How to win the battle against the mind?

At times when we sit to work on an important piece of our assignment, we realize that just when we are trying to focus our mind on a particular subject; it throws up all kinds of thoughts. Retaining our focus on an important subject turns into a battle with the mind. The untamed mind can cost us dearly in terms of lack of creativity, increased stress, loss of memory and a feeling of discontentment.

 To win our battle against the restless mind requires us to firstly understand our mind. The mind is a subtle machine that constantly generates thoughts. These thoughts shape our personality and our physical appearance. We look at someone and say, "He seems to be very aggressive", or "She appears to be tensed" etc. The nature of thoughts in a person's mind reflects in the personality and physical appearance. No wonder, when we look at a Saint, we see a very calm and composed personality. At present, our mind is scattered. Just as, if the channel button of television set is spoilt, the channels keep changing sporadically. Similarly, our mind keeps flipping from topic to topic and hence we are unable to derive the maximum benefit out of its potential. If only we could channelize the thoughts in our mind and learn to concentrate it, we could increase the extent to which we are able to utilize its potential. This is where meditation has given us the power to harness the latent potential of our mind. 

Meditation techniques have been described in the ancient scriptures and passed down numerous generations. Simply put, "Meditation is the practice to persistently direct our thoughts to one focal point". Some practitioners focus on the breath, others on the eyebrow center, others on the psychic centers in the spinal cord, etc.

In order to tame the mind through meditation, it requires repeated practice, akin to physical practice. Initially, a person may find it difficult to focus the mind for even two minutes, but with repeated practice, a person can go on to practice meditation for hours at a stretch. All that one needs to do is make a firm resolve to discipline the mind. Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says,

              "मन को मानो शत्रु उसकी सुनहु जनि कछु प्यारे। "

"Declare war on your mind. Do the opposite of what it says, and soon it will stop bothering you."

Instructions of doing Meditation:-

1. Select a quiet and clean place to meditate, which is free from distractions.
2. Sit in a comfortable meditative posture. Ensure that your back is upright.
3. Close your eyes and relax your body. Have a slight smile on your face.
4. Keep your eyes closed till the end of this meditation exercise.
5. As you listen to the meditation, create the same type of feeling in your mind.
6. Slowly and steadily breathe in and breathe out. Concentrate on your breathing rhythm.

What is the difference between worldly love and love for God?

A person who loves a worldly person always doubts, and is in constant dilemma wondering, "The one whom I love, does he love me or not? And if he does, how much does he love me?" We always get caught up in thoughts like this. This is because, in this world, no one shows real sentiments. Some pretend to show more love by writing many letters, while others hide and don't express at all. Also, we always try to show that we love the other person more than he loves us. But, all the while, internally we want the other to love us more than we love him. That is why the one who loves the world is mostly tense, and wonders whether or not the other person loves him.

In the spiritual realm, there are no such worries. If you would like to determine how much your ishta deva (the chosen form of God you worship) and your Guru loves you, just measure your love. He loves you as much as you love Him. If you love Him less, then He also loves you little. If you love Him more, then He will also love you to the same extent.

O mind! Life is a matter of a few days only.

अरे मन! चार दिना की बात......

This human form is like a full moon night which will soon be over, and again the dark night will come. You are sleeping in ignorance, unaware of the fact that the passage of time is continuously shortening your life.

You are not willing to leave your sleep, even though you are perpetually being beaten by the objects of your desires. Once the opportunity to redeem yourself in this human form is missed, you will have to rotate in the cycle of life and death in 8.4 million forms of life. Then you will rub your hands helplessly and regret. 

Kripaluji Maharaj says, Listen to the words of rasik saints and surrender to the lotus feet of the merciful divine couple, ’Radha Krishna’.

Is Worldly Prosperity a sign of God's Grace?

If you believe this, then when you experience a material loss, you may also feel you have lost God's grace and He has become unfavorable towards you. This inconsistent attitude causes you to fluctuate between being faithful and faithless.

