Why has God given us such a troublesome mind?

Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
The question is why has Krishna created a mind which constantly troubles us and other bodily organs they can use constructively but the mind seems to always oppose us.
Krishna has not created the mind with any inherent negativity. As I said, the mind is like a software which is meant to be used and as I said, software is indispensable. It’s essential for working with the hardware.
So like that, we need the mind. And Krishna has created the mind for us to interact with the body and with the world. So it’s an essential tool.
But the problem is the programming that is there, which is wrong, which is undesirable. So that comes from various sources. As I said, much of it comes from the materialistic culture around us which creates a lot of unhealthy drives, unhealthy desires, unhealthy anxieties and much of the impressions in the mind also originate from the way we have lived in our previous lives.
So the programming in the mind is self-perpetuating. Once a program is there, it just stays on and on and on. It’s like if I have installable software, if I have a hard disk, if I have Windows installable, I have one computer and it gets corrupted.
The installable drive itself gets corrupted. Then I go into another new computer. But I use the same installable drive to install the software there.
Then the problem of the software corruption will come there also. So like that, when we die and we give one body and go to the next body, the same mind goes from this body to the next body. So Krishna has given us a mind to assist us.
But over many lifetimes and especially even in this lifetime also, we have put in many impressions by which the mind has become corrupted and functions negatively. But whatever corruption is there, whatever wrong impressions are there, they can be reversed. And actually if you see, the mind is not always our enemy.
There are many times when we also get good ideas. Most of the constructive things that have been done in any knowledge system, they come from inspiration. And the inspiration, we could say ultimately inspiration is coming from Krishna, but we get ideas.
We don’t necessarily… Many most creative endeavors, they happen by just ideas that are coming. Where are those ideas coming from? Even if they are coming from Krishna, they are coming through the root of the mind. The mind is where the ideas come in.
So the mind can also act as our friend even in our present condition. Many times, as I said, we get inspiration without any previous much contemplation. I can do this.
This is a very good idea. So the mind can act as our friend also. So the important thing is to recognize that Krishna has not created us with a mind to trouble us.
Rather, by our present and past exposing of the mind to negative stimuli, it has become corrupted. But Krishna is there even now with us to help us cleanse the mind. So yes, the mind is inside us, but Krishna is closer to us than even the mind.
So even if we embrace someone, that person cannot be as close to us as Krishna organizes. And when we practice bhakti more and more, then right now the mind is very close to us. And Krishna is also close to us, but we are far away from Krishna.
That means we are turned away from him. But when we practice bhakti, then we realize his proximity. And the more we realize his proximity, awareness of his divine presence, it purifies us.
And once we become purified, then the mind, you see, it will become our friend also. Does it answer your question?