mind- friend or foe?

Verse 2.55: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O Pārtha, when a man gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness.

A few questions to begin with today: Do you consider your mind to be your servant or your master? Would you like to become a more focused individual? Don't answer these questions right away! Just hang on to them for the moment...

The mind is one complex subject! In fact, there are fields of study dedicated to it such as that of psychology. However, the one thing that psychology has yet to offer is the answer to the question of how to control the mind without trying to repress it.

The yoga texts, specifically the Gita, not only give the answer to this million dollar question, but they also offer more insight as to the nature of the mind. Simply put, the Gita defines the mind as the leader of the senses. The great bhakti master Prabhupada further elaborates, "The principle activities of the mind are of thinking, feeling and willing which are expressed through our senses."

The mind is constantly making plans so that the senses can enjoy. That is, when the mind is not purified. This is an important distinction that the Gita makes. The living entity, the soul, is spiritual. The mind, however, is material. It is not possible to purify the mind with material objects or processes, at least not in any way that has a long-lasting effect. The only way the mind can be purified is through spiritual engagement.

Let's take a moment to talk about what happens with the mind if it isn't purified: it will constantly accept and reject ideas. It does so because it lives in the realm of duality. It assigns labels to people, places, situations and things of "this is good" and "this is bad". Those labels are not founded in any permanence and that is why you may observe that one second you may think something is good and the next second something is bad. For example, say your favourite food is pizza. When you are first eating it, your mind is exclaiming, "So good, we want more!" You're so happy that there's pizza that you keep eating and eating and eating...and suddenly as you finish off that seventh piece and your stomach starts protesting, that same mind starts chastising, "Stop! Pizza bad, causing pain."

Why does the mind do this? Because it is making judgements on behalf of the senses. When the senses feel pleasure, the mind perceives something as good and as soon as it starts causing pain or any type of discomfort, that same thing becomes bad.

One could rightly argue, "But that's necessary isn't it?" On the material platform, absolutely. But remember, the goal of yoga is to transcend the temporary. The pleasure we feel coming from the senses doesn't last and so by constantly letting the mind "make the call" as to what's good/bad or right/wrong, we are operating on the material level. As spiritual beings, we seek eternal pleasure which can only be attained when our mind is spiritualized.

So how do we purify the mind? In the beginning, one can start by trying to control it. The mind is like a little child in that it always needs to be engaged. If it isn't engaged, it just wrecks havoc and that's why "An idle mind is a devil's workshop."

So how does one go about controlling the mind? A word to the wise, artificially repressing doesn't tend to work well. In fact, often times it may even exacerbate the craziness going on inside. The yoga texts present mantra meditation as the solution. In fact, for the current age we live in, mantra meditation is stated be even more effective than silent meditation. With silent meditation, the mind may still be internally going crazy because the senses aren't engaged. Remember how the mind is the leader of the senses? If the mind is going crazy, you can be sure the senses are also crying out for something to occupy them.

Mantra meditation is a sensory experience that calms the mind. By holding mantra beads, one is engaging the sense of touch. Through saying the mantra and hearing it, one is engaging both the tongue and the ears. One can either close their eyes or look at the written words of the mantra and thus engage the eyes. Although not necessary, one can even engage the nose by burning incense or choosing to be outside in the fresh air.

The key in mantra meditation is to focus on hearing the sound of the mantra. That's it. Just by hearing the mantra, the mind is pulled from it's whirlpool like thoughts and starts resting in the mantra. This is the spiritual engagement we were speaking of before. As one practices this daily and slowly increases their time engaging in mantra meditation, it's amazing how the focus one experiences transfers to all aspects of one's life.

The question may arise then of what mantra to chant. There are so many mantras given in the Vedas. However, the recommended mantra for this age is that of the maha mantra - the greatest mantra which includes all other mantras. That's right. Just by meditating on this one mantra, you get the benefit of chanting every other mantra, even the ones don't even know about!

You may have heard of the maha mantra before but not realized its significance. The mantra goes: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. These three names of Hare, Krishna and Rama refer to names of the Divine. Hare is an address to the feminine divine and Krishna and Rama refer to the the Supreme. The mantra is a call for help to the Supreme consciousness to help us reconnect with our true identity.

