The Divine Souls!
Please join me in a couple minutes of nam sankirtan and after that we'll continue yesterday's topic by taking up the question, how do we master our mind that was begun yesterday when I took up the topic of how to eliminate stress.
So I explained that we have to get to the root cause of stress and the root cause is both intellectual and experiential. Intellectually, the root cause of all of our stress is that we don't know who we are. We have forgotten that we are the Divine soul. We associate ourselves, we identify ourselves as the physical body or perhaps the mind. But I explained that neither is true. Our true self is beyond the body and beyond the mind, the atma, the Divine soul, which is a part of God. We are all ansh of Bhagwan Shri Krishna. He is our Anshi, so we belong to Him. That is who we are and that is where we belong. That is our home to be with Krishna.
So part of the reason that we have stress is that we don't correctly identify ourselves. We identify ourselves as the body or the mind and we relate to the world or we try to relate ourselves to the world and that leads to a lot of stress and disappointment and frustration. We can go on and on listing all the negative emotions, but just call it stress. So part of the reason is that we have this misunderstanding about who we are and this misunderstanding can be cured through correct understanding. Get the correct knowledge and do manan of that knowledge. Keep reviewing, “I am a Divine soul. I belong to Krishna. I can never be harmed or destroyed. It's impossible. My soul is always going to remain in its natural Divine state.” So we have to do manan. We have to review these facts in our mind. This is the intellectual side of the problem.
The experiential side of the problem is that we don't experience true happiness in our daily lives. When we feel bereft of happiness, it creates a tension in our mind. That tension that I don't have what I want. Where can I find it? How can I truly be happy?
So I explained yesterday that our Anshi, the one to whom we belong, He is perfect happiness. Shri Krishna is true happiness. So only by knowing Him can we know and experience true happiness. Then I told you that there has to be a path that leads us to this experience. If we could actually experience true happiness, there would be no question of any stress. That would eliminate stress forever, because if you're happy, it's understood that you're not feeling stressed out, but that happiness should last forever and be completely satisfying. For that to happen we need to find unlimited eternal everlasting happiness and that happiness only exists in God. Or we could even say, it would be more correct to say, that Shri Krishna Himself is happiness personified. He is Anand personified. So we need a path to attain that Divine happiness. We need a path to attain God and by attaining God we'll get perfect happiness and we'll eliminate stress forever. The path is none other than devotion.
भक्ति रेवैणं नयति, भक्ति रेवैणं दर्शयति, भक्ति रेवैणं पश्यति, भक्ति वष पुरुषो भक्ति रेवभूयसि।
Bhakti revainam nayati, bhakti revainam darshayati, bhakti revainam pasyati, bhakti vash purusho bhakti revabhūyasi.
Ved tells us if you want to attain God, you must do bhakti, you must do devotion.
भक्त्या त्वनन्यया शक्य अहमेवंविधोऽर्जुन | ज्ञातुं द्रष्टुं च तत्त्वेन प्रवेष्टुं च परन्तप ||
Bhaktyā tvananyayā śhakya aham evaṁ-vidho’rjun. Gyātuṁ draṣhṭuṁ cha tattven praveṣhṭuṁ cha parantap.- Gita 11.54
Krishna says, “There's no other way other than bhakti. I'm only attainable through bhakti. Whether you want to know Me, experience Me, merge into Me, the only means is through devotion, the path of bhakti.
Again, Shree Krishna is telling His devotee, Uddhav Paramahans,
भक्त्याहमेकया ग्राह्य: श्रद्धयात्मा प्रिय: सताम् । भक्ति: पुनाति मन्निष्ठा श्वपाकानपि सम्भवात् ॥Bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ śhraddhayātmā priyaḥ satām. Bhaktiḥ punāti man-niṣhṭhā śhva-pākān api sambhavāt.
- Bhagwatam 11.14.21
Again, Shree Krishna is telling His devotee, Uddhav Paramahans, “I am only grahiya. I am only reachable or attainable through bhakti. There is no other way.”
बारि मथें घृत होइ बरु सिकता ते बरु तेल । बिनु हरि भजन न तव तरिअ यह सिद्धांत अपेल ॥
Bāri mathen ghrit hoi baru sikatā te baru tel. Binu hari bhajan na tav tari yah siddhānt apel.- Ramayan
“That even if someone could achieve impossible things like squeezing a rock and getting oil out of it or churning water and getting butter out of it, even then it would still be impossible for them to cross this ocean of cosmic existence without Hari bhajan, without doing bhakti to Shri Krishna.” So bhakti is the path to God.
