The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the technique is that you may be engaged in various types of work, but the mind must be always fixed up in Kṛṣṇa. That art you have to learn. How it is possible? It is possible. Perhaps you have not seen—in India the women, they go to draw water from the well, and they keep on the head. They are going, but the head is so balanced that the waterpot will never fall down. There are many instances that if you learn how to keep the balance, in spite of your movement, the waterpot on the head will not fall.
Similarly, if you mold your life in such a way that Kṛṣṇa should always be remembered, then, in spite of your mind being very agitated, your mind will be fixed up in Kṛṣṇa. That is required. Therefore in the devotional service we have got so many engagements.
- śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
- smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
- arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
- sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
- (SB 7.5.23)
This is the art. Just like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja. He was also great emperor, and he had to rule over all over the world. Still, sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18): he always fixed up his mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane.
That is the art of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In spite of your all engagement, your mind should be fixed up in Kṛṣṇa.
- naikāntikaṁ tad dhi kṛte 'pi niṣkṛte
- manaḥ punar dhāvati ced asat-pathe
- (SB 6.2.12)
Because mind is inclined, inclined to go astray. Asat-pathe. Asat means this material, and pathe means way. Mind is generally attracted to this asat-pathe, but you have to draw the mind to the sat-pathe. Sat means spiritual, eternal. That is the practice.
- tat karma-nirhāram abhīpsatāṁ harer
- guṇānuvādaḥ khalu sattva-bhāvanaḥ
- (SB 6.2.12)
Therefore, tat karma-nirhāram abhīpsatām. Karma. Because if you are engaged in ordinary karma . . . karma I have already explained. Karma means doing something for your personal benefit. That is called karma. Or, in plain words, doing something for sense gratification, that is called karma. And as soon as you engage your activities for such sense gratification or for your personal benefit, then you have to commit sins. That's a fact. Therefore we are entangled in this birth and death problem.
So here the Viṣṇudūta advises that, "If you want . . ." Tat karma-nirhāram abhīpsatām: "If you desire at all that, 'I shall be freed from the resultant action of karma,' then your duty should be harer guṇānuvādaḥ khalu sattva-bhāvanaḥ. You simply try to glorify the Supreme Lord always, twenty-four hours. That will purify you." Khalu sattva-bhāvanaḥ. Sattva-bhāvanaḥ. Śrīdhara Svāmī says: sattva-bhāvanaḥ citta-śodhakaḥ. Sattva-bhāvana means citta-śodhaka. Citta means the heart, and śodhaka, the purifying process.
So instead of taking yourself to these prescribed ritualistic ceremonies, if you simply engage your mind in describing or glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead . . . that is our process. Our only objective is how to glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We are writing books, we are publishing magazines, we are preaching, we are going everywhere—just to glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. That is our only business.