So in conclusion, I ask you to revisit the questions I asked at the beginning. The first one is just something to think about. If you answered yes to the second one however, I invite you to try meditating on the Hare Krishna mantra. Just try it for a few minutes everyday when you wake up for a week. If you choose to do so, please write down on your observations. I would love to hear your experience!

are you ready to walk out?

Verse 2.27: One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.

Today, we are indirectly introduced to the concept of karma. As Prabhupada writes in the purport "One has to take birth according to one's activities of life. And after finishing one term of activities, one has to die to take birth for the next."

Let's spend a little bit of time talking about karma here. First of all, what is it? Simply put - what goes around comes around. For whatever action we perform, a corresponding reaction will be given. As a society that claims it's "scientifically driven" we observe this reality and expect this. Why then do people struggle with the concept of karma and its application in their own life? I think part of the reason is due to the fact that the effect(or reaction) may not manifest in this lifetime.

Did you know that? It's true! There is such a thing as instant and delayed karma. Not only is there good and bad karma, but delayed and instantaneous as well as group and individual karma.

Somewhere along the road, it appears that mainstream society latched onto the idea of karma and associated the word "now" to it. Probably because we are a "now" society. The truth is, we have no control over when we will feel the results of the karma we accrue, irregardless of whether it's good or bad. For somethings we may feel it right away, but for others we may have to wait lifetimes to feel the effects.

That's the reason why some people just seem to "have it all" without doing anything and the reason why some people may work hard all their life without any apparent result. In looking and judging others (something we are all guilty of doing,) we neglect to remember that we are only seeing a snapshot of that soul's journey.

Just think of a movie. When we see a movie, most of us forget that the movie is actually composed of individual frames which compose the moving picture. "When the moving picture is displayed, each frame is flashed on a screen for a short time and then immediately replaced by the next one. Persistence of vision blends the frames together, producing the illusion of a moving image." Credit: Wikipedia

Similarly, we forget that our journey in this lifetime is also just an individual frame. Puts things into perspective, doesn't it? Our problem is that we mistakenly think that what we are see happening to others, and what is currently going on with us, is the entire movie.

That's what Krsna is getting at here in this verse. Unless we stop accruing karma (whether it be good or bad), this process of birth and death will continue on and on and on. Remember the last movie you saw where you felt the story dragged on and on? Afterwards you probably commented, "They should have made it shorter! That last hour was a waste!" Well, the "movie" of our journey in the material world has become just like that - too long. Enough already!

That's what Krsna will soon present to Arjuna. Think of this like the previews....coming soon in a Gita near you! Yes, there is good and bad karma, but there is also something called "no karma". Those same good activities that you perform right now for "your pleasure", when instead done in the consciousness of service and gratitude to the Lord, result in no karma.

That's our ticket out of the cycle of birth and death. Our sojourn in the material world has become like a bad movie that just keeps dragging on. It's time to get out.

The only question remains: are you ready to walk out of this bad movie, or are you going to continue to suffer through it?

one of my favorite verses!

Verse 2.14: O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.

I'm so happy! Today I get to write about one of my top three ABSOLUTE favorite verses of the Gita. Verse 2.14. Why do I love this verse....oh probably for a million different reasons. I'll share the top five that came to mind today.

1. It's so beautiful. From a purely literary standpoint, this verse screams poetic. The imagery is just so vivid. Can you not just picture the melting of the snow, the warmth of the sun, the coldness of a windy, screaming blizzard and the scorching heat on a mid-summer's afternoon? These images mimic so beautifully our own experiences of feeling happiness and distress.

2. I love similes. For those of you who might have forgotten the rules of English (hehehe!) a simile is used when comparing two things using "like" or "as". In this case Krsna is comparing our experiences/feelings to seasons.

3. The reminder that happiness and distress are non-permanent is so expertly conveyed here. Everyone can relate to the winter and summer seasons having a definite beginning and an end, right? (Though that being said, sometimes Canadian winters do seem to drag on forever!) We often hear people say, "I can't wait for Spring," or conversely "I can't wait until Winter is over!" The thing is when it comes to experiencing feelings of happiness or sadness, we forget that the same temporariness applies during our actual experience of them. When someone is up they are really up and often feel like nothing can bring them down, but conversely the opposite is so true as well. Krsna is so sweetly and kindly reminding us of that fact and saying, "Hey! Don't get too caught up in those waves of highs and lows."

