BG 17.16. Power Of Focusing The Mind Correctly | Rus-Split | 14.01.91 | Śrīla Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī

I must say everybody looks very smart wearing this Prabhupāda Marathon t-shirt. We should have this like a standard uniform in ISKCON, I think. Okay, Śrīmad Bhāgavad-gītā Chapter 17, The Divisions of Faith, text number 16. Can everyone see the Sanskrit on the board clearly?

Mānaḥ prasādaḥ. Om Yathvaam, Om Yathvaam, Monam, Monam, Atma, Atma, Vinigraha, Vinigraha, Vava, Vava, Samsuddhir, Samsuddhir, Iti, Iti, Ita, Ita, Tapo, Tapo, Manasa, Manasa, Uchchate, Bhāvataṣuddhir-e-yehāt, dāpo manaṣam uccate, dāpo manaṣam uccate, mana prasāda-sau-myātvaṁ, mana prasāda-sau-myātvaṁ, mōnam ātmā-vinigrahaḥ, mōnam ātmā-vinigrahaḥ, bhāvataṣuddhir-e-yehāt, dāpo manaṣam uccate, dāpo manaṣam uccate.

So as all of you know, Spiritual life is based upon practicing austerity. We are not trying to cheat anyone. Prabhupāda told everyone, old devotee or new, that without austerity you cannot get love of God. So in this 17th chapter called the Divisions of Faith, Kṛṣṇa is explaining what is the austerity for the mind, what is the austerity for the speech, In other words, Kṛṣṇa is explaining specifically what do we mean by austerity for different organs in the body. Kṛṣṇa has explained the austerity of the body is to use the body in service to the Lord, and austerity of the tongue is to speak words which are truthful and words which do not agitate others. So after having explained the austerity of the body and the speech, Kṛṣṇa is explaining the austerity of the mind. Now why is Krishna explaining the austerity of the mind? Because earlier in the 6th chapter, Krishna has already explained in detail the importance of mind control. Many times devotees say, "If only I could control the mind, I would have no problems at all." Because the mind is our key to spiritual advancement. Therefore, in the 6th chapter, through a series of verses, Krishna is saying, make the mind your friend and not let him be your enemy. Kṛṣṇa says, "One should deliver oneself with the help of his mind, not degrade himself." And one who has controlled the mind, for him the mind is the best of friends. For one who has uncontro— who has not been able to control the mind, the mind is the worst of enemies. So one who can control the mind, he is not disturbed by the dualities of material existence. It is said in the Gītā, He has obtained tranquility. Prasāntasya. Prasāntasya means tranquility. Tranquility means he is not disturbed. He is neither disturbed when there is happiness, nor is he disturbed when there is unhappiness. Nor is he— he is not happy when he wins, he is not unhappy when he loses. In other words, he becomes, he becomes Ikkī, poised in all situations. In the material world, sometimes you will be happy and sometimes you will be in distress. Sometimes it will be very hot and on other occasions it may be cold. Sometimes you will be honored and sometimes you will be dishonored. But one who has controlled the mind, he remains undisturbed regardless of the situation he may be in. So Again and again this point is emphasized, to control the mind by engaging the mind in positive activities of devotional service. So Kṛṣṇa says in the 18th chapter that determination is to control the mind, the activities of the mind. In other words, Kṛṣṇa is explaining in the 18th chapter determination in the mode of goodness, determination in the mode of passion, determination in the mode of ignorance. And Kṛṣṇa says, That determination is in the mode of goodness in which one resolves that he must control the mind. Just like the materialists, they are determined to have sense enjoyment. Therefore, even in old age, they don't want to give up sense enjoyment. Just like now there is a very famous doctor in America, and he is traveling everywhere and telling people that don't give up sense gratification even when you are 80, and your heart attack incidence will go down. So, Huh. So the scriptures— so in this verse, Kṛṣṇa is explaining what are the austerities with relationship to the mind. First point is satisfaction. Mana prasāda. Mana prasāda means be satisfied with whatever is provided by the will of the Lord. In the material world, everybody is complaining. In your country, you— some people are complaining that the stores are empty, but in America, the stores are not empty. The stores are full. Still people are complaining. About 3 months A month ago the government increased the price of the benzene and everybody was so upset. The benzene price has gone up. Even though benzene in America is the cheapest in the whole world. So the point is, doesn't matter how much you have, in mature life you will never be satisfied. Therefore Narada Muni has said, a greedy man can never be satisfied. A hungry man is satisfied when you give him food. A thirsty man is satisfied when you give him water. But Narada Muni says a greedy man will never be satisfied. But a devotee must be satisfied with whatever is provided by the will of the Lord. Just like in the 4th Canto of the Bhāgavatam, Narada Muni has explained to the prasādhas the formula for pleasing the Lord. Have you heard of the prasādhas? The prasādhas were great devotees of the Lord who performed austerities for 10,000 years. They were chanting the song which was given to them by Lord Śiva. And because of their austerities, the Lord was so pleased that He manifested Himself in front of them. Just like the Lord manifested Himself in front of Dhruva Maharaj because of his austerities. So Narada Muni told the prachetas, Dayaya sarva boteh shu santosh tayeno ke nava, sarva rindya pa shantya cha tu shati yashu janardana. He says, in order to please the Lord, 3 things are necessary. What are they? Dayāya sava-gūteṣu— be merciful upon everyone. Then santuṣṭayeṇa-kena-vā— santuṣṭa means be satisfied with whatever