Practical Tips to Mind Control

Compiled by Radheshyam Das, M.Tech., IIT Mumbai Director, VOICE Dedicated to

Rekindling Wisdom, Reviving Love

Previous Printing: 53,000 th 7 Printing: Dec-2007, 5000 Copies For Copies contact: [email protected] Phone: +91-020-24306330

The MODERN SCENARIO The search for happiness is the eternal quest for every living entity. In the modern times, the propaganda throughout the world is to work very hard to earn ones livelihood, to accumulate more and more wealth, to increase ones name and fame and thus become happy. Consequently, everyone is caught up in an environment of cut-throat competition. In such a situation, every avenue to stay alive and get ahead in life is thoroughly exploited. Mind control plays a decisive role in determining the performance and shaping the future of a person and it has therefore become a buzzword in professional circles nowadays. The NECESSITY of MIND CONTROL We all know that, somehow or other, if we can learn to control our mind, then we can accomplish many things in our life. So naturally, all of us are interested in controlling our mind. At the same time we are all well
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aware of the disastrous consequences of an uncontrolled mind. If the mind of a person is uncontrolled, it will make him miserable throughout his life and may harass him so much that he may even go to the extent of committing suicide. Every intelligent person should learn to control his mind and lead a peaceful life. There are many institutions offering courses on Mind Control, but most of them dont go to the root of the problem. They are based on only a superficial knowledge of the mind and the way in which it works. Mind control without proper understanding of oneself, God and the purpose of life is just an eyewash; it can yield no tangible benefit. In this booklet however, we will get a proper understanding of the mind, based on the timeless wisdom of the Vedic philosophical masterpiece, the Bhagavad-gita. The ABC The mind frequently causes us a variety of problems. And amateur attempts to tackle
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these problems are bound to fail since the body-mind mechanism is extremely complex. Therefore the first step in mind control is to understand the answers to the following basic questions: What is this body? Who am I? What is the purpose of this creation? In order to get authentic answers to these questions, the best course of action is to approach the super-intelligent Designer of this body, the Mastermind behind the creation, namely, the Supreme Lord, and ask Him, Why did You create all these problems? This approach involves tackling the problems of life by going to their root cause and so it can provide a permanent solution. Just as when we get a disease, we go to a doctor, an expert in that field, to diagnose the root cause of the disease and get it cured, similarly we need the help of a guru or a spiritual master, an expert in the knowledge of the essence of life, who can teach us why our mind and body give us so much suffering in this world and the way to permanently get rid of all suffering.
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Krishna, the Supreme Lord, is universally acclaimed as the jagat guru or the spiritual master of the whole universe. And He is teaching Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita how to control ones mind and how to lead a pure life. Right at the outset of the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna that we are not these material bodies; we are actually spirit souls. This body is simply like a dress; it is just an external covering. The atma, the eternal being, who is the eternal servant of God, is now trapped in this body exactly like a parrot trapped in a cage. Being trapped in the body we are constantly suffering due to the miseries caused by the body and the mind. It is not that we are suffering only now; our history of suffering dates back to many, many lifetimes. Therefore according to all the scriptures the ultimate goal of life, the only way to lasting happiness, is to liberate oneself from the cycle of birth and death and to achieve the kingdom of God. That is our original home and it is from there that we
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have come to this foreign place, the material world. Due to our stay in the material world, our mind has become the storehouse of varieties of thoughts, impressions and unfulfilled desires. These material impressions on the mind drag the atma from one body to another, birth after birth. Until all these material impressions are wiped out from the mind and pure spiritual consciousness is established, there is no possibility of returning back to the kingdom of God. But as long as we are in this material world, we are inescapably stuck up with the body and the mind. And the mind gives us a variety of sufferings. Herein we will try to learn a few tips, which can help us to control the mind. But these tips have to be applied while a person simultaneously engages in cultivating knowledge about God, the ultimate goal of life and about himself. There is no overnight, short cut to control the mind; if it were so easy, modern man would not talk so much about mind control. We request the reader to
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refer to our previous book on Art of Mind Control to get some understanding of soulbody-mind-intelligence mechanism so that he can apply the following tips more effectively: SHUT YOUR EYES TO INSULTS Generally we can see that our mind becomes especially agitated whenever we are insulted and the thorn of the desire to take revenge torments the mind for a long time. The only way to control the mind in such circumstances is by shutting our eyes to the insults. On reading this, you will probably be thinking, Why in the wide world should I not take revenge on the person who has insulted me? He has caused me so much pain; he must suffer. But the reality is that he is not the actual cause of our suffering. We must have done some sinful activity in the past as a reaction to which we are insulted now as per the law of karma. And the person who has insulted us is just acting as an instrument in the hands of nature to deliver us our due suffering. When we understand this, then we
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will be able to take the insult in a mature way without being unnecessarily agitated and without maintaining a vengeful feeling. This is vividly illustrated in an instructive pastime that took place about 5000 years ago. The emperor of the whole world at that time was Maharaj Parikshit. Once when he was going through a forest, he was afflicted by severe thirst. Though he was the king of the entire world, here he was in the midst of the forest and there was no one to fetch even a glass of water for him. At that time he saw a sage, Shamik rishi, performing penance in a hut. Being desperate to quench his thirst, he requested the sage to give him a glass of water. The sage was in deep trance and so he did not even hear the king. Parikshit was angered due to this apparently discourteous behavior of the sage. In his anger he put a dead snake around the neck of the sage and went away. After some time when the son of Shamik rishi Shringi came to know about how his father had been insulted, he pronounced a curse on Parikshit, You will die after seven
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days due to the bite of a poisonous snakebird. When King Parikshit was informed about the curse, his response was highly exemplary. He was the emperor of the entire world and he was also a pure devotee of Lord Krishna. And for a minor mistake on his part, a young impudent boy had sounded his death-knell. If King Parikshit had wanted he could easily have counter-cursed Shringi. But far from trying to get even with Shringi, Parikshit humbly accepted the curse and immediately renounced his entire kingdom in order to prepare for his imminent departure from this world. He went to the banks of the Ganges, offered his humble obeisances to the great sages assembled there and requested them tam mopayatam pratiyantu vipraganga ca devi dhrta-cittam isedvijopasrstah kuhakas taksako va dasatv alam gayata visnu-gathah O brahmanas, just accept me as a completely surrendered soul, and let mother Ganges, the representative of the Lord, also
