When deciding whether to work for some employer, we usually evaluate whether serving them will raise our profile or lower it.

We can evaluate similarly when deciding whether to serve our mind or to serve Krishna. Of course, we may prefer to not serve anyone at all. But that’s impossible; we are constantly serving our mind, listening to its propositions to, “Watch this; touch this; eat this.” However, because the mind is inside us, we rarely realize that it prods us towards certain choices and that we obediently dance to its tunes.

When we thus keep doing what our mind proposes, its propositions become more forceful till they become almost compulsive. Nobody is born as an addict, but when their mind tempts them to take some substance, and they keep giving in to those temptations, they eventually end up addicted.

In contrast, when we serve Krishna by practicing bhakti-yoga, the resulting inner connection with the all-pure divine purifies us. To be purified means to become freed from the various contaminating and constraining impressions stored in our mind and to realize our spiritual identity as pure souls, who are eternal parts of the all-pure divine. To realize this identity is to become elevated to the zenith of spiritual consciousness and to relish life and love eternal. The Bhagavad-gita (06.07) indicates that when we stop listening to our mind and instead strive to connect with the indwelling divine, we experience an inner tranquility that raises us above dualities such as heat-cold, happiness-distress and honor-dishonor. Being thus spiritually realized, we relish the supreme contentment (06.08).

By thus understanding that serving Krishna will uplift us, we can shed whatever reservations we may have about serving him and can start serving him wholeheartedly.

 

Think it over:

  • Why don’t we realize that we are serving our mind?
  • What is the result of serving our mind?
  • How does serving Krishna uplift us?

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