Overcoming the tricks of mind
Some Hiranyakasipus have been troubling me for the last few days.
When Prahlada was troubled by Hiranyakasipu he was not disturbed, nor did he think about his protection. Even when he was about to be thrown into a valley, he did not look down ro scan the arrangements made by the Lord. But my experience was different.
When these Hiranyakasipus troubled me, I did not take it as a chance to remember Visnu. Rather, I was constantly thinking of these Hiranyakasipus-even during my chanting. As I sat through the recent Srimad Bhagavatam classes, which were voyaging through the glories of Prahlada Maharaja, I realized that instead of remembering Visnu I was thinking of subduing my enemies and trouble makers.
This is game-plan of the dirty mind. All these troubles and trouble-makers are ar ranged by the Lord so that we can helplessly think of Him, but we keep on thinking of them.
Once a sadhu was describing in l a discourse how difficult it is to con trol the mind. Suddenly one person got up and started raving about himself, "I know how to control my mind. It is not at all difficult; you can test me if you want."
The sadhu smiled and gave him a task. He gave this person a medicine and said, "Take this medicine for the next seven days. But there is one condition-do not think of a red monkey when you take the medicine."
The man returned after seven days, completely defeated. "Every time I take the medicine," he told the sadhu, "I would think of the red monkey." He knew he was not supposed to think that, but the mind would not follow his order.
We are in a same predicament. We want to always think of Krsna, but always we are thinking of something else, thinking of some Hiranya-kasipus. Sometimes this Hiranyakasipu appears before us in its literal form as gold (hiranya) and soft bed (kasipu). And then we keep on thinking of money and comfort. Sometimes Hiranyakasipu takes the form of the troublemakers who appear as a disturbance in our daydreams. Some times Hiranyakasipu comes in the form of newspapers, television or the internet and makes us forget Krsna. Hiranyakasipu wants us to think of him and not Visnu.
To overcome this danger we simply have to learn from Prahlada Maharaja: Whenever Hiranyakasipu attacks, just think of Krsna and not Hiranyakasipu.
Yugavatara Dasa is a lecturer in Anatomy in a medical college in Mumbai. He is a regular contributor to BTG.