also weakened. So that is just the way they are.
And once we accept it, then we can move forward in life. Now, in some relationships, that person is so troublesome that we feel I just cannot continue this. I cannot tolerate this.
Then we may have to create some safe distance between us and them so that we are not so troubled by them. That is a practicality. But in the case of when it’s with respect to other people, we have to know that this is not anything I can do to change.
It is not a direct action problem. It is either an indirect action problem or it is a no solution problem. So as long as we expect that problem to get solved automatically, we set ourselves up for frustration because of unrealistic expectation.
Just accept this is the way the person is and I have to live with this. I have to live with this doesn’t mean that I passively accept it. After I decide, okay, this is how I do it, then I can decide, okay, how can I deal with it? You know, maybe if we do it this way, then I may not have to interact so much with the person or this is what makes the person really explode.
So we will avoid this situation. We can plan afterwards. So just like here in winters, I was told it becomes freezing cold.
Now, if somebody has decided, okay, I want to emigrate to America, I want to be in America, there’s no point in constantly complaining about the cold. Okay, if you can’t tolerate the cold, go back to India or whatever, where you come from. If you are going to be in America, then learn to live with it.
You get warm clothes, we get good temperature insulation for our homes, whatever we do. So, you know, to some extent, physical problems, environmental problems, we understand that they are not in our control. But somehow behavioral problems, we think that they are in our control.
But, you know, Krishna says, people are conditioned and they may just behave in particular ways. Their nature may change, but it may take a long time. And so it’s best to accept that some people are going to be like this and then prepare to live with it.
After we prepare to live with it, we will ourselves find ways in which we can minimize the friction within that particular, between interactions with those people. So, that way, if we can avoid the uncertainty and insecurity, if you understand that, okay, here, I can expect trouble in this relationship, on this particular interaction, then let me prepare for the trouble. It is not a particularly encouraging answer, but sometimes the reality itself is that we can solve the problem only when we recognize the gravity of the problem.
So, some people are just like that, having expectations that they will change only sets us up for frustration. So, better have no expectations. Bhaktivinoda Thakur says in one article, humility means having no expectations from anyone.
You know what I am saying? Well, by that definition, none of us can ever be humble. But if we think of it in this way, we can also think that this is also helping me to develop a work. So, that way, we can look at some things in a positive way.
Does that answer your question? Any other questions? Okay. Yeah. Please.
Just to say, if you accept it, then you do not have that frustration, or do you know that it’s going to happen? You don’t know when it’s going to happen, but when you accept it, because you know that it’s going to happen, it’s something that you’ve done, still it bothers. It bothers, right? When it bothers, it constantly bothers the mind, and then it creates a cycle, which is cycling the thing. How do you come out of it? How do I guess you have to come out of it? Yeah.
Yeah, I understand. I have a point here. So, even if you accept that there are some people are going to behave in a problematic way, still, when they actually behave that way, we are troubled by that, and we get bothered, and that botheration becomes habitual.
So, this is where the influence of Tamoguna is coming. The problem is intermittent. It’s not that that person is going to 24 hours torment us.
The problem is intermittent, but we let that problem trouble us constantly. Say, to give a gross physical example, say, suppose we have a boil on our body. Maybe, when we sit, that boil troubles us.
Now, if I know that it is there, I’ll be careful, and I won’t sit on the boil. But sometimes, accidentally, it’s going to be there. But that boil in the body, if somebody deliberately sits on that only, that’s going to torment all the more.
So, now nobody will do that. Okay, there’s a boil, sometimes, whenever there’s contact or whatever, there’s contact or there’s pressure on that, there’s going to be pain. But what the mind does is, the mind, when Krishna says, it’s our enemy, it is like a person, you know, when I’m sitting down and the boil is going to cause me pain, the mind is like a person who makes me sit on that boil only.
And then it worsens, and I feel much more pain. So, what we need to do is that when somebody is troubling us, and that becomes very troublesome, we need to consciously count our blessings. Okay, this relationship is problematic for me.