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accept me in that way, for I have already taken the lotus feet of the Lord into my heart. Let the snakebirdor whatever magical thing the brahmana createdbite me at once. I only desire that you all continue singing the deeds of Lord Vishnu. In this way Parikshit reacted to the curse in a very composed positive way. And consequently he was able to end his life on a very glorious note by returning to the kingdom of God. On the other hand if someone takes an insult very seriously then he can never be peaceful as is seen from the story of Hiranyakashipu. The king of the demons, Hiranyakashipu, was the master of all the three worlds. He had practically conquered the entire universe. Just by the raising of his eyelashes, all the powerful demigods would start trembling in fear. His small five-year-old son, Prahlada, however, did not accept him to be supreme and did not obey him. Though he was the emperor of the whole universe, just one tiny boy not accepting his supremacy was
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intolerable for him. His life became completely miserable; he lost his night sleep. He decided to ruthlessly murder small innocent Prahlada. But when all his attempts to do so were foiled, he became totally dejected. And finally Hiranyakashipu himself had to meet a ghastly death. In the same way, if a hundred people respect us but one person insults us, that one insult makes us thoroughly miserable; the respect of hundred other people has no value for us. But if we understand that all these insults are coming upon us as a result of our past activities then we can learn to shut our eyes to the insults. And when we are insulted in such a way due to some reason, we should learn to forget and forgive. We should never maintain grudges. If we nurture an ill feeling in our heart towards a man who has insulted us without openly expressing it, that is even worse than openly expressed anger. Suppressed anger is like mental cancer. It leads to sleeplessness, it poisons blood, it increases blood pressure and takes away all
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peace of mind. An insult is like spilt milk. If milk is spilt on the ground, then what can we do about it? Its finished; its done. So we should learn to forget such incidents, which have already occured and just go ahead with our regular activities without becoming distracted or diffident. But if we nourish the grievances and brood over the past happenings, then not only does it cause immense pain to our heart but it may also lead to disastrous consequences, as seen in the following incident from the Mahabharata. When Drona, a brahmanas son, and Drupada, a prince, were studying in the same gurukula, they became close friends. One day, in a moment of intimate friendship, Drupada promised Drona, When I inherit the kingdom of my father, I will give half of it to you. Later, Drupada went on to become the king of Panchal, whereas Drona became a poor brahmana. Once in a moment of acute poverty, when his son was crying piteously for milk and Drona had no money to get any milk, he remembered the promise of his boy
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friend, Drupada. He therefore went to meet Drupada and reminded him of their old friendship. Sitting on his majestic royal throne, in the midst of the court, Drupada looked at the poor brahmana standing in front of him and said to him, O unfortunate brahmana, how do you consider me as your friend now? Past friendships are meaningless. Only equals can be friends. Now I am a great king and you are a poor brahmana. Do not try to invoke a long dead relationship. Saying this, Drupada laughed at Drona, gave him a little charity and sent him off. Deeply insulted, Drona left Panchal, but his mind was fixed on revenge. He did not forget and forgive; instead he kept the memory of the incident burning in his heart and resolved to take revenge when the right moment came. Later on Drona became the military teacher of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. When they completed their training and asked him what guru-dakshina they could give him, Drona requested them to capture Drupada and bring him as a prisoner before
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him. On hearing the desire of their guru, first the Kauravas, headed by Duryodhana, attacked Drupada, who easily defeated them. When the Kauravas returned defeated, the Pandavas, headed by Arjuna, invaded Panchal. They defeated Drupada, arrested him, brought him as a captive to their gurukula and threw him at the feet of Drona. On seeing how Drupada had been thoroughly humiliated, Drona smiled at him and asked him, Oh my dear king, do you now desire to revive our old friendship? It seems that your kingdom and wealth have all become mine. Humiliated and ashamed, Drupada couldnt speak a word. Adding insult to injury, Drona further said, After all, I am a liberal brahmana, I am not going to take away your life. Moreover I have always cherished affection for you as a friend. So I still desire your friendship, but, my dear Drupada, friendship can only be among equals. Now you have lost your whole kingdom and have become a beggar. And your entire kingdom and wealth have now become mine. So how can friendship exist between a king like me
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and a beggar like you? Having pity on a beggar like you, I give half of my kingdom to you. And Drona gave half of the kingdom of Panchal to Drupada. Although he felt severely insulted, Drupada kept silent, knowing that he was in no position to retaliate. He understood that the martial power of Drona was much greater than his. And moreover Drona now also had the mighty Pandavas as his disciples. So Drupada quietly took half of the kingdom and went away, but in his mind, he resolved, One day I will take revenge for this great insult. Later Drupada performed a massive fire sacrifice (yajna) to beget a son Dhrishtadyumna, who would kill Drona. Thus we can see that, when one is insulted by another, but is not ready to forget and forgive, then one insults the other, the other counter-insults the first and the fight goes on and on. So, when we meditate on insults, there is no end to such fights. Therefore instead of wasting our precious human form of life in brooding over such past events, it is better to turn to God and seek
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refuge in Him. And, even if our heart is very much pained by the insult, we should go to God for shelter just like Dhruva did. When he was insulted by his stepmother, Dhruva took the right shelter. He went to the forest and approached the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. By taking shelter of Lord Vishnu, instead of being left in the cold to futilely mourn and grieve, all of the pains of Dhruva were wiped out and he achieved a kingdom greater than that of his great grandfather, Lord Brahma. In the same way, we can also become free from all suffering if we turn to God when we are insulted. No One Can Make Or Mar Your Career; So DONT BLAME OTHERS We should also know that no one can make or mar our career. Sometimes we imagine, A has blocked my promotion. or B has ruined my business by competing in the same field. and so on. And due to such imaginary conceptions, we feel envy and
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animosity towards others. But actually our career and life is shaped by our previous karma; others cannot influence it. A typical example of one nourishing such needless envy and enmity is Duryodhana. Right from the time the Pandavas came to Hastinapura as small children, Duryodhana was envious of them. He was afraid that they might take over the kingdom. So, to destroy them, he hatched various demoniac schemes such as feeding Bhima a poisonous cake, gifting the Pandavas a palace made of inflammable shellac and then arranging to have it set on fire so that they would burn to death and so on. But by none of these tricks could he succeed in killing them. Later during the svayamvara of Draupadi, he became mad with lust on seeing her exquisite beauty, but he was crestfallen when he could not win her hand. And when the Pandavas won the hand of Draupadi, his envy increased manifold. When he realized that the Pandavas had become very powerful and wealthy due to their alliance with Drupada, the father of
