Children are fickle. If we tell a child to study, he may do so for a few minutes and may then want to play. If we push him to study, he may start crying. But if we give in to his protests, he will never study and just go on playing. If we start playing endlessly with him, then both our child and we will be doomed.

Our mind is restless like a child (Bhagavad-gita 06.34). The mind likes one thing initially, then another thing, then yet another – ad infinitum. We need to become mature like a parent and focus the mind on important things.

Unfortunately, instead of we making our mind steady, we let our mind make us unsteady. Even if we try to steady the mind, it still wanders off, and we become disheartened. Thereafter we let ourselves wander with it, thus unwittingly letting it control us. That is, we let it treat us like a child.

Gita wisdom explains that we are different from our mind – we are souls, who can check its wandering. To focus the mind, the best object is the all-attractive supreme, Krishna. Why? Because he is what our mind is actually looking for when it wanders endlessly in its search for something attractive. Krishna is the source of everything attractive. By understanding this philosophical truth, we grow up spiritually and gain the maturity to parent our mind.

And when we connect with Krishna by practicing bhakti-yoga, our mind becomes purified of its childish ideas of what is enjoyable and increasingly experiences absorption in Krishna as supremely enjoyable. That is, the mind grows up.

By thus focusing our mind on Krishna, we gain the maturity and purity to focus on things that matter, thereby making our life fruitful and joyful.

Think it over:

  • How do we let our mind treat us like a child?
  • How can we grow up spiritually to parent our mind?
  • How can we get our mind to grow up?

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