But let me look at all the other things that are right in my life and try to direct our thoughts towards that. Yes, we have problems, but quite often there are people who have much bigger problems than what we have. So, if we count our blessings at that time, then this particular situation, which may seem like a curse for us, which may be a curse also, it won’t burden us so much.
So, the mind has a tendency to make an intermittent problem perpetual. The problem itself is intermittent. When it comes, it’s going to trouble, but by dwelling on it constantly, it becomes perpetual.
So, if we can maybe write down the things that are right in our life, count our blessings, write them down and read them. So, when the mind starts to read them, contemplate on them, when the mind starts contemplating negatively, we bring it towards the positives in our life. And then that way the negativity can be countered.
So, counting our blessings, it becomes easier when we have a spiritual conception of life. If we have a largely materialistic conception of life, then a material problem seems to be a huge problem. But if you have a spiritual understanding of life, then there are so many spiritual blessings that are available for us.
And then we understand, okay, material side is one side of my life and within that there is this big problem, but there are so many other things which are right in my life. That conscious cultivation of gratitude can actually help us deal with the negativity. So, whenever there’s a problem, the mind tends to make that problem consume our consciousness and I just can’t think about anything else.
So, suppose we go for a feast, suppose we go for a program and we are told there’s a feast over there and that feast there is gulab jamun. We are told and we go there and we love gulab jamuns. And we go there and find there’s no gulab jamun.
Actually, there’s a nice feast, just that there’s no gulab jamun. Why no gulab jamun? Why no gulab jamun? Why no gulab jamun? Why do you get so irritated? Actually, you know, I just think that there’s so many people, according to survey, you know, one-fourth of all people in the world, they sleep on an empty stomach every day. One-fourth.
So, if I just think about people, I’m not eating gulab jamun, people are not getting anything to eat. So, just think of that. Why am I getting so worked up about this? So, I’ll conclude with this point that, you know, when the mind tries to trick us, we have to become expert in out tricking the mind.
So, a trick of the mind is that there is a problem in my life and the mind is magnifying that problem. So, I have to become expert to out trick the mind. Okay, there is this problem in my life, but, you know, there are others who may be having bigger problems.
And sometimes we look around in life, there are others also who have their own problems. So, that way, we need to find out, I just gave two, three examples of thought exercises, but we have to find out what thought exercise works for us. And by that, we don’t let the mind direct our attention towards the problem, but we redirect it towards the things that are right in our life.
Does that answer your question? Next. Yes. Yeah.
So, our thoughts are not the choices, but tendencies. Bhakti helps us to make the right choices now, but the past tendencies still trouble us. Yes, that is true.
And the way to deal with them is by not letting the past intrude in the present. That means that there is thoughts, there are desires, there are intentions, and then there are actions. So, our thinking, feeling, willing, and acting.
Now, based on the past impressions, certain thoughts may pop up. If I dwell on them, they will become desires. If I dwell on them further, they will become intentions.
If I dwell on them further, they will become actions. Say, in the past, somebody has done a particular activity. Somebody, say, in the past had a particular habit, and then the thoughts of that habit again come up, even when we are practicing bhakti.
And when the thoughts come, when I dwell on it, but then I further dwell on it, it says, somebody has been alcoholic, and that person is recovering from alcohol now. Because of the past alcoholism, the thoughts are going to come. And if I dwell on it, you know, maybe I can just take one drink, one drink is not a problem.
Desire comes. There is a bar close by. Then it becomes an intention.
That person goes in and drinks. So, we have to know that the mind can only propose, it cannot impose. No matter how strong the impressions are, those impressions are only propositions.
They are not impositions. That means a proposition pops up in the mind. It’s like, say, if I am browsing a particular page and a pop-up window comes up.
Now, when the pop-up window comes up right where I am watching, the tendency might be to click it. But I don’t have to click it. The past impressions are like aggressive pop-up windows.