Every soul is bound by his karmic destiny or prarabdh, which is the outcome of his past lives' good and bad actions. Whatever material prosperity we are destined to receive is pre-determined by the immutable law of karma.

A lack of worldly possessions is truly a sign of God's grace. When someone has less, he has less pride, and it is easier for him to turn towards God.

How to teach and train mind that there is no happiness in the material world?

 There are innumerable things in the world, and each thing has endless varieties. If you try to experiencing everything first before deciding that there is no happiness in it, your whole life pass in this endeavor.

 There are people who run after money all their lives, and yet do not decide that it does not have the happiness they are seeking. Again, if you finally do come to the conclusion that the world is not a place of happiness, but the mind doubts whether or not there is happiness in God, then what will you do?

 As human beings, God has bestowed us with subtle intellects that can make this decision even without experience. Broadly, the intellects of living beings can be classified into four categories:

1. The lowest is the intellect of an insect. It is attracted to the fire. On coming near the flame, it gets burnt. But it does not learn from the experience, and commits the same mistake repeatedly.

2. The intellect of a cat is subtler. If it sits on a hot place, it learns from its experience. In future, it refuses even to sit on a cold plate, in apprehension that it may get burnt.

3. The intellect of sheep is even subtler. It has never been attacked by a wolf. But the moment it sees a wolf, it perceives impending danger and runs for its life.

4. The intellect of human is even subtler. Merely by intellectual discrimination, without seeing or experiencing, they are expected to reach the conclusion that there is no happiness in the world.

 Actually, everyone has had experience of the world to a lesser or greater extent. We made the desires of the senses and strived hard to satisfy them.  What was the experience each time? For a moment the desire is quenched, but then it arose again with redoubled intensity. This is the nature of all worldly desires, whether they are teeny-weeny cravings that you have made innumerable times in your lives or the bigger desires that loom more largely on your mind. The principle is exactly same. So we should utilize our experience to date, to reach a blanket conclusion about the nature of all worldly desires. That is what God expects us to do, and that is the instruction of the scriptures.

Relationships with other souls while on the spiritual path. How to get peace of mind when someone has wronged us to no end?

  This material world is like the prison house of God; souls who have turned their backs towards Him have been put here. So, we cannot expect the people of this world to behave like saints. There will always be persons who will come to cheat us, and on some occasions, they may even succeed. That is life; we all get cheated once in a while. But the important thing is to learn to take it in our stride. That is where the quality of forgiveness comes in.

  If we continue to harbor resentment towards those who have wronged us, we will be unable to progress spiritually. Resentment acts like a poison on the mind, filling it with bitterness. And we keep reliving the sour experience within, pinned down to the past. Someone aptly said: "Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die."

  On the spiritual path we must be careful nor to nurture ill feelings towards anyone, realizing that they will harm us more than anyone else. Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj says:

भूलिहुँ दुर्भावना कहुँ, हो न सपनेहुँ प्यारे।   (साधना करू प्यारे)  

  "Even in your dreams, do not make the mistake of harboring ill-will towards anyone."

  Forgiveness is a sublime personality trait that immediately releases all bitterness from the mind. It is a favor we do, not to the other person, but to ourselves. The lives of saintly people are full of inspiring stories of how they forgave their wrongdoers, and even succeeded in winning them over by their love.  

Always remember!

We, the Sadhaks (devotees) should always keep in mind that whatever good we are doing is all due to the grace of the Guru and God. Otherwise, we have been bound by Maya, awfully attached to the worldly possessions, absolutely worthless, having hideous ideas, full of dirt and filth from time immemorial.

If we are able to do something good, if a tear trickles from our eyes for God, if we have some good word and noble feeling for the Guru, we must conclude that it is all due to the Guru's grace.

