Practical Ways to Control the Mind | BG 6.5 | Rus-Split | 12 May 1990 | Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami

Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya! Ohm nomoh bahgwa te vaah soodevayam— ohm nah moh bahte vaa soo deevayah—aum namo' Bhaghwatai Vasudeva ya'aam... om na mo Bah-ga-te Va-so-dee-vai-yaaa-aun amma-oom Ba-gh-wathe Vaaaa Sooo Deveeya'ya'am. Auum naam ah Mah-ra-bha-theeh-Vasoodheeva yaha'm? Ahmm no-mmo Bakh-whatee wa-su-deeveyāya-am. Ong-na mao ma ra badeh vastu devayeeyaan. Ananda Maukshi Devotees singing 'Om Namoha Sath Chitānand'. So in this verse, Krishna is telling us that we must control the mind and lift our consciousness and not be degraded due to an uncontrolled mind. In this verse, two words have been used with reference to the mind. One is enemy and one is friend. It is being explained in this verse that the mind can be both your friend and enemy. In ordinary dealings, we are always busy saying, this person is my enemy, he's my enemy, he's my enemy. But sometimes devotees also say, "Oh, this devotee doesn't like me. I don't like that devotee. I won't go out doing book distribution with that devotee." But actually it is the mind that is creating all the trouble for us. Nobody is your enemy but the uncontrolled mind. What is the definition of uncontrolled mind? This is important to understand because many people, devotees, say, "Oh, my mind is in control," when it is not in control. So controlled mind means one is thinking about the goal of life. One is only ready to do those actions with guru, sadhu, shastra have approved. And one is not ready to do something not approved by guru, sadhu, shastra. Just like a car runs on 4 wheels or the railway runs on 2 tracks, spiritual life of a devotee runs on 3 tracks: guru, sadhu, shastra. Shastra constitutes the highest authority because it means the words of God. The business of the guru is just to follow the previous Ācāryas and the shastras and repeat it for the benefit of the disciple and the public. So The guru says you must chant your 16 rounds and follow 4 regulated principles. But the mind says, "It's okay, sometimes it's too much work. Guru is not practical. Instead of 16, you can do 10 rounds." And then the mind says, "You don't have to follow all regulated principles. You can break 1 or 2 sometimes. After all, it's Kali Yuga, 20th century. It's not ancient India." Then you have some service to do. The mind will say, "I am sick today." So the mind, when it is giving you some direction that is against what the spiritual master and the sadhus and the shastras have said, then it should be rejected. Just like when the parents are bringing up a young child, when the child is ready to go to school, then the parents train up the child, "This is your name, this is your address, this is your phone number. If somebody stops you on the road and tells you, 'Take a chocolate, get into my car,' don't get into it." Don't you train up the children? So nobody may do any harm to them. So similarly, we have to train up our mind not to accept anything that is deviant from spiritual goals. So we should take the help of the mind in realizing the goal of life. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, Arjuna says, "Cāntala imānā Kṛṣṇa." The mind is more difficult to control than even the wind. So you may say, "If Arjuna found it difficult to control the mind, Guruji, how can we control the mind, young people in 20th century in the West?" Western world. Just like for every disease there is a cure, there is also a disease for the turbulent— there is also a cure for the turbulent mind. So what are the practical medicines that you should take? Manmana bhava madbhakto madhyajiman namaskaru. Krishna tells us in the Bhagavad Gita we should think of Him, bow down to Him. Think of Krishna. Usually the mind is always thinking of two weaknesses of material existence. These were the two weaknesses exhibited by Hiranyakashipu also. What is that? Soft bed and gold. Sex, life, and money. These are our eternal enemies on the spiritual path. In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asked Krishna a question. He said, "How is it that in spite of knowing what is right, what is wrong, one is still forced into sinful activities?" Krishna said, "It is lust only, the all-devouring enemy of the living entity, which is always burning like fire and never satisfied." Just like when you have a fire, and you pour butter into it, will the flames of the fire go loud below, down, or go up? And when you have an itching sensation and you scratch on it, does your disease get worse or does it get better? It gets worse. So similarly, when we satisfy our lusty desires with lusty activities, then the desire just increases and one deviates from the spiritual goal of life. Therefore, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is a practical guideline from the scriptures how we can regulate our senses. If, for example, one cannot practice trik-sa-libesi, then he can become an honest householder and follow the householder rules for spiritual advancement. But the point is that life should be so molded that we live according to the laws of scriptures. So this enemy lust can be conquered Only with a strong shower. Just like when there is a forest fire. When there is a forest fire, even if you call 100 fire brigades, you cannot put the fire off. But when the clouds pour water, then the fire is put off. So similarly, by the causeless mercy of the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa, if you follow these instructions that they have given, then with the mercy pouring down in the form of rain, it will be easy to conquer lust. Devi-yeṣa guna-māyā mamā-māyā-dūrata-yā. Kṛṣṇa explains, this virtual energy of mind of the three modes is very difficult to overcome. Mām eṁāmya prapadyante māyāmitāṁ taranti te. But if, however, one surrenders unto Me, then he can overcome the influence of Kali-yuga. So what does surrender to Kṛṣṇa mean? Different people have different understanding of what surrender means. Somebody may think, "Oh, I was a non-vegetarian, now I become a vegetarian." So that is surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Somebody may start associating with devotees and come to the satsang once a week. He may think, "Oh, I am surrendered to Kṛṣṇa now." And somebody may shave his head and move in the temple, and he may think he surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. So