Sometimes in some computer programs, it says, do you want to install this program? And normally, the default choice is no. And if you have to click yes, then the choice is yes. But in the case when our conditioning is very strong, the default choice is yes.
So, what happens is, if you don’t click no, it will automatically happen. But still, we have that choice. So, it is not that the program is going to entirely run automatically.
Program pops up and if we don’t say no, it will just go on and it will act. So, what we need to do is be vigilant enough to not say yes or to say no, whatever it takes. And it is very difficult to empty the mind of illusion.
The best way is to crowd illusion out of the mind. To crowd illusion out of the mind means try to have many engaging things to do constructively in life. Maybe we have material responsibilities, maybe we have devotional inspiration, whatever it is.
Fill the life with Krishna. And then the more we fill the Krishna, even when the propositions come up, I don’t have time for this, I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this. And in that way, we will have greater impetus to neglect those propositions.
But even if the impressions come and even if we sometimes succumb to them, the important thing is to not let the relapse discourage us. Because this is an important point that by our past impressions, certain desires may come up. But the desires are like spikes.
Like I talked about fear earlier or the problem, similarly desire also. It is not that desire troubles us 24 hours a day. It might be there mildly 24 hours, but the desires spike up at certain times.
Depending on our particular condition, maybe daily, it may be weekly, it may be monthly, whatever it is. The desires spike up at certain times. So now, when the desires spike up, sometimes they will be irresistible and we might succumb.
But after the spike has come and gone, what do we do? We don’t have to lament, oh why did I do that? Why did I do that? Why did I do that? No, let me start practicing bhakti. By practicing bhakti wholeheartedly, I’ll become purified and next time when the spike comes, I’ll be better equipped to deal with it. So the past impressions can create spikes and the spikes may seem irresistible.
But the present, when the spikes are not there, what we do that is very consequential. So if we do make the right choices and practice bhakti wholeheartedly during the intermediate phases, then we will be able to resist those spikes also. So three parts I said.
First is that we recognize that the past impressions, they can only create propositions, not impositions. And we can say no to them. We can avoid saying yes, we can say no to them.
And the best way to do that is by saying yes to Krishna and filling our consciousness with Krishna. Third part is that even if we succumb to them, what we do after that is important. We may fall down, but we don’t have to fall away.
Fall down means I’m going along and I fall down. Fall away means I just give up the practice of bhakti. So maya can make us do something wrong.
Maya cannot make us give up practicing bhakti. The temporary force, it may drag us and make us do something wrong. But after that, we have the choice to come back.
That’s why we should always stay connected with Krishna no matter what happens. No matter what the past conditionings are, we always stay connected with Krishna. And by the connection with Krishna, we become purified.
So do we have time to move? It’s 8.37 now. So are we born with our modes? And if we are born, then are we meant to live throughout with them? Or can they be changed? Yes, definitely, we are born with a particular combination of modes. And that is based on the way we have lived in our previous lives.
We are born, certain people are born with certain kinds of qualities. So in this life, the modes push us to act in certain ways. But again, they push us, they don’t force us.
We can counter-push. A simple example that, say, if somebody has a tendency to be lazy, because that person is in the mode of ignorance. And now they have to study for an exam.
If they think that, you know, let me go in my bedroom, lie down in bed and let me study. That is a surefire guarantee that they will just go to sleep. But that person says, yes, I have the tendency to sleep.
But I’ll go to the library where everybody is studying seriously. And then I go there, I place myself in that environment. Even if I feel sleepy, because everybody is studying, I’ll resist that sleep.
I somehow stay awake and I’ll do some studies. So, you know, we can change the externals. And the certain externals make certain actions more likely, certain externals make some actions less likely.
So, by changing our externals, we can assist in changing our behavior also. So, the modes are like the default settings of a device. Default settings, if it comes, say, if a particular, say, mobile is coming with, say, Google Chrome as a default browser.
