The Bhagavad-gita (10.9) states that the thoughts of the devotees reside in Krishna. This is a far more devotionally endearing way of describing the activity of fixing the mind on Krishna.

When we use the terms “thinking about Krishna” or “remembering Krishna,” it can have a range of meanings. Starting at a very basic level, it can mean forcing our mind to stay focused on Krishna, even when it wants to go everywhere else; to have our mind in a state where it longs to go back to Krishna from wherever it needs to go for functional purposes in the world.

Just like we have our home and love our home then we may need to go to various places for various purposes, but as soon as the work is done, we go back home and even when the work is going on and it gets prolonged then we long to go back home. This is the same state as the mind of an advanced devotee wherein Krishna becomes the home for their mind. Though they may think of various things because the service requires them to, as soon as that service is done, their mind goes back to Krishna. Even while that service has been going on for very long, they long to be back at their mental home in Krishna.

While we are cultivating remembrance of Krishna through chanting his holy names, we usually start at the bottom rung of this ladder. Often, we have to force our minds to stay fixed on Krishna. Krishna is so kind that he understands and accepts this effort. He doesn’t demand or command that we should be able to fix our minds on him without any deviation. He states that whenever and wherever our mind wanders, we bring it back in Bhagavad-gita (6.25-26). Consistent focus and remembrance of Krishna will slowly but surely convince us that thinking about Krishna will give us more peace, joy, pleasure, strength, and satisfaction than anything else.

By this gradual realization, our mind, which is otherwise like a perpetual nomad, traveling from one place to another, decides to make its home in Krishna. However, to get that experience of how thinking of Krishna is so wonderful, we need to be ready initially to push through the effort required to refocus the mind whenever it wanders. It is through this effort that you will experience the Bhagavad-gita’s promise in (18.37): What tastes like poison in the beginning will taste like nectar in the end. The effort to establish concentration on Krishna may seem initially like poison, but eventually, the resulting absorption in Krishna will be like nectar.

Summary:

  • Bhakti is not just simply thinking about Krishna but making him our home for our mind.
  • Though our mind may need to think of many other things, when Krishna becomes our home, it constantly longs to return to Krishna and rushes to go back to him.
  • To come to that stage, we need to steadily, even forcibly, focus on Krishna and increasingly experience how thinking of Krishna is far more enriching than thinking of anything else.

Think it over:

  • What does the range covered by the guideline of thinking of Krishna encompass?
  • What does making Krishna the home for our mind mean practically?
  • How will our mind change from its flickering and nomadic nature to being settled in Krishna?

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10.09 The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.