When the weather is bad, say, too cold, we all are inconvenienced. But some people start complaining repeatedly, “It’s so cold, it’s so cold, it’s so cold.” Over time, their continuous complaining becomes more irritating than the cold itself. To keep our sanity and clarity, we need to move away and stay away from such complainers. 

Unfortunately, we all have such a chronic complainer right inside us: our mind. When we face some problem, especially some problem that leaves us with little power to rectify it, our mind starts complaining, “This is terrible, terrible, terrible.” It becomes like a stuck audio player replaying the same track endlessly. Hearing that unrelenting track, we start becoming more and more discouraged till we stop even trying to do anything constructive. The Bhagavad-gita (06.34) states that relentlessness is one of the attributes of the mind that makes it almost unmanageable. 

How can we manage such a mind? We can’t move away or stay away from it, but we needn’t always focus on what it is saying. 

Returning to the starting example of the weather complainer, suppose we are absorbed in working on something important. That absorption can make us transcend both the weather and the complaining. And just as absorption can help us neglect outer complainers, it can help us neglect the inner complainer too. 

We all need to cultivate absorption in something bigger than ourselves. Bhakti wisdom offers us the highest purpose by helping us connect with Krishna. By that connection, we develop faith in his plan for us and we strive to reshape ourselves as malleable instruments in his plan. Once we start sensing his presence and benevolence in our life, even if the problems persist, we cam neglect and transcend our mind’s complaining.  

 

Think it over:

  • How can the mind’s complaining magnify a problem?
  • How can absorption in Krishna protect us from the mind’s complaining?
  • What does your mind complain the most about? What can you most easily absorb yourself in?

 

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06.35 Lord Sri Krishna said: O mighty-armed son of Kunti, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice and by detachment.

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