Category:Our Minds (Disciples of SP)
Theme Analysis
The mind is the central axis of spiritual life; it can act as the greatest enemy or the dearest friend. Śrīla Prabhupāda constantly warned his disciples never to trust the mind, as it is a restless, flickering material element that easily creates artificial disturbances and false illusions of liberation. To conquer it, a disciple must refuse to let the mind remain idle, filling every vacant moment with reading, chanting, and active service to prevent māyā from turning it into a devil's workshop. For those heavily agitated by material desires, Śrīla Prabhupāda practically advised marriage to pacify the mind, allowing them to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness peacefully. Ultimately, the entire system of bhakti-yoga—especially the chanting of the holy names—is a powerful cleansing process (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam) designed to forcibly fix the mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, ensuring one can remember the Lord at the critical moment of death.
- The Danger of the Restless Mind: The mind is entirely material and moves faster than the wind. It should never be trusted, as it constantly tries to cheat the living entity into mental speculation or a false sense of spiritual perfection.
- The Cleansing Process: Past material habits make meditation extremely difficult, but the loud vibration of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra forcibly engages the mind and cleanses it of all accumulated dirt.
- Avoiding an Idle Mind: An empty mind is a devil's workshop. Devotees must keep their minds completely absorbed in reading transcendental literature, painting, cooking, or planning how to expand the preaching mission.
- Practical Adjustments for Peace: Śrīla Prabhupāda did not want his disciples to suffer in an artificial state of mental disturbance. If celibacy caused severe agitation, he strongly encouraged them to marry and execute their spiritual duties with a peaceful mind.
- Fixing the Mind on Kṛṣṇa: The supreme perfection of yoga is to train the mind to rest constantly at the lotus feet of the Lord. By strictly following the regulative vows, the mind becomes a friend and guarantees a safe return to Godhead at the time of death.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Prabhupāda Instructs His Disciples to Control the Restless Mind.
Pages in category "Our Minds (Disciples of SP)"
The following 110 pages are in this category, out of 110 total.
B
- Because he cannot fix up his mind, he cannot work properly. Therefore he is called madman. So our process is that we cannot control the mind. But if we engage the mind on the lotus feet of Krsna, then everything is controlled. Krsna will help
- Because you have forgotten Krsna, therefore Krsna has given you so many books, Vedic literature. Therefore I was stressing, don't waste your time in reading nonsense literature. Just concentrate your mind in this Vedic literature
- Better we should try to stay in this determination than to accept the sannyasa order by changing the dress and then again we fall down. That is not very good. There are instances like that, but it is not at all good. We should not trust the mind
- By fixing up his mind in Krsna, then he could use all other senses, namely the tongue
- By nicely worshiping the Deities we can be so pure in condition of health, mind and intelligence
D
- Devotion does not depend on the body, and in spite of all difficulties we can chant, so long we have got the tongue - and even we have got no tongue we can chant in our mind. So where is the question of not serving with devotion?
- Do not be worried about the future. If you will simply work on very strenuously in humble state of mind as the sincere servant of the servant of the Lord, then Krsna will give you all facilities
- Do not let your mind be disturbed by so many things. Our movement is for chanting Hare Krishna
- Don't be disturbed in mind. Whatever irregularities you have and with chanting your rounds or with Gayatri Mantra, that you to now and Krishna will forgive you. I am praying to Krishna for steadiness of your mind
E
- Every disciple should always remain busy in some work for Krishna. We shall not allow to remain vacant our mind, and if the mind is always filled up with Krishna Consciousness activities, there is no chance of Maya to sit on the mind
- Everyone has got some propensity. The art of preaching is to engage that propensity in the service of Krsna. Whatever we have got, our mind, our intelligence, our possessions, our time, our energies, let them all be used in Krsna's service
- Everything depends on training. That is yoga system. The whole yoga system means training - our senses, our mind, our this, that, so many things - then we are fixed up in the self
I
- I accept a guru, but in my mind I remain independent, "Oh, why shall I abide by the orders of guru?" That means there is no surrender. There is no surrender. It is false. It is just to satisfy some motive, but that will not help
- I am also glad to note that you are making practice of keeping in mind various important verses from our scriptures. This is the approved process
- I am praying simply that all of you, my advanced disciples, GBC men, sannyasis, temple officers, like that, that all of you will become sober-minded and feeling always very much responsible how the things will go on as I have given them
- I am praying to Krishna for steadiness of your mind
