Nothing distracts us as much as we ourselves

We live in a culture of mass distraction. Worldly things around us try to catch our eye in myriad ways. And with us lie devices that are potentially universes of distraction. No doubt, in today’s work environment, devices are often indispensable. Still, even when we are using a device for our work, we may get distracted on the device itself to social media, net surfing, emails and what not. We may chat here, read there, watch somewhere else — forgetting what we intended to do and forgetting even that we have forgotten. Even if we put our phone in silent mode, disconnect ourselves from the internet and move away from chat boxes and chatterboxes — all conditions conducive for undistracted work — we may give in to some wayward impulse and seek out some distraction. Such incidents show that outer distractions are not as big a problem as our inner distractibility. Such distractibility stems from our dangerous inner distractor: the mind. The Bhagavad-gita (06.26) acknowledges the mind’s restlessness, but still exhorts us to focus it on spiritual reality. This exhortation implies that we have the capacity to focus our mind. Though our capacity for mental focus is presently under-developed, we can boost it by practicing bhakti-yoga. This time-honored yoga links the mind with the supremely pacifying and satisfying object of thought, Krishna. When we relish the serenity and joy of absorption in Krishna, we get convinced that we can do better than wander off wherever the mind wishes to wander. This conviction inspires within us the resolution to no longer pay heed to the inner distractor, but to focus on Krishna as our object of service in all our activities. By this devotional resolution, we gradually get empowered by divine grace to detect, neglect and reject distractions, both external and internal.