If he had not given us the spiritual knowledge if he had not bestowed his love upon us, how could we be inclined to go good things in life? So, do not ever give credit to yourself. It will only give rise to egoism. Egoism takes away humility. Once humility is gone the castle of bhakti or devotion will come crashing down. Life will be filled with vices in no time. So, if you have done some noble deeds, YOU MUST BE THANKFUL TO THE GURU with whose grace alone you are able to do such things. This will save you from the vice of egoism.

We must always keep in mind that if we had not met the Guru, if he had not shown us the way, and had not given us his love and affection, we would not have inclined towards God.

On the other hand, if we have done something wrong, have been negligent in doing the right thing, or have committed some crime, we should hold ourselves responsible for that so that we could realize our mistakes and we would not repeat them.

We should attribute our good deeds to the God's grace and the grace of the Guru and for all the wrongs that we may have done, we should hold ourselves responsible.

O My Mind! This Golden chance of Human Life is passing away...

अरे मन! अवसर बीत्यो जात

Even Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar are under the influence of Time, then where do you stand? Having received this priceless human body which is desired even by the celestial gods, why are you wasting it in worldly pleasures? Like a deaf and blind person, you neither listen to saints nor see the reality of the material world. You simply remain infatuated by the pleasures of senses. 

Now I will do, now I will start doing devotion, saying like this, you keep on procrastinating, for which you will have to repent. Jagadguru Shri Kriplauji Maharaj says that “Annihilation takes place within a fraction of a second. Then on what basis are you so overconfident? ”   

What is The Right 'Age' to start your devotional practice?

Having attained the human form, we do not realize how precious it is. We indulge ourselves in material pleasures for sensual gratification. We devote our full attention to our family and their needs. When somebody asks a little boy/girl to do devotion, he/she replies – this is not the age to start devotion. There is still time and we can do that when we are old. When you ask a young person to do devotion, he/she flatly refuses and says that it is for old people and life is for enjoying.

When you ask a middle age person to do devotion, he/she replies that there is still time for it after retirement. Now is the time to earn money, enjoy life and look after the welfare of the family. By the time retirement comes, many ailments plague the body and there is very little strength left in the body, thereby making it difficult to perform devotion.

We forget the fact that death can come to anybody at any age at any time.

It is ironical that a father, who is taking son's body for burial, does not think about his own death, though the reality may be that he dies of a heart attack on his way to the cremation ground.

Life is very uncertain. Do not think that you will live in this human form forever.

Whatever your age is, start doing devotion!!!

How to find a good balance to keep God alone in my heart while developing compassion and caring for all around me?

    A teacher is personally detached from her students, and yet she lovingly teaches them. A nurse isn't personally attached to her patients, but she compassionately takes care of them. Similarly, if you dissolve your attachment to others, you can still be compassionate towards them.

   A part of that compassion is to not apply the same strict standards of spiritual conformity to them as you do to yourself. Remember that they probably do not possess your level of enlightenment. By the grace of God and Guru, you have understood many spiritual truths, but this Grace has not been bestowed upon them as yet. For yourself, try to be totally detached from worldly relatives, but in your expectations from others, be understanding and kind, if they display attachment.

   This attachment and detachment that is talked is an internal state of the mind. The fact that you are detached from others does not have to reflect in a distortion of your behavior towards them. A marketing representative has no attachment towards customers, and yet puts on his best behavior towards them. Similarly, even while being detached within, you can externally behave kindly and lovingly with others.

   Having said this, a word of caution must be given. In the initial stage, when our detachment from worldly relatives is slight, it may be necessary to distance ourselves from them to some extent. Else, external sympathies may result in corresponding increase in internal feelings. If you do distance yourself for the sake of achieving your spiritual goal, it is not wrong.

    

Let us remember what our Guru has taught us?

He himself had taught us to practice the presence of God and Guru with us at all times. In concurrence with his teachings, let us remain steadfast in the conviction that, although we cannot see him with our material eyes, he continues to stay in our midst, noting our every thought and action, and showering his grace as we strive to walk the path he revealed to us. We should strongly reaffirm our resolve to implement his every Instruction for purifying our hearts and for pushing forward his mission. This is the most befitting way of showing our respect to him

What they have given to humankind during their stay in our world can never be sufficiently eulogize in words; the whole planet shall remain indebted to them for their gift of Love. We offer our respectful obeisance’s unto our Spiritual Master, who has opened our eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the torchlight of knowledge.