- I am so satisfied with your service for the cause of Krishna Consciousness, and I shall simply pray to Krishna for your good health, sound mind, and steady progress in the matter of K.C
- I am very glad to learn that Eric has learnt Krishna Consciousness better than his parents. I thank him very much. This is the example of unsophisticated mind. The child is innocent and therefore he has taken the consciousness so quickly
- I am very much disturbed to hear from you that you have become disturbed in your mind. Do not be disturbed. There is no cause for anxiety. You are doing your best to serve Krishna, that is very much appreciated, do not lose enthusiasm out of frustration
- I am very, very glad that you have got this feeling to not waste even a single moment in the service of the body and mind but to utilize very carefully every moment of life in the loving service of the Lord
- I can understand the disturbance of your mind, but why you keep yourself in such artificial disturbance? You can become a householder. That is not prohibited
- I have already instructed you and all my students that the restless fickle mind can only be controlled by putting the mind to the lotus feet of Krsna
- I have always instructed my disciples to eat only healthy foodstuffs which will be beneficial for the body and mind. Not only that, but I have also instructed that whatever they eat must be first offered to the Supreme Lord Krishna for His pleasure
- I shall be very glad to initiate girl friend if you recommend her actual mental condition. We should not initiate anyone who is not willing to follow our regulations
- I think as Bon Maharaja poisoned the mind of Hrsikesa, similarly these boys have been entrapped by Parvat. This Parvat is one of the disciples of my God-brother but he is so salient that he has not replied to my letters
- I think if you want to do some real service to Krishna, and to the society, you should now fix up your mind to follow my instructions and do some tangible work
- I think that now that you are going to public school that you must study hard especially keeping in mind to learn how to read and write and do arithmetic. Perhaps after the summer we will have our own school in New Vrindaban & you will be a student there
- If Krsna sees that you are sincerely repenting, He will excuse you. As austerity, you should forget these things and never again think about them in your mind
- If one is actually in Krsna, he'll be truthful. Truthfulness. These are the qualities. Cleanliness, always clean, taking thrice bath. Cloth clean, mind clean, body clean, activities clean, desire clean, thinking clean - everything clean
- If we are serious of being transferred to the place where Krsna is, then we have to train up the mind so nicely that at the time of death I can remember Krsna
- If we simply dedicate our mind always thinking of Krsna, if we dedicate our body - the body shall work simply for Krsna - and words, and we shall talk only for Krsna - if we take simply these three things as our life and soul, then you are perfect
- If we want to control the mind, then we have to adopt these regulative principles of life. Not that we have to give up, but we have to make regulated
- If you absorb your mind with Krsna then it is samadhi
- If you become fully Krsna conscious, there is nothing material. Your body's spiritual, your mind is spiritual, your soul is already spiritual - everything is spiritual
- If you cannot control, it will cheat. Mind is the friend, and mind is the enemy. If you become Krsna conscious fully, then mind is friend
- If you follow the rules and regulation, then there will be no dirt. Hare Krsna. Ceto-darpana-marjanam. Our, this process is simply to make the mind dirtyless
- If you have got any duplicity in your mind, then you'll never be successful in any field of activities
- If you hear, if you are anxious to hear, then mind has to be engaged. Without attention, you cannot hear
- If you respect spiritual master as God, then you must offer him the facilities of God. Otherwise how you treat him as God? Simply in mind? In action also
- If you simply fix up your mind on the Lotus Feet of Krishna, the rascal mind cannot disturb you anymore
- If you simply stick to the regulative principles & always keep yourself & your child 24 hours engaged in devotional service, so much that you will be too much busy serving Krishna to think about other things. In this way, your mind can become steady
- If you want actually to make progress in our devotional life, the utsahan, enthusiasm, is the first thing. If you are lacking enthusiasm, then you should rest, instead of making too much agitation within the mind
- If your mind becomes absorbed at least one or two hours daily in the transcendental subject matter of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, and other books then very easily you will make your advancement in Krishna Consciousness
- If your parents don't receive you as their beloved son, I don't wish to keep you in that blazing fire. I thank you very much for the strength of your mind and Krishna will certainly help you
- In our Krsna consciousness movement, fashionable persons are taught to adopt one fashion - the dress of a Vaisnava with a shaved head and tilaka. They are taught to be always clean in mind, dress and eating in order to be fixed in Krsna consciousness
- In the beginning I never said that "You have to do this. You have to do that." But somehow or other, they are very nice boys, so they fixed up their mind in Hare Krsna chanting