these are all different degrees of surrender. But when Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmaṁ paritajya mām ekaṁ ca nāma-jāham tvāṁ sarve pāpi-bhayaṁ mokṣami māsucetaha, Kṛṣṇa is telling us, "Give up all your nonsense independence and just do what I say, and then I will protect you." Just like the government tells you, "You follow us and we will protect you." So Kṛṣṇa say, "You follow Me, you surrender to Me, and I will protect you." So surrendering to Kṛṣṇa means following His instructions. So lust may be difficult to overcome, no doubt. We are not underestimating the influence of lust in 20th century. But even though lust is a very major disease, fortunately there is a cure for it. The cure is absorption and devotional service. Just like when this glass is full of water, even if you give me milk, I cannot add milk in it. So if the mind is thinking positively about Kṛṣṇa and Guru's instructions, then Maya will be kept away. Suppose you have 2 or 3 doors into this house. Now, if you don't want a thief to come into this house, you have to lock up all the doors when you go out, and then the thief cannot come in. But if you leave any of the doors open, then the thief will come in. So Bhagavad-gītā says, if all the gates of the body are illuminated with knowledge, then Maya can be kept away. Just like in the winter season, In, you know, I'm sure in Ukraine also the winters are very severe, isn't it? So in the winter season, you cover your head, you cover your ears, you cover your hand, you cover your legs, you cover all the parts of your body. Because if any part of your body is kept open, exposed to the cold, through that one part your whole body will become cold. So even if one of the senses are not engaged properly, through that one sense, Maya can influence everything. Therefore, the mind and all the senses have to be constantly engaged. There are 9 gates in the body through which Maya Devī works. She is really a dāsī. Dāsī means servant. She is a loyal servant of Kṛṣṇa. Real priyādhana, really dear to Kṛṣṇa, because she will make sure that you have enough opportunity to enjoy. And when Maya sees you don't want to enjoy her, then she is very happy. Then she says, okay, now you advance spiritually, I bless you. You want Maya's pradhwīn, then you have to be determined. So there are 9 gates in the body, such as 2 eyes, 2 nose, 2 nostrils, 2 ears, the mouth, the anus, and the genital. There are 9 openings in the body and 2 ears. So if all these 9 gates are illuminated with spiritual knowledge, then Maya cannot touch you. The mind is like the boss of all the senses. Let's say your eyes say, "I must see something vulgar." Now the request from the eyes in flash of a second goes to the mind. Now if the mind is in control, the mind will tell the eyes, "Come on, that's not good for your spiritual life." No, nothing doing. Just like sometimes the child wants to do something, goes to the mother and says, "Mother, can I do it?" Mother says, "No." So the child says, "Okay." But if the eyes want to see something vulgar, And the mind says, "Okay, that's a good idea." Then the mind has become your enemy. Now fortunately there's one other boss above the mind. Just like sometimes the child will go to the mother, the mother says no, then the child will go to the grandmother in the house. So we also have a grandmother in the body. That is the intelligence. Intelligence is higher than the mind. So the eyes are saying, "I want something vulgar." The mind says, "Karo shau, good." But then you go to the intelligence and intelligence says, "No!" This will take you to hell. Just like you may see a nice Mercedes car on the road and your mind may say, "Boy, it would be nice if I had a Mercedes also." And you say, "I have a friend who has a duplicate key to this car." But then the intelligence will say, "Even if you steal the car, you will get caught tomorrow. So what is the use of stealing? You will end up in jail. So don't do it." So the intelligence must control the mind. And if the mind is properly situated, then the senses will automatically come in control. When the eyes go to the mind and say, "I want to do something bad," when the mind is fixed, it will say, "No, this is not good for you." So Kṛṣṇa has given us certain practical means to bring the mind under control. One practical advice is to think about His various pastimes. Even if you— now you have the Kṛṣṇa book in rooski also. So even if you take one pastime of Kṛṣṇa every day and read it, it is enough to keep you busy. And you have the Bhāgavad-gītā in rooski also. So take one verse of the Gītā every day and meditate on that verse. And then you have the desires of the Lord also. Like, that is the desire of the Lord to reclaim all the conditioned souls. So through the mind, meditate how can you fulfill the desires of the Lord. So if we try through this process, then the turbulent Om will become your friend, and then you'll be able to control lust, and then you'll be able to do your japa without any disturbance. Otherwise, you may be doing a japa, but your mind may be wandering at the speed of sound. If you concentrate on the sound vibration attentively, then the mind will eventually be brought under control. Why do we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa? There are many reasons, but one reason also is to help bring the mind under control. Just like in ordinary life, if you get a letter, let's say you get a letter from somebody at home, and that person was an old childhood friend of yours, then the moment you get the letter, you at once begin to remember everything you did with that friend when you were young, isn't it? So similarly, if you have chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa attentively then your mind will automatically think of Kṛṣṇa. But if you have not chanted your rounds properly, then how will you control the mind? So the best remedy for disciplining the mind is attentive chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. Just like when the child is young, the parents train the child up with all type of good manners, how to talk, how to walk, how to speak, how to eat. So similarly you have to train the mind. So chant attentively. Meditate on Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, Kṛṣṇa form, Kṛṣṇa's instructions, Kṛṣṇa's desire, and then there will be no time for lust. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Prasada Ravalraja. Lama Lama Ale Ale.