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Monday, October 13, 2008

Facing severe mental difficulties


Respected Swamiji and devotees,
 
     Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obeisances!

     There are many people who suffer from certain violent forms of mental agitation day in and day out and so find it very difficult to chant or for that matter focus on any work. It becomes quite disabling at times too.
 
     Modern day medical sciences gives various names to these things, like compulsive disorder, ADHD, this syndrome, schizophrenia, that disorder, etc. etc. For an example, some suffer from compulsive disorder which has of late been increasing in severity. Some always feel anxiety and tension and whatever they see, some type of disturbing images keep on cropping up repeatedly in the mind making concentration very difficult.
 
      Not only that, there is a tendency to get stuck in a particular train of repetitive thoughts and actions which they feel compelled to perform as though in a stressed situation. It is so bad that if they try to stop the flow, it causes anxiety attacks or panic or some kind of stress, after that the mind is always in an agitated state which is so bothering as they have to force themselves to do anything or chant or read. That is not at all pleasant and it affects their performance in whatever I do.
 
      They are also possessed by various fears and uncertainties because of which they find it so difficult to make even the simplest decisions or choices. In their case they are always worried about criticism and what happens if they run into financial difficulties, for instance, they find that its difficult to break old bad habits and past tendencies and establish new good habits because of it. They face more difficulty than what most people would. People who see us may think they are really mad.

       I have seen people who suffer from these problems and it seems that most people are very reluctant to talk about these things.They sometimes fear that they may go insane and they are sometimes mentally exhausted after a day of difficulties. Is it possible that they can return to sanity very soon so that they can practice devotion?

      I want to know how they can keep their chanting quality high in spite of all this mental torture. Could anyone please tell us of how chanting and kirtana can help with this? ? Please tell if there is something which can be done to help control such a mind in order to improve the chanting and other services in this highly troubled state and perform devotional service peacefully.

Srinath



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