His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
CNN
- January 19, 2007 Daydreaming is brain's default setting, study finds WASHINGTON
(Reuters) -- Daydreaming seems to be the default setting of the
human mind and certain brain regions are devoted to it, U.S.
researchers reported Friday.
When people are given a specific task to do, they focus on that task
but then other brain regions get busy during down time, the researchers
report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
"There is this network of regions that always seems to be active when
you don't give people something to do," psychologist Malia Mason of
Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital said in a
telephone interview.
When Mason asked people what was happening during this down time, the
answer was clear.
"It's daydreaming," she said. "But I find that the vast majority of
time, people aren't having fanciful thoughts. People are thinking about
what they have to do later today."go to
story
when
we're sleeping, we are not aware of the fact that we're sleeping. We
think we're awake. And when we are awake, we do not think that there is
any other state. We never remember when we go from the waking state to
the sleeping state. No one remembers. No one can watch out and say,
"Oh, now I'm going to sleep." No. Somehow or other, we pass into the
other state, the sleeping state. Even when the patient is administered
the anesthesia, he passes into that other state, and he doesn't
remember. When he again emerges, then he feels that "Oh yes, some
time", but he is bewildered, there is some bewilderment. So in the
present material state or material condition, we all accept it... it's
accepted that this is our life, this is our normal state. more
Prabhupada: Yes. Krishna consciousness is
the original status of the living entity. Just like a son is conscious
always that "I am the son of such and such person." This consciousness
is natural. So living entities, when they come to Krishna
consciousness... Because we are all parts and parcels of Krishna. It
cannot be broken. A person may go mad. But when he's cured, he
immediately understands that "I belong to such and such family, such
and such gentleman's son." That is natural. Similarly in the contact of
this material nature, the spiritual spark, living entity, he's in
madness. You are a psychiatrist. You know very well. Every man is more
or less a madman.
Dr. Hauser: Or he has the
germ within himself.
Prabhupada: Yes. We say in a
Bengali poetry:
pishachi
paile yena mati-cchanna haya
maya-grasta jivera haya se bhava udaya
Anyone
who is infected with this material energy, he is just like a man,
ghostly haunted. You have any experience of ghostly haunted men? A
ghost captures him.
Dr. Hauser: Ghostly haunted?
Prabhupada: Yes.
Hansadutta: Possessed.
Dr. Hauser: Oh yes. But
that's very often a symptom of a, of a psychosis that they feel that
they are persecuted by, by foreign powers or by...
Prabhupada: Yes, yes. Foreign
powers, yes. So this is called ghostly haunted. So our material
conception of life, this is also ghostly haunted, madness. "I am
Christian. I am Hindu. I am Muslim. I am Englishman. I am German."
These are all conception of ghostly haunted. Because spirit soul is
pure. In the Vedic language it is said: asango 'yam purushah.
The spirit soul has no connection with such designations. Just like in
dream we see so many things. But it has nothing to do with me. So this
is night dream. At night, we forget all these things about the day
dream. "I am this, I am that. I am this family-member. I am his father.
I am his husband." And so on, so on. At night, when dream, are in a
different situation. And we forget everything. And again, in daytime,
we forget everything of the night dream. We come another dream. So this
is also dream. That is also dream. I am simply observing. In daytime I
am seeing some dream, gross dream, and at nighttime I'm seeing some
subtle dream. But seer, I am. Under different condition, I am seeing
different things. I think you treat this madness. He sees things in
different way, in different positions.
Dr. Hauser: Hmm. Yes.
Prabhupada: So everyone is
mad. Anyone who is in material contact, he is mad. So we are trying to
take him out of this dreaming condition. That is Krishna consciousness.
Dr. Hauser: But does he stop
dreaming? I mean, substantially, does he stop, stop, does one stop
dreaming?
Prabhupada: Yes. Stop
means... Because dreaming means that is not my actual occupation.
Dreaming means that. I am separate from the dreaming condition. So if
one stops this dreaming condition, then he's cured.
Dr. Hauser: But the dreaming
of the night also has another function, according to my...
Prabhupada: No. Dreaming at
night, dreaming at day. The same thing. The pattern is different.
Pattern is different. If you think that you are Englishman, you are
Swedish, or if you are Hindu, you are Muslim, that is also dream. You
are none of this. As much as you are none of those dreaming things at
night. But due to our madness, sometimes we take: "This is fact,"
sometimes we take: "That is fact." But none of them are facts. Under
different condition, we accept them as facts. But none of them are
facts. Therefore Krishna consciousness means:
sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Chaitanya-charitamrita
Madhya 19.170]. When one becomes freed from all designations. Upadhi.
Upadhi means designation. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam.
Completely free from all designation. Just like in dream I think I have
become now king. I am the proprietor of a factory. But none of them. It
is only dream. Similarly, in day dream I am thinking I am the father of
this family, I am the mother of this family, I am this, I am that. That
is all dreaming. So one has to become free from this dreaming
condition. That is called
sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170], liberated from all
kinds of false designation. Designation... Designation means false...
