Suppose we are walking on a road, and
someone approaches and asks us to come with them somewhere. We wouldn’t just go
along – we would first evaluate whether the detour would be worthwhile.
While that is common sense, that sense is
not so common when we deal with our inner world. From within stray thoughts
frequently emerge and proposition us to go on detours. As these propositions
are subtle and swift, we often fall under their spell. And we end up wasting
our time, craving for trivial things, lamenting about unchangeable things or
worrying about improbable things. Actually, time wastage may well be the least
of the detour’s costs. During some detours, we may be misled into actions that
are karmically incriminating, emotionally entangling or spiritually degrading.
Such misleading thoughts frequently emerge
from the mind, which, the Bhagavad-gita (06.34) declares, is restless – akin to
a stray wanderer. We can’t eliminate the mind’s wanderlust immediately, but we
can train ourselves to resist it. The best resistance strategy is
purposefulness.
Returning to the starting example, we
wouldn’t let anyone sidetrack us if we were going on an important assignment.
Similarly, if we keep ourselves purposefully engaged in important things, and
if while doing those things we remind ourselves of their importance, we won’t
let stray thoughts lead us astray.
We can best cultivate purposefulness by
practicing spiritual meditation that connects us with our deepest values and
highest purposes. Such meditation fosters inner alertness. If by that alertness
we can put off the mind’s idea for even a few minutes, that idea’s spell will
wear off, and we will regain the perspective to evaluate it objectively. Then
we can go along with it on the few occasions when the idea is serendipitous,
and continue on our way on most other occasions when the idea is gratuitous.
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