Shree Krishna (the Supreme Divine Lord) says to Arjun (the disciple and warrior prince) in the Gita, “You can control your mind through practice.”
अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ||
Abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa cha gṛihyate.- Gita 6.35
“Arjun, through practice you can control the mind.”
How do we control the mind? How can we do this? We need to take our mind to a place whenever we can, however often we can. We need to take our mind to a place that will encourage good thoughts.
A temple is a beautiful place, a wonderful place. An ashram is a great place to bring our mind to. That is why we are all here, so that our mind may be shaped into the way we want it to be shaped. We are here to control our mind. We are here to beautify our mind. We are here to develop our mind, to make it better than it already is. That is why we are here. And we need to do this. We absolutely need to do it because all day long we are with the world. You are working. You are with your fellow workers. You are in a very worldly atmosphere. You are interacting with people of the world.
Worldliness enters the mind, worldly thoughts. We do not realize it, but there are so many worldly thoughts. Hardly ever do we entertain a Godly thought. Although our mind tells us, “Look, you are always thinking Godly thoughts.” (In) reality? We are hardly ever thinking Godly thoughts. Hardly ever. We are almost always thinking worldly thoughts. In Hindi we call it roti, kapra, makan, that is it - basically food, clothing, and shelter.
And then the mind goes even further. It thinks about neighbors, friends, family members. “Why is she like this?” “Why does he behave like that?” “What was he thinking?” “He’s crazy.” And then, “What’s going on with that country and that world leader?” “What’s going on with this actress and that actor?” This and that. The mind goes all over the place.
And there are so many opinions our mind has. We have so many opinions. “He shouldn’t be doing this.” “He should have done that.” “He shouldn’t do so much of that.” “Why did he do this?” It is as if we are experts. Our mind is an expert.
And we are judging everybody—people we do not even know. We do not even know them. “Why did Brad Pitt divorce Jennifer Aniston?” People are still wondering why. “That was a good match.” “Oh, I hate Angelina Jolie.” Oh my goodness! Do you know Angelina Jolie? Do you know Jennifer Aniston? We do not know any of these people, but we have our opinions.
We spend precious time thinking about them. Who is getting married to whom? Who is getting divorced? All of this in this precious mind that we are supposed to protect. We are damaging it. We are striking blow after blow on this mind.
We need to introduce Godly thoughts. We need to become really greedy. “I have five minutes, let me beautify my mind.” “Let me think about Shree Krishna.” “Let me think about Radha Rani.” “Let me reflect on the lecture by my Guru. Shree Maharaj Ji said this, and I had never heard it before. Let me think about it.” “I do not have to think about the world. I do not have to talk so much.” “By talking so much, I am hearing too much also, and I am hearing what I am saying, and what I am saying is not making any sense!” “Let me just be quiet. Let me find a quiet place. Let me spend some time beautifying my mind.”
“Let me do that.”
