Who is it that observes the mind has wandered off?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. Who is it that knows that the mind is wandering? Yes, basically it is the soul. See the soul is the perceiver of consciousness.
As I said that the soul is the source of consciousness, the mind is the channel through which consciousness comes out to the outer world and up goes to wherever we are going. The soul is different from the mind. And just as the soul can observe the outer world and the events happening out there, actually the soul can observe the inner world and the thoughts and the emotions coming in there also.
In fact that is what introspection is. In fact Krishna says that to grow spiritually we need to become observers of our inner world. He says that He says sometimes we may feel very happy, sometimes we may feel very agitated, sometimes we may feel very apathetic.
See these emotions like visitors coming in your consciousness. That is like sometimes some visitors come to our house who are very friendly, some people who are very hyperactive, some people are just so lethargic. So, yeah, they have come to our house, we deal with them, but they are not us.
We deal with them, they stay for some time, they go. Same way, these emotions will come within us. So the point is that we can observe.
So, when we are very attached to the mind, then our consciousness goes wherever the mind is going. But when we develop a healthy spiritual understanding, sound spiritual understanding, and then we develop some level of attachment to some higher goal, then when the mind goes off, we can observe. Say for example, if I want to watch a… I want to study.
And I am studying on my computer, reading some web page and suddenly something pops up over there. So now if I am serious about studying, and then something pops up, I will not look at it, I will just close it. This is a distraction.
But if I am not very serious about my studying, hey, this looks interesting, let me watch it. I click it, I go there and I go somewhere else and I get lost. So here, it is the purpose, it is the seriousness of my purpose that makes me aware.
This is a distraction which I don’t want. But if I am myself ambivalent, if I am myself not very serious, then any distraction comes up which is a small one. So, it is the soul, which understands that the mind is different from me, and the soul which has a strong sense of purpose, that can notice that, oh, the mind has gone off, I have to bring it back.