Art of Controlling the Mind: BG 12.2 | 16.6.92 | Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja #Yoga #MindControl

And then some temples in Italy and the temple in London. Everywhere devotees were inquiring, is there enough prasad for the devotees in Russia? I said, yes, plenty of prasad, nothing to worry, because they're reading in the papers that there's no food in Russia. I told them there's plenty of prasad, plenty of Everything. And devotees are very impressed by the good book distribution that is going on in Soviet Union. But I think our full-time book distributors are still in Siberia. Is your Siberia? I hope there's some people going out in the big city of Moscow. If everybody moves to Siberia, the karmis are going to think the Hare Krishnas have got scared and run away from Moscow. Yuktātama mataḥ, mayāveśyāmano yemaṁ nitya-yuktāupāsate śuddhāya parayupetaṣ te me yuktātama mataḥ. Mayā vēśyāmano ye mām, netiyāyuktaupāsate, śaddhāya parayopetas, te mayuktaḍma mātaha. Mayā vēśyāmano ye mām, netiyāyuktaupāsate, I cannot use Prabhupāda's fan and Deity's fan because I am their servant. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Hare Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Hare! Hare! Hare! Rāma! Hare! Rāma! Rāma! Hare! Hare! Māyā-veśyā-māno ye mām nitya-yukta upāsate śaddhāya paro yo petas te mayukta-atma-mataḥ. When the weather is very pleasant and warm like this, The karmis all go to the beaches and the parks, but the devotees, they chant, read, and hear the Bhagavad-gītā, distribute Bhagavad-gītā. So this chapter, that is Chapter 12, is a very important chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā. This chapter is called Devotional Service. Now in the verse that was discussed yesterday, Arjuna had presented a very, a very important question. He wanted to know what is better, worshipping the personal form or the impersonal aspect of the Lord. So in response to this, Krishna is now answering in text number 2, which we are discussing today. So Krishna is explaining that those who worship Him in His personal form, they are considered to be more perfect. In other words, Those who accept the impersonal aspect of God are certainly better than the gross atheists and materialists, but in comparison to those who accept the personal form of the Lord, they are inferior. So the devotees of the Lord can be broadly divided into two categories: the personalist and the impersonalist. The impersonalist maintain God has no form. They say, since God is all-pervasive, how can God have a form? Because God is in everyone's heart, God is everywhere. That means he has no original form. And when God appears on this world, he also becomes contaminated like you and me. Now, what is the problem in this analysis? The problem is that they're trying to understand God with their own material senses. And because they're trying to understand God with their own material senses, they will always be bewildered. The problem of the impersonalist is that he tries to understand God with his limited senses. And when you try to understand God with your limited senses, how can you succeed? With your limited senses, if you look at the sun, it only appears few hundred miles away. Doesn't look that far, does it? With your limited senses When you're flying in the airplane and you look down at the buildings, they all look very small. With the, with the limited senses, sometimes a rope is misunderstood to be a snake. And because of your limited senses, you make so many mistakes. If I was to ask you, what were you doing at this time yesterday, you may say, yes, I was doing, attending the Bhagavad Gita class. But if I asked you, what were you doing yesterday at 3:00 in the afternoon, you may have to struggle. You may say either you were out on sankirtan or you were sleeping. But we all know that our memory is very weak. The personless, on the other hand, recognizes that his senses are limited and subject to making mistakes. He has full faith in the potency of God. He knows God is unlimited. He knows that God is unlimited and He is inconceivable. Therefore, he does not try to understand God with his limited senses. Instead, he accepts the conclusion of the great sages that has been presented in the scriptures. So God has His impersonal and personal aspect, but the worship of the Lord or acceptance of the Lord in His personal form is superior to accepting the Lord in His impersonal form. Actually, worshiping the Lord in the impersonal form is an insult to the Lord. Prabhupada used to say, Worshipping the Lord in the impersonal form is the same as telling the Lord, my dear Lord, you are deaf, dumb, lame, you have no hands. That's an insult to God. You have all these organs, but God doesn't have. So the personalist accepts the Lord in his personal form and the Lord capable of doing anything with any one part of his body. You know that story of the Brahmin and the cobbler? The Brahmin was very proud of his of his knowledge of the scriptures. Cobbler was uneducated man, did not know the scriptures, but had firm faith in the inconceivable power of God. So when the cobbler was informed that the Lord was passing an elephant through the eye of a needle, he jumped up in ecstasy. He said, why is it impossible when the Lord can plant a huge banyan tree in a small seed? Why he can't pass an elephant through the eye of a needle? But the Brahmin, he could not accept it. Therefore the Lord said, the Brahmin will have to take many more births in the material world, but the cobbler will go back at the end of this life. So the Lord incarnates in His archa-vigraha form. Archa-vigraha form means personal