Anatomy of an action
Hare Krishna!
We go through 4 ascending stages of action.
1. Unconscious Incompetence:
When a child of 3 or 4 years is asked by her dad, 'Can you drive my car?'. The child replies, 'Yes dad, I can drive the car'.
This child is not conscious of her incompetence.
2. Conscious incompetence:
When this child is now 7 or 8 years old is asked by her dad, 'Can you drive my car?'. The child replies, 'No dad, I can't drive the car. My feet won't reach the brake and accelerator'.
This child is now conscious of her incompetence.
3. Conscious competence:
Now this child is 18 yrs and has just got her licence to drive. She is driving the car slowly with her knuckle turning white from holding the steering tight. His dad asks her a question. The child whose is intently watching the road ahead, says, ' Dad, Sshh! can't you see I am driving!
This child is now conscious of her competence.
4. Unconscious competence:
Now this child is 23 years old. She is driving the car with her friends, listening to music, while talking to her boyfriend on her mobile phone which is resting between her shoulder and her ear. She has opened the window and is waving her hand out as if she is giving a signal but is actually drying her fresh finger nail polish. With the other hand holding her sandwich and maneuvering the steering wheel while zipping past the car ahead of her.
This child is now Unconscious of her competence.
This stage of Unconscious competence is what we should aspire for in both material and spiritual endeavor.
In the book 'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell, he describes that to perfect your actions you need 10,000 hours of practice by doing the same thing again and again.
http://www.wisdomgroup.com/blog/10000-hours-of-practice/
The same concept can be applied to spiritual practice. For a new seeker on the path to Krishna Consciousness, to be told to sit and chant 16 rounds is a very difficult proposition for him. The mind will protest and give 10 good reasons why chanting is a waste of time. But with loving guidance and humility and discipline, slowly the mind can be trained to sit for 2 rounds daily and then increase the number of rounds every week. Training the mind to chant consciously, to focus on the sound of mantra, the touch of beads, the incoming and outgoing breath while keeping Krishna's image in the mind's eye regularly, is training the mind to remain in the present moment. It may take less or more hours depending on how much the seeker's mind is agitated and filled with emotional baggage of the past.
But like the Beatles who with 4 years of non-stop practice of 10000 hours created history, a seeker can soon become the master of his mind.
Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita, "A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well (Ch 6.5).
"For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy." (Ch 6.6)
"For one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is already reached, for he has attained tranquility. To such a man happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same." (Ch 6.7)
Krishna gives us the key to His heart, His spiritual abode in the above verses. The mind is the tool He has given us know Him, understand Him, realize Him and eventually to love Him in pure devotional service (Para Bhakti).
In Chapter 2.62 and 2.63, He shows us the ladder of fall from our spiritual endeavor, how we can become the victims of our own thoughts. Hence the mind has to be kept away from the thoughts of the miseries of the past, anxiety of future and expectations from future.
In Chapter 7.16, He tells us that only 4 types of people who come to Him.The last one He speaks of is one who comes to Him in knowledge, the Jnani, one knows things as they are. He surrenders to Krishna after many many lifetimes when He come to the realization that Vasudeva Krishna, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Ch 7.9).
But the other 3 seekers, one in distress, one who desires material gains and the one who is inquisitive can take this opportunity of training their minds - Sadhana (spiritual discipline) by chanting, hearing, reading, writing, about the Lord and His message and pastimes, and can liberate themselves become Jeevan Mukta in this lifetime only, by subduing their minds and using it in the service of the Lord.
Always remember that the only enemy who can come between us and Krishna is our own uncontrolled mind.
The same enemy is talked about in the Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.42, "The brahmana said: "These people are not the cause of my happiness and distress. Neither are the demigods, my own body, the planets, my past work, nor time. Rather, it is the mind alone that causes happiness and distress and perpetuates the rotation of material life".
Hare Krishna!
Comments
- practical post, full of quotes and encouragement ! Jaya !