Suppose we have a careless colleague who keeps making a mess
of things, but whom we aren’t allowed to replace. The best way to deal with the
situation is to train the colleague.
That is our position in material existence with the
colleague being our mind. Rather than teaming with us to meet our
responsibilities, the mind becomes our liability. When we want to do one thing,
it wanders off to something else, something that is often unimportant and
sometimes even stupid. And if we don’t keep our guard up, then it even drags us
along on its frivolous and foolhardy schemes.
Re-placing the mind can be taxing but also transforming if
we find the right object to place it on.
Though the mind is a tireless troublemaker, we can’t replace
it – it’s going to be with us for as long as we are in material existence. How
can we function effectively with such an unpredictable partner?
By rigorously re-placing it.
The Bhagavad-gita (06.26) urges that we bring the mind back
under our control no matter wherever or whenever it wanders.
Won’t such constant labor be taxing?
Yes, but it can also be transforming if we find the right
object to place the mind on. The Gita repeatedly recommends the all-pure
Supreme, Krishna, as the best such object.
Why is Krishna the best object?
Because contact with the all-pure Supreme purifies the mind.
The mind is a perennial pleasure-seeker. Due to past
impressions of materialistic pleasures, the mind goes off at every opportunity
towards those pleasures. But when we consistently place it on Krishna by
thinking of his glories, his pastimes, his service, the mind realizes gradually
that such remembrance gives the best fulfillment, far better than that
available through any of its quixotic schemes for worldly enjoyment.
By repeatedly re-placing the mind on Krishna, we reform it,
realize the joyfulness of connection with him and rejoice therein eternally.
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