But remember, our problem and our solution have to do with our mind, right? We want to know how to eliminate stress. Stress is experienced in the mind. The solution is to experience happiness, Divine happiness in the mind. Therefore, bhakti must also be done with the mind. There are two main categories of devotion: External practices of devotion and internal - bahirang bhakti and antharang bhakti. Bahirang bhakti is done with the body or the senses, like chanting, kirtan, you do with your varni (voice); that's external devotion. Reading, doing some paath (पाठ) that is done with your eyes; that's also external devotion. Coming to the mandir and doing pranam, you do with your head and your feet; that's external devotion. Doing puja, you do it with your hands; it's external devotion. External devotion doesn't solve the problem of how to eliminate stress or experience happiness in the mind.
So we need to know about internal devotion. Internal devotion means joining your mind with God. In external devotion, we're using our body and senses to do some devotion to God, but doing things with our body doesn't purify our mind or join it with God. So we need to understand more about internal devotion. Internal devotion is the means of joining the mind with God. However much our mind is joined with God, that much of God's grace is automatically received and in the same amount we start to experience true happiness.
So whether our hands are engaged in devotion or our head is engaged in devotion or our feet are engaged in devotion, none of that matters if our mind is not engaged in devotion. So we have to understand how to join the mind with God. The process of doing that is called roopdhyan. It's a form of meditation.
The mind is a very fickle thing. It's a very subtle thing. How will you join your mind with God? God is everywhere. So you don't have to go somewhere to join your mind with God, but the mind is not a solid thing that you can just say, “Okay, here's God, here's my mind, let me put the two together.” It's more difficult than that. God is here. God is even in our mind, but if we don't remember God, there's no actual connection. So the joining part is accomplished simply by remembering God. In Sanskrit, we call it smaran or chintan, thinking of God, remembering God. But if we just leave it general like that, it's not going to help us accomplish our goal, “How do I think of God? How do I remember God?” We need a well defined process. So this well defined process is a type of meditation that we call roopdhyan. This is the term used by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu ji Maharaj. This is not a new process. It's described at many places in our scriptures. But Jagadguru Shri Kripalu ji Maharaj gave prime emphasis to this saying that, “All forms of devotion can be enhanced by adopting this process of roopdhyan.”
So how do we think of God using this process of roopdhyan? We need a form. If I say to you, “Think of your mother or think of your father, don't you automatically think of what they look like? Doesn't an image come in your mind?” Of course. Most people are primarily visual people. So when we say, “I want to think of my mother, you see her face, you see what she looks like in your mind.” This is a natural way that our mind works. So if we're going to think of God, we have to make it natural and use the same process.
So if we say think of God, that would be hard if you don't think of an actual specific form of God. Like, if I say, “Think of fruit”, don't you have to think of a specific fruit? You can't just think of fruit in general, right? You'll think something will come in your mind, grapes, mango, some specific fruit has to come in your mind. Otherwise, what are you thinking of? Just fruit or just visualizing the word fruit? The word fruit has no power. You have to actually think of f-r-u-i-t. So you think of a specific fruit.
Similarly, just saying remember God or think of God, that's not going to be effective. We have to be more specific. Think of a specific form of God. So we should say instead of ‘remember God’, we should say ‘think of Krishna’, and you could do this with any specific form of God. Today we're going to focus on Krishna, Radha Krishna. Think of Krishna, now it becomes natural for your mind, “Oh yeah, I know what Krishna looks like, I've seen so many murtis, I've seen so many paintings, I've seen even plays and movies where people were playing the part of Krishna, so I know what Krishna looks like.” If you tell me to think of Krishna, an image comes in my mind.
Now what's the difference between thinking of an actor who played the part of Krishna and thinking of actual Krishna? Because it doesn't make sense that thinking of an actor, how can that count as devotion, right? Or thinking of a piece of stone that's carved to look like Krishna, why would that count as devotion? Or thinking of a painting that a material person drew, that thinking of Krishna in that way, why would that have devotional value? Those things don't have devotional value on their own. What gives them devotional value is you realize Krishna is in that.
So when you, for example, look at the murti of Krishna over here, just seeing it as a beautifully carved and painted piece of stone, a beautifully decorated murti, that doesn't count as devotion. Krishna is omnipresent, so He's real, real Krishna is in the murti also in His personal form. So if you look in with those eyes (with) faithful eyes, then you're having darshan and you're actually joining your mind with Krishna.
It's the same thing in your mind. If you're just imagining a form, “Oh, yeah, these are the paintings I've seen” or “I saw this actor dressed like Krishna” and you think like that, that's not enough. You have to realize this image I'm creating in my mind. This is Krishna because Krishna is in my mind also, so He's also inhabiting this form that I have imagined. Therefore, it is not just imagination. The imagination is the means of joining your mind with God, but you have to infuse faith into it. This form of Krishna that I've created in my mind, this is real Krishna.
So I want you all to try this for a moment. Everybody close your eyes and form an image of Krishna according to your liking. There's no right or wrong here because the thing that makes it right is your faith. You have to believe this is Krishna and then it is, and He graces you. This is where the connection comes from, when you really feel and believe this is Krishna. So see Him in any way that pleases you, taller, shorter, younger, older, decorated and dressed the way you want. And if you find it more natural to focus on a specific part of Krishna, you can do that. You don't have to even try to see the whole of His body. You can just focus on one part. You could see His Divine lotus feet. You could just see His eyes or His smile or His face or His peacock feather. It's all a part of His Divine personality.
So when you do this, you create a real connection with Krishna. This is the process of joining our mind with God. So you see we made it very specific. Take just a few more moments. See Krishna in your own way and feel His presence. Make it live Krishna. Like, His hair is moving in the breeze. He smiles. He blinks. It's real, live Krishna here in front of you! And when you're ready, you can start to open your eyes. This was a very brief experience of roopdhyan. This is the only process we need for attaching our mind to God. That connection you just made, that's just the beginning. That's the start.
You might have even felt something this time. You might have made such a connection that you actually felt, “Oh, yes! Krishna is here!” You felt a little happiness or excitement in thinking that. That's the beginning. That's that real happiness I was referring to. That's the secret elixir that we need. That's the thing that's going to fill this void we feel inside. It's Krishna's grace. It's His bliss and He is able to give it to us to the extent we join our mind with Him.
So let me circle back around to the first question we started with, “How to eliminate stress?” This sip we just took of Divine happiness, we can really call it devotional happiness at this point because we haven't experienced the ultimate Divine happiness yet. This little sip of that bhakti ras that we just took, that's the thing that we have to get more of. The more we get that, the more that fills up our heart, the more all the stress and tension of our mind just dissolves away in a permanent way. Not like a temporary relief like taking an aspirin when you have a headache because of your brain tumor. We're actually curing the brain tumor, not just dealing with the symptoms. We're giving our mind the actual happiness that it wants, Divine happiness. And in that way all the symptoms of stress gradually start to reduce.
Another thing that happens is that our mind purifies. The more we experience God's grace, the more we receive God's grace, the more our mind purifies.
यथा यथात्मा परिमृज्यतेऽसौ मत्पुण्यगाथाश्रवणाभिधानै: । तथा तथा पश्यति वस्तु सूक्ष्मं चक्षुर्यथैवाञ्जनसम्प्रयुक्तम् ॥
Yathā yathātmā parimṛijyate’saumat-puṇya-gāthā-śhravaṇābhidhānaiḥ. Tathā tathā paśhyati vastu sūkṣhmaṁ chakṣhur yathaivāņjan-samprayuktam.- Bhagwatam 11.14.26
In the Bhagwatam, Shri Krishna is telling about bhakti and He says the more you join your mind with Him, the more the mind purifies and as your mind purifies your experience of Krishna's closeness becomes more and more intense, more and more real until eventually you meet Him face to face. This is the ultimate goal. And when you meet God face to face,
भिद्यते हृदयग्रन्थिश्छिद्यन्ते सर्वसंशयाः । क्षीयन्ते चास्य कर्माणि तस्मिन्दृष्टे परावरे ॥
Bhidyate hṛdayagranthiśhchhidyante sarvasaṃśhayāḥ. Kṣhīyante chāsya karmāṇi tasmindṛṣhṭe parāvare.- Mundak Upanishad 2.2.8
A your problems are gone.
जुष्टं यदा पश्यत्यन्यमीशमस्य महिमानमिति वीतशोकः ॥
juṣṭaṃ yadā paśyatyanyamīśamasya mahimānamiti vītaśokaḥ ||- Mundak Upanishad 3.1.2
When you completely join with God, when you reach that ultimate state of surrender where your mind becomes one with God, then ‘iti vītaśhokaḥ, all your ‘shok’, all your tension, stress, suffering, problems, it's all finished forever. So if you want to eliminate stress, there's a way there, but you have to take that medicine. The medicine is practicing roopdhyan, because through that method you join your mind with God and you start receiving His grace. And eventually through this process your mind becomes in total union with God then you're free from stress forever. But it's a gradual process. The stress goes on reducing the more you practice devotion in this way.
