We often do things that we regret later. If we look back at why we did those things, we will notice that some voice within us prompted us to do them.

That voice, Gita wisdom explains, is the voice of our mind. The Bhagavad-gita (06.06) states that the mind remains our enemy as long as it is uncontrolled, but becomes our friend when we control it. Presently, as it is uncontrolled, it impels us to act destructively.

To control the mind, we need to start by keeping it constructively engaged. As soon as we let ourselves become idle, our mind starts going towards self-destructive desires such as immoral or addictive indulgences, or towards self-destructive emotions such as resentment or worry.

Staying constructively engaged doesn’t mean that we have to be running around, rushing from one thing to another. In fact, such rushing around may well be a destructive engagement impelled by a frenzied mind.

Being constructively engaged means that we do something worthwhile while being aware of what we are doing and why. That is, our intelligence and conscience vigilantly monitor what we are doing, and re-focus us whenever our mind drifts off. With this holistic understanding of constructive engagement, we can appreciate that we may be silently seated, but if we are doing purposeful introspection, we are not being idle – we are constructively engaged.

Along with cultivating self-awareness while being constructively engaged, we can also practice the most empowering constructive engagement of bhakti-yoga. Why is bhakti practice most empowering? Because it connects us with all-pure, all-powerful Krishna, thereby purifying our mind of its inimical tendency.

When we thus engage in Krishna’s service, we not only protect ourselves from being misled by the mind, but also purge it of its tendency to mislead us.

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