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Draupadi and the king of Panchal, he feared that they might attack and defeat him. So he decided to give them half of the kingdom, but once again, due to his envious nature, he tried to cheat them by offering them the barren part of the Kuru kingdom called Khandavaprastha. But, by the mercy of Lord Krishna, that desolate land was miraculously transformed, in no time, into the great city Indraprastha. Indraprastha was a magnificent and opulent city filled with learned brahmanas, chivalrous kshatriyas, well-to-do vaishyas and faithful shudras. All the subjects were living a very happy God-centered life in accordance with the Vedic scriptures. All the cows, women, old men, children and brahmanas were properly protected. The mellifluous chanting of auspicious Vedic mantras could be heard everywhere in the city. And Mayadanava constructed the Mayasabha, a gorgeous mansion akin to a heavenly abode, for the Pandavas. When Duryodhana heard about the opulence of the Pandavas, he just could not stand it. In fact the very thought that was
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now the emperor of the world caused him indescribable agony. He felt that that position was his exclusive birthright and that the Pandavas had unlawfully usurped his position. At that time, Maharaj decided to conduct the Rajasuya yajna to establish the supremacy of Lord Krishna. He invited all the kings and sages from all over the universe for the yajna. At the time of the yajna, he allocated various services to his relatives and close friends. He requested Bhishma and Drona to oversee the organization of the sacrifice, Dushasana to take care of distribution of food to all the guests, Ashvatthama to attend to the brahmanas and Duryodhana to receive all the gifts. Lord Krishna took the humble role of washing the feet of all the sages and brahmanas arriving for the Rajasuya yajna. Seeing the hundreds and thousands of priceless gifts that came for Yudhishtir, Duryodhanas heart burnt with envy. And when he saw the incomparable opulence of the famed palace of the Pandavas, the
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Mayasabha, he could no longer control his jealousy. He sniffed and huffed and frowned harshly at the innocent servants who were cheerfully passing by within the place. He was in a state of total misery and despondency. On his way back to Hastinapura, Duryodhana told his uncle, Shakuni, It is impossible for me to see the prosperity of the Pandavas. What man who possesses any self-respect can bear to see his enemies prosper more than him? How can I ever equal the power and the opulence of the Pandavas? All my efforts to do so have been frustrated. And my attempts to destroy the Pandavas have also met with total failure. On the contrary, they are flourishing like lotuses in a pond. Therefore I cannot live any longer. I will enter into fire or I will swallow poison and thus end my life. Please inform my father Dhritarashtra about the terrible anguish I am in. And while he was speaking, the fire of envy in his heart started burning more and more and he became even more fearful that the Pandavas would vanquish him.
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When Dhritarashtra came to know about the devilish mentality of Duryodhana, he tried to pacify him, My dear son, whatever you may want for your enjoyment is already at your disposal. Our opulence is no less than that of the gods in heaven. We have immense wealth, magnificent mansions, the best of clothes, the finest food and beautiful women. All these are just waiting to give you pleasure. What reason is there for you to become depressed? Duryodhana sullenly muttered, Dont you know that got thousands of invaluable gifts in the Rajsuya yajna? Dhritarashtra suggested, You can also perform a similar sacrifice and you will also get those gifts. But Duryodhana knew that he would not get even one tenth of the gifts that Yudhishthir got. Therefore the evil-minded Duryodhana, along with the diabolical Shakuni, decided to devise some devious way, by which the Pandavas could be destroyed. Duryodhana knew that he could not challenge the Pandavas in a battle; they would easily defeat
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him. So he decided to invite the Pandavas to a gambling match so that they could be cheated of their kingdom and be exiled into the forest. Even during the exile of the Pandavas, Duryodhana, though the emperor of the entire world, was constantly in anxiety about the possibility of the return of the Pandavas in the future; he was never at peace. On the other hand, the Pandavas, who were great devotees of Krishna, being nonenvious, lived peacefully though they were in utter poverty in the forest. In a similar way, in the present times of cutthroat competition, most people live totally insecure lives, being torn apart by immeasurable anxieties, This person is trying to pull me down, It is only because of that person that I cannot progress in my life, That person is growing bigger than me, how can I cut him down? Such people grit their teeth, bite their lips, frown, grumble, brood and, riding on the chariot of their mind, make elaborate plans to destroy all their so-called
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enemies and become supreme. But all their endeavors are repeatedly frustrated and they have no peace of mind whatsoever. SEE The LOVING HAND of GOD BEHIND EVERYTHING And TOLERATE INCONVENIENCES However such resentment and envy are actually a sign of cowardice, a sign of the absence of the courage to accept the reality that they cannot control the world around them. They are disturbing their peace of mind for no gains whatsoever, because nobody has the power to change the will of God. Wisdom lies in understanding that the happiness and distress destined for us at the time of our birth, as fixed according to our past karma, are inevitably going to come, no matter what we do. Just as distress comes in our life uninvited, by higher arrangement, happiness will also come of its own accord. Therefore real wisdom lies in seeing the loving and well-wishing hand of God behind

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everything that happens in our lives. Only with such a vision can we live in peace. But if a person is jealous of others and is trying to pull them down or destroy them, then he can never be at peace. Why? Because such a person is concerned not so much with how well he has fared, but with how badly others have fared. His success lies in the failure of others. His mentality is like that of a crab, who having been trapped in a fishermans basket along with many other crabs, is worried, not about saving his own life by jumping out of the basket, but about pulling other crabs down so that he may stay at a higher level than them within the basket. What an utterly foolish mentality! Therefore an intelligent person, a devotee of God, does not measure his success by such a meaningless standard the failure of others. He understands that real success in life is in pleasing God because only by the mercy of God can all problems be solved, once and for all. And knowing that everything happens by the will of God, he
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lives by the wise saying: what cannot be cured has to be endured. This same truth is taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita (2.14) matra sparsas tu kaunteya sitosna sukha duhkha dah agamapayino nityas tams titikisasva bharata Krishna says, O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. For example, the duty of a housewife is to cook. In the summer season, though the kitchen may be very hot, she cannot say, I will cook only in the winter. In summer, the kitchen is very hot. So I cannot cook. Even though the kitchen may be hot, she has to just tolerate the heat and go on with her duty of cooking.