is provided by the will of the Lord. Then sarva-rindhya-pāśaṇtya-cā— sarva-rindhya-pā means control of the senses. And then tuṣyāti aśu-janārdhanahā— tuṣyāti means please. Then you can please the Personality of Godhead. So A devotee should be satisfied with whatever is provided by the will of the Lord. Today you may have all comforts, tomorrow you may have no comforts. Like previously, you devotee, all the brahmacharis were living in the other ashram in a small room. Now Kṛṣṇa has given you a big flat over here also, 8 flats in this building. Tomorrow He may give you a palace, but day after you may not have anything. But whatever is given, you should just be satisfied. The devotee should be satisfied with whatever is provided by the will of the Lord. This is important. In Bhakti-rasa-amrita-sindhu, Rūpa Gosvāmī says, one should not over-endeavour to maintain his body. So one can only be satisfied if one follows the next aspect of austerity, which is simplicity. So simplicity, what does simplicity mean? Simplicity means Many things. One is simplicity means one should be simple in his living style. Another meaning of simplicity is to be straightforward in your dealing with others. So a devotee should be straightforward in his dealing with others. He should not be duplicitous. In material life, everyone is duplicitous. They will say something and they mean something else. They will say they love you, but nobody really cares for you. They will say They will send you a Happy New Year's card, but in their heart they will desire that you suffer. Don't be happy. So in the material world, all relationships are based on duplicity. But in spiritual life, our relationship should be very straightforward. We should be straightforward in dealing with other Vaiṣṇavas. Even if you want to correct somebody, you should say it, but in a nice, palatable way. Just like in the previous verse, Kṛṣṇa has explained the austerity of the tongue. And he says the austerity of the tongue is not to speak in a manner that you agitate others. Of course, being straightforward and simple means you present the truth in a manner which is pleasing, not that you speak very harshly and insult others. So I repeat, simplicity in this verse means two things. One is we should have simple lifestyle so we don't have to worry about just working day and night to earn a livelihood. And secondly, it means that we should be straightforward in our dealings with others, especially Vaishnavas. Then there must be gravity. Gravity means seriousness. In spiritual life, one must be very serious. Eh, one must be serious about achieving the goal of life. One must be serious about fighting Maya. So a devotee by nature is very sober and grave. A devotee does not talk unnecessarily. So gravity is important, for gravity of the mind means that the mind should only focus on those activities which will enable one to achieve the goal of life, and the mind should not concentrate on activities which are destructive for Self-realization. Then there must be self-control. Self-control means understanding the importance of controlling the senses. The natural tendency of the mind is always to engage in sense enjoyment. So when you talk about control of the mind, you're talking about taking the mind out of sense enjoyment activities. That means one should not deviate from Krishna conscious instruction. So self-control means to control the senses and not let the mind go towards— not let the senses fulfill their desires for sense enjoyment. Krishna explains that the senses are superior to dull matter. And superior to the senses is the mind, and superior to this mind is the intelligence. So intelligence is superior to the mind. Therefore, with the help of intelligence, we should control the mind. And purification of one's existence. Presently our existence is impure. So how do you get purified? By engaging in activities of devotional service. Just like a diseased man becomes healthy by taking the medicine. Similarly, our impurities are corrected by taking to the process of devotional service. Now I want to give you two stories from the Srimad Bhāgavatam which explain how by mind control, when the mind was fixed on Kṛṣṇa, how the devotee was saved. There was a great devotee called Amṛśma Rāja. Amṛśma Rāja was a great devotee of the Lord and also a king. So Amṛśma Rāja has said, "Sarve mana-kṛṣṇa-padāra-vindayo." That, "My dear Lord, please may my mind be fixed at Your lotus feet." Rupa Gosvāmī says, "Just like the bees are attracted to the honey, please may my mind be always drawn to Your lotus feet." So, just like, I'm sure all of you have some people who are envious of you. The King Amrit, Maharaj Amrit being a devotee was very famous, but there was one mystic yogi, who was very envious of the position of Amrish Manaj. So what was the name of that mystic yogi? What was his name? Durrasamuni. So Durrasamuni was always looking for an opportunity to attack Amrish Manaj. So Amrish Manaj was fasting and Durrasamuni came to his house, palace. So Amrish Manaj said, I am about to break my fast. Why don't you join me for prasad? Dharmaraja Muni said, "I am coming. Just let me go and take my bath in the Jamuna and I am just coming after that." But when he went to take his bath, he felt that he fell in complete trance. Now Amresh Maharaj was getting worried what to do because the time for breaking the fast was fast approaching. So Amresh Maharaj consulted some local Brahmanas what to do because he did not want to eat without Dharmaraja Muni. So they said, okay, you can just drink water because drinking water is okay to break your fast, but it is not considered something that you have eaten. The Rasa Muni, however, was a very powerful yogi. So he at once knew that Amrish Maharaj has drunk the water without his presence. So the Rasa Muni approached Amrish Maharaj with great anger and he pulled