- In the beginning there may be some mistake, but we must see that "Whether my mistakes are now correct?" That should be vigilance. Never trust the mind. That is the instruction here. Mind should not be trusted
- In this life we should always fix our mind on the lotus feet of Krsna, who is present in His arca-vigraha, the incarnation of the Deity in the temple. We should also always engage in His worship
- Instead of being agitated in mind, it is better to become a married man and in peaceful mind execute Krishna Consciousness. That is my verdict, and ever since I started this movement I have encouraged marriage to so many disciples
- Is sannyasa so cheap? He will be a victim. He is not fit for sannyasa. His mind is not fixed up
- It is not Krsna consciousness movement is for the lazy fellow. No. It is meant for the strong man: strong in body, strong in mind, strong in determination. Everything strong, strong in brain
- It is so pleasing to me that you are giving service to Krishna by your intelligence, by your body, by your mind. Everything is very nice and this will make you more and more progressive in understanding Krishna Consciousness
M
- Maya is always placing the memories of our past sinful activities before us, and encouraging us to come once again into her clutches, but by always chanting HK and keeping our mind fixed on Krishna, he will give us the strength to resist her demands
- Maya may put so many doubts and worthless arguments into our minds, but if we continue the chanting, the curing process will go on, never mind the doubts, and gradually we will get a taste of that sweet nectar of Krishna Nama Sankirtana
O
- Our Krsna consciousness movement we are teaching our students, how to fix up the mind always in Krsna, some way or other. That is the first-class yoga system
- Our mind is so disturbed that concentration of meditation is not possible. But this chanting, as soon as we chant, by force our mind is engaged in chanting and hearing, by force: "Hare Krsna." So even my mind is disturbed, by the vibration I am attracted
- Our mind is very restless, so mind tries to go. Suppose I am speaking and you are hearing, and mind is somewhere. This is . . . ordinarily there is such difficulty, but we have to bring back the mind again
- Our scope is unlimited, resources unlimited, so we must be exceptionally enthusiastic and sober-minded and responsible for working in that spirit
P
- Please always talk about Krishna amongst you two sisters, and enjoy life. This is very good opportunity that you are talking and painting about Krishna, so that your mind, hand, and attention are all absorbed in Krishna samadhi
- Please, therefore, chant regularly without the offenses and be steady in your situation without any tottering of the mind. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead without any question
R
- Reading the books will purify the intelligence. A purified heart and mind means Krishna Consciousness. Don't try to become big very fast. That is not possible. Go slowly
- Regarding your dispute in your mind as to remaining a brahmacari, grhastha or becoming sannyasi, there is nothing to be bothered with. Anyone who is in full K. C. and is dedicating his life for Krishna is already a sannyasi even if he is a married man
- Regarding your unstable condition of mind, I beg to request you to always remember that you have all gone to London with a great mission and responsibility. I am so much pleased with you all six boys and girls who are doing so much for my missionary work
S
- Sankirtana will keep everyone's mind clean and surely this quarreling will cease
- Sleep means your gross senses are stopped, but your mind works. Therefore you dream. So if you practice your mind to be engaged in Krsna consciousness, in dream also you'll see that you are preparing prasadam
- So far as translating our literatures into Japanese language, you should endeavor to do so vigorously. You have published only one Japanese BTG, but they should be regularly published. So if you go on and engage your mind in all this positive work
- So far you being philosophically-minded, that I can see and appreciate, but in future I think you can ask any questions you may have to one of the Swamis or to your GBC man. I have given them the answers to all such questions, so they can help you
- So if our mind is fixed up in Krsna, then naturally the senses will be controlled. If we fix up our mind that we shall not do anything, drdha-vratah. This is determination, that "I shall have nothing to do without Krsna." Then you are first-class yogi
- So long we are on the platform of mental speculation, we should understand that we are on the material plane, because mind is material. Mind is not spiritual
- Suppose I am sitting here for hearing, but my mind has gone to the store. So we have to bring back the mind from the store again to this apartment. This has to be practiced. The mind will create disturbance like that. That is called meditation
T
- The culprit mind is always suspicious; therefore our dealings should always be straightforward and approved by Vedic authorities. If we treat people diplomatically or duplicitously, our spiritual advancement is obstructed
- The difficulty is that we cannot come to the pure stage of chanting Hare Krsna mantra. Due to our past habits our mind is disturbed. We cannot concentrate. Therefore we have fixed up the minimum
- The Krsna consciousness movement, the technique, is that you may be engaged in various types of work, but the mind must be always fixed up in Krsna. That art you have to learn. How it is possible? It is possible