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In the same way, we have to know that there are many things in life, which are beyond our control. If a person thinks, I can control everything in every situation throughout my life, the mind of such a person will be literally torn to pieces. An intelligent person knows that God is the Supreme Controller and that He is controlling everything that is happening throughout the world as well as in his own life. Such a person, who sees with the eyes of knowledge, can understand that he is bound from head to toe by the laws of nature. When we ourselves are so completely controlled, how then can we expect to control every situation, or for that matter, any situation? Therefore though there may be hundreds of inconveniences, annoyances and irritations from the moment we wake up every morning to the moment we sleep at night (and even when we are asleep), we have to understand that they are not within our power to change. So we should learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
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DEPEND On GOD For HELP You may be wondering, How is it possible that with disturbances all around me, I should remain undisturbed? It is possible when we depend on the power of God by taking His shelter whenever such inconveniences come. When we surrender to Him, He will give us the necessary will power, inner strength and patience to endure such trying circumstances. This is the reason why godly people are able to stay undisturbed in the face of trials and tribulations, whereas those who are not surrendered to God, when faced with a crisis, usually seek refuge in some illusory escape-route such as drinking or taking drugs. And sometimes, they may even go to the extent of committing suicide like a coward. At this juncture, you may ask, Taking shelter of God is a very vague and abstract concept. Is there any practical way of actually doing this? Certainly! We can very easily take shelter of God by chanting His Holy
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Names. The chanting of the Hare Krishna mahamantra, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare when done everyday, can give us tremendous inner strength and iron-like determination to tolerate any situation in any walk of life. So by inner spiritual strength derived from regular chanting, we can learn to endure all the suffering of the world. And of course it is not that we just have to go on enduring the blows of the world for the rest of eternity and that there will be no respite ever. Though we may be suffering at the present moment, we should know that, as we are performing devotional service to God, we are gradually becoming purified and we will eventually be taken out of this world of misery and be situated in the kingdom of God, an abode of eternity, bliss and knowledge, which is our original home. So as long as we are connected to God and are on our way back to God, we can be assured that
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in the future there will be no suffering for us and, even in the present, as we develop more and more tolerance, our suffering will keep decreasing. On the other hand, if someone has no connection to God, he is, at present, being helplessly tossed about in an ocean of suffering and, due to his present sinful activities, he is going to be cast deeper into that ocean in the future. So as long as he does not connect himself with God, there will be no respite whatsoever in his sufferings. GIVE UP The CRAVING For RECOGNITION Craving for worldly glory and recognition is the surest way to physical and mental restlessness. The whole world is running madly after name, fame and recognition. But why do we want recognition? Have we ever asked ourselves this question? We want name, fame and recognition so that people may understand our greatness. Everyone in this world considers himself to be a very great person and so he wants people to respect
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him. Even those, who dont have any extraordinary ability or talent by which they can become famous, try to obtain fame by connecting themselves with those who are famous. That is why people want to have their photograph taken with a popular film star or cricketer; so that they can show it to others and make an unspoken statement, Just see! I am putting my hands on the shoulder of this famous cricketer. Just see it! And understand my greatness! Thus everyone wants to achieve recognition in some way or the other. But in complete contrast, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu prays: na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisha kamaye mama janmani janmani isvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want your causeless devotional service birth after birth. (Shikshashtakam 4)
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The first reaction of most people on hearing this prayer is shock and utter disbelief. Wealth, women and followers are what people hanker and toil tirelessly for throughout their lives. But to the degree a person is hankering for recognition from worldly people, to that degree his mind will be torn to pieces. Why? Because the harsh unpalatable truth is that no one in the world respects you, has any concern for you or is even interested in you; their respect, concern and interest are all for what you possess. Countless examples can be given to substantiate this truth: A prostitute will smile at a man, speak sweetly with him and provide him with all enjoyment; due to her behavior, the man may naturally start thinking, O shes attracted to me. I am so handsome! But she is not the least interested in him; the moment his pocket is empty, she will disappear. When a tree is full of fruits, multitudes of birds flock to the tree. The tree may think, All these birds are coming to me. I am
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such an important entity. But the moment the fruits get over, not a single bird even glances at the tree. When many charming deer are grazing in a forest, the forest may think, I must be so wonderful that even these beautiful deer are coming to me. But when there is no green grass in the forest, the deer will not stay there even for a moment. Similarly, it appears that all the people, who surround you, are interested in you and that they are all impressed by your greatness. But when you grow old and are no longer beautiful or when you lose the opulence that you have today, none of these people will come near y ou; they will simply disappear. Films stars and cricketers have thousands of fans in their youth and they feel on top of the world, receiving the adulation of their fans. But when they grow old, none of their fans pays even the slightest attention to them, leave alone respecting or adulating them. And for one
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who has been famous, obscurity is worse than death. For example, there was a celebrated foot ball player and, due to his exceptional talent in maneuvering the ball with his foot, he had millions of fans all over the world literally mad after him (or so he thought). But one day he somehow broke his leg and he could no longer play football. And that was the end of all his fame; not even a single soul would come to meet him thereafter. Even if nothing like this happens to a famous person, still all his accumulated wealth, possessions, recognition etc., are going to be lost in the sands of time at the time of death. In this way we can easily understand that being mad for recognition from the people of the world is foolishness.

