Shri Krishna Loves You: Penance Of Mind.

Mental cheerfulness, kindness, silence, self-control, purity of intent, this is called penance of the mind.

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|| जय श्री कृष्ण ||

॥ श्रीमद्‍भगवद्‍गीता ॥ 17.16॥



_मनः प्रसादः सौम्यत्वं मौनमात्मविनिग्रहः ।_

_भावसंशुद्धिरित्येतत्तपो मानसमुच्यते॥_



भावार्थ :

मन में संतुष्टि का भाव, सभी प्राणीयों के प्रति आदर का भाव, केवल ईश्वरीय चिन्तन का भाव, मन को आत्मा में स्थिर करने का भाव और सभी प्रकार से मन को शुद्ध करना, मन सम्बन्धी तप कहा जाता है। (१६)



Meaning:

Mental cheerfulness, kindness, silence, self-control, purity of intent, this is called penance of the mind.



Explanation:

So far, we came across the qualities needed for penance of the body and speech. Shri Krishna now lists the qualities that indicate penance of mind, maanasika tapas. He begins with prasaadaha, a cheerful, joyful attitude towards situations in life. It comes from maintaining our balance and composure in troublesome as well as in happy situations. Saumyatvam refers to developing a gentleness and gracefulness when dealing with people. It requires us to remain free from negative attitudes towards people that manifest as jealousy, violence, cruelty and so on.

The next quality is maunam. Literally, maunam mean silence, but here it means silence that comes out of contemplation. Now, we cannot stop negative thoughts from arising in our mind, but we can always control how much time and attention we give to such thoughts. Whenever such negative thoughts arise, we have to be able to switch to a positive thought immediately. Doing so requires high levels of self control or aatma vinigrahaha, also known as shamaha. If we do not learn how to do this, the mind will hold onto a negative thought and get swept away in a mental whirlpool of negativity.

When we constantly maintain all the above mentioned qualities, our mind will automatically begin to harbour good intentions, even against so-called evil people and tough situations. The key to do this comes back to our outlook towards the world. We need to do one of two things. If we have faith in Ishvara, we need to surrender to him and reduce our dependence on the perishable material world. Alternatively, we treat the entire world as mithyaa, as an illusion, and negate everything in it. As long as we give absolute reality to the world, mental penance is next to impossible.

Now, many of us have an urge to say something when we are by ourselves. Here, Shri Krishna suggests that we recite scriptures daily, like chanting the second chapter of the Gita, for instance. Doing so satisfies our urge of speaking, and also forces the mind to contemplate the Gita teaching rather than stray here and there. In fact, it becomes a form of meditation as well. Once we memorize the shlokas, we can contemplate upon them whenever we want, without having to rely on a book.

Chant the mantra you have faith in

Hare Krishna

The Hare Krishna maha-mantra is composed of three Sanskrit words, which are “Hare”, “Krishna” and “Rama”. According to the scriptures “Obstruction or problem can’t come into their lives, who do chant this mantra continuously”. The Great Mantra is:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण , कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे |

हरे राम हरे राम , राम राम हरे हरे ||