06.36: Conquer Provocative Mind with Evocative Mantra

The Bhagavad-gita (6.36) reassures us that we can conquer the unconquerable mind by striving with appropriate means. The Gita (8.14) later reveals the appropriate means to be fixing the mind on Krishna through remembrance and service.

The mind provokes us by fantasizing about worldly pleasures. However, these fantasies of the mind are just that: fantasies. No matter how real and rapturous the fantasy of pleasure appears, the real pleasure in all worldly indulgences is meager and measly.  

As we cannot live without pleasure, the only way we can save ourselves sustainably from the provocative mind is by experiencing a higher happiness. The easiest way to experiencing this higher happiness is by mantras, especially the Hare Krishna mahamantra that is the most recommended mantra for the current cosmic age.

Chanting the mantra evokes the higher happiness in two ways: through remembrance and service:

1.      Remembrance: All of us have an innate, inalienable relationship of love with Krishna. Just as the remembrance of a loved one warms our heart with joy, the remembrance of the supreme beloved, Krishna, warms our heart with the supreme joy.  

2.      Service: Love is expressed and intensified through service. As the Hare Krishna mahamantra is a manifestation of Krishna in sound, it offers us the opportunity to serve Krishna by attentive hearing. By thus serving Krishna, our love intensifies and heightens our experience of the higher happiness, thereby silencing the noisy mind.  

Thus, we can counter the power of the provocative mind to tempt us toward lower pleasures by the power of the evocative mantra to channel higher happiness.