STRIVE To GAIN The FRIENDSHIP Of GOD; It Is THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT Instead of aspiring for such ephemeral worldly recognition we should be aspiring to be recognized by God. Why? Because God is a person who loves you for what you are and not for what you have. And He loves you so much that He remains your greatest well wisher and heart-to-heart friend, even if you are not in the least interested in Him. Therefore, instead of directing our craving for recognition towards the people of this world, we should re-direct it towards the Lord and His representatives, the saintly persons. A person can do this only when he has understood what is the greatest achievement in life. In modern times, people generally think that earning fabulous sums of money or going abroad and returning with a lot of wealth or leading a very happy family life or having hundreds and thousands of possessions is the greatest achievement in life. But history shows that anybody who thought like this had to suffer terribly in the
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end. The inevitable time factor defeats all such hedonistic plans for enjoyment and reduces to nothing all ones accomplishments exactly like the roaring waves of a ocean devastating a sand castle built by a child. This is the harsh reality of the material world. That is why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, I dont aspire for wealth, women or followers, but rather He prays to the Lord, Please give me pure love for you. As the scriptures proclaim, prema pumartho mahan The greatest achievement in all of creation is to achieve pure love of God. Why? Because the only true need of each one of us is happiness. And happiness comes only when we truly love and are truly loved. And the only person worthy of reposing love in is God, because He alone can be the eternal object of our love; all other so-called loving relationships are inevitably severed by the sharp sword of time. We can achieve happiness and peace of mind automatically if we re-awaken our dormant love of God. And this love can be awakened simply by serving
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and remembering God in whatever we do and by chanting His Holy Names. But instead of trying to re-establish our relationship with God, if we get entangled in the rat race for recognition, we will be doomed to disappointment and frustration. While we are alive, we will never get any peace of mind and, at the time of death, we will realize that we have been cheated because all the things, which we gave our entire lives to obtain, will be forcibly taken away. Dont INCREASE YOUR WANTS AND FEEL Like a BEGGAR; RATHER DECREASE YOUR WANTS And FEEL Like a KING People ask for peace of mind but they want to very carefully preserve their material greed. But the truth is peace of mind and material greed are incompatibles. You have to make your choice. It is wisely said, God has provided for everyones need, but not for everyones
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greed. An angry man can be pacified when he gives vent to his anger by chastising someone; a thirsty man can be satisfied by having some water; a hungry man can be satisfied by having some food. But a greedy man can never be satisfied by anything, no matter how much he accumulates. So the only way to deal with greed is to give up the greedy mentality. People go on increasing their facilities more and more, thinking that they are becoming bigger and bigger controllers. But, by increasing their facilities, they end up becoming slaves of those facilities. Just imagine a modern man surrounded on all sides by modern gadgets. He has a grinder; so he has no need to use his hand. He has a mobile phone; so he doesnt have to move from his bed to attend to phone calls. He has a remote control; so he doesnt have to get up from his bed for switching on the television. Nowadays there are remote switches even for fans and lights and one can switch them on from ones bed. In this way man has increased his luxuries and facilities
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and he thinks, The control for the whole world is at my finger tips. Just by a slight movement of my fingers, I can control everything around me. But, in the process, he becomes utterly dependent on these gadgets. If even one of them doesnt work properly, he becomes miserable. And what is the ultimate consequence of such needless indulgence?

Those who use such gadgets throughout their l ives get a variety of bodily maladies in their old age. And when they go to a doctor, he tells them, You have not done any exercise
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throughout your life. So now you have to move your hand up and down as if you were drawing water from a well. Or You have to rotate your hand as if you were working on a grinder. Or You have to go every morning for walking or jogging. What an irony! By the arrangement of nature, man has to do all these things and, if he does them, he will never get rheumatic pain or any such sickness. But considering such basic bodily activities to be troublesome, he works hard to earn money to get gadgets to avoid doing these things. But on getting such gadgets, he suffers because he becomes utterly dependent on them. And, in the end, he gets health problems and is forced to do the very things, which he originally wanted to avoid! But despite the foolishness of it all, unfortunately people today increase their needs more and more and work hard like donkeys to accumulate more wealth for procuring these facilities. But it only entraps them further. For example, in the modern times, there is the credit card system. A
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person can take any gadget he wants just by showing his credit card. Tempted by the desire to have the best facilities in his house, he takes many expensive gadgets. But later he finds out that he has to work like a donkey for another ten or twenty years just to pay the installments for what he purchased using his credit card. So in this way people think that they are getting more and more facilities and that they are enjoying but actually they are only increasing their suffering. The material nature created by the Lord, Maya, is so powerful that she thoroughly cheats those who try to exploit her resources without using them in the service of God, as is illustrated by the following story. Once upon a time a sadhu was climbing a mountain. Finding the climb laborious, he thought how nice it would be if he could climb the mountain on horseback. He therefore started singing, Hey Rama ghodi dila de, hey Rama, ghodi dila de. O Lord Rama please give me a horse. And lo and behold! While he was praying like this, a passerby
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came and, seeing a sadhu struggling to climb the mountain, donated a horse. The sadhu was very happy that the Lord had fulfilled his desire immediately. He promptly mounted the horse and continued climbing up the mountain. After some time, all of a sudden, the horse stopped and, despite repeated proddings, would not budge even an inch. When he got down to see what was wrong, he noticed that the horse was actually a mare. She had been pregnant and had just given birth to a baby horse. And due to her natural maternal affection for her offspring, she was not ready to leave it. Perplexed, the sadhu wondered how he could make the horse move. Suddenly an idea struck him and he picked up the baby horse and started walking. Being attached to her offspring, the mare quietly followed him. The sadhu was very pleased with himself, Just see how clever I am! I have tricked the horse into walking. But after just a few steps he started panting due to the weight of the foal. He then
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started thinking, Hey! Wait a minute! I wanted a horse to carry me, but I have ended up carrying a horse! I was much better off earlier; at least I did not have any burden to carry. In this way we sometimes increase our facilities in order to enjoy life but later we see that those very facilities become sources of trouble; we become slaves of those facilities. PRACTICE SIMPLE LIVING And HIGH THINKING Therefore the Vedic way of life is based on the principle of Simple Living and High Thinking. We should work only as much as is necessary to fulfil the basic necessities of life and utilize our remaining time, energy and money for reviving our eternal life. How? By engaging in devotional service of God, by chanting His Holy Names and by reading and hearing many wonderful scriptures like Srimad Bhagvad-gita, Bhagvatam, Ramayana, Mahabharata, all of which teach the message of God.
