Maharaja: So for some days we’ll be discussing on this Vedanta Psychology, this book by Suhotra Maharaja, a publication of the Academy. So that would if one is interested to read it yourself, to keep what with what we are doing, then I am not sure, you have this? Means at the gurukula book table at the temple, it is moving around, it is available there, or you can talk with either Priti-vardhana or Santi-parayana about getting it.
So basically this psychology is not something separate from what you are used to, what you are used to hearing. It’s just that it’s not necessarily taken as its own topic. Psychology basically it’s based in the root, the psyche, means is actually the soul. But in your modern psychology and philosophies they can’t actually tell the difference between the soul and the mind, they are taken as the same. So basically the study is to be able to make this difference. Because if this difference is made, then we are able to deal nicely with our own personal development.
So we’ll find both that what is being discussed is very familiar, at the same time, is taken in the context where you are just discussing about the mind, that’s being the central feature, then it will appear as its own topic. Just like you are discussing the form of the universe, how it functions, its relationships with everything. If we look at it from that way we call it creation. But if we look at it on how that same pattern affects our particular body, then we’ll call that Ayurveda, but it’s actually the same topic, the same discussion, it’s just a specific application.
So here now the mind then the tendency is that either we are thinking we have to conquer this mind, so this element of conquering means it will stop. It’s bothering us, it’s coming up with all kinds of stuff that we don’t appreciate. Stuff we do appreciate, we don’t think about as stuff that we have to deal with. But it’s an idea that we have to stop this mind. Or we just ignore it, we are chanting, we don’t worry about it.
But in both these cases the point is a very important point is being missed, the mind is real, and that is what actually we need to deal with in Krsna consciousness. Its particular projection of what is real that’s an illusion, but the mind itself is real. It’s as real as earth, water, fire, air, all these different elements. It’s one of the elements, and it’s factually the one element of these eight that makes all the other seven work. The gross material energy is being identified and is moving and is working because of the mind.
So factually what we are dealing with here is desire. That’s the central point in dealing with the mind. So this desire then is what needs to be, that is what is being controlled, not the mind. This idea that the mind is going to stop and go away, that’s not going to happen. It’s a matter of what is the mind doing in its constant, I think they use the word, inner dialogue. That the mind is constantly babbling on and on and on about something. So the idea is that this then must be properly connected.
So basically in this study, this whole study Suhotra Maharaja is basing this on two purports that Srila Prabhupada gives, and then five points within that that break it down. Everything else in the book then is an elaboration or expansion on this. So these purports is the 3.26.31 and 3.28.7. So in the first one:
Since mind is a product of the mode of goodness, if it is fixed upon the Lord of the mind, Aniruddha, then the mind can be changed to Kåñëa consciousness. It is stated by Narottama däsa Öhäkura that we always have desires. Desire cannot be stopped. But if we transfer our desires to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that is the perfection of life. As soon as the desire is transferred to lording it over material nature, it becomes contaminated by matter.
So that’s 3.26.31. The second one is:
The essential point is that the mind, which is contaminated by material attraction, has to be bridled and concentrated on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
That’s 3.28.7. So now these five points that we gain from this, then one:
1. The essential substance of the mind is the mode of goodness, which is the energy of Lord Aniruddha, who is the localized Supersoul feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So now in these then we have heard this, this is not new, it’s philosophy and we’ll that it that that’s philosophy. What’s that got to do with psychology? But we have to understand, psychology in the modern sense is considered as a separate subject simply because modern psychologists can’t tell the difference between the soul and the mind. Because psyche means the soul in Greek, it doesn’t mean the mind. But people think the mind is myself, and so that’s why then it becomes a subject as such, and we’ll think, oh, it’s something different. If I really want to understand psychology I have to go to these modern psychologists, but actually we have much more.
So here then in breaking this down is this element of the mind is coming from the mode of goodness, the essential substance is the mode of goodness, it’s very important. Because mode of goodness is what is maintaining this world. Passion creates, ignorance destroys, goodness maintains. So the essential point of the mind is maintenance, because it’s the mind that maintains our material existence. Because of the mind we are in the material world. If the mind changes its focus, we are not in the material world any more, we are in the spiritual world. This is the point of if it’s brought in line, ok, that will come up.
