How to counter the fickle mind with a stable intelligence

How to counter the fickle mind with a stable intelligence – Even if we can’t stop our mind from being fickle, we can start making our intelligence stable.

Our mind is notoriously, dangerously, and surreptitiously fickle. Its fickleness is dangerous in the sense that it can impel us to abandon vital responsibilities and chase after trivial fantasies, thereby bringing upon ourselves trouble that is entirely unnecessary and may well end up being unbearable or even unsolvable.

This reality is reiterated by psychologists, mental health experts, and anyone who has tried to manage their own mind or help others manage theirs. Despite the mind being notoriously fickle, it is also surreptitiously fickle. When it diverts our energy and purpose, it does so subtly and sneakily. We frequently don’t realize how far we have gone off track until it is too late.

When it registers within us how dangerously, notoriously, and surreptitiously fickle our mind can be, we may feel discouraged or even dejected, thinking that managing such a mind is almost impossible. Indeed, that was the concern of Arjuna, mentioned in Bhagavad-gita 6.34. It is a sobering truth that our mind is fickle and that there isn’t much we can quickly do to reduce its fickleness. However, that does not mean we are doomed to be powerless victims of our mind’s capriciousness.

Thankfully, we have an inner resource by which we can combat, counter, and curb the mind’s instability and fickleness: our intelligence. We can steady our intelligence through both philosophical reflection—understanding how the mind works—and personal realization of how the mind has functioned and malfunctioned in our life. This understanding can ensure we become more cautious in monitoring our capricious mind. If we watch our mind diligently, we can catch it before it catches us and drags us away.

Gita wisdom equips not just our mind to become cautious but also empowers our intelligence to become stable. It does so by imparting to the intelligence a higher vision and a higher purpose to life. The more we understand that, at our core, we as souls exist above our mind and that we can link ourselves with the divine reality, Krishna, who exists beyond the mind and beyond all souls, the more we become stabilized. By linking with that highest reality through steady yoga practices, especially bhakti-yoga—which channels our entire being, including the heart’s emotional energy toward connection with Krishna—we develop a bond that stabilizes our intelligence.

No wonder Bhagavad-gita 6.25 recommends that we stabilize our restless mind using our intelligence sustained by conviction.

Summary:

Our mind is fickle—dangerously, notoriously, and surreptitiously fickle. Even if we can’t reduce the mind’s fickleness quickly, we can increase the cautiousness of our intelligence by educating ourselves about the mind’s nature through philosophical reflection and personal realization. We can equip ourselves with a higher vision of ourselves as spiritual beings and a higher purpose by connecting in loving service with the highest, most stable divine reality, Krishna. In this way, we can make our intelligence sufficiently stable to combat and counter our fickle mind.

Think it over:

• How is our mind’s fickleness both notorious and surreptitious?
• How can we make our intelligence more cautious for dealing with the capricious mind?
• How can we make our intelligence more stable for managing the fickle mind?

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06.25 Gradually, step by step, one should become situated in trance by means of intelligence sustained by full conviction, and thus the mind should be fixed on the Self alone and should think of nothing else.