Our mind often speaks as the nasty, discouraging inner voice which says that we are nothing; we count for nothing; whatever we do will eventually amount to nothing. If we are habituated to listening to the mind’s voice, then we will never be able to do anything worthwhile in our life. 

For  reforming ourselves and creating a worthwhile life, an essential first step is that we learn to defend ourselves from our mind. The Bhagavad-gita (15.07) indicates that we are spiritual beings who are different from our minds, which often acts as our enemy. The first step for defending ourselves from our mind is defining ourselves positively using our intelligence. Central to such positive self-definition, as revealed by Gita wisdom, is that we have a right to existence, we have a right to expression, we have a right to endeavor. And we have all these rights because we are parts of the Divine, who is the supreme creator. 

Of course, our creativity and our ambitiousness can lead us away from God into illusion, but that doesn’t mean such attributes are intrinsically bad. It just means that we need to define ourselves accurately. When we act as agents of the Divine in a mood of service and contribution, we start expressing ourselves positively. Even if our mind discourages and oppresses us, we can maintain a steady spiritual connection through our intention and our devotion. Then if the mind tries to misappropriate our creativity and misdirect it for the gratification of our own ego, we can resist that misdirection by remembering to define ourselves as having significance because we are part of the Divine and rejecting the mind’s voice, knowing that it will otherwise reduce our existence to insignificance and even malevolence. 

One-sentence summary:

Defending ourselves from our mind begins with defining ourselves with our intelligence.

Think it over:

  • How does our mind define us negatively?
  • How does Gita wisdom help us define ourselves positively?
  • How can defining ourselves positively help us defend ourselves?

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15.07: The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.

 

To know more about this verse, please click on the image