Suppose an investment agent misled us into making bad investments. We wouldn’t trust them again.

Our mind is like an inner agent that misleads us into making bad investments repeatedly. When the mind proposes something, we do it faithfully, investing our time, our energy, even our life. However, the mind’s propositions often turn out to be unproductive, even counterproductive. It promises us pleasure through sensual indulgence, but delivers truckloads of trouble instead. And when we are in trouble, it promises us relief through further indulgence. But such indulgence only increases our trouble.

Despite being misled repeatedly, why do we trust the mind so much? Because it is inside us, we presume its ideas to be our ideas.

Gita wisdom helps us understand that inside our physical bodies, we as souls are present, but also present is our mind, which is different from us. The Bhagavad-gita helps us introspect to differentiate between our mind and ourselves when it (06.05) exhorts us to elevate ourselves with the mind, not degrade ourselves.

Along with introspection, purposefulness can help us identify the mind. When we pursue some important purpose, that sense of direction helps us detect and correct deviation. Whenever we start feeling ourselves being pushed in some direction other than our intention, we can understand the deviator to be our mind and can resist its push.

The most empowering purpose is the devotional purpose – the purpose of connecting lovingly with Krishna, who is the Supreme and is supremely stable. Gita wisdom explains that we as souls are Krishna’s eternal parts, meant to function in loving harmony with him. Connecting him with gives the inner stability, strength and sharpness to stay unaffected by the mind’s deviations.

Thus, by philosophical introspection and devotional connection, we can identify the untrustworthy mind and rectify our unthinking trustfulness.

Think it over:

  • Why do we trust the mind so much?
  • How can purposefulness help us to deal with the mind?
  • How can devotion help us to deal with the mind?

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