But on the mode of goodness it’s the energy of Aniruddha who is the Supersoul. It’s the Supersoul who is taking care of everything. The environment has been created by Sankarsana, the attractiveness to that environment is Pradyumna, so the whole establishment or whole identity that we have here is then based upon ignorance. Because sambandha in the material world represents ignorance. In the spiritual world the sat-potency, which represents relationship, is eternality. But here it’s temporary, so it’s ignorance, it’s just a reflection. So this identity with ignorance then this is your basis. But it’s that basis is being maintained by the mode of goodness, or Supersoul is there and sanctioning the desires that the living entity has.
So we can see in this whole clue here, transferring the desires to the Lord that gets us out of material consciousness. It is not something else. And bridled means it’s simply brought in line, it’s controlled, it’s directed. It doesn’t say, it’s stopped. It doesn’t say, take the mind and stick it in a box, and then put that in a bucket with cement and then dump it into the Hudson River. It doesn’t say that. It says that it’s bridled. Horses do a lot, they are very active, but they work well when they are bridled, because they are directed. It doesn’t say, stopped. Because the mind is going, just say, this has to stop. No, it has to be redirected. This is the problem. This is why we suffer, because we try to stop it, rather than redirect it. Because you can’t stop it.
Devotee (1): Questions now or at the end?
Maharaja: Any time. Just as long as it’s relevant to the point.
Devotee (1): Yes, in the analogy of the horse, there is the understanding that you also have to first break the horse before you can actually put the thing on and make it happen. So how does that…?
Maharaja: Breaking. That breaking is actually, is that understood the point? Means if we are going to bridle a horse, you have a wild horse, if you want to bridle it, then the English term is you have to break it, which means that it has to give up the idea of it’s wild, but now that it’s a horse under someone’s control. Basically that just defined it there. It is just that we accept that the mind is a real thing that we work with and it’s not us. Basically as soon as that’s done, then it’s something we can deal with very straight-forward, and at the same time, we can deal with it without ourselves becoming implicated.
The difficulty is the more we identify with the mind, then the more we have a tendency to be unable to analyze it and work with it. Because as soon as we analyze it desire and attachment comes up, as soon as that comes up we think that is us, as soon as that’s us then we are distracted. So in other words, we become bridled, the mind bridles the consciousness and drives it where it wants, when it should be the other way round.
So this whole introduction that Maharaja is giving, here he is giving the foundation of the work, but is basically giving the whole idea that we are not the mind but the mind is real. And our whole existence is based actually simply on our mind, nothing else. It’s not something else that keeps us in the material world. The body doesn’t keep us here. We have to do a lot of work to actually stay in the body. Means you have to breath, you have to drink water, eat food, you have to stay out of the way of Mac trucks, so many things you have to do to stay in the body. But the mind wherever you go, it goes with you. So that’s actually the real central feature.
Devotee (1): So the point which makes it work is not how much effort you put into breaking the mind, but the understanding that the soul is superior to the mind. Because by just fighting it with brute force…
Maharaja: No, this is the whole point, the brute force won’t work. It’s a matter of the mind is based on desire, and we have this idea, we have to get rid of desire. No, we don’t have to get rid of desire, we have to change the desire. Because right now desire is to lord it over material energy, and the mind is the central feature of that. It has the desires, it has all the ideas. Maharaja gives so many examples of that the means we have so many things that we can see, but the mind can generate stuff, we can close our eyes and the mind can generate stuff we want. You can go and completely hide, but it will generate. Because anything it’s taken in the past, it can bring up again and it has the ability by samasti to stick together all kinds of things, it creates stuff that don’t even exist, and we want it, that’s the thing.
So the whole idea is, it’s a matter of changing desire, redirecting that desire. So therefore he mentions that if it’s fixed upon the Lord of the mind, Aniruddha, in other words, Krsna is the Lord of desire and attachment.
