Television channels charge phenomenally for their prime time. Knowing that maximum TV audience is available during this time, they allocate those slots to the highest bidder: the programs that provide maximum returns.
For us spiritual seekers, the early morning hours are our spiritual prime time. The Bhagavad-gita (14.06) indicates that, among the three modes of material nature, the mode of goodness is most conducive for cultivating spirituality. Gita wisdom recognizes that the mode of goodness naturally prevails in the atmosphere during the early morning hours.
Moreover, as we have not yet entered the thick of action of the day, we can offer the maximum attention and best reception to Krishna in the morning. That’s why, if we try to engage in devotional activities like mantra meditation and scriptural study during this time, these activities become easier to do and relish. Additionally, they bear quicker and greater results in terms of increasing our sagacity and purity. Therefore, devotional activities are by far the highest bidder for our prime time.
Sadly however, we often give our prime time not to the highest bidder, but the loudest bidder, which, usually, is the mind. If it starts yelling, “Sleep,” we give in. If it starts screaming, “Read the news,” we acquiesce. The mind thus promotes innumerable alternatives to Krishna. Almost never do these deserve our prime time. And some of them don’t deserve any time at all.
To reject the mind’s coercive techniques, we can learn from TV channels. Just as they would never allocate their prime time based on the decibel level of the bidders, neither should we. By recollecting our priorities, we can say a firm no to the mind: “Nothing doing. My prime time is not so cheap. It is precious and is meant for my supreme priority, Krishna.”
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Text 06
“O sinless one, the mode of goodness, being purer than the others, is illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful reactions. Those situated in that mode become conditioned by a sense of happiness and knowledge.”
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