There is “Wind Down” feature on an iPhone which helps us prepare for sleep by reducing distractions and guiding our focus away from the phone. Just as our body needs a wind down, our mind also needs a wind down, not only once, but mutiple times a day.
Early morning, the mind wakes up fresh. But if we have a kind of nomophobia – the urge to check our phone the moment we open our eyes – we end up flooding the mind with emotions and thoughts in the first five minutes of the day. Our mind gets cluttered with various thoughts and restlessness creeps in. And then, when we sit for japa, what comes to the mind? The same clutter.
Chanting as a Daily Wind Down
Chanting is one place where we need to consciously wind down. We have to bring the mind’s energy and focus to Krishna. It is said that while chanting, the mind should be in the mantra, and for the rest of the day, the mantra should be in the mind. If we are out of the mind during both times, it becomes very difficult to fix attention on Krishna.
During the day too, if we can take out even five to ten minutes to pause, reflect, and think about our relationship with Krishna, with devotees, with the Holy Name, it can be extremely nourishing. Ironically, it is the one relationship that matters the most, but often gets the least prominence.
The other day, I was at a kirtan program. I sat at the back, simply letting my mind absorb the holy name. I was thinking about Navadvipa-dhama and Sri Vrindavana-dhama. It was so blissful – sitting quietly, letting the holy name enter the mind and the heart without any obstacle.
Interestingly, the essence of the Bhagavad-gita is the same. Krishna repeats man-manā twice – once in the middle (9.34) and once at the end (18.65). In the midst of the battlefield, He tells Arjuna to keep Him in his mind.
Can we not try that for five or ten minutes daily? Freeing the mind from worries and anxieties, and simply trying to fix it on Krishna?
Mind and Mantra
The word mantra itself explains the purpose. Man means mind, and tra means that which delivers. A mantra is that which delivers the mind from anxieties, worries, and unhealthy emotions. Yet ironically, chanting is often the time when the mind gets most distracted. It wanders, and we lose the mind and mantra both !
We are living with an enemy called the mind twenty four hours a day. But if we begin to make friendship with the mind – using chanting as the common ground, the holy name as the meeting point – and also giving the mind small wind-down moments during the day, we can slowly progress toward the essence of what Krishna teaches.
If we continue this practice, perhaps by the end of our lives, we will have only Krishna in our minds. Krishna will fill our consciousness so completely that no other thought will find space. And if we do not, it is extremely scary even to think about what will happen!!