Devotee (2): Another…also against breaking the mind, it will be like in the case of Mayavadi that is actually impersonalist, who thinks he has the mind under control, because this actually is his goal if I am controlling everything. And actually that will lead to take the against the principle that actually surrendering the mind, which is a constant eternal… To break it…in control of my…
Maharaja: He is the controller, yes. Because the bottom line is we have come into this world because we think we are the controller and enjoyer, so because the mind wants that it gives us a false identity. So the Mayavadis somehow or another very cleverly throw out all the stuff that seemingly is material desire but keep the essential point which is I am the controller and enjoyer. So that’s the interesting, it’s like, get rid of the bank, all the marble, all the counters, but keep the money. So there is no, the bank is gone, so now all the maya is gone, but you still have the money.
The second point then:
2. When that sattvika mental substance is dedicated to the Lord it is transformed to Krsna consciousness, the state of infallible goodness about the three modes of material nature.
So we can see here, it’s a transference. One is trying to bring the mind from engaging in material pursuit to spiritual. That doesn’t necessarily mean changing the activity. This is also sometimes misunderstood stemming from the impersonal idea that spiritual must be the opposite of material. But actually material is not being able to perceive the spiritual. It’s not opposite things.
Means it’s like night is the lack of light. If there is light, there is no night. It’s not opposite things as such, as a force. Night is not a force that is fighting with the daytime and covering it, no. It just doesn’t exist if there is day. So if the spiritual consciousness is there, there is no maya, there is no ignorance. It’s just, means we put it on the front page of our BTG this very point, kåñëa—sürya-sama; mäyä haya andhakära. Krsna is sun and He is light, and maya is darkness. So where there is Krsna, there is no darkness. That’s the whole idea. Like you see in the whole logo there is darkness, but Lord Caitanya is bringing this light, and so then therefore it is being able to be appreciated.
So it’s a matter of transforming. This is our philosophy, transforming. This is parinamavada, it’s transformed. You have the spiritual, but because of polluted consciousness it transforms into material consciousness. While the Mayavadis their idea is vivartavada, which means that it’s just an illusion, it doesn’t exist. So they’ll say the mind doesn’t exist, but keep the idea that I am God. So it doesn’t make any sense. So the whole idea is we have to be very careful that we are not caught up in this.
Third point:
3. To dedicate the mind to the Lord we must channel the flow of our desires towards His lotus feet. Hence there is no question of controlling the mind, fixing the mind, pacifying the mind without the reformation of desire. Our quality of mind is subject to the quality of our desire.
So simply it is the desire. And that’s the best part about it, desire is starting from ourself, from the soul. So when there is athato brahma-jijnasa, then the desire changes. When the desire changes, that will change then the flow of the mind.
So the water is moving, it’s a matter of directing it to where it’s useful. So much water is there in a city, and if it moves according to the natural flow everyone is benefited. If it doesn’t go according to that, it comes down at the side of the mountain and all those people in the fancy houses end up down in Watz (?). So it’s a problem.
Devotee (3): I was wondering, can the mind’s activities be divided into Bhagavata, Pancaratrika, and Vedic?
Maharaja: In one sense you can, means as a psychological definition you might not use the terms, but the subject matter will be the same.
Your Bhagavata is your pure consciousness or focusing on the Lord in its natural spontaneous form of attraction and affection. Your Pancaratrika will mean that the mind appreciates that the Lord is the center of all activity, but it doesn’t naturally flow that way, so it accepts to be bridled and directed therefore exclusively at the lotus feet of the Lord. The Vedic will mean that the mind may or may not accept that the Lord is supreme, but there is such a thing as an upward direction, there is such a thing as better and worse, and that better and worse is defined by scripture, by authority, not speculative. Therefore authority says, one must be progressive, and one must voluntarily control oneself to actually be a better controller and enjoyer. So therefore one agrees to be controlled, so you are in the proper form of Krsna consciousness though you are not necessarily Krsna conscious. Because when you add Krsna consciousness to it, that’s your daivi-varnasrama, which technically if it’s done properly is Pancaratra. Then that naturally then gives rise, by purification, to the spiritual, the Bhagavata.
