*CONQUER PROVOCATIVE MIND WITH EVOCATIVE MANTRA*

*CONQUER PROVOCATIVE MIND WITH EVOCATIVE MANTRA* The Bhagavad-gita (6.36) reassures us that we can conquer the unconquerable mind by striving with appropriate means. The Gita (8.14) later reveals the appropriate means to be fixing the mind on Lord  Krishna through remembrance and service. The mind provokes us by fantasizing about worldly and sensory  pleasures. However, these fantasies of the mind are just that: mere  fantasies. No matter how real and rapturous the fantasy of pleasure appear, the real pleasure in all worldly indulgences is meager and measly. As we cannot live without pleasure, the only way we can save ourselves sustainably from the provocative mind is by experiencing a higher levels of  happiness. The easiest way to experiencing this higher plane of  happiness is by chanting  mantras, especially the Hare Krishna mahamantra that is the most recommended mantra for the current cosmic age. Chanting the mantra evokes the higher stages of  happiness in two ways: that is  through remembrance and service: 1.      Remembrance: All of us have an innate, inalienable relationship of love with Lord  Krishna. Just as the remembrance of a loved one warms our heart with joy, the remembrance of the supreme beloved, Krishna, warms our heart with the supreme joy. 2.      Service: Love is expressed and intensified through service. As the Hare Krishna mahamantra is a manifestation of  Lord Krishna in sound, it offers us the opportunity to serve the lord through  attentive hearing. By thus serving Lord  Krishna, our love intensifies and heightens our experience of the higher happiness, thereby silencing the noisy  and strafed mind. Thus, we can counter the power of the provocative mind to tempt us toward lower levels of  pleasures through the power of the evocative mantra in pursuit of true happiness. We move from sound to silence. And that is nothing but meditation.