Dr. Hauser: But some of these
false, false designations also are the machinery of a society.
Prabhupada: Yes, that is also
false.
Dr. Hauser: Although they're
false, but they, they sort of drive the society on.
Hansadutta: Although,
although these designations are false, they are driving on a whole
society.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Hansadutta: The whole
society's driving on so many...
Prabhupada: Therefore we call
it is illusion, maya. Just like I showed you.
Hansadutta: Yes, the
reflection.
Prabhupada: Reflection. I, in
morning walk, the sun was reflected in a glass exactly it is brilliant
as sun. So I showed him: "This is called maya, illusion. There
is no sun, but it appears like sun. Exactly. And it is illuminating
also." Reflection of the moon. So one who is less intelligent, he'll
see: "Oh, here is a sun, another sun." So he's a madman. One who sees
the sun reflection in the glass as sun, he's illusioned. He's mad. So
our Krishna consciousness movement is also psychiatrist movement.
Dr. Hauser: Is that a...?
Hansadutta: Psychiatric.
Paramahamsa: Psychiatric
movement.
Dr. Hauser: Oh, yes, yes. In
a way... I... Yes.
Prabhupada: Yes. Yes. We are
taking away a person from the illusionary stage to the real stage of
Krishna consciousness.
Dr. Hauser: But it also seems
to me that you have, by gaining this consciousness, you can skip a lot
of hard work that it takes in ordinary analysis or in a group therapy,
for example...
Prabhupada: No hard work.
Dr. Hauser: You have to work
a lot with yourself to gain...
Prabhupada: No.
Dr. Hauser: ...insight.
Prabhupada: It is very easy,
very easy. Just like we, we recommend this chanting Hare Krishna mantra.
Anyone can chant. Even child can chant.
Hansadutta: His point is that
we, our processes skips all this work that they do in an ordinary
psychiatric ward or...
Dr. Hauser: No. Yes. Or in
specific processes which are directed towards insight, the same kind of
insight that I imagine you are striving for.
Prabhupada: Yes. We ask them
to refrain from four prohibitive principles. No illicit sex, no
gambling, no meat-eating, no intoxication. And chant Hare Krishna.
That's all. Refrain from these prohibitions. And chant Hare Krishna.
And he becomes sane, Krishna conscious. Very easy.
Dr. Hauser: Yeah, it sounds
easy. I hope it works.
Prabhupada: You see all the
examples. Well, the same... I have not given them any bribe or anything.
Dr. Hauser: No, no, no.
[laughs]
Prabhupada: That they'll talk
in my favor. But talk with them.
Dr. Hauser: Yes, I've talked
to them, and they... That's why I'm here because I'm not, I'm...
Prabhupada: But the process
is very simple.
Dr. Hauser: Yes.
Prabhupada: And we don't
charge anything. You charge, of course, some...
Dr. Hauser: Oh yes. [laughter]
Prabhupada: But we don't
charge anything. Free. I began this treatment in New York, and it is
coming effective.
Hansadutta: All over the
world.
Prabhupada: I think you
should adopt this means. A simple method. Don't charge anything. Simply
ask him to do this. He'll be cured. [pause] Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam
tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. Nirmalam
means completely cured. Mala means dirty things. And nirmala
means just opposite, no dirty things. Nirmalam. Hrishikena
hrishikesha-sevanam bhaktir uchyate. When the senses are freed
from all dirty things, then it can be engaged in the service of the
Lord. That is Krishna consciousness.
Dr. Hauser: One, one very
normal problem that I meet very often in patients is the security to
feel that one can believe in something, a security of... Always there
is... Very often there is an ambivalence. "Should I believe? Should I
not believe? I have a, a..." Swaying to and fro.
Prabhupada: No. Believe...
There is no question of believe. Suppose you are hungry. I give you
some food. I say: "You are hungry. Take this food." So when you take
this food, you'll believe that: "Yes, my hunger is now satisfied. I'm
getting strength." That is belief. So you are hungry, and if I give you
some food, if you don't eat, then how you can believe that your hunger
is now satisfied? You must eat. So we say: "Chant Hare Krishna." So why
not chant? Where is the loss? If there is any gain, let me take it.
That is belief. If I say: "You chant Hare Krishna." So you have got
tongue, you can chant Hare Krishna. And as soon as you chant, you'll
believe me, because the result will be there. There is no difficulty.
But if you say: "No, I shall not chant," then, then you suffer. What
can be done? Anyone can chant. The child chants. If you say: "I don't
believe in it. I cannot chant it." So many words. And Hare Krishna, two
words. You take so much trouble. "I cannot chant. I don't believe in
it." And Hare Krishna, two words. So it is whose fault? I say: "Chant
Hare Krishna." If you say, "Hare Krishna," immediately, the belief
begins. And if you say: "No, no, I cannot chant this Hare Krishna mantra.
