Our mind harasses us constantly with internal proposals for material enjoyment. Moreover, it has a formidable external ally: the current culture. The culture does externally what the mind does internally: bombard us relentlessly with promises of material enjoyment. This seconding of the mind by the culture is not surprising because every culture is a product of the prevalent collective mind. What people think and believe and desire expresses itself in their external actions and environments, which combine to form their culture. Most people today have no knowledge about their spiritual identity and destiny. So they unsuspectingly embrace their mind’s proposals for material enjoyment and thereby create the fabric of today’s aggressively materialistic culture. Thus, our spiritual integrity comes under a formidable two-pronged attack: internal and external.
To protect ourselves, we absolutely need to take a break from the mind. Placing ourselves physically in the devotional culture based on Gita wisdom provides us a break fromthe mind’s external attack. Placing ourselves intellectually and devotionally in Gita wisdom provides us a break from the mind’s internal attack. The combination of culture and wisdom provides us devotional experiences, and nourishes our conviction that real happiness is found not in materialism but in devotion. When we become deeply convinced of this truth, the effect will be miraculous: we will be able to not only counter, but also convert the mind. The Bhagavad-gita (6.27) describes how diligent spiritual practice rids the mind of passion, makes it peaceful and reorients its inclinations. The day our mind becomes spiritually inclined, from that day our inner life becomes joyful – forever.
Thus, absorption in Krishna helps us break free from the onslaughts of the mind, initially temporarily by silencing it and eventually permanently by converting it.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 06 Text 27
“The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest perfection of transcendental happiness. He is beyond the mode of passion, he realizes his qualitative identity with the Supreme, and thus he is freed from all reactions to past deeds.”
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