An easy way to control the mind.

  Very often we feel helpless in front of the vagaries of the mind; we feel the mind is completely out of our control. But that is not true. And that can be proved with a very simple example. Most people in the world dislike going to work, unless of course they are self employed. Just as the Sunday evening Sun starts to set, a discomforting feeling takes over the mind. Yet, people overcome the dreadful Monday morning blues and make it to office week after week. How is it that even when our mind doesn’t enjoy doing something, it ends up doing the very same thing every single day? How do we control the mind?

  This is how the human mind works – the mind is a subtle machine that generates thoughts. Along with the mind is the intellect, also called the power of discrimination that controls our thoughts. The conviction of our intellect creates the direction of thoughts in our mind. If our intellect is convinced that there is happiness in money, all our thoughts will run towards earning money. If our intellect is convinced there is happiness in service to society, are thoughts are directed towards charitable efforts.

In the above example, our intellect is firmly convinced that if we do not go to office our survival will be jeopardized. Where will the money to fulfill our basic necessities come from? How will we feed our family? The intellect is firmly convinced that going to office and earning money is critical. Hence despite all the hardships that come our way, the decision of the intellect pushes us to office every day.

  Now if our intellect could make such decisions again and again in the proper places we would immediately gain control over the mind. In other words to control the mind we need wisdom, it is not merely an exercise. Very often people treat meditation like an exercise. People wish to develop power of focus and concentration like they develop muscles. But that is a very tedious and limited means of gaining control over the mind. If we could appreciate the power of our intellect in controlling the mind, we would not struggle so much with the mind. An easier way to control the mind is to illumine the intellect with the right kind of knowledge and then make it convinced about it. Conviction in the knowledge comes with repeated contemplation.

  Spiritual aspirants struggling to gain control over the mind should illumine the intellect with divine knowledge. This knowledge is received from the Guru and Scriptures. Then they must repeatedly contemplate over that knowledge through shravan, smaran and kirtan. Once their intellect becomes convinced about the knowledge that our Supreme goal is to love and serve God, there is nothing that can distract the mind.

Tips to encourage Devotion in Kids!!!!

1) Think Krishna to be your best friend and imagine that you are playing, walking with Him. Do all actions keeping Him with you. When you are alone, just think of Krishna and do not feel lonely. Keep in mind that He is always there with you, helps and protects you every moment.

2) When you are doing your homework, imagine He is sitting next to you and helping you.

3) You must believe in Him and believe that He will surely help you. He is always yours. He talks to you in your mind. Krishna never forgets you even for a single moment. The coolest thing is that nobody will know you are talking!

4) Don't think, "When I grow up, I will start remembering God." Start now.

5) Chant the Name of "Radhey Shyam" constantly and silently. Say "Radhey" within your mind when you breathe in, and say "Shyam" within your mind when you breathe out.

6) Avoid bad company.

7) Every night before retiring to bed, recall and count the number of wrong deeds you committed for the day and pray for forgiveness, whether it was done knowingly or unknowingly. Resolve to correct yourself and not to commit the same mistake again.

8) Give respect to everyone. Never fight with others and hurt anyone by your bad behavior. Realize that God resides in everyone's heart.

9) Never feel lonely or alone. Don't get angry. Try to be nice to everyone.

Why are we here in this world?

"Once, I was giving a lecture in a town. There was a college boy, who had heard my lectures and was staying with me during his vacation. After the lecture we went for a walk. He asked me the question, "Swamiji, why are we here in this world?"