What about the question of mastering the mind? Well, this also comes with practice. When someone thinks I want to master my mind, normally there are two things they wonder about: How to control the unwanted emotions like anger, and how to control the mind when I sit to meditate.
So the problem of anger, it's the same as dealing with stress. You don't just want to deal with the symptoms. You want to deal with the root cause. What is the root cause of anger? That we're not happy. So get perfect happiness from God. You won't have to worry about anger. Gradually, as your mind purifies by practicing roopdhyan more and more, anger is going to automatically reduce. You don't have to think, “How do I control my anger?” Just do rooppdhyan. Practice this sadhana every day and you'll see anger is going to start reducing on its own.
What about controlling the mind when you're trying to meditate? “I close my eyes, I try to picture Krishna and my mind goes here and there.” What to do about that? How to gain mastery over the mind? Well, one big thing we can do to help us with the meditation is to add kirtan into it. Although I told you kirtan is an external form of meditation, so the kirtan on its own won't solve our problems. But if you're trying to do roopdhyan, which is the internal meditation, you'll find that if you do it in silence, just doing roopdhyan, you'll only be able to do it for a few minutes before you get bored or distracted. But if you add kirtan to it, now you have a way of enhancing your meditation. The kirtan, the chanting of God's name, is the best external devotion to support your meditation. All forms of external devotion are good. They can all help you focus your mind on God as long as you keep in mind that the main goal is to remember God. However, the best of all of these is kirtan. So you can use kirtan to help keep your mind focused and know that it's natural for the mind to wander. The mind wanders because it's accustomed to seeking happiness in worldly things and it's developed big attachments in the world. So wherever you're attached, that's where your mind is going to go. It's natural. We shouldn't expect anything else.
What ends up happening is the more you practice this roopdhyan, your mind gets more and more attached to Krishna. He starts becoming a part of you. Just like the ones you love, they live in your heart. The more Krishna starts living in your heart, the more your mind is going to come under control.
Right now all the desires and attachments you have related to the world, those are pulling your mind here and there when you try to meditate. The more you do roopdhyan, it's just a matter of practice, the more Krishna enters your mind, in other words the more you get attached to Him that means the worldly attachments start reducing. So naturally the mind is going to come under control. The more you reduce those worldly attachments, the more your mind comes under control. More worldly attachments, less control over the mind. Reduce them, more control over the mind. How to reduce them? You can't reduce them by saying, “I want to remove my attachments.” It doesn't work. You reduce them by doing roopdhyan. That's it. Join your mind with Krishna. He is going to become a bigger attachment and these ones are going to reduce automatically.
So this is the gist of how to master the mind. There's no shortcut or trick or quick technique.
चञ्चलं हि मन: कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम् | तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ||
Chaņchalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛiṣhṇa pramāthi balavad dṛiḍham. Tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye vāyor iva su-duṣhkaram.- Gita 6.34
Arjun is complaining to Krishna, “You tell me to remember You, but I can't control my mind. It would be easier to control the wind.”
Krishna says,
असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् | अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ||
Asanśhayaṁ mahā-bāho mano durnigrahaṁ chalam. Abhyāsen tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇ cha gṛihyate.- Gita 6.35
“Yes, Arjun, I accept your statement that the mind is difficult to control. However, with abhyas, with practice, you can bring the mind under control.
So I've explained the process for you here today. How to do roopdhyan, it's so simple. You sit, form the image of Krishna, infuse that with your faith that this is real Krishna, and you're going to start receiving His grace. Practice it for five minutes. You'll get five minutes of benefit, meaning five minutes of grace and happiness, five minutes of purification of your mind, so you'll make five minutes of progress. You want to do it for longer, you might need to add some kirtan so that you don't get bored. Do it for fifteen, twenty minutes, half an hour, one hour. However much practice you do, that much benefit you'll get and that much mastery you will begin to gain over your mind and that much stress will naturally be eliminated.
So this simple practice of roopdhyan that I taught you today in two minutes, it's the most powerful medicine you can take every day to reduce stress and gain mastery over your mind. But just like any medicine, if you don't take it regularly, it's not going to have much effect, so you have to practice roopdhyan every day. Start with some small amount of time and gradually increase, and you'll see the benefits in your own life. Don't worry about how to sit or what time of day or where to sit. Just be comfortable. Do it in a place you won't be disturbed and do it according to what's convenient for your schedule.
For this internal devotion, this roopdhyan, there's no restriction of time and place. You just do it regularly according to your own convenience and comfort, and you'll get the results for yourself.
Please watch the video to fully grasp the essence of the discourse
