Why do we have a mind at all – wouldn’t we function better without it?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Good question. So why do we have this mind which always keeps troubling us? Wouldn’t we be able to function better without the mind? Not exactly.
We have to understand that the mind is an essential, functional link between the soul and the body. The mind is like the software in a computer. If we got a brand new computer, the hardware, but there is not a single software installed in it, what would we do with it? Nothing.
But if we got a computer with some software which is highly corrupted, then we put in our data and it deletes the data. That’s a big problem also. So the mind is like the software.
The soul is the user and the body is the hardware. So the mind is the essential functional link for the soul to function with the body. Shrotanam chakshu sparshanam cha ratanam ghranam eva cha adishthaya manashthayam vishayan upachyayate Whatever inputs come in from the senses, they are integrated by the mind and they are presented to the soul.
And then the soul responds to it. So the soul cannot function without the mind. This is in functional terms.
And it is not that our mind is always our enemy. The mind many times comes up with good ideas also. As I talk about archaic religions, some people are just good at music.
Pick up a kartal and a few beats and they get it. How do you get it? It’s that the mind functions without conscious exercise of intelligence. Intelligence means I calmly think, analyze and then act.
The mind functions without conscious exercise of intelligence. And most of the time it gives us impulses which are unintelligent. Anti-intelligent also.
We over eat, we over sleep, we become too angry, whatever. But we also within the mind have instincts. Instincts are things that we just get right without thinking.
Some people are just very good at aesthetics. They come into a room, just look at a room for a few moments. You know you move the sofa here, you put this photo here, you move this here and it looks so good.
Somebody else thinks so far along I didn’t get this. So where do you get that? That is also coming from the mind. So our mind is a source of impulses that are destructive and instincts that are constructive.
The mind itself is not bad. The mind is essential and it can be good as well as it can be bad. But in today’s culture, the mind’s impulsiveness is fed enormously by the materialism around us.
And because of this impulsiveness being fed, the mind tends to act as an enemy. So it’s like the software is essential for us to use the computer. But if the software is filled with a lot of viruses, then the software can become a big headache for us.
Similarly, presently the mind has become a headache for us because its impulses have become very strong. However, the mind, our mind is the only mind we have. The mind is not like a replaceable part.
We can’t get somebody else’s mind for us. So what we need to do is, at one level we have to understand the mind can act like an enemy. But we can’t have a relationship of hating the mind.
We have to have a relationship of trailing the mind. Suppose somebody is working on a ranch. Ranch is like a big field where they have a horse.
Suppose that horse is a little wild. Now, the owner needs the horse. It’s a little pre-technological age where they don’t have tractors and other things.
Then the owner needs the horse to cover the territory of the ranch. By the same time, the horse can sometimes knock over the owner, injure the owner, stamp on the owner, kill the owner. That also is there.
So the owner has to be alert. And over a period of time, the owner has to develop a friendly relationship with the horse. Not a friendly relationship means wherever the horse wants to go, the owner will go.
But rather, not become the friend of the horse, but make the horse a friend. So that the horse will willingly do what the owner wants it to do. So for us, we have to recognize the dangerousness of the mind.
But at the same time, we have to learn to channel its energy. And for that, if we can look at the destructive things which the mind does and become more alert of it. So that we don’t let it happen.
And then we look at the constructive side of the mind and we use it more and more. And gradually, by using the constructive side, we are able to do positive things, we are able to do things well. And then, especially if we use the constructive side of the mind to connect with Krishna.
If I have a good sense of music, I play music for Krishna. If I have a good sense of language, I write for Krishna, I edit for Krishna, whatever. If I have a good sense of aesthetics, I decorate for Krishna.
So that way, by that connecting with Krishna, and that connection will be easy for us. Because the mind also likes it. So by that, we will gradually become purified.
And then the mind’s impulsiveness will go down. So then, as Krishna says, the mind will become our friend. When the mind starts becoming attracted to Krishna, then much of our struggle will go away.
So that will take time, that will take purification. But we shouldn’t, during the intermediate time, hate the mind. We can treat the mind like a difficult or a dangerous child.
A difficult child means the child is crying, throwing tantrums, doing all sorts of terrible things. And dangerous, not only the difficult, can throw this, damage this, put the hand in the fire, set the house on fire. Can do all kinds of dangerous things.
But after all, it’s a child. So what we need to do is, help the child to grow up. So, of course the mind is not just like a child, because it’s very powerful also.
So it can be like an adult who will beat us up. So we have to be very cautious. But the point is, we cannot have a relationship of being averse to the mind.
We have to recognize its dangerousness, but we have to work with it. So by recognizing its dangerousness, we become alert. And by recognizing where it can be a channel positively, we focus on that.
And that’s how we work with the mind and gradually we…