form of the Lord. And this personal form of the Lord is non-different from the Lord. Prabhupada used to give an example, just like you may post your letter in the big post office, the letter will still reach its destination. And if you put the postal letter in a small mailbox, if it is authorized, it will still reach its destination. Therefore, we must recognize that this archa-vyagraha aspect of the Lord is non-different from the Lord. About 6 weeks ago, I had told you all in detail the story of Sakshi Gopal, and I also gave you the story of Madhvendra Puri, how the Deity stole a cup of sweet rice for the benefit of His beloved devotee Madhvendra Puri. So I will not repeat those stories now, but the point is that the archa-vyagrha form of the Lord should be accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and based on the faith with which we worship the deities, the deities will reciprocate. The Bible also acknowledges the fact that God is a person. Bible clearly says man is made in God's image. So you're made in God's image, but you're not God, huh? And Krishna proves that we are nowhere near him. We are tiny gods, very tiny. God is unlimited. You are also God, but tiny God. So don't think you are the real God. When I was traveling from Rome to London few days ago, one British lady came up to me in the airport. The plane was delayed, so she came to talk to me. So she started asking me questions about Krishna consciousness. And I asked her where is she coming from. She told me she's coming from just meeting God. So I asked her which God did she meet. She said she showed me the picture. There's a new man, there's a person in Italy, an Italian who has long hair like Sai Baba, and he says that he is the Western version of Sai Baba. You know, Sai Baba has very long hair and he always gives Darshan like this, his blessing. So she said, this Sai Baba is equal to Sai Baba in India, and Sai Baba in India is equal to Krishna. Therefore, Italian Sai Baba is also equal to Krishna. So then I explained to her what is the meaning of God. So people have no concept of God, and they think that becoming God is so cheap. So Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, he knows everything about past, present, and future. So Krishna knew that in future, in Kali Yuga, many people will claim to be God. So what did Krishna do? He manifested his universal form. Yes, Krishna manifested his opulences when he was present on the planet. He showed his universal form. Actually, Arjuna did not need to see the universal form to be convinced that Krishna is God. But Krishna knew that in future many people People claim they are God, so he showed his universal form. And in his universal form, he showed the whole universe. So Arjuna, when he saw the universal form, he was bewildered. But Arjuna had to be given special eyes to see that universal form. Similarly, as baby Krishna also, he performed superhuman activities. You and I can't even lift a small table. For any period of time. When you're traveling, you carry your chemo-daan for a few minutes and you get so tired, you keep shifting from one hand to another. Some Kirtan devotees always complain they have to carry the books in their backpack and their back hurts. But Krishna lifted the Govardhan Hill and he lifted it for 7 days and 7 nights nonstop. And he did not even use both his hands. He did not even use one hand. He did not even use one finger. Then what did he use? Just the nail of the smallest finger of the left hand, and he was able to carry, lift the mountain even when Indra was releasing such heavy rainfall that was just like bricks. When it is windy, when the wind is blowing against you, even the modern 747 jets, their speed slows down. When you're flying, if the wind is going in the direction the plane is going, then the plane goes faster. And when the winds are coming against you, then even these modern jets can't slow down and the ships have great difficulty in the sea. But Kṛṣṇa had no difficulty. And another important point, during the period that Kṛṣṇa was lifting the Govardhana Hill and giving shelter to the Vṛjibāsīs, none of them felt hunger or thirst. So He is God. So we don't accept some concocted personality as God. But we are accepting Krishna, the authorized personality of Godhead, as God. So Krishna says, those who fix their mind on my personal form. Now this is not the only verse where Krishna is making this point. In many places Krishna has made the same point. Meditate, meditate, meditate on my personal form. Because if you don't think about Krishna, you'll be forced to think about something else which is undesirable. And if you think about undesirable subject matters, then this mind will be acting as your enemy. And when you think of proper, proper subject matters, then the mind is acting as your friend. So the choice is yours. You want the mind to be your friend or enemy. Normally nobody likes enemies, isn't it? Only the mafia people like enemies because they like to fight. But sane people don't like to fight. So why do you want to fight with your mind? If you're going to contemplate sense enjoyment, then you'll get frustrated. You want to know why you will be frustrated? Because you will not be able to fulfill what you're thinking in your mind. And you can't fulfill what you're thinking in your mind, you'll get angry, frustrated, envious. You're contemplating you should have something, and the other person has it. You'll become angry at him, envious of him. Whereas if your mind is thinking of Kṛṣṇa, Then you have nothing to fear. Because when you're thinking of Krishna, that means you're linked up to Krishna. You