Because the Vedic its actual purpose is to bring one back in line with the Lord and free one from material consciousness. Bhagavata it’s not a matter of freeing from material consciousness, there isn’t any. Pancaratrika technically there is, but it’s being so absorbed in the Lord’s service that it doesn’t really feature. As long as you follow the rules and absorb yourself in the process, there basically is no mundane. But Vedic is taking mundane as very much a reality. If you are absorbed in the preaching, or in some variety of hearing and chanting, or in the deity worship or things connected with the deity in the temple, and you are completely satisfied, no other desires, then between the Bhagavata and the Pancaratrika everything is taken care of. You don’t have to worry. One doesn’t need to go further, because all the essential.
Means Vedic is the reflection of the natural form of Bhagavata in the spiritual world. In the mirror it’s the reflection, it’s the cultural reflection. And the essential points of the Bhagavata have been pulled out as the Pancaratra. Pancaratra is Vedic rules that are either directly or supportive of worshiping Visnu. And if it’s broader than that, then that’s the rest of it, that’s what we call the Vedic culture. So its purpose is the same, but it’s just a matter of these stages. So the Vedic can bring one to the liberated platform and take one in the direction of the Supreme Lord, because to get liberated means you have to be going towards the Lord. The Pancaratra will focus specifically on the Lord. And then the Bhagavata will develop that natural spontaneous love.
Devotee (4): When we follow these nice processes of pure devotional service, does it mean that we don’t want to listen to the mind any more.
Maharaja: We don’t want to listen to the mind.
Devotee (4): You don’t have time.
Maharaja: You don’t have time.
Devotee (4): You can’t engage in something else.
Maharaja: That’s there, but the problem is, if you can do that, that is great, and that is what we are trying to do, that’s the second recommendation. The first recommendation is pure unalloyed devotional service starting this nanosecond. If that doesn’t work, then you take up what you just said. If that doesn’t work, then you start with the Vedic process. This is what Krsna says.
So the reality is, means it’s like this, do you need to be married to chant Hare Krsna? No. Do you need to be married to worship the deity? No. So people need to get married, so what are we dealing with here? They need to get married, they have to have children, they want to have their house, they want to have the money, they need their prestige. People fight over, I mean it’s like, you have an opening for a temple president in a major temple there can be a lot of politics, why is that there? Because of this nine processes? No, because of the pure unalloyed mundane conditioning of the mind. That’s what then has to be addressed.
Because what will happen, what Maharaja points out is, people will faness that it exists. Oh, I am not fighting, I am not making politics, I am just trying to do my service, which in one sense is true, that is their conscious effort. But the subconscious effort is to control and enjoy. If I am the temple president I am in control here, that means things will go the way I want them to, that means my enjoyment will be unimpeded. That’s unconscious.
So how to identify that if it’s there? I am saying, if it’s not there, then there is not a problem. It’s only a problem where it is there. So to be able to accept that that concept is there and to be able to identify and work with it, that’s what we are studying here. In other words, we are not afraid to deal with the mind, because we don’t identify with it.
Devotee (4): But we can reject, I don’t want to be…
Maharaja: You cannot reject, because right now you are using words, where did those come from? Where did the concept come from that I should reject? Because accepting and rejecting is what the mind’s done, so that you have rejected means you are using your mind.
Devotee (4): No Maharaja, by intelligence.
Maharaja: But intelligence simply tells you, this is a rock, this is a kamandalu, and this is a book. That’s all the intelligence tells you. And it will tell you from the book you can read and get knowledge, from this you can get water, and from this I can hold down the page of the book or throw at somebody who I want to get their attention or I don’t like. But what you want to do, that’s the mind. The intelligence, that’s why it says bridled, the mind is controlled by the intelligence, but you are not going to get rid of the mind. That’s the whole point that Maharaja is making. We just faness the mind and it wreaks havoc and we won’t accept that that’s what’s making the trouble.
