Surrounded by Poisonous Thought

Srila Sridhar Maharaja beautifully answers the question "What if spiritual mental exercise is done with faith?" [including, but not limited to: ashta-kaliya-lila etc.]. And simply with a quote from Bhagavad Gita. Try reading this aloud—slowly.

Mind is separate. Sraddha is connected with soul, atma, and mind is matter. Mind is material: a part of material potency. This is also clarified in Bhagavad Gita:

Mind is a product of the material potency, and the jiva is a product of parasakti, the principal potency; and Svarupa-sakti, the Lord's Personal Potency, is higher than the jiva. The nature of the mind is mental speculation (manodharma). That has nothing to do with truth. That is drawn from the material world, the world of misconception. The mind is full of misconception (avan-manaso gocarah). Mind cannot reach the stage of feeling or perceiving truth proper. It is only related to mundane things or