I don't believe in it." What can be done? That, that will be taken as
misfortune. He's being requested to chant two words. Instead of two
words, he'll repeat twenty words. But due to his misfortune, he'll not
chant these two words. That is a misfortune.
Dr. Hauser: Yes. But isn't
there something else beyond just the chanting? I mean is...?
Prabhupada: That is the
beginning. Then there are many things, ocean. Anandambudhi.
Anandambudhi means ocean of blissfulness. So come to the shore,
touch the water. First of all. Pacific Ocean. Then gradually you
understand. If you remain aloof, "No, I shall not touch," then how you
can understand what is Pacific Ocean?
SArvatma-snapanam
param vijayate shri-krishna-sankirtanam. If you chant, then,
behind the chanting there are so many things. First thing is cheto-darpana-marjanam,
cleansing the heart. All disease are due to unclean heart. Disease
means uncleanness. Is it not?
Dr. Hauser: Hmm.
Prabhupada: Yes. So our
material disease means unclean heart. So we have to cleanse the heart.
And this is the process. Hare Krishna. Cheto-darpana-marjanam.
You are Swedish?
Dr. Hauser: Yes, I'm Swede.
Yeah.
Prabhupada: But you can speak
English very nicely.
Dr. Hauser: I lived in South
America for about five years.
Prabhupada: Johannesburg.
What is called? South America. Oh, South Africa.
Srutakirti: South America.
Paramahamsa: Oh,
Johannesburg, South Africa. Yeah.
Prabhupada: You lived in
South America?
Dr. Hauser: In Brazil, yes.
Prabhupada: Oh, Brazil.
Dr. Hauser: And I went to an
English school there.
Prabhupada: We have got our
temple in Mexico.
Devotee: And in Caracas.
Prabhupada: Hmmm?
Srutakirti: Caracas also.
Prabhupada: Caracas.
Paramahamsa: And Trinidad.
Prabhupada: Trinidad.
Dr. Hauser: When did this
movement start in the western hemisphere?
Hansadutta: 1966, in New York
City. The teachings are standard, the teachings of this movement are
standard, coming down from the original source, Krishna, the original
speaker. So it is very scientific. It's not manufactured. Today's
science... Just like psychoanalysis, so many things, they are created
recently. And so there are so many experiments and theories changing
every day. But Krishna consciousness is different in that it is the
standard science for understanding the self. It's been practiced for
hundreds, thousands, thousands years. And it has been proved successful
by the acharyas or the saintly teachers. So the same thing
which was practiced many, many hundreds and thousands of years ago is
being practiced today, and the same result is being achieved. This is
the difference between Krishna consciousness and..., Krishna conscious
science, spiritual science, and material science. The spiritual science
requires no speculation or experimentation. But one has to accept it
from the right, the authorized source.
Dr. Hauser: Yes. And it was
that point I was taking up here, that for some people, accepting
things...
Hansadutta: Everyone has to
accept some, somebody. They either accept you or their mother, their
father, somebody. At every moment, some, someone has to be accepted as
authority for something. So what is the best authority? This should be
the question. If I have to accept some authority, either here or there,
then which is the best authority? This should be the point. Are you the
best authority or this man or this man or this man...? Or who should be
the best authority? The best authority is that authority which is
perfect. That is God. God is perfect. So this is our, our, this is the
foundation of Krishna consciousness, that God, He is perfect. Whatever
He gives as instruction, that should be accepted. But if we don't agree
to that, then we have to take instruction from someone else. And that
is bound to be imperfect. Isn't it? Because we are working with
imperfect senses, seeing, hearing. So whatever our conclusions may be,
they're going to be imperfect.
Prabhupada: Because it has
began from imperfect. Therefore conclusion must be imperfect.
Dr. Hauser: Yes.
Prabhupada: But if we begin
from the perfect, the conclusion will be perfect. What are the four
defects? Explain.
Hansadutta: Four defects...
Every conditioned soul, you or I, anyone, born in this material world,
he's defective by four things. He has got imperfect senses. Just like
you don't see what's happening beyond the wall. So this is imperfection
of the senses. There are so many examples. The next thing is you're
subjected to be illusioned. You may accept a thing for real which is
not real. Just like we accept the body as self, but we are not the
body. The body is a lump of matter. We are simply witnessing the
changes of the body, but we are not the... So this is illusion. Then...
Prabhupada: Mistakes.
Hansadutta: He's subjected to
make mistakes. He'll make a mistake. Everybody knows. To err is human,
right? And he...
Prabhupada: Cheating.
Hansadutta: Has a propensity
for cheating. Propensity for cheating means that although he's
imperfect senses, subject to make mistake and he's illusioned, he will
write books giving...
Prabhupada: Instructions.
Hansadutta: Instructions.
Because... But he's not qualified. So he's cheating.
CNN
- January 19, 2007
Daydreaming is brain's default setting, study finds