The point is the mind is the best friend or the worst enemy. It’s the best friend when it’s connected to Krsna, and it’s the worst enemy when it’s not. But you are not going to get rid of the mind. It’s not a matter of rejecting it, closing it down, putting it in a room, locking it, throwing away the key. It doesn’t work. It is the central feature of your active interaction with other living entities. It’s all based on the mind.
Devotee (4): We have the choice to follow the mind’s dictation or not.
Maharaja: Yes, but where does the choice come from? Who makes the choice?
Devotee (4): The intelligence.
Maharaja: No.
Devotee (4): No?
Maharaja: No.
Devotee (4): Then who?
Maharaja: The soul in connection with the mind. This is the point that we are trying to make. Intelligence doesn’t make a distinction.
Ok, which of these two rocks is bigger? This one, ok. So that’s what the intelligence can do. Now, which is better? That’s the mind. Depends what you want to do. So that’s the whole point, the mind is not going to go away, and we don’t need it to go away. We just have to redirect it towards the Lord.
Devotee (4): But that’s my point, the nine processes of devotional service is the…
Maharaja: Yes, no, but you are just taking, I do the activity and ignore the mind. No, the mind has to be engaged in those activities, otherwise, why is it he is going along, he is chanting, he is the best devotee in the temple, and one day, bang, he is gone. And how many of those were there in your temple? Why? Because one day, suddenly the mind went, hey, what about me? And then they are gone. And the soul identifies with the mind.
This is what we are discussing, this is a real reality, due to this ignoring the mind and dealing with it, is one point, and accepting the mind as us, therefore there is so much social and devotional disruption. While simply if we accept that the mind is real, we have to deal with it, but it’s not us, then so much problem goes away. I, the mind wants this, but it’s not me and that’s not good, so why should I bother? It wants to do something, it wants to be active, so then be active, but why be active for ourself? It’s so much better to be active for Krsna. You get what you want anyway.
I am hungry, I have a friend, I could just feed myself. Then I am physically satisfied, but emotionally I am not, and my friend is really not. Now if I work on the principle of feed my friend, then they are going to be satisfied, I am also going to eat in the process, and emotionally then it’s been taken care of, and relationship has been developed. So in both cases you ate. So which is better?
So if the mind accepts that connecting to the Lord and serving the Lord, everything we require we’ll get, but this is where we don’t understand that. We’ll think, by serving the Lord I give up everything for myself. I have offered nice prasada to Krsna, but I will not enjoy that prasada. I didn’t make the prasada for my enjoyment, but when I am taking the prasada it is very enjoyable. Why won’t it be, it’s Krsna. The soul is satisfied in connection with Krsna.
But we tend to think like the impersonalists, no, any kind of enjoyment I must throw it out if it’s going to be spiritual. I have actually heard devotees say, enjoying prasada is maya. So they do like this in anything. They want to be married, they have to be married, but being happy in that family they’ll call it maya. So they do their best to mess it up. But the point is it’s non what’s being done.
It’s whether it’s being done for Krsna or it’s not being done for Krsna. Eating is not maya, it’s a fact of life. They do it in the spiritual world, it goes on here in the material world. What makes it spiritual or material is whether it’s connected to Krsna, or whether it’s not connected to Krsna, that’s all. That’s the whole point. So that’s what we are trying to discern.
Otherwise it will just be, oh, we just chant Hare Krsna, great, let’s run the society like that, but I don’t see that going on. That’s what’s told to the two or three brahmacaris and brahmacarinis that still somehow or another happen to be still in a temple somewhere. But the other 300-500 devotees out in the congregation don’t work according to that, and why?
Because they are not accepting the mind, they are not working with it. They say, I am being real. But what’s so real about identifying with your desires. No. Deal with them, but don’t identify with them. I am hungry, I need to eat, that’s fine, but I am not this hunger, I am not this need. No. It’s there, because the body requires it, the mind requires, the senses require. But that doesn’t make it me.
So that’s what we are trying to identify, then we can engage nicely in devotional service. Because why don’t we engage it? Because the mind has another idea. But the mind doesn’t see how it can be brought in line with Krsna. You want to eat, fine, that’s being real, but take prasada.
Devotee (5): So Maharaja, are you saying that if we accept this point that the mind is…, we need to accept that and then get… Is that more or less what…?
