Most of us will agree that our mind distracts us the most. I was thinking about how Krishna even gives the title of an enemy to the uncontrolled mind. He calls the mind ‘cancala‘ or restless, and tells us to make our intelligence vyavasāyātmikā, one-pointed and steady.
The Uncontrolled Mind
The uncontrolled mind jumps from one activity to another, from one thought to the next, from one decision to another. Research even says we go to YouTube to watch one video and end up watching seven. Similarly, the mind begins with one thought and ends up somewhere totally different and unrelated.
In the aṣṭāṅga-yoga process, concentration for 12 seconds is dhāraṇā, 144 seconds is dhyāna, and 1,728 seconds is samādhi. The uncontrolled mind hops several times even within those first 12 seconds.
Multi-Tasking or Not?
Sometimes I think how nice it would be if we could compartmentalize our mind. We make a plan with our intelligence, but the “one-pointed” resolution doesn’t stay.
I am someone who enjoys multi-tasking. Sometimes it even gives me joy. Right now, while writing this reflection, my mind keeps taking me to different tabs on my laptop, and then I come back again and continue from where I left off.
Multi-tasking can be efficient, but it can also be distracting. Not everything we pick up in the middle of it is urgent or necessary. Some things are just distractions appearing in the clothes of urgency. Just now another “important” thing came to mind. I thought it wasn’t a distraction, so I paused to finish it…
Now I am back, and I realize that in the middle I also replied to 1–2 more messages, completely forgetting that I had to return to this thought!
I’ve seen so many senior devotees who have done so much service over the years, yet they don’t multi-task. They do one thing properly, complete it, and then move on. Even WhatsApp conversations take so much of our time – you reply, wait, the other person replies, then you read again, and so on…
How It Affects a Sādhaka
In the sādhaka stage, multi-tasking can throw us into completely different compartments of the mind. Our “bhakti compartment” is usually quite small, and the rest of the mind is full of other compartments, namely sense gratification, judging others, wanting comfort, unnecessary wandering, and so on.
We may plan nicely with the help of intelligence, but we forget to train the mind. And the mind naturally overpowers intelligence. Prabhupāda writes many times in the purport of BG 17.15 that austerity of the mind means detaching it from sense gratification.
Fixing and Re-Fixing the Mind
Krishna repeatedly tells us to fix the mind on Him. But honestly, we fix it on everything else, on the phone, on the body, on desires, on ambitions. Even in Krishna conscious activities, sometimes we don’t consciously remember Krishna.
When we do breathing exercises, we become aware of our breath. Can we try something similar with the mind?
Before reading further, we can pause for one minute, close our eyes, and simply observe our thoughts.
Were they related to Krishna?
Were they necessary?
Or were they distractions?
Can we now slowly try to put Krishna, Prabhupāda, our spiritual masters, and devotees into that mental space? Can we call out a small prayer to Krishna for a couple of minutes?
If we can try this for five minutes a day, we will at least become aware of what’s happening inside the mind. Then, slowly, we can try to consciously think of Krishna.
Krishna wants us to think of Him. He will surely be pleased even with this small five-minute effort.
When the Mind’s Jumping Doesn’t Matter
For a pure devotee, every compartment of the mind is already filled with Krishna. In the Bhramara-gītā, when Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī speaks to the bumblebee, She moves from one emotion to another, sometimes in ways that seem contradictory—but because they are all centered on Krishna, they make perfect sense.
Similarly, Mahāprabhu sang a song before Lord Jagannātha that didn’t make much sense outwardly, but to Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rūpa Gosvāmī, it carried the deepest meaning.
Bhakti is ultimately a path of feeling. Without engaging both our mind and heart, we can’t walk it properly.
A Small Practice to Try
Maybe for the next few days, we can try doing just one thing at a time, being fully absorbed in it, avoiding unnecessary jumping around, and then taking a few minutes to watch our mind – first from a distance, and then gently trying to place Krishna and His devotees inside it.
