183. Practice Makes a Man Perfect


Krishna advises, “Fix your mind on Me alone and surrender your intellect to Me. Thereupon, you will always live in Me. Of this, there is no doubt” (12.8).

Our mind is trained to constantly divide. This ability helped us protect ourselves by quickly identifying unsafe situations which increased our chance of survival. Therefore, fixing the mind, amidst ever changing situations around us, runs contrary to our habitual patterns. Krishna is fully aware of our difficulties and says, “If you are unable to fix your mind steadily on Me, O Arjuna, then seek to reach Me by abhyaas yoga (yoga of practice)” (12.9).

Krishna earlier advised controlling the mind by practice (abhyaas) and dispassion (vairagya) (6.35); and to do regular practice with determination (6.23) to bring the restless mind under control (6.26). He cautioned that yoga is hard to attain by the ungoverned man, but it can be attained by means of striving (6.36).

While miracles do happen, they are rare. The same holds for sudden enlightenment. The alternative is the regular practice of what has been revealed by Krishna in the Gita. It is about reflecting on every moment, questioning why we do what we do; why we say what we say; and why we feel what we feel. It is identifying our attachments and hatred in the first place and then transcending them - one by one and day by day. It is a constant improvement by making today better than yesterday in terms of awareness about ourselves.

This path is unique to each of us with few external benchmarks. That’s why Krishna earlier assured that a small step in this direction will give big gains (2.40); He will take care of the welfare of those devotees on this path- ‘Yoga Kshemam Vahamyaham’ (9.22).


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