10/12/2022
๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ณ๐๐น๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ
I was talking to someone the other day about mindfulness, it is something I have studied and help people with, they were saying that they do some heart mindfulness in the morning. I said that is nice, but it doesnโt have to be so structured like that, I said you can even do mindfulness on the bus. Actually, you can do mindfulness anywhere at any time.
Later I was thinking about how to incorporate this into a class. I came up with asking the class a question, what is the single thing that will have the greatest impact and influence on your life. The answer is the choices we make, whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in we always have a choice. It is those choices that will determine how our life pans out, even from the time we are in school. We are constantly making choices, sometimes sub-consciously, they will all influence our future.
What do choices have to do with mindfulness? Everything, the more mindful we are the better able we will be to make the right choices. We also need to be mindful of the consequences of the choice we make, there will be consequences regardless of whatever choice we make.
I went to bed with these things going round in my head, sleep came quite easily last night. In a dream I was giving advice to another younger devotee about how he could use mindfulness in his devotion, he should really be mindful about the service he was doing and why he was doing it. This can also apply to when we are chanting our japa, we should obviously be mindful of the Holy Names of the Lord we are chanting, being mindful of Krishna, mindful of His pastimes. Even if your service is cleaning the public toilets at the temple, be mindful of why you are doing it. Ultimately all our service, whatever it may be, including our chanting is done simply to please Krishna, to make Him happy, to make Radharani happy.
As I was in that half awake and still half-asleep state my dream was continuing and it was early morning after Mangala Arati while myself and the other devotees were chanting our japa, I was sitting across from the devotee I had been speaking with and he had this great big smile beaming from ear to ear, his eyes were wide open and bright. It had been about a week since I had spoken with him about being more mindful while doing his service, I beckoned him to come over, at first he hesitated but then got up and came towards me, I got up as well and we both opened our arms and embraced, it was a long intimate hug, he put his head on my shoulder, I wanted to kiss him on the forehead but thought that might be going a bit too far, being as we were in the temple room during japa period, for some the embrace was probably too much, but it cemented the intimate loving relationship we now had, the type of which we should have with Krishna. If we as devotees canโt love each other, then we have no hope of loving Krishna.
The devotee I helped in my dream was not anyone in particular, but when I became more awake the whole thing was still going on in my head and I identified the devotee as being one of the younger devotees from when I was in the temple near Watford, just north of London.
Mindfulness and Krishna Consciousness fit perfectly together, as a devotee should always be thinking of Krishna. Of course, that is easier said than done. It can, however, be made easier by using some mindfulness techniques, such as being mindful of the consequences of the choices we make and the effects of those choices on other living entities, and most importantly will it please Krishna.