4. An extremely important truth is brought here. The idea that happiness and distress arise due to sense perception. What does that mean? One way of looking at is that one person's pleasure is another person's pain. Hence, there is no such thing (in the material world) of absolute happiness or absolute distress. As well, this reminds us that this happiness and distress we are experiencing is the interaction of the senses with the sense objects. It's not the soul that is actually taking pleasure or displeasure in these experiences, it is the body and mind that are decoding it as "good" or "bad".

5. So Krsna begins with a beautiful comparison that illustrates the temporariness of our enjoyment, then delves deeper by explaining exactly it arises from come from (sense perception) and then finally concludes powerfully by saying "one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed" Wow, personally, that's a pretty tall order. But before getting into that a bit deeper, let's first just rewind and unpack what "tolerate without being disturbed" actually means.

First of all, this does not propound that one shouldn't feel and/or repress one's emotions. Secondly, it is crucial to note that this phrase applies not just to our experiences of distress but ALSO those of happiness (and everything in between). That's right. One should "tolerate" happiness. So why does Krsna use the word tolerate here? He does so because he's trying to stress that these experiences actually have no impact on the soul and since we are the soul, we should tolerate them!.

The soul cannot be satisfied by anything material. Krsna is saying that everyone will have these experiences, since these experiences arise due to the bodily senses coming in contact with the sense objects. But remember! We are not our senses! So if we are not our senses, why are we investing so much time and energy and throwing ourselves into the experiences that arise due to them? Doesn't make a lot of sense does it? Instead Krsna is giving us a recommendation. Why not accept that these experiences come, but learn to be aloof. That way when these experiences come and emotions arise you can view them more objectively instead of becoming attached to them.

On the most practical level, when a bhakti yogi learns to tolerate happiness and distress, it allows him/her to become fixed in their practice of bhakti yoga. How often have we not accomplished or done something simply because we didn't "feel like it"? Furthermore, when one actually tolerates happiness and distress (go ahead and try it out for yourself!) one can see more clearly how often we attach importance to little things. This doesn't come easy and it take purification of heart, but next time you feel yourself feeling very distraught or supremely happy, take a step back. Analyze where those feelings are coming from. If you're happy, take the opportunity to thank God and if you're sad, remember that this too will pass.

good and bad

Verse 2.6: Nor do we know which is better — conquering them or being conquered by them. If we killed the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, we should not care to live. Yet they are now standing before us on the battlefield.

I always find it incredibly amazing when things just line up in place. Some may call it coincidence, serendipity or luck, but I am more convinced then ever that it is direct reciprocation from God. The only thing we need to do is wake up and pay attention! Something that I certainly need to work on. :)

I bring this up because today's verse talks about duality and wouldn't you know, I was just listening to a talk on duality this morning. For those who may not understand what the bhakti texts speak of when they refer to duality, it is the aspect of labelling things as good or bad, hot or cold, black or white etc... Duality is something that surrounds us and is a large part of the material experience we are undergoing. There is a beautiful verse in the Vedic text called Caitanya Caritamrita that speaks on duality which I'd like to refer to here. The text is spoken in Bengali and I'll include it since it's so beautiful:

'dvaite' bhadrābhadra-jñāna, saba — 'manodharma'
'ei bhāla, ei manda', — ei saba 'bhrama' (CC. Antya. 4.176)

The translation is as follows: "In the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental speculations. Therefore, saying 'This is good' and 'This is bad' is all a mistake."

What I've always found of interest in this verse is the translation to the word 'manodharma' which means "religion of the mind." Have you ever thought that of your mind as having its own religion? Well, it does! And that religion is to categorize things as good or bad. See when the mind is trapped in the illusory conception of life (i.e. seeing everything separate from God), then its only frame of reference is to see everything in relationship to the body. Hence, the religion of the mind is different for every living entity since its frame of reference is itself. "Itself" here being the material body and not the true self- the soul.

