Beauty in Krsna’s Presence 167

Kuntidevi is requesting that He be, one can keep God always within
one’s heart.

We simply have to apply our mind and senses in Krsna consciousness,
as done by Maharaja Ambarisa. Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayor
vacamsi vaikuntha-gundnuvarnane (Bhag. 9.4.18). First we must fix our
minds on the lotus feet of Krsna, for the mind is the center of all sensory
activities. If the mind were absent, in spite of having eyes we could not
see, and in spite of having ears we could not hear. Therefore the mind is
considered the eleventh sense. There are ten senses—five working
senses and five knowledge-acquiring senses, and the center of the senses
is the mind. The Bhagavad-gitd (3.42) says:

indriyani parany ahur
indriyebhyah param manah
manasas tu para buddhir
yo buddheh paratas tu sah

In this verse Krsna explains that although we consider the senses to be
very prominent, beyond the senses is something superior—the mind—
beyond the mind is the intelligence, and beyond the intelligence is the
soul.

How can we appreciate the existence of the soul if we cannot under-
stand even the psychological movements of the mind? Beyond the mind
is the intelligence, and by speculation one can at the utmost approach the
intellectual platform. But to understand the soul and God, one must go
beyond the intellectual platform. It is possible to understand everything,
but we must gain understanding through the right channel. Therefore the
Vedic injunction is:

tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet
samit-panih Srotriyam brahma-nistham

“If one is actually serious about understanding supernatural, transcen-
dental subject matters, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master.”
(Mundaka Up. 1.2.12)