 I wondered how to answer this question. There was a cinema hall in front and the night show had begun. I asked him, "Do you have money for the tickets?" He said, "Yes" I said, "Buy two tickets." He replied, "Swamiji you will see the movie!" I answered, "Let's see it with you today." So, he purchased the tickets. We were a little late. We entered the hall. It was very dark except for the screen. The gateman usher us in with his torch and with a narrow beam of light, inspected our tickets, and indicated to walk down the stairs, and said, "Sit on those two empty seats." We went and sat down there.

 Now, the movie had begun. The college boy immediately engrossed himself in what was happening on the screen. It was very attractive, beautiful lights, so many colors moving at such a fast speed. Fifteen minutes went by. Now, the boy forgot that I am sitting next to him. I said, "Hey! Listen to me." The boy said, "Don't disturb." I caught his hand and gave him a jerk. Then he replied, "O Swamiji!" Now he realized. Then I asked him, "Why have we come here?" The boy didn't have any answer. Fifteen minutes ago he had asked me this question. "Let us go out; now you get the answer to your question,"

 I said "In the cinema hall you had lost total contact with reality and forgotten who are you? What are you doing? What is the goal of your life? There was some white light that was falling from the projector bulb and you identified that light as reality. "This is the hero; this is the heroine; that is villain; this is an airplane." In other words you had fallen in to illusion. What was the reason for this illusion?

 The reason was the fact that there was darkness in the hall. Because of that darkness you were engulfed in illusion. Suppose, the manager came and switched on the light. Immediately, the illusion would be dispelled and you will start thinking, "Where are my slippers; Where are my shoes; Has my handkerchief fallen down? Let me be the first to reach the car stand." The illusion would be dispelled. So, the cause of illusion was lack of light."

 Similarly, God is All-light, All-knowledge, and we have lost our contact with Him. We have turned our backs towards Him. Now, turning our backs to light we have been engulfed by the darkness of Maya, the material energy of God. This material energy has made us forget our own nature. All the souls are under the influence of Maya since eternity. However, the true identity of a soul is that it is an eternal servant of Shree Krishna. Being the eternal soul we are thinking that we are material bodies. And thinking of ourselves as the body, our goal has become bodily pleasure. How to give happiness to this body? For that we are running in this world. That is the reason we are in this world."

When God can do anything, He should also be able to bestow His Grace on us without our surrender. In this way, He should liberate all the souls from the material world. Then why does He require us to fulfill any conditions for bestowing His Grace?

  

  

  This statement that God can do anything needs to be understood carefully. It means He can perform feats that are impossible for us, such as create the world, maintain it, annihilate it etc. He can even perform contradictory actions, such as simultaneously being formless and possessing a form, being further than the furthest and closer than the closest, being soft as  a rose and hard as a thunderbolt etc.

  However, God has His own rules of action that He never breaks. For example, He has a rule: 

करम प्रधान विश्व करि राखा। 

जो जस करइ सो तस फलु चाखा।। 

(रामायण)  

  "The law of karma prevails in this world. Whatever you do, you shall reap accordingly." This law has been created by God Himself, and He never breaks it. Thus, we see that Dashrath, the father of the Supreme Lord Shree Ram, passed away; his wife, Kaushalya, become a widow; but Ram did not save His own father. God says,"The rule is the rule. It is immaterial whether someone is My mother or father. This is not a homely affair that the Judge (God) has become a member of the family, and so there will be some concessions. Everyone will get results according to their karmas." That is why everyone has faith that they can expect justice from God, although worldly people may cheat them, for there cannot be an unfair God.

  Similarly, there are innumerable other rules that God never breaks. Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says he could write a book on all the things that God cannot do. Likewise, God has a rule that only if we surrender to Him, we will receive His Grace.

  We may say that if this rule did not exist, it would be very advantageous. What would be the advantage? Well, we would not surrender to God and would still receive His Grace. Yes, but the reverse could also be true, that we surrendered to God and still did not receive His Grace. That would be disastrous. So God says that He does not break His rule. If we wish Him to bestow His Grace, we will have to surrender to Him.