Our mind is extremely powerful and restless. Through its thoughts, it can go from one end of the universe to another within a moment. It can similarly shift our emotions toward someone from immense attraction to utter aversion, again within a moment.

Home is the place where we feel protected, comforted, connected. Yet when we are driven by our mind, we can be dragged far away from the very people that make us feel at home — till we end up feeling lonely, suspicious, miserable. Someone may be physically close to us, but emotionally our mind can take us light years away from them. When our relationships with our loved ones become strained, we need to check whether our mind is making us averse to them.

The Bhagavad-gita (06.34) cautions that our mind is restless, reasonless, relentless, ruthless; indeed, it is like a furious wind. Just as a stormy wind can sweep things far away and is unstoppable, our mind can sweep us — our emotions, our thoughts, our consciousness —  far away from everything we value. 

That’s why we need to restrain the mind before it gains momentum. How to restrain it? By not giving undue attention to its petty gripes or irrational mood swings. 

More importantly, we need to lead the mind to its ultimate home: our all-loving Lord, Krishna. He is the reservoir of all attractiveness — the attractive principle underlying the many things that attract and agitate the mind. When we habituate ourselves to focusing on him by practicing bhakti-yoga, the mind finds shelter and satisfaction in his remembrance, thereby coming to rest. 

If we don’t feel sufficiently at home in our home, we can begin by training our mind to find its home in Krishna. Being thus mentally stabilized, we can deal with domestic issues appropriately and thereby make our home, our home. 

 

Think it over:

  • How can our mind make us feel homeless at home?
  • How can we check our stormy mind?
  • How does focusing on Krishna calm our mind?

 

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06.34 The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krishna, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.

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