may say, how will Krishna know whether I'm thinking of him or not? Just like when you two devotees are talking to each other, you don't know what's in the other devotee's mind. You could be looking at the deities and your mind could be somewhere else. So this mind, whose nature is very fickle, has to be disciplined. If you don't discipline your mind with determination, then this mind will destroy you. In the Bhāgavatam it is said that sometimes a married person, a married woman, when she has a lover, then the lover kills the husband. So similarly, an uncontrolled mind can kill your spiritual life. So do you want your spiritual life to be killed? Eta mayā vāprasa. No. Then you have to control the mind, otherwise the mind will kill your spiritual life. So having decided that we have to control the mind, next question is, how do you control the mind? If you chant the Hare Krishna mantra attentively, then it is very helpful in controlling the mind, because when you're chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, you're listening to God's name being, being called again and again. And when you're listening to Krishna's name then that sound will also be there in the mind. Just like if you meet a friend and a friend says, "How is your mother?" Then at once you think about the mother. So when you're always taking Kṛṣṇa's name, automatically you'll also remember Kṛṣṇa. Besides that, you should meditate on the Deities that are in the temple where you are. Meditate on the service that you're doing and meditate how you can improve that service. Meditate on the desires of the Lord. Meditate how you have wasted so much time try, um, acting against Krishna. So now you must be determined to act for the pleasure of Krishna. Meditate how you can take the suffering souls back to Godhead. So when you have your mind in control, then you will become a yogi. At the present moment, you're not a yogi. You have all these yoga schools that tell you they'll teach you yoga, but they're not teaching you yoga. Because the first principle of yoga is the art of controlling the mind. There are many so-called gurus in India. They offer so many courses in meditation. Some tell you, just close your eyes and sit straight for a few hours. Some say, just select any object you want and stare at that object for a few hours. Some say, look at that white wall in front of you straight. For a few hours. Some say look at the tip of your nose. Some say look at the third eye. Where is the third eye? They say there is, there is one, find it. So there's so many false propaganda being done about the art of meditation. We meditate at the lotus feet of Krishna. The lotus feet of Krishna can give shelter to the whole planet. So a devotee, he's constantly engaged in devotional service. But in everything he does, he's thinking of Krishna. Just like in the purport, Prabhupada says, sometimes he chants, sometimes he reads, sometimes he's cooking prasad, sometimes he goes to the market to purchase something, sometimes he's washing the dishes, but it's all for Krishna. So if you're always thinking of Krishna, then you have nothing to worry. Because Krishna says, wherever your mind is at the moment of death, that is where you will go. Yamyam bhapi smaran bahvam. Wherever your mind is at the moment of death, that is where you will go. So if your mind is on Kṛṣṇa, then you have nothing to fear. But if you're thinking of some relative or something else, then like Jātā-bhārata, like King Bharata had to take birth in the body of a deer, you'll also have to do. So this verse is very important, and Prabhupāda says real samadhi means always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. So all of you should practice samadhi. And thereby succeed on the spiritual path. Now don't say it is difficult to control the mind, because even Arjuna said that. But Krishna said, by practice you can control the mind. And what does Krishna say in the Bhagavad Gita? He says, tasma sarvesu kaleśu mam anasmara yudhyacā. Oh Arjuna, fix your mind on me and at the same time fight, fight for me. So always think that you're acting for Krishna. And do your service. But you can't think when you're doing something wrong that you're acting for Krishna. You can't go to the movies and say, I'm seeing it for Krishna. You can't have a vodka and say, I'm tasting it for Krishna. Because the karmis say like that. They think they're doing everything for Krishna. Or they say, Krishna is making me do it. So they put the blame on Krishna. But a devotee thinks of Krishna always in activities that he's doing in accordance with the direction of guru, sadhu, shastra. In English they say, try and try again, you will succeed at last. So keep trying and you will succeed in controlling your mind. Because Krishna is in your heart, and when Krishna sees you're trying, then he helps you. But when Krishna sees you're not trying, then he's not going to help you. You can never cheat Krishna. So try and Krishna will help you. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So I'll take on questions for a few minutes. Okay, my translator is going to miss the strains. Anybody else who can translate? Okay, Vapros, Vapros, how can we realize that we are really advancing, attaining love for Krishna, or illusion or something? Every devotee should be inquiring, am I advancing or no? Just like when you're sick, when you have high temperature, every minute you touch your head, has my temperature gone down? Has it gone down? So how you can inquire whether you're making spiritual advancement or not? With the help of the spiritual master and sadhus. Generally everyone thinks he's advancing.