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Someone may ask, What is the need for doing all this? It is because every one of us is actually a part and parcel of God, an eternal servant of God, in the spiritual sky. We all belong to that original home where there is no misery, no birth, old age, disease or death. Life there is eternal, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Therefore an intelligent person should hanker for that life. And that can be achieved only when we live simply
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and think high, that is, we center our lives around God. And why should one reduce ones necessities to the minimum? Suppose you are travelling by train from Pune to Bombay. Will you construct a house in the train? Or will you carry a television, fridge and other such luxuries with you to enjoy in the train? Certainly not! Why? Because by the time you finish constructing a house within the train, Bombay would have arrived and you would have to get down. In the same way, expending all ones energy for accumulating wealth to increase luxuries in the name of necessity, forgetting the prime goal of life, is a mere waste of time, because life is short and temporary. But wonder of all wonders! People work hard throughout their lives just to purchase a flat in Bombay. And by the time they are able to purchase it, they have reached the fag end of their lives and they quit the world like cats and dogs, without any understanding about God or the goal of life or without even being able to enjoy living in the flat.
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But if we live simply and spend time everyday to chant the names of God and to remember Him, then we will see that gradually the mind becomes light, like a swab of cotton and can be very easily controlled. In fact, it can be molded just like wax. And one can experience the joy of the eternal realm even while being in this world. BE RESPONSIBLE; But Dont PURCHASE TROUBLE It is important to note in this connection that when we say that we should remember God and chant His names, it doesnt mean that we should become lazy and give up all our responsibilities. The ideal approach to work is: be balanced; dont be irresponsible, but dont purchase trouble either. Sometimes, one tends to think, I am getting this much salary, and he is also getting the same amount. But he is doing very little work and is mostly escaping from his work. So why should I work so hard? Let me also escape. But by escaping from ones
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responsibilities, one gets a feeling of guilt, which increases ones anxieties manifold. The safest and the best course of action is to just do your job honestly and responsibly, while at the same time living a God centered life. While doing our duties responsibly, we should be intelligent enough not to add on to our responsi-bilities by taking additional loads due to our egoistic initiative; otherwise we are simply purchasing trouble. Such an egoistic person thinks, He is doing so much work. I must show the world that I am greater than him. And so one takes on so much load on oneself that one has no time for God; no time for ones own family, no time for even the basic activities of life. In this way, one becomes practically crazy working 14 or 16 hours a day. And there is no end to such work. How can such a person who, in order to satisfy his inflated ego, is caught up in unending materialistic activities and the concomitant immeasurable anxieties, ever attain peace of mind?
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So one should do ones job properly and, at the same time, set aside sufficient time for cultivating ones inward life by chanting, reading scriptures and coming together with ones family to worship the Supreme Lord Krishna. There is a wise saying: The family that prays together stays together. So if one comes together every morning with his wife, children and family, and worships God by chanting Hare Krishna, offers bhoga to the Lord and accepts the Lords prasadam, then ones life will become peaceful. One can lead a happy life while one is in this world and, at the time of death, one will return to the kingdom of God. On the other hand, one who increases his material responsibilities more and more due to his egoistic initiative, will find himself disturbed in the mind by countless anxieties. And such a person who is disturbed within will naturally cause disturbances for everyone around him. He will quarrel with his wife, shout at his children and be harsh and unreasonable with his subordinates. Such a
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person cannot do any good, either for himself or for others. And all this is because he did not give time for his inner spiritual growth. Just as when one keeps writing with a pencil, but does not sharpen it, it eventually becomes blunt and incapable of writing, similarly if one keeps on working, but does not spare time for mantra meditation and prayer, then ones efficiency goes down drastically and one becomes incapable of doing any worthwhile work; ones work becomes meaningless. Now-a-days, such workaholics are very proud of the saying Karma hi pooja hai. But if one tries to live like that, working like a donkey, one will be totally frustrated in life
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and will never get any peace of mind. On the other hand, if everyday one sets aside some time for God and chants Hare Krishna, it is like sharpening the pencil. By such regular spiritual practice, one can manage both ones material duty as well as ones duty to God nicely. This is the way to living with peace of mind, both in this world and the next. BE IN THIS WORLD But NOT of THIS WORLD At this point, a question may come up, Daily spiritual practice is alright., but how should we go about our various duties? In other words, how should we live in this world? The first and foremost thing to understand is the most basic truth; that we are not God, but we are the eternal servants of God. We are therefore meant to utilize our whole life and all our possessions, not for our own enjoyment, but for the service of God. This principle is graphically illustrated in the Ramayana in the way Ravana and
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Hanuman behaved towards Lord Ramchandra. In the Ramayana, we see that Lord Rama was served by everyone; by mother Sita, by Lakshmana, by Hanuman, by Bharata, by Sugriva, by Guha and by so many other persons. But there was only one person who was opposed to serving Lord Rama - Ravana. He wanted to take away Lord Ramas property, mother Sita and enjoy her for himself. And what was his ultimate destination? He had to meet cruel death at the hands of Lord Rama. In the same way, nature and all the resources provided by her are the property of Lord Rama. If one tries to take the resources of the world like grains, fruits, minerals, water, air, light, etc., provided by God and tries to enjoy them without acknowledging the proprietorship of God, such a person has Ravana-like mentality: he wants to enjoy the property of God for himself without even thanking God and thus he is doomed. Therefore, while living in this world, we should always humbly bow down before God
