CENTRE DE BHAKTI YOGA Bruxelles

An extract from a lecture given by HH Lokanath Swami:

“Yesterday some devotee was comparing kirtan to japa saying that, “Japa is monotonous; same thing goes over and over again, one may have disinterest. It may be mechanical etc”. …

If your mind is going elsewhere then you have another exercise to do… Drag it back, bring it back. Take the help of intelligence. Who is superior to the mind? Intelligence is superior to the mind. So where is mind going, whether it is going to the right place or wrong place or is it timely for the mind to go… Who will decide all this? Intelligence decides. Power of discrimination is with intelligence. Mind doesn’t have its own philosophy. Mind is just floating. Just like child. While walking, passing by the shop, the child cries… daddy, daddy… I want that. Mind is like that. Daddy tries to convince… no no… Take this lollipop and then the child runs for that. Just a moment ago the child was crying for something else and now drops that and runs for something else and then something else. There is nothing fixed about the mind. Hence you could change the mind. Mind you could change. Train the mind. Shape up the mind. So there is a scope. Knowing that there is scope for changing the mind, it is possible to changing the habits of mind. Mind doesn’t have its own philosophy. Superior to mind is intelligence. …

We have to have intelligence and exercise it, use that intelligence for improving our chanting. So you prove you that you are intelligent by using the intelligence. So your two hours, the 16 rounds – this is the time for you to use intelligence. Otherwise it is just sleeping business because intelligence is not being exercised. If intelligence is at job, alert sharp intelligence, immediately you will be able to tell: oh you are sleeping, you are doing this, your mind is going away … you will watch and point out and come up with rectification measure.”

If you want to read more on this topic please visit the Lokanath Swami’s Chant for Change initiative.