Self-Purification by Krishna-Bhakti .

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Hare Krishna ! Pranams to all Vaishnavas , What is Free Will ? The Free Will with which controls a Person's reactions to situations and people . It is the sum total of his past thoughts , words and deeds . The subconscious mind carries the * Karma – Record * of many many past lives and it controls the present life . With experience , one gains an understanding of good and evil. But very often a Person finds helpless and is compelled to act in a certain manner.

An example is given below :

A Thief wishes to reform himself and resolves not to steal any more . He then goes somewhere and sees that he can steal something very easily without being caught . So even though he knows better than to steal, he still does it . He is thus a slave to his sub-conscious mind, to his own character.

So then what is the solution ?Bhakti -Yoga effectively controls the modifications in the mind. Modifications meaning thoughts and contents of the mind . And how do we go about doing a complete overhauling of the mind ?

SaranAgati to *Ishta-Deva* and *Nama-Japam*

Bhagavan Sri Krishna says in Gita 10.6-8 " Those who worship Me as *Ishta-deva* , surrendering all actions to Me ; setting Me as their supreme goal, and meditating on Me with single minded devotion; I give swift deliverance from all miseries. Therefore, fix your mind on Me, and establish your intelligence in Me alone; thereafter you will abide solely in Me. There is no doubt about it "

By the regular practice of doing Nam-japam the mind becomes calm . We can always find excuses for not doing Nama-japam, but once we get into the habit, *Krishna-namam* itself will take hold of the mind. The power of the *Krishna-naamam* works even while the Devotee is asleep. One who practices Nama-japam continues to recite the name in all states of consciousness, whether waking or dreaming or in deep sleep. Just as the body breathes while asleep, so does the mind recite the name in sleep.After their return from Lanka, Sri Rama gave Hanumanji a pearl necklace. Hanumanji accepted it and then examined each pearl, and then with his teeth opened one of the pearls, looked inside and threw the necklace away. Laxmanji , watching Hanumanji, was really upset and complained to Sri Rama about this incident. Bhagavan Rama smiled and said " Go ask him why he did that ". Hanumanji replied that he wanted to see if Sri Rama's name was etched inside the pearl. Because if Rama is not in them, then Hanuman has no need of pearls. Hanumanji kept on reciting Rama-naamam even when Sri Rama was around.Self-Purification by Nama-JapamIf we had to clean an ink bottle stuck to a table, we cannot do it by throwing out the ink . The solution is to pour clean water in and the ink and the dirt will spill out . We will have to keep pouring water in until all the dirt and ink have washed out and finally the bottle will contain only clean water. Similarly it is not possible to empty the mind by throwing out the contents of consciousness and making the mind blank. What we can do is to pour into the mind, the water of Bhagavan Sri Krishna until all the dirt spills out . In the beginning it is like all the dirt within us comes to the surface just like the dirty ink ; all that dirt needs be got rid of. With patience and determination we need to continue pouring the water of Sri Krishna thought into our minds. Struggle to bring back the thought of Bhagavan into the mind again and again .Meditating the Ishta-Deva Sri Krishna

Meditation does not mean making your mind blank . Trying not to think of anything is not going to help. Mediation requires a sincere and sustained effort to concentrate the mind upon the *Ishta-Deva* . We have to think of that *Ishta-Deva* form to the exclusion of everything else. Never try to make your mind blank--then you will remain a blank ! 'This is what the Vedic means by meditation, a constant flow of thought towards one ideal . In other words you walk with Bhagavan, you sleep with Bhagavan, you eat with Bhagavan, you live with Bhagavan .

There is a prayer by Shankaracharya : " Let my walking be a pradakshina around You Bhagavan, let the food that I eat be an offering to You, let my sleep be a namaskaram to You..."

When we are constantly thinking of Bhaktavalsala Sri Krishna by doing nama japam, we are saving our energies which otherwise is wasted in endless worry about things that are in the future or about stuff that happened in the past. So let us put our heads down and focus on our Ishta-Deva Sri Krishna who is utmost merciful to His Bhaktas .

Om Namo Narayanaya !!!

Krishnadaya