For some reason, I don’t like Google Chrome. I want something else. Then what I have to do? If I want Firefox or whatever, then I will have to go into the default settings, find out where the default settings are and change them.
That’s going to require some effort. So, like that, all of us have certain default settings, which are the modes which we have acquired from the previous life. But they can be changed.
And it requires conscious choice. Now, can everything about the mode be changed? Not necessarily. So, if somebody has an overall intellectual nature, that’s how they are going to be.
Somebody has an overall Kshatriya nature, if they have managerial nature, that’s how they will be. But even while doing managerial work, some people can be Tamasik, some people can be Rajasik, some people can be, relatively speaking, Satrik. So, what we can do is increase the composition of the higher modes in whatever we are doing.
And that is where spiritual association plays a big, big role. In the 11th Canto, actually, there is a whole list in the Uddhava Gita of 12 things that we can change, by which we can affect a change in our modes. So, I can’t go into all 12.
I’ll just mention some of them. One of them is association. Second is food.
Third is reading. Fourth is the kind of praying. Praying means, basically, it refers to what kind of worship we do, what is our conception of the absolute truth.
So, basically, for our purposes, if we change our association, if we change the kind of things that we read, and if we bring in spirituality into our life, we can definitely increase the composition of the higher modes in our nature. Does that address your question? Can maya also affect us by not letting us achieve our goals? Yes. See, maya’s purpose, Prabhupada was once asked this question, that if our purpose is to serve Krishna, why is maya so strong? And Prabhupada immediately replied, because your purpose is not strong.
Because your purpose is not strong. What that means is, that maya is basically like a examiner who offers a multiple choice exam. Now, in a multiple choice paper, there are four wrong options, one right option.
So, if you are going simply by probability, you may say, hey, there are four wrong options. The probability of my choosing the wrong option is much more. But then, if we have studied the subject, we’ll know how to make the right choice.
So, what maya does is, maya gives us the wrong options also over there. But if we are associating with devotees, if we are connected with Krishna, we know which is the right option and we can choose the right option. So, maya can allure us away from the right option, but ultimately, it is we who choose.
Now, when I am writing answer paper, nobody forces me to click the wrong option. So, like that, maya cannot force us to do the wrong thing. She can allure us, she can tempt us, but it is we who choose.
Does it answer your question? Okay. So, what is the most effective way by which we can avoid getting caught up in problems? What is the most effective Krishna conscious way? See, each of us is individual. Each of us has our individual nature and we have to find out what is the way by which we can direct our consciousness towards Krishna most effectively.
That means, that in bhakti, there are various activities. In this age, the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, that is the recommended yuga dharma. And by chanting intensely, chanting desperately, we can direct our thoughts towards Krishna.
At the same time, we have to know that it’s a war. And in a war, we cannot go in with a, we cannot stick always to a pre-designed strategy. Suppose in a warrior goes and says, I am going to fight with a sword, I am going to kill the enemy.
But if the enemy is attacking with bow and arrow, what can I do? My sword is not going to work. So, I have to use a bow and arrow at that time. So, like that, when we are fighting the mind, we have to see what works.
So, the holy name is very powerful. The holy name, we can take shelter of it. That helps us to move our consciousness towards Krishna.
But we have to check sometimes if we have more of a musical bent of mind and having some kirtan of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, synthesizing it ourselves or hearing it, that may help us. If we are more visually oriented and having some beautiful pictures of the deities, that can infuse devotional emotion within us, that can infuse prayerfulness within us. If we are more intellectually oriented and having some analytical philosophical points, having some quotes about the futility of worrying or faith in Krishna or Krishna’s omnibenevolence, Krishna’s love, those may help us.
So, as we keep practicing bhakti, we observe ourselves and find out for ourselves what is it that connects us with Krishna. So, this is not going to be standard for everyone. When I go and take darshan of the deities, if I don’t recite verses, some prayers to Krishna, I can’t connect with the deity.
I just look at the deities. I am not a very visual person. I am a very verbal person.