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and thank Him for all that He has offered us for our subsistence. And one should never ever try to extract enjoyment from this world. If we have this enjoying mentality of dominating others and extracting pleasure from this world by engaging in sinful activity, then we will be inevitably frustrated. Why? Because trying to get enjoyment through materialistic engagement is like trying to extract nectar from the mouth of a venomous cobra. It is an inherently futile attempt; all that one can get from the mouth of a cobra is poison. There will be so many people who will tempt us to eat, drink, be merry and enjoy life, but, if we look into the lives of these very people, we will find that they are the most frustrated people. Apart from the propaganda of these materialistic people, our senses are also so agitated that they are dragging us in all directions to enjoy. Our tongue is pulling us in one direction to taste a variety of delicious foodstuffs. Our eyes are scanning all the directions in the search of beautiful forms. And the same is true for every one of
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our senses. Just like a man having five wives is dragged in different directions by each one of them for enjoyment, similarly, we are also dragged by our five senses in various directions. And if we close our eye of discrimination and go in the direction dictated by the mind and the senses, then we are on the royal road to hell. We can see with our own eyes the disastrous consequences of material enjoyment. One who smokes is afflicted by lung cancer; one who drinks wine is struck by liver diseases; one who eats gutka is tortured by oral cancer in the teeth and gums; one who wants to enjoy with many women is terminated by AIDS. Thus nature gives severe slaps and kicks to those who try to extract enjoyment from this world. RELISH The HIGHER TASTE of SERVICE To GOD Many people understand, at an intellectual level, that material enjoyment is always the cause of suffering, but still despite
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their best efforts to restrain themselves, they are unable to give up the desire to enjoy. Therefore the million-dollar question is: how can we give up the enjoying mentality? It is possible only when we engage all our senses in the service of God. Our senses are like venomous serpents with the fangs of the enjoying mentality. But if we engage the senses in the service of the Lord, it is like removing their poison teeth. Without its fangs, a snake can cause no harm. Similarly if our senses are engaged in the service of the Lord, they become harmless. Service to the Lord gives us a higher pleasure, which enables us to give up the pleasure derived from sense enjoyment. How can one engage the senses in the service of the Lord? By using our eyes in beholding the beautiful forms of the Deities in the temple, by using our hands in cutting vegetables for the Lord and in washing the temple, by using our legs in going to the ISKCON temple, by using our whole body for dancing in front of the Lord, by using our
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tongue for chanting the Holy Names of God, especially the Hare Krishna mahamantra and for honouring prasadam. In this way all our senses can be purified of the contamination of the desire to enjoy. And if our mind starts making too much demand for material enjoyment, still we dont have to experience it to realize its futility. We can see and learn from the experience of the worldly people. Those who are struggling to increase their enjoyment more and more in the world are only becoming more and more frustrated. Thus, using our intelligence, we can control the mind. We can derive further spiritual strength by knowing that life, after all, is flickering and temporary; it is just like a dream. Every night, when we sleep, we have an 8-hour dream. But life is an 80-year dream; that is the only difference. Both are temporary and, after they are over, neither has any factual existence. Knowing that life will pass away like a quick journey, we should cultivate the Hanuman mentality of serving Lord Rama. Just as Hanuman was trying to make arrangements
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to bring Sita back to Rama, similarly we should try to bring all the things of the world closer to God by engaging them in His service. Then we can achieve peace of mind. How can we actually engage all the things of the world in the service of God, especially in the modern times? All of us can use our various talents in the service of God. Some of us who are expert in computers can do computer services for publishing books about God and His message. Some of us can make beautiful garlands to decorate the Deities of the Lord. Some of us can come to temple on Sundays and the festivals for assisting in cooking for the Lord. Thus according to individual abilities and inclinations, we can all engage ourselves in service to the Lord. By performing such service, the most dangerous enjoying mentality will subside and we will get the serving mentality, which alone can bring us to the platform of sanity and peace. The enjoying mentality is a deadly disease and the service of the Lord is the perfect medicine for it.
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OBEY The LAWS of GOD Lastly we have to understand that unless we agree to abide by the laws of God, we can never achieve peace of mind. This can be understood from an example. Suppose a person wants to break all the laws of the Indian government; he wants to steal, he wants to rape women, he wants to murder. And he comes running to you and asks you, I want to be peaceful. But I also want to break the laws of the state. Please tell me how I can still have peace of mind. What solution can you offer such a person? An intelligent person will advice him, My dear friend, first of all you follow the laws of the country. Then when you are living as an ideal citizen, you can be free from persecution and anxiety and can live peacefully. In a similar way, the whole world is the state of God; after all, He has created it. And He has also made many laws for those who live in the world. These laws of the divine government are given in the bona fide scriptures of the world. So an intelligent
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person should hear the scriptures from the saintly people and, based on scriptural knowledge, he should discriminate between the right and the wrong, the good and the bad, and act accordingly. And in this way, when he carefully follow the instructions of God given in the scriptures throughout his life, then he can have peace of mind. God is our only eternal friend. To be frank with you, the harsh reality that no one in this world is interested in you. Dont expect the
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world to rush to your rescue when you are in trouble; it will just not happen. Far from running to help you, even your best friends will run away from you when you are in trouble. There are many levels of friends official friends called bandhu, social friends called mitra and so on. But the Lord is our only real friend. He is therefore called suhrt, meaning that He is our heart-to-heart friend. There is no one as close to us as God, although we may not know it. God is such a great friend, that even if we forget Him, even if we neglect Him, even if we become envious of Him, He still loves us. Just as a selfless mother only wants to serve her child always, irrespective of whether he is obedient, disobedient or naughty, similarly God is always very keen to help us, whether we reciprocate with Him or not. Krishna says, suhridam sarva bhutanam I am the suhridam, well wisher, of every living entity. I am the heart to heart friend of every living entity. So we should always learn to keep God in the center of our lives.
