When the mind troubles us, how can we practically control it?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, when we are troubled by the mind, what can we do to practically control it? We say we have a circle of things that we like to do. And there is a circle of things that comprises bhakti.
That comprises bhakti. So now, there is some intersection between them. Say, I like music and music is also a part of bhakti.
So now, when I say I like music, what does it mean? That means my mind and my body are geared in such a way that they are attracted to music. Yesterday I was talking about, we all have a particular machine to understand our body-mind machine. So now, if I can find out the things that fall in the intersection between what I like to do and what is in the scope of bhakti, then that can be something in which I can naturally engage myself.
And to some extent, bhakti in the sadhaka stage is an effortful process. It is not an effortless process. I have to make an effort to focus on Krishna.
I have to make an effort to detach the mind from worldly pleasures. So, it is an effortful process. But if we can find out what lies in this intersection of what I like to do and what is in the scope of bhakti, then we can do that quite effortlessly or relatively with far lesser effort.
So, if somebody likes to, as I said, somebody likes music and they learn some musical tunes of Hare Krishna or some bhajans and then whenever the mind gets agitated either by desire or by fear, they just start singing that. They feel very calm, very uplifted. So, for me, I find that memorizing and reciting verses helps me a lot.
When I am looking at the deities, unless I recite some verses, I don’t feel any connection. Now, this is actually quite individual. Once in a class I told you that we can recite verses and then we can meditate on Krishna.
After a couple of days, one devotee came to me and he said, Prabhu, you told me that we should recite verses, but now whenever I go in front of deities and I have to remember a verse, that causes so much tension that all bhakti goes away. So, memorizing and reciting verses is favorable for me, but that may not be favorable for someone else. So, in Bhakti Samhita, the word that is used is Uddhipan.
Uddhipan means spiritual stimulus. So, what will be an Uddhipan for me may not be an Uddhipan for you. And what is an Uddhipan for you may not be an Uddhipan for someone else.
So, while doing the activities of bhakti, we can try to find out what is our Uddhipan and try to make that Uddhipan as accessible as possible for us. So, if I like certain pictures of the deities, then I keep them in my phone or I keep them in my pocket and whenever I feel fearful, feel agitated by anything, just look at the picture and pray. So, for people who are very visual, then some picture of the deities may help.
People who are very verbal, for them quotes may help or verses may help. For people who are very musical, some musical tunes or musical kirtans or bhajans, they may help. So, we can find out what is the Uddhipan for us.
And there is a standard process of bhakti which we definitely need to follow. Chanting Hare Krishna, studying scriptures, worshipping the deity, we talk about ABCD, studying the books, all those things, they are important. At the same time, while doing all this, we can find out where we can be naturally attracted to Krishna and then try to do that more.
So, usually our mind has some default activity that is determined largely by its attachments. As soon as I have nothing to do, I can see what do I do. The mind may go towards money, the mind may go towards sense gratification, the mind, whatever, we have certain default thoughts to which the mind goes.
So, if we can find out this intersection between what we like to do and what is in the scope of bhakti, then we can make that as our default thought. And when that happens, then we can be actually quite Krishna conscious most of the time. So, that default thought which we have, that cannot be entirely given up.
I won’t think about this. I have to think about something. So, if I replace that with something which is both what I like to do and which is the scope of bhakti, then staying Krishna conscious and staying happy is relatively easy.
I am currently writing a book on anxiety and bhakti. So, I found that it is very interesting that the time when people have for enjoyment, that is the time when people have anxiety. If you are in office, you are working, you are busy.
But after you come back home and now we have leisure. But it is leisure, that is the time when the mind starts worrying. What if this goes wrong? What if that happens? What if that happens? So, when I have some work to do, I don’t have time to worry.
But after my work is done, when I have nothing to do, then the mind starts worrying. So, actually the time which we age, people want for enjoyment, that is the time when the mind makes them worry. So, if worry is the default state of our mind, we find out something which we can do as a default within the scope of bhakti.
Then we can avoid this unnecessary worrying or unnecessary dissipation of our mental energies. So, the standard process of bhakti is important and we follow that. Along with that, we find out our uddhipan and try to make that as accessible as possible.
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