Why Do We Think So Much?

It was a Saturday evening. After having tea, my roommate and I were walking back through our college entrance. Just then, I noticed a young guy standing there. He had a big mark worn on his forehead, five books in his hands, and a heavy bag on his back, probably filled with more books.

First, he called out to my friend. My friend ignored him and walked away. Then he looked at me and called me the same way. I couldn’t ignore him, so I went closer.

He looked simple, humble, and young. He introduced himself as someone from ISKCON Bengaluru and began talking about the books he was holding. Then he handed me a small book, explained a bit about it, and said it costs 50 rupees. He never directly asked me to buy it, but his actions clearly did. You know, that was not the problem. The actual problem was “How can I say my account balance is 20 rupees” haha.

So I smiled and said, “I forgot my wallet. I’ll buy it some other day.”

He replied, “It’s not about the price. The fact that you’re listening to me is good.”

I was in a state of “I want to, but I can’t”. My mind whispered, “You made him sad”. So, after an awkward silence of ten seconds, I changed the subject. “Tell me about you,” I asked.

He said he was from Ballari, and an engineering graduate from a reputed college in Bengaluru. During his studies, he was influenced by Lord Krishna, his stories, and philosophy, and later joined ISKCON.

While we were speaking, heavy rain started, and we rushed to a nearby shop, where four-five people were already there. Then I continued, “The problem with our generation is controlling the mind. How can we do that?”

He smiled and said, “That’s really important. The mind has the power to do anything. If a person reaches a stage of committing suicide, it’s his mind that pushed him there. That shows how powerful the mind is. To control it, you have to train it. The mind is always attracted to everything around you, so you need to bring focus to one point. And also, don’t think too much about all things.”

I said to myself that this entire conversation happened only because I was thinking too much, worried that he might be sad if I didn’t buy the book. And even at that moment, I was still thinking: “What if the shop owner or people around overhear us talking like this? What will they think about us?”

Before leaving, he invited me to visit their ashram the next morning at 6 AM for a special pooja. I just gave a confused smile. He asked again, “Will you come tomorrow?” Same confused smile. Finally, he said, “No matter you come or not, at least say yes or no.”

So I said, “Yes,” still with that confused smile. He smiled back and left.

Later, I thought: why do we think so much just to say a simple yes or no? If I had said “No, I won’t buy” right at the beginning, everything would have ended there. But if that happened, then I wouldn’t have thought all of these, maybe I wouldn’t have reflected on this, and you wouldn’t be reading this story right now. Oh wait, what.. again I’m thinking too much..