from his sikka, A demon. Did any of you brahmacharis with a sikha take a demon out of your sikha? So as soon as the Durvasa Muni was thinking that as soon as this demon comes out, Amrish Maharaj will be burned to ashes. But Amrish Maharaj did not get scared. He was just meditating on the Lord. And then the Lord released his Sudarshan Chakra to protect Amrish. And the heat of the Sudarshan Chakra was so strong that Durvasa had to run for his life. So it's a long story. But I just want to illustrate one point to you, that if you have your mind fixed at the lotus feet of the Lord, then you are always protected by the Lord. So Dwaraka Muni tried to run from the influence of the Sudarshan Chakra. He even went to demigods like Lord Shiva and Brahma and said, "Please save me from the effect of this Sudarshan Chakra. I am being burnt." But they said, "Oh, there is nothing we can do." Then finally he went to the Lord and said, "Please forgive me, I was offending your devotee." But the Lord said, "There's nothing I can do. You have to go and apologize to my devotee." The Lord said, "My devotee resides in my heart and I reside in the heart of my devotee. So the devotee who sacrifices his wife, children, family, etc. for my service is very dear to me." Then there's another story in the Bhāgavatam. Of Jaya Bharata. Jaya Bharata, as you know, in his previous life was the king of this whole planet, and he was known as King Bharat. Today only India is known as Bharat, but thousands of years ago the whole planet was known as Bharat Varsha. So the king had at a young age sacrificed his palace, kingdom, wife, children, but when he was in the forest He had unfortunately developed an attachment to a deer. So in his next life he had to take his birth as a deer. But when he took his birth as a deer, Kṛṣṇa says, yam yam vāpi svānambhavam. Wherever your mind is at the moment of death, that is where you will go. So because his mind was on a deer, he had to take his birth as a deer. But Kṛṣṇa also says, kaunteya prati-jānehi nama-bhakta-pradēṣati. My devotee will not perish. So because of the fact that King Bharat had also done devotional service, he did not have to take his birth as a deer for long, and very soon he took his birth in a Brahmin's family. And when he took his birth in the Brahmin's family, he was known as Jad Bharat. Now, Jad Bharat knew that in his previous life he had made a mistake and got attached to a deer. So he was pretending in society. As if he was deaf and dumb. So once Jadhbharat was guarding a paddy field and he was kidnapped by the dacoits. And the dacoits wanted to offer him the Goddess Kali because they wanted their chief to have a nice son. So they wanted to give Goddess Kali an offering of a very nice Brahmin boy. So they were getting ready to kill Jadhbharat, cut him, to offer him to Goddess Kali. But as soon as the dacoits were getting ready to do that, Jadbharta did not get scared. He was fixed in his meditation on Krishna. And then what happened? The Goddess Kali came out of the statue, and with that same knife that they were going to cut Jadbharta, she cut the dacoits. So the point is, don't underestimate the power of focusing the mind correctly. The Muslim ruler was envious of Haridas Thakur's exalted position. So he hired a very high-class prostitute to seduce him. And then that prostitute, because Haridas was attached to the chanting of the Holy Name, what happened? In the end, not only was the prostitute unsuccessful, but she became a devotee of the Lord. So one must be determined to control the mind, and if you're determined, then you will succeed. So if we try to control the mind, You will see that it is not going to be so difficult. We all know, as the Gītā says, the mind is very obstinate. Obstinate means even if you say something, it doesn't want to change. It doesn't like changing. Even if you tell the mind not to do something, it doesn't change. So, and we know the mind is very obstinate. Therefore Bhaktisiddhānta ṣaḥ, that's what he said, every morning when you get up, you must beat the mind 100 times with your slippers. And every time at night when you go to sleep, beat your mind with the shoes. 100 times. Make sure you don't hit them with very heavy. Beat your mind with soft shoes and not very heavy soled shoes. Otherwise we may see all the devotees with bandages on their head tomorrow. Then Krishna says, Arjuna says, the mind is very restless. You are sitting somewhere, mind says, no, no, no, go somewhere else. Then the mind is very turbulent. And the mind is very strong. Even when you are suffering in old age and disease in the hospital, the mind is still telling you, don't worry, you are going to get healthy and then you will be happy and you will enjoy. The mind is so strong and obstinate that it overcomes the intelligence. Therefore, mind can come under control if we take advice of this verse of the Gītā that we have discussed. And if you chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and you read the books, then you will be able to control the mind because chanting will cleanse the heart of the material dirt. There are so many practical instructions how to engage the mind. You can meditate on Kṛṣṇa's instructions. Just like Arjuna, Arjuna was feeling very sorry that Kṛṣṇa had departed from this planet. So he started meditating on Kṛṣṇa's instructions of the Bhāgavad-gītā, and he became very lively. Meditate on Kṛṣṇa's, ah, pastimes. Meditate on Kṛṣṇa's desires. Meditate on Kṛṣṇa's form. And thereby stop meditating on māyā. So fortunately, through the Vedic scriptures, through the spiritual master, through the great Ācāryas, We know exactly how to take care of the problem of controlling the mind, and we just have to take advantage of the formula, and then the mind will automatically come in control. So I'll stop over here because it is getting to be 9 o'clock.

Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna. Now I'll take on questions for 10-15 minutes, that's all. Yes, questions?

Krishna had, you know, 160,000 sons. Sons. And was Jesus Christ among them?

What?

Was Jesus Christ among them?

Was Jesus Christ one of the sons of Krishna? Not when Krishna was on this planet, but he appeared later on as his son. I thank you for reducing your hair.

Maybe my devotee be, how to say, too much enthusiastic in spiritual life. You know, make too many endurance, maybe like this.

Should a devotee be too enthusiastic?

Yeah, my, yeah, can devotee be too much enthusiastic?

Yes, you can be as enthusiastic as you want to be, but enthusiasm should not be external, it should also be internal. It is not that externally you are acting enthusiastically, but internally you are thinking of sense enjoyment. So you have to be enthusiastic internally and externally.

What does it mean to meditate on desires of Kṛṣṇa?

Yes, what does it mean to meditate on the desires of Kṛṣṇa? The example of one who meditated on the desires of Kṛṣṇa is whom?

Who?

Gopī Mānjari? Rādhārāṇī?

Who said?

Pralāda Mahārāja.

Who?

Pralāda. Pralāda Mahārāja? Yes. The example of one who meditated on Kṛṣṇa's instruction and achieved perfection was Pralāda Mahārāja. So Pralāda Mahārāja was always meditating on the desire of the Lord to bring the conditioned souls back to Him. Therefore he was always trying to distribute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So Kṛṣṇa says, "The dearest devotee of Mine is one who is always engaged in preaching My glories." Therefore Prabhupāda said, "If you want to please Me, distribute My books." Because when you distribute Prabhupāda books, you are distributing Kṛṣṇa.

Okay. In Bhāgavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says about 3 Vedas, but in commentary— About? About 3 Vedas, but in commentary Śrīla Prabhupāda says about 4 Vedas.

Originally there was only one Veda, but then one Veda got divided into different four Vedas.

Originally there was only one Veda. You said the devotee should avoid duplicity, but if, say, if due to our imperfection we may be angry to other devotee or think badly about him, but we should not, you know, show it.

We should?

We should not show it, we shouldn't say it. —like this, yeah? And it means that we should be— we should be— do how to simplify this. We are not simple.

I am not sure if I have understood your question correctly, but I will try to answer. So the statement that I made was simplicity means to avoid duplicity. And you are saying, I think, that sometimes one may be envious of the other person. So envy is there As long as you are operating on the bodily platform, as long as you are thinking you are this body, you are envious. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Hare.