- The mind does not dissolve, it changes its quality, or rather, it becomes purified. No, thoughts of feelings of love for Krishna is not ego-projected, or emotional, provided it is confirmed by Spiritual Master
- The whole purpose of the yoga system is to gain control of the mind and concentrate the full attention on Lord Visnu within the heart. In Krishna Consciousness, by chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra, we immediately fix our mind upon Krishna's Name
- There is no harm in accepting a wife and living without any disturbance of the mind and thus sincerely advancing in Krishna Consciousness
- This beating with shoes and broomstick is also another tapasya. For men like us, who have no control over the mind, we should practice this tapasya, beating the mind with shoes and broomstick. Then it can be controlled
- This brain taxation, if you engage in Krsna's service - how to spread Krsna consciousness, how to convince people about Krsna, how to take them to the Krsna's desire - in this way, if you go on making plan for spreading KC, then your mind is controlled
- This restlessness or agitation of the mind cannot be rectified by altering the material circumstances. If we are Krishna Conscious, any type of occupation will suit me and we shall always be satisfied
- To fix up the mind means to keep your mind in Krsna, then finished, all yoga. You are perfect yogi
- To go back home, back to Godhead is not an easy thing. It requires great discipline of body and mind, and performance of pure devotional service
- Train up your mind, that is Krsna consciousness
W
- We are accepting these boys as brahmana because they have learned. Of course, due to their past habits sometimes they commit some mistakes, but they have concentrated their mind in Krsna
- We are trying to organize this institution that, "You come. Whatever you do, that doesn't matter. Everything will be adjusted by and by." Everything will be adjusted as our mind becomes clear, clear, clear, simply by hearing
- We have to train up the mind until we get the another body. That is the art of living. So if you train up your mind simply to think of Krsna, then you are safe. Otherwise there is chance of accidents
- We may tell any damn thing to induce people to give us money on Krsna's behalf, that is not the point. The point is that by saying lies, the less advanced neophyte devotees may become entangled or disturbed in their minds by it
- We must be very enthusiastic, that "I must surrender to Krsna. Although my mind is going outside, but I must be determined that I must surrender." This is called utsaha, enthusiasm
- We shall not allow to remain vacant our mind, and if the mind is always filled up with Krishna Consciousness activities, there is no chance of Maya to sit on the mind and force us to act under her spell
- We should not believe our mind, that we have become perfect. By mental dictation we should not be guided. That is a very bad practice, to think of, that "I have now become liberated, I don't require to follow the regulative principles"
- We should not trust the mind, that "Now I have become liberated." Never think so. We should always remember that liberation is not so easy thing, but if we follow the rules and regulation, then there is every possibility of becoming liberated
- Whatever free time you have engage in reading my books. Otherwise, an idle mind is a devil's workshop
- Without cleaning the mind, nobody can advance in spiritual understanding. And the chanting of Hare Krishna is the cleansing process of the mind. That is our motto
- Without happiness, without being in good mood of mind, you cannot prosecute Krsna consciousness
Y
- Yes, you are correct in stating that spiritual activities, even mentally performed, are beneficial. You have seen the picture in NOD how a brahmana simply by mental service was promoted to Vaikuntha
- You are getting a wife who is already trained up in Krishna Consciousness and if you live carefully and faithfully there will be no difficulty. That is the verdict of all Acaryas. I think this will simplify your agitated mind
- You can control the mind very easily if you keep the lotus feet of Krsna within you, that's all. Simply think of Krsna and you are conqueror. You are victorious. You become topmost yogi
- You can imagine the speed of air. The speed of mind is greater than the speed of the air. You can just experiment. You are sitting here - suppose your home is in London - you can immediately, within seconds you can transfer your mind to your London home
- You have asked me something for which it is difficult to answer from such a distant place. You are grown up girl you should rather decide what to do. Fix up your mind always in Krishna and He will give you good counsel
- You have described how you once fell down because you saw discrepancies in our philosophy. Actually, our philosophy is perfect, but because there were discrepancies in your mind at that time you may have thought something wrongly about our philosophy
- You have scientific mind and you want to use it in the service of Krsna. This is very good, and this I want that scientists step forward and preach Krsna consciousness
- You have tried to explain the reasons for your recent traveling excursions, but there is no need to explain; the reason is that you are restless. I wanted you to concentrate your mind on painting and utilizing your talents for Krishna's service
- Young boys and girls are sometimes agitated in mind but if we follow the regulative principles and chant Hare Krishna mantra regularly the onslaught of material nature can be checked