Maharaja: That’s basically what we are saying, because it’s not an accepted platform. It’s like you just ignore it, or like we discussed in the beginning you just stop it, you just control it. That’s great, but the thing is how many are doing that? And how many who have said to do that are still doing that? A few are doing. But there is a lot who used to say that and they are not. And now they are saying, we are just being practical or we are being real. But it’s not more practical or real, because it’s still not identifying, the mind’s desires have to be transferred to Krsna.
Devotee (5): Because then if you accept…for the mind and it needs to be somewhat satisfied to get to the point of pure devotional service, means that you can understand what kind of service is the best thing to satisfy those needs and…?
Maharaja: Guna and karma, means what is your nature, that’s based on the mind, not on something else. Gita says that the body is based on the mind. The mind has a particular set of desires, so then you have, based around the mind all the senses are grouped, and that produces your specific form. So therefore in taking care of even the needs of the body, you still have to deal with the mind, because the body came from the mind. So actually you are trying to satisfy the mind, not the body.
The body needs to eat, but if I don’t give you the right kind of food, you are not satisfied. And it might not even be assimilated by the body even though it’s assimilable food.
Devotee (6): The duration to sleep you need about 15 minutes for all the elements to nourish the body…required for the mind…from the day.
Maharaja: When you sleep?
Devotee (6): Yes, …so much going on.
Maharaja: So much going on, ok, yes. I think the whole concept of this sleep we’ll get into very deeply in the future chapters.
Devotee (3): When the body is engaged in some menial activity and the mind is not fully absorbed in that activity, and the way I see it, it can be focused on chanting the holy name, or the contemplation of the philosophy of the …aspect. But can it be said that one is superior to the other, that it’s better to be focused on the holy name than come up with some…?
Maharaja: So is it when we are doing some activity that fairly routine and you can do the activity efficiently but not necessarily be absorbed in it, the mind can think of something else, is it better to be absorbed in developing contemplating service and other things?
They are non-different. Because sankirtana means that it includes everything. Because the point is this, one is chanting, that’s one’s own position and existence, but then the idea is then there is going to be relationship with the Lord and others. So even in the chanting we see it goes through stages, the name, the form, the qualities, and pastimes. So once it gets to pastimes then you are talking about interaction. Up to that point, then it’s some form of appreciation. The name that’s it’s non-different from Krsna, form Krsna’s form is very nice, qualities are even more expanded on that, but His pastimes are His interaction with the devotees, that becomes even more special. So now in that pastime, there has to be interaction. So there must be attraction, there must be to…activity, the attachment that’s there and everything…
Devotee (3): Could you expand on that…when you are chanting your japa…
Maharaja: When you are chanting your japa to think of something else. Ok. In one sense yes, that’s better than contemplating something else. But in another sense it is service to be absorbed in the name. So that absorption in the name that that itself is natural. But we see in this, you are dealing in absorption in the name is generally you are dealing with attraction or attachment to Krsna. So even though they are absorbed, there is still going to be active service. The devotees of Vrndavana are completely attached to Krsna and completely attracted, but because of that they are doing activity. So because of their attachment they perform service. So because of the prayojana, then there is abhideya.
In the same way it’s said here, the mind is connected to the Lord of the mind, Aniruddha, the mode of goodness, that’s in the state of prayojana. That will mean that then your activities, your abhideya, will be Krsna conscious. But if it’s not connected to Aniruddha, the mind, then it will be absorbed in the mundane. So the goal is mundane, the activities will be mundane. So the goal is Krsna, the activities will be Krsna conscious. The goal is mundane, the activities will be mundane. So that’s why technically they are mentioning Aniruddha in being absorbed in Aniruddha. Because then that elevates it to goodness, and then in that state then you can properly perform devotional service.
Devotee (4): So Maharaja how this mind I cannot get… Can we do these nine… let’s chant Hare Krsna, let’s serve Krsna…and if mind agrees then, no problem.
Maharaja: Then it’s fine, no problem. Just get it to agree.
Devotee (4): Still we can decide if or not?
