12.19: What is the Home of Our Thoughts?

When we are out in the rough-and-tough of the world, we often long to return to the security and solace of our home. All of us naturally recognize the importance, and even the indispensability, of a good home for our body. So we strive to arrange for the best possible home. But most of us often don’t recognize the necessity of a similar good home for our thoughts. So we let our inner home be built subconsciously rather than consciously. Such a subconsciously built home often leaves much to be desired.

Lest we doubt whether we even have such an inner home, all that we need to do is observe where our thoughts go when we are mentally tired. At such times, our thoughts may go to sports, movies, TV programs, sensual fantasies or to some other form of material enjoyment – generally the form that we find most pleasurable.

However, all such inner homes that center on material indulgence inevitably let us down. Why? Because they lie in the same material realm from which we seek relief. So, sooner or later, the same problems that dog the material realm will dog them too. Our favorite sports team loses; the movie turns out to be disappointing; the TV program is inane; the sensual fantasies lead to complexities and troubles. At those times, our inner homes, instead of sheltering us, end up burdening us.

That’s why Gita wisdom urges us to seek an inner home beyond the material realm in Krishna. The Bhagavad-gita (12.19: aniketah sthira matir) indicates that those who have built such an inner home are so internally secure that worry about an outer home can no longer bother them.

We can also build an inner home for ourselves by seeking solace and strength in the remembrance of Krishna on a regular basis through devotional practices like mantra meditation. The more we consciously experience inner relaxation and rejuvenation in the remembrance of Krishna, the more our thoughts will subconsciously gravitate towards that devotional remembrance at all times – and especially in times of crises.

The day when we find that, while seeking inner peace and poise, remembrance of Krishna becomes our first resort – and not the last resort, that day we can know that we have accepted the safest inner home as our inner home.