How to Make It Take You Where You Really Want to Go

This grim scene is just an illustration, but it points up something that happens to all of us all too often. It shows how we set out for satisfaction and yet arrive at just the opposite.

Our material body is a lot like a chariot. It has five horses (the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell). Each of us is a spiritual soul riding within-we're the passenger. And to keep the horses on course, we have the reins (our mind) and the driver (our intelligence).

As we've all experienced, our sensory horses are always ready to bolt off after this or that, and their pulling creates anxiety in our mind. The problem is that we have no permanent goal to keep our mind on. Our body, our family, our community, our nation-all these things are changing and so not fully satisfying objects for our attention and affection.

Sometimes, out of frustration, we try to quiet our mind by stopping our senses and engaging in silent meditation. This may bring us some relief, but it doesn't last, because sooner or later our senses have to act. So the solution is to find a goal that's permanent and fully satisfying to our senses, mind, and intelligence. And that's why Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, recommends, "Dedicate your activities to Me, absorb your senses, mind, and intelligence in Me-and you will attain Me" (Krsna's very name means "the highest satisfaction").

In this age the easiest and most effective way to absorb our senses, mind, and intelligence in Krsna is to chant

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare.