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How can we know whether we are depending on our own endeavors or on Krishna?
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Answer Podcast
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http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2016%20classes/11-16%20classes/Bhikshu%20Gita%206%20-%20See%20the%20mind’s%20aversion%20to%20concentration%20as%20a%20trick%20of%20illusion%20-%20Bhagavatam%2011.23.47.mp3
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The post Bhikshu Gita 6 – See the mind’s aversion to concentration as a trick of illusion (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.47) appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
“To identify with the mind” means to accept its desires as our desires and unthinkingly act on them. “To identify the mind” means to recognize that the desires popping up inside us are the mind’s desires – “Aha! That’s the mind speaking” – and to intelligently evaluate whether to act on them or not.
“Don’t identify with the mind; identify the mind” – this can be a contemporary English rendition of the key call of the Bhagavad-gita (06.05): Elevate yourself with the mind; don’t degrade yourself[1]. When we identify with the mind, we act according to its shortsighted, self-defeating desires, thereby degrading ourselves. When we identify the mind, we check its desires and choose to act only on those desires that are worthy, thereby elevating ourselves.
Redefining external and internal
Suppose we had a house with a large courtyard that had a fence with the main security gate. Suppose we found someone inside the fence. Just because they were inside our premises, we wouldn’t assume that they belonged, that they were related with us. We would investigate who they were and then decide how to interact with them.
We need to be similarly cautious when we find some unexpected desires popping up inside us. We often think of physical objects as external and desires as internal. This external-internal classification is based on our thinking of ourselves as our body. However, the fundamental teaching of the Bhagavad-gita (02.13)[2] is that we are souls. The mind is made of matter, although of a kind subtler than the physical matter we are accustomed to. Being material, the mind is an external covering on the soul. So, from the perspective of our real identity as souls, the mind is external to us, as are the desires in it.
But we usually think of the desires inside us as our desires. Some of our desires can be like intruders who have slipped through the main security gate and entered into the premises. Just as those residing in the house are especially vulnerable to such intruders, we too are especially vulnerable to the inimical desires that have penetrated into our mind. We misidentify with such desires and act on them. For example, we may have resolved to diet for health. But then a desire to eat something fatty pops up within us. If we mistake that desire to be our desire, we end up bingeing. If we can recognize that desire as an unwanted trespasser, we can strive to resist it.
How can we identify the mind instead of identifying with the mind?
Here are four strategies:
Labeling
Advising
Purifying
Persisting
Labeling
When we interact with people regularly, we gradually form labels for them: “He’s lazy,” “She’s fussy,” “He’s rash”, “She’s vain.” This labeling tendency can mislead. People are a complex blend of strengths and shortcomings, but labeling reduces them to just one of their traits.
Still, labels, if used carefully, can serve as helpful functional guides. People are what they are, and aren’t likely to change overnight. Once we understand their nature, we can adapt to them. For […]
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Bhikshu Gita 1 – Minimize misery by identifying the misery caused by the mind (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.42)
Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
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Bhikshu Gita 2 – The mind makes it difficult for people to change – be understanding (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.43)
Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
Podcast :
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Bhikshu Gita 3 – The mind makes the unreal seem real and the real seem unreal (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.44)
Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
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Bhikshu Gita 4 – The mind distracts us from bhakti in the name of bhakti (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.45)
Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
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http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2016%20classes/11-16%20classes/Bhikshu%20Gita%204%20-%20The%20mind%20distracts%20us%20from%20bhakti%20in%20the%20name%20of%20bhakti%20Bhagavatam%2011.23.45.mp3
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Bhikshu Gita 5 – Happiness comes by raising the standard of longing (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.46)
Congregation program at Abudhabi, United Arab Emirates
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Congregation program at Abudhabi, United Arab Emirates
Podcast:
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During my five-day visit to Bahrain in 2016, I spoke a four-part series on the Bhikshu Gita, a section from the Uddhava Gita in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. This song of the mendicant contains penetrating insights about the nature of the mind and its pivotal role in aggravating our distresses.
During the series, the discussion spontaneously evolved towards how the mind affects our relationships. I analyzed how our mind’s preconceptions and misconceptions lead us to snap judgments about others, thereby hurting our relationships with them. Overall, I tried to open the audience’s minds to appreciate the difficulties others have in overcoming their conditionings.
Later, I heard from devotees about their overall positive experiences while practicing bhakti in Bahrain. As a part of the government’s “This is Bahrain” program, the devotees had done their first public kirtan recently and had even been included as a part of a Bahraini delegation to a global summit of inter-religious harmony.
It was revealing to know that when Bahrain had its own version of the Arab Spring a few years ago, the protesting Bahrainis had conscientiously avoided targeting any of the immigrants’ vehicles (“We have nothing against you.”) or even the government buildings (“Our protests are against the rulers – why should we damage our own nation’s property?”) Although the protests had eventually been crushed violently by the government, the protestors hadn’t resorted to vandalism, thus countering the prevailing stereotype that people of a particular religion resort to violence at the slightest provocation.
I was reminded forcefully that no blanket label applies to any group of people. People everywhere are essentially the same – and the wide spectrum of various kinds of people can be found in any cross-section of society. The Bhagavad-gita (18.20) states that knowledge in the mode of goodness means to see the similar spiritual essence in all living beings, whatever be their bodily coverings. It struck me that while I was speaking to help my audience open their minds, hearing from them was opening my mind too. During traveling preaching, this realization has come upon me repeatedly: what I teach may benefit others, but what I learn benefits me much more.
On a separate note, I had just returned from a two-month tour of the West, where having over a hundred people attend a program was a luxury reserved only for Sundays. But here in Bahrain, having nearly two hundred people attend programs every day, for five days in a series, was an encouraging testimony to our movement’s vibrancy – and to the Bahraini devotee-leaders’ dedication.
Apart from the series on the mind, I also gave five other classes. To the teenagers of the community, I spoke on “Navigating the emotional and social turbulence of adolescence.” To a well-wisher whose brother had suddenly passed away, I spoke on “Learning from the guru named death.”
My trip to Bahrain was coordinated by Krishna Prema Prabhu, who was one of the founding doctors of the Bhaktivedanta Hospital and is doing powerful preaching in Bahrain. He has […]
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http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/If%20having%20too%20many%20commitments%20makes%20us%20resentful,%20what%20can%20we%20do.mp3
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Congregation program at Bahrain
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Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
Podcast:
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Talk at ISKCON, Bahrain
Podcast:
http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2016%20classes/11-16%20classes/Bhikshu%20Gita%204%20-%20The%20mind%20distracts%20us%20from%20bhakti%20in%20the%20name%20of%20bhakti%20Bhagavatam%2011.23.45.mp3
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Answer Podcast
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