Why are we bound to certain patterns of thinking? Doesn’t that make us like pre-programmed robots?

From Sushant Kulkarni

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. Question from Sushant Kulkarni Prabhu. Why do our minds act according to certain patterns of thinking? Doesn’t that make us like pre-programmed robots? This question is based on a Gita Daily article.
So, the question is that why do we think according to certain, why do our minds have certain patterns of thinking? Answer, that is the result of karma at a psychological level. Every action that we do, it brings two results. One is the result at the external level.
That means we get, if a person say, for example, smokes regularly, that person may, after some time, get some lung cancer or something like that. That’s an external reaction. But along with that, there is also internal reaction in terms of the increased desire for doing that activity.
A person smokes once, twice, a third time. Then that results in a, that particular pattern. So, that desire becomes stronger and that’s how people become addicted.
Now, is that a means of making us like pre-programmed robots? No, because it’s not pre-programmed because it is we who are doing the pre-programming. So now, a person who has repeatedly chosen to smoke in this life will eventually become an addict. And that is but the natural consequence of what that person wanted.
And actually, that is also an accordance, that is not cruelty of nature or ultimately of Krishna who does that because that is what the person’s desire was. Normally, when a person wants to do a particular thing and person wants to become blind to, or blind and deaf to everything else that will dissuade that person from doing that thing. So, the mind’s becoming habituated to thinking of, say, smoking is in order to facilitate that person’s desire to smoke.
And that’s why when a person is a habitual smoker, then the mind gets habitually, naturally settles into a pattern of thinking where the person thinks, okay, now I’m feeling bored, I’m feeling frustrated. I need some relief. And the way to get relief is I get a puff.
I’ll get some relief. That’s the way. Now, there are other ways to get relief.
And this particular way of getting relief causes a lot of more trouble in the long run. But the person doesn’t think about all those things. So, that is the way we become conditioned to thinking in certain patterns.
And now, this happens not only over this lifetime, it happens also from the previous lifetime out of this lifetime. So, based on our past karma, from our previous lives, we have habituated ourselves to thinking in a particular ways. And then, because we had certain kind of desires and we acted to fulfill those desires, and accordingly in this life, we are given the psychophysical nature, that means patterns of thinking, by which we are able to to fulfill those desires, to act on those desires without much impediments.
So, basically, the this arrangement of material nature by which we think according to certain patterns is one way by which nature facilitates the fulfillment of the desires which we have ourselves cultivated for a considerable amount of time in the past. And if we change the kind of desires that we are cultivating, then, accordingly, the patterns of thinking over a period of time will also change. So, for example, if a devotee is practicing devotional service and whenever there is any trouble, the devotee doesn’t think of some material indulgence as a relief, but devotee conscientiously and seriously fights to take shelter of Krishna.
Then, over a period of time, when trouble comes, by default, the devotee will think of Krishna. Whereas, other people, during that time, when they have trouble, they may well think of blaming God or turning away from God. The devotee will turn towards God.
So, that way, our spiritual, we will develop spiritually favorable reflex actions. And that, that will help us to move towards Krishna. And that’s how our mind will become our friend.
So, by choosing our actions and choosing our thoughts as to whatever capacity we have the freedom right now, we will be able to gain more and more freedom to do the right thing in the future. So, we are not pre-programmed because we only have done the programming and the programming is changeable. And in that sense, we are not robots.
Thank you. Hare Krishna.