my mind is like a 4-year-old

Yesterday, my sister and (almost) four-year-old nephew Rama came over for dinner. It was time for our evening worship, called puja, and so we all gathered around our home shrine to sing prayers and make offerings of incense and candles. Naturally, Rama wanted to be where all of the action is, so he joined us too. Actually, he is very sharp for his age and already has learned many of the prayers and is even learning how to play some traditional Indian instruments. In fact, he will occasionally even imitate us in our Mantra Yoga practice, chanting along to the sacred mantras on his own set of prayer beads!

But he is, after all, still basically a four-year-old.

And so, about five minutes into the twenty minute puja Rama began to get restless and fidgety. Seeing us focused on the worship and not on him (which is rare -- being a cute kind he usually is center stage wherever he goes), he started to hop around and demand our attention.

"I'm going to be four next month!" he declared. Seeing little reaction, he tried a different approach. "Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?" Seeing that his incessant questioning was getting him nowhere, he pulled out the big guns. Tugging on my shirt sleeve, he began to recite his favorite Winnie the Pooh story from memory. "It was a blistery cold winter day. 'Brr,' said Piglet..."

Mission accomplished. Distracted from my meditation, my heart melted, and I turned to face my nephew who was trying his hardest to look adorable.

"Rama, I will play with you in a few minutes, when we are done with puja, okay?" He paused as if to think it over for a minute, and then answered "Okay." Within a second, he was off skipping away, and we returned to our spiritual pursuits.

For those of you who were at the last Bhakti Club class you might recall that I said that the un-mastered mind is childish (easily distracted, craves intensity and demands instant gratification), whereas the mastered mind is child-like (open to possibilities, innocent, non-judgmental).

I really like thinking of mastering the mind in that way. I've seen many supposedly "spiritual" people just give in to the desires conjured up by their minds, or beat their minds up with guilt instead. Both extremes seem like bad parenting to me. Better to lovingly but firmly remind the mind who's in charge, stay focused, and help our minds to gradually mature and evolve.

- Vineet

PS: The mind always seems to have more energy than the rest of us!