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An ideal example of this is Arjuna. Arjuna never did anything unless it was connected in service to Krishna. Even his act of fighting was for the pleasure of Krishna; before going to the battlefield, he circumambulated Krishna and offered Him obeisances. So for Arjuna, there was no one as close as Krishna. And the same is true for every living entity because Krishna says: sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto I am residing in the heart of everyone as the Parmatama. So in the hearts of each one of us, besides the soul there is the Supersoul, who is an expansion of Krishna. And the Paramatma is always ready to help us and give us guidance about what to do and what not to do. Therefore we should work for gaining Gods friendship; it is the greatest gain. And when we have that, peace of mind is an automatic byproduct. We cannot achieve peace of mind overnight by taking some pills told by some doctor. Nor can we achieve it by following some godless mechanical methods. Sometimes people teach some mind control techniques in which they say, Imagine a
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form. or imagine a picture. But all such methods are futile because they cannot give lasting peace of mind. Actual peace of mind can arise only out of spiritual growth and such spiritual growth is greatly aided by external support and greatly marred by external incompatibilities. The aiding supports are all those things, which enhance the mode of goodness (sattva guna) in us. For example, by taking satvika diet prasadam, wearing sattvika dress, living in a sattvika environment, coming to sattvika association of those who are devotees of God and reading spiritual books, we can enhance our understanding about God. And in this way all these sattvika habits can help us to come closer to God and become internally mature On the other hand, if we associate with those things, which increase the lower modes of passion and ignorance in us, our mind will become more and more agitated. For example, by watching horror movies, seeing pornographic pictures, taking intoxicants etc, we will go further away from achieving peace of mind.
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CHANT HARE KRISHNA The ULTIMATE PANACEA So we should give a prominent position in our life for prayers and pilgrimage, fasts and festivals and for satsang and self-realization. These are all very important to free our mind from the sufferings of the world. In our Hare Krishna movement, the ISKCON movement, Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acharya, has established a wonderful program by which everyone can very easily achieve peace of mind: the chanting of the Hare Krishna mahamantra. Right from a small child to an old man, anyone can practice this chanting on a daily basis. One can chant one or two rounds. Regularly fixed up devotees chant sixteen rounds and they never feel that they are wasting time in sitting and chanting the Lords name. Why? Because chanting Hare Krishna increases their efficiency in all fields and gives them an increased capacity to turn out more work in less time. Great productivity can be achieved when one chants Hare Krishna. Therefore the chanting of Hare
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Krishna will never interfere in your daily work; rather it will enhance daily work. Moreover, the practical experience of many, many devotees all over the world shows that when one chants Hare Krishna one is, in no time, able to give up all the bad habits like smoking, eating meat, taking intoxicants, illicit sex etc. One can give up all the lower tendencies and can become completely pure. And with a pure heart ones mind becomes very light; one can grasp any subject quickly and one can act efficiently. In this way, one can achieve the ultimate success in life through controlling ones mind by mantra meditation. The nature of the mind and the importance of chanting are illustrated in the following story. Once upon a time, there was a man who pleased a sage. As a benediction, the sage offered him a big jinn and told him, Take this jinn with you. He can fulfill all of your desires; he can do any work you give him. But the sadhu warned him, If you keep him unengaged, then he will devour you. So be
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careful to constantly engage him. This man said, Oh! Dont worry. I have got thousands of things to do. So this man took the powerful jinn with him home and ordered him, Plough that thousand acre land. And the jinn ploughed it all in just five minutes. He returned back and he said, My dear sir, give me the next order. The man was stunned. Build a big bungalow for me, he said. And the jinn made a big bungalow for him in a matter of minutes. So in this way whatever he asked for, the jinn arranged for immediately. Now the man became alarmed because he had no engagement to give him; he was just too quick in executing his action. So what could he do? He ran back to the sage and screamed to him, Please save me from this great demon! It is about to devour me. I dont have any work to give him. So the sage told him, You fool! It is easy. Take that ladder with you. Place it next to your house and tell the jinn to climb up and down. Whenever you need him, call him and give him service. And at all other times tell him to go up the ladder
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and come down. The man acted accordingly and was thus saved from the demon. Our mind is just like the demon. It is very powerful; it can do hundreds of things very quickly. And the moment we leave it unengaged, it starts thinking of unnecessary and undesirable things and fills us with insatiable cravings, anxieties and fears. And what is the ladder to deal with the demon of the mind? It is the Hare Krishna mahamantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare | Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare || If we constantly chant the mahamantra and remember the Lord, then the mind can never disturb us. It is said that an idle mind is the devils workshop. But if the mind is engaged in chanting the holy name and remembering God, one can become completely peaceful and the mind can be positively engaged for performing good activities for oneself and for the whole world at large. In such a pure mind, pure thoughts
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Chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare | Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare And Be Happy naturally arise and then we can propagate the pure spiritual knowledge for the benefit of the whole of humanity. And in this way we can achieve peace of mind ourselves and simultaneously benefit others also. HARE KRISHNA!

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