Maharaja: Yes, but why is it that you are even making this discussion in the first place? What’s the basis of it?
Devotee (4): …
Maharaja: No, but you are going by right now. Go back some years. Was there any discussion of Krsna consciousness? No, so at some point you had, the mind had to accept, the intelligence showed, ok, you are dealing in material life, you are not satisfied, here is spiritual life, the people who are doing it seem to be happy, and the book what it gives is very logical and very practical, that the intelligence can identify. The mind has to accept that. Having accepted that you took up Krsna consciousness. So now the basic platform that the mind is working on is Krsna consciousness. So then if you can through the intelligence show that there is something that’s more Krsna conscious than another thing, then basically if the mind is committed to its earlier decision of Krsna consciousness it will accept that. But if it’s become distracted by material desire, even though the basis of being in Krsna consciousness is to be Krsna conscious and to accept things favorable, if the attachments are so much stronger and the identification is so much greater in that direction, then when the intelligence comes up with these points, the mind may not accept. So still you are dealing with the mind.
The intelligence shows what are the difference and what is the communality, in other words, you can analyze the field with the intelligence and figure out what each element of the field is going to add to your action that you are going to perform with the mind and senses. Then it’s up to the mind to accept it.
Devotee (4): So if mind is sticking to something, it’s attachment?
Maharaja: Yes, attachment is what the mind does, what it does best. Intelligence has nothing to do with attachment. Intelligence is simply discrimination. That’s the point. Attraction and attachment, that is the mind. Differentiating the elements of the field, applying the skills that one has on the environment that you are dealing with it, that’s intelligence. In other words, the Sankarsana aspect where you are dealing with the field and analyzing it and the intelligence part of application in abhideya, in Vasudeva, these are what the intelligence does. But the attraction to the field is Pradyumna and the attachment or need is Aniruddha, that’s the mind. So we see you are dealing with this element and where they are overlapping like this, but that common point is abhideya, that’s where the mind and the intelligence are functioning together at the same time. Otherwise it’s more prominently one or more prominently the other.
Means a man is alone, he thinks masculine he does masculine. A woman is alone, she thinks feminine she does feminine. You put the two together, then they have to work together and find a common ground. So that’s abhideya. Abhideya is where the intelligence and the mind cooperate together in a balanced way to effectively get something done.
Devotee (7): Maharaja, you mentioned that devotees may be fixed up…and go away. So I was thinking that this vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti, one could argue that it’s giving more focus to this external regulation of the mind than…
Maharaja: External regulation of the mind, but how would there be an external regulation when the mind is internal? You can externally regulate the body, but the mind you have to direct. What we are saying is, be effective in your direction. Otherwise the mind will make up what it wants to do. Because it has some ideas, the mind wants to be happy, or wants to feel the security of control and the satisfaction of enjoyment. So now it either has worked out its own things, or heard from others, or experienced things. So through whatever it is, then it has some idea of what it wants to do. Then it’s a matter of directing that in a favorable way towards Krsna. Means ideally it’s favorable towards Krsna. At least initially it’s towards Krsna, it may be still more favorable to yourself, but it’s directed at Krsna. Then as that becomes established, then you start directing it finer that it’s actually for Krsna’s happiness. So that’s what you are trying to do.
So it’s not a matter of externals here. This word external and internal, that’s very nice but that’s in relationship to the internal process of the mind being absorbed in Krsna. So this thing of external and internal it’s not something that like it’s these we have heard these words and now we have our little stereotype way of applying them, and as soon as it’s external then it’s bad. Because basically speaking probably everything that you do in a day is all has an external aspect. Even if you say, we are just going to do be absorbed in the internal, we are just going to hear about Krsna in His pastimes, and what are you going to do that with? You are going to get out a book, quite external. Knock on wood, it’s like solid, made out of a tree. Then you are going to use your hands, external, your fingers, you are going to use your eyes, external, you are going to use your tongue to read it and ears to hear it. You are going to have a place to sit down, external. So what’s not external? External is the understanding that something that has an internal aspect and you are not recognizing that. (end of lecture) (end)
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