Many times I go in front of the deities, take darshan and after three days, I will remember which verse I recited, but I won’t remember what was the address of the deities. That is just the way I am. So, now, of course, I try to remember the address of the deities also, but it is difficult for me.
So, once I told one devotee that, you know, we can recite verses and then we can think this whatever Krishna has been described. That is the same person over here and then we can observe ourselves in Krishna. So, after two days, devotee came and told me, you know, when I think of reciting a verse in front of the deities, I remember recollecting that verse itself causes so much tension that whatever bhakti I am feeling, that also goes away.
So, you know, what is anukul for me is not anukul for Him. So, I have to find out what is anukul for me and you have to find out what is anukul for Him. And by that, when we find that out, we can use it for connecting with Krishna.
Is that answer your question? And regarding the second question, I talked about the difference between worrying and preparing. That is, worrying is in the mode of ignorance. So, if the mind is in control, then we feel powerless.
If we are in control, we can think and plan and prepare. You were there for that part and I spoke that. So, that is the answer.
Do you have anything specific? So, if I know the probability of… I am not saying work out with this problem. Only thing is, if I worry about this, it should be in my mind that yes, I have a problem, I am in a… Let me revise on what I was… to prepare myself better. See, can’t worrying about a problem help us better prepare to deal with it? Yes, again, we have to see what is the effect on us.
Just like, suppose I have a disease. Now, if I have a disease, then I have to deal with it. And the primary way I am going to deal with it is by taking my medicines on time.
There is some diet, I have to follow the diet. These are the practical things which I can do. But if 24 hours I am thinking I have a disease, I have a disease, I have a disease.
Now, I have to see what is the effect on it. If that makes me… If say, I have some stomach upset or if I am very obese and I shouldn’t be eating fatty foods, then a 24 hour awareness that I am obese, I am obese, I am obese, I am too fat. So, if that makes me alert, I should not eat too much.
That’s positive. But if that gives me an inferiority complex, I don’t look good, I am so fat, I am this. Now, people can get such bulimia and such terrible disorders because of excessive figure consciousness.
So, we have to see what is favorable. So, for some people, thinking about the problem, if it is there in the background, sometimes the brain is working and suddenly an idea pops up, maybe I can solve it this way. So, if that’s how our brain works, that’s fine.
But for most people, if the problem is at the back of the mind, it’s not actually ticking to give us a solution, it’s ticking to take away our energy. So, we have to see how we can best deal with it. Usually, it is best to, if we have a problem, it is best to make clearly, okay, these are the things which I can do about the problem and then to have some specific time where we focus on dealing with the problem.
Otherwise, constantly thinking about the problem is usually distracting and disempowering. It just saps our energy. Now, if some idea comes up, that’s good.
But that idea will just pop up from the background. But in hoping to get that idea, we may actually lose a lot of energy. So, it’s a matter of individual psychology sometimes.
But overall, it is best to not be always problem conscious. Within the problem also, we have to see what is our focus. If our focus is on solving the problem, just like say, you know, if I have some mathematics problem I had to solve, and I just don’t know what to do with this, what to do with this, what to do with this.
And suddenly, idea clicks up. So, in this case also, our focus is not on how the problem is burdening me, our focus is on how I can solve this. So, we have to see whether the thought of the problem is actually stimulating us, enlivening us, or it is burdening us.
Usually, we feel threatened, we feel burdened by the problem when we see the problem as a personal threat to us. Now, if I have a crossword puzzle to solve, and I’m not able to find out the word, and the background of the mind is going on, that is stimulating. What can I find out? If I’m not able to solve the crossword puzzle, it’s not that my world is going to come crashing down.
So, usually, if the thoughts of the problem are burdening us, it is best not to habitually dwell on them. But if we are not so threatened by the problem, it’s just like a challenge for us, and then we feel stimulated to deal with the problem. Then, if it goes on in the background, then we might come up with a constructive solution.