​When the mind simply does sankalpa and vikalpa, what does the mind understanding something mean?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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So the mind basically the sankalpa and vikalpa. So when we say the mind accepts, so what does it actually mean? See, the subtle body is non-sensual.
It is non-living. It is also made of matter. But it is not like gross matter.
Subtle matter has properties which are different from gross matter. So standard example we often give is that the gross body is like the hardware of a computer and the subtle body is like the software. So now the software often has some default programs set with it.
So those default programs, they function on their own, even if we do not want them to function. So for example, if we say if we use a computer with a particular browser, then that browser may get set as the default browser. Next time when we click any link, automatically, we are not choosing to open that browser, but the click automatically opens to that browser.
That is a default setting. So now this is happening to the programming of the computer. So the mind is like a software.
So the mind has its own programming and there are certain default settings in that program. So those default settings make us think in particular ways, make us see in particular ways, make us seek pleasure in particular ways. So now if I do not want to use a particular browser for privacy purposes or whatever, then as soon as I click a link, by default that browser is going to open.
So then I will have to go deep inside, see where are the settings and change that browser, not the defaults or nothing else, I am in the default. So like that, the mind has certain default settings. And purification or when I say the mind accepts something, that means those default settings get changed.
So right now the mind thinks happiness means material happiness. Happiness means sense gratification. That is the default setting of the mind.
So we have to change that default setting. And we may consciously, so for example, if I am alert, as soon as I say this browser is open, I do not want this browser, maybe take too much memory or whatever. So then I will close that browser and I will open that other browser.
That is like the intelligence acting. I start thinking of doing something, I start doing something and then I say no, no, I do not want to, I will not do this. So if I am at least that much aware, I will not do it.
So when the intelligence is convinced, at least when we start doing something which is not to be done, we pull ourselves back. When the intelligence is not convinced, then we go and do it also. But when the mind is convinced, that is like the default setting has been changed.
So for analytical purposes, we can compare the mind, the mind is often personified. The mind is saying like this, the mind is saying like that. That is just to understand things in the sense that the mind does propose certain things to us, the mind does suggest certain things to us.
So we need to change the way the mind speaks, change the things that the mind suggests. So basically, when you say that what the mind suggests, that is referred simply to a default setting within our subtle world. So the default settings are already there and they act automatically.
With our intelligence, we can check the default settings when they start acting, but deeper is not just check the default setting, but to correct the default settings. So correcting the default, so checking the default settings, checking means whether it is right or wrong, and if it is wrong, stopping it. So check has two meanings.
Check is to evaluate and to stop. So checking the default settings is the function of the intelligence. But changing the default settings is about the mind.
That means the mind does not go in that direction. Is that clear? Sir, just to confirm, that means using intelligence, we replace that default setting, that means the previous bad impressions with the right impressions, which is like default setting. Yeah, using intelligence, we replace the fault, the previous impression, new impression.
That is true. But purification also has a aspect of mercy to it. There is something which just comes by experience.
I see this person suffered, this person suffered this much, this person suffered, I also suffered this much. But there is something which transforms the experience of suffering into the conviction of detachment or into the sense of detachment within. When Sanatana Goswami comes to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu after renouncing the world, at that time, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tells Sanatana Goswami that, although you had such opulence, you renounced it all and you came.
And he doesn’t praise him, oh, you are so renowned. He says, the moments of the super soul are very grave. He was very merciful to you and thus you have been able to renounce all this.
So that inner sense of detachment, yes, our own intellectual contemplation is there, our own analysis is there, our own conscious efforts are there. But there is also that mercy by which we just get it. Yes, this is it.
So there is understanding that comes by conscious thought. And there is understanding that just comes automatically. When somebody is learning a new language, at that time they struggle, what is this word, what is this word? But over time, it just becomes automatic.
As soon as thought comes, the word comes. So there is a stage where we go from conscious choosing of a word to unconscious verbalization of the word. So like that, there is a transition where we are consciously choosing the right and rejecting the wrong.
And then below that, they automatically just gravitate towards the right. So when we are automatically gravitating towards the right, that’s when the mind is accepted. The process, what is the process? As I said, first, of course, using our intelligence, we repeatedly do the right thing and avoid the wrong thing.
And we experience that this right thing is so much better. I feel so much more peaceful, I feel so much more joyful, I’m so much more productive. And then by that repeated experience, there is an internalization.
But that internalization also has the aspect of mercy in it. Okay, thank you.