It's a valuable lesson to keep things in perspective. We all go through moments, minutes, months and even years of feeling confused, hurt, resentful and misunderstood. When we feel this way it's because we are seeing good and bad in relationship to something that is only temporary - i.e. our material body. We get so worked up, no? Then we feel justified to act in a way that is unbecoming of a true lady or gentlemen.

I've taken to running my own personal experiment. I've stopped trying to label things that are and aren't happening to me as good or bad. Instead, it's simply an "experience". Although I'm still in the initial stages of my research, I notice that my mind isn't as disturbed as it normally is. Instead of boiling up inside and feeling that/it/he/she is good or bad, I consciously try to simply observe the situation, note the feelings that come up (bhakti is not about becoming numb or emotionless!) and try to look for the root cause of my emotions. Every single time, I've come to the conclusion that when I start to label something as good/bad it's because I'm perceiving the situation a certain way in relation to my body. I'm either feeling that I don't get enough credit, honour, glory, am misunderstood....the list can go on forever.

If we could only look for the lesson, life really wouldn't be so complicated. I'll end today by relating a small story that my spiritual teacher shared in a class today.

Close to thirty years ago, my guru was living in an asrama and was heading up a project to distribute bhakti texts across North America. The asrama received a new leader in charge and for whatever reason he would take to putting down my spiritual teacher. My teacher related how much this hurt his heart. He never told anyone, but at a certain point in time it was starting to become unbearable (i.e. he felt the situation was really "bad"). However, he was praying to Krsna to please help him and it just so happened the person who was insulting him went away for a few days. During that time, my teacher was asked to give a series of classes on a beautiful bhakti text called the Srimad Bhagavatam.

The story and texts he was asked to speak on were in relation to a great bhakti yogi who was being insulted. There, that bhakti yogi responds to the insults by saying that he is not affected since all the insults are in relationship to his body and not his true self - the soul. So why should he feel hurt or disturbed, since it actually has no meaning! My spiritual teacher felt such relief in these words and in fact from that day forward started to feel grateful to the person who was insulting him!!! He felt that, "This person is helping me to realize that I am not this body." When this person came back to the asrama, my teacher started noticing that this person stopped insulting him after some time. In fact, years later, this person actually came and apologized profusely to my teacher.

I find this experience so inspiring. It goes to show that everything we undergo here in this material world is simply happening to teach us that we don't belong here. The body we are in right now is not our permanent residence and so everything that we undergo that is seemingly good/bad is simply a tool to help remind us of that.

So the next time you feel something is good/bad, try not to engage in the religion of the mind. Instead, look for the beautiful lesson that is actually of value - we are spiritual beings having a material experience.

where have all the saintly persons gone?

Verse 1.36: Sin will overcome us if we slay such aggressors. Therefore it is not proper for us to kill the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and our friends. What should we gain, O Kṛṣṇa, husband of the goddess of fortune, and how could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen?

Where has society's morality gone? That's the question I'd like to begin with today. More so than ever the news is inundated with all kinds of disturbing events taking place all across the world. Where have all the saintly persons gone?

When I mean saintly, I speak according to the definition given in the Gita. A saintly person is one who is virtuous and who treats others with respect and compassion because they see that everything is a spark of God's opulence. By this definition, it is not a quality that is relegated to just a chosen few but actually a quality that all of us should practice.

Such attributes and characteristics do not just appear magically. They must be practiced. In fact, this actually reminds me of one of my favourite verses in the Gita. I know I'm skipping ahead, but consider this a little extra for today! ;) In Chapter 17, Verse 16, Krsna says, "And satisfaction, simplicity, gravity, self-control and purification of one's existence are the austerities of the mind."

I remember exactly where I was and how I felt when I was taught the full import of this verse. I was in Mayapur, India and was sitting in a room with about twenty bhakti practitioners from all over the world. I remember how the teacher emphasized the word austerity in this verse and a light bulb went off in my head. Austerity in this verse means to practice. Austerity implies some level of difficulty and the requirement of great mental determination in order to be successful.

Shocking isn't it? Take just the first quality that is mentioned in 17.16- satisfaction. It means that we need to practice satisfaction, what to speak of simplicity, gravity, self-control etc... This is just mind-boggling to the Western way of thinking, where satisfaction is something you either buy or something that happens at/to you, not something that you actually practice.

Similarly, saintliness is also a quality that must be practiced. But the question can be raised here. How can one practice a quality? Well...it's actually pretty simple. Anyone remember what was mentioned yesterday as being the most important principle of bhakti? Always remember Krsna and never forget him. If we are aspiring to be in this consciousness then we realize that every living entity (please note - not just restricted to humans!) we interact with is also very dear to Krsna and every situation we face is due to the results of our past action.

Hence, we see opportunities to practice qualities like tolerance, patience, detachment, compassion, paying respects to others...all the qualities that make one saintly.

Bhakti teaches us to view things from a different perspective, that of "What can I learn from this moment?" This fuels and can give impetus to our determination to act properly.

It is also important to note that aspiring bhakti yogis don't just practice good qualities to become a good person since that can easily lead one into the trap of becoming proud. "Just see what a great person I am. I'm so patient and tolerant!" :P

No. They see this cultivation of good qualities as being helpful in their practice of bhakti yoga. It's easy to be a nice person, it's harder to see the practice of good qualities as a stepping stone to advancement in bhakti.

The goal of bhakti is not just to be a good person who exemplifies saintliness. The goal of bhakti is to uncover and fan our hidden love for God. How one can do this is coming up in the Gita, so stay tuned!

the good and the bad

Verse 1.7: But for your information, O best of the brāhmaṇas, let me tell you about the captains who are especially qualified to lead my military force.

I find Duryodhana, the speaker of this verse, to be such a fascinating character. The eldest of one hundred brothers called the Kauravas, he is the reason why the battle took place

Why am I fascinated? Because he represents a part of each of us. In me, he is representative of my ego, the part that doesn't want to take good council and always feels it is right and can never be wrong.

That being said, like all of us, Duryodhana also has some good qualities. How can someone who is the cause of so much negativity, evil and pain have good qualities? Shocked? Well, so was I the day I realized that not everything is black and white in life.

I'll just name one example, but a powerful one which demonstrates Duryodhana has some good in him. It touches on one of my other favourite characters of the Mahabharata. He is the perfect example of a fallen hero and his name was Karna. Karna (whose other name was Radheya) was actually the eldest brother of the Pandavas.

Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, was just a girl at the time. In serving a great sage she received a benediction that she could invoke any demigod she wanted by reciting a sacred mantra. Young and naive, she one day invoked the sun god, Surya. Imagine her surprise when he appeared! Confirming that the mantra indeed worked, she assumed that he would leave. What she didn't realize was the true purpose of the mantra which was to be blessed by a son from that demigod. Unmarried and not knowing what to do, Kunti with great remorse put the baby, Karna, in a basket and set it afloat on a river.

Years later at a tournament the Pandavas and Kauravas were showcasing their military skills. At that tournament this boy, now named Radheya, came and displayed his skills. He had been adopted by a charioteer and his wife whose name was Radha. Just as the nature of fire is to burn, similarly Radheya's nature of a warrior was displayed. He was incredible, even better than Arjuna, and at one point in time Radheya challenged Arjuna. At that time Kunti was in the crowd watching and she fainted at the thought of her sons fighting one another.

Before Arjuna could take up the challenge, Radheya was asked to provide information from where he came from and his parentage. When it was revealed that he was the son of a worker and not warrior, he was asked to leave. It was not appropriate for two persons to fight who were not of the same background. At that time Duryodhana, recognizing greatness, immediately crowned Radheya the king of a small land called Anga. That one incident inspired such loyalty in Karna that despite knowing that Duryodhana acted unscrupulously on many occasions, never left his side.

In this verse we see the leadership ability of Duryodhana. He is expertly boosting the morale of his army by exalting the virtues of the great warriors on his side.

Why do I bring this up? Because it serves as a lesson for all of us to realize that in everything there is some good. It is not an excuse to turn a blind eye to all the negative aspects that may be present in a person or situation but by being able to see beyond that, we can get a better perspective on how we can act from a personal level. Instead of reacting, we can act with intelligence.

The fact that Duryodhana was about to cause so much catastrophe didn't stop the Pandavas from recognizing that he was a great warrior. Just the same way, we should not be oblivious to the good that may be there in an overwhelmingly amount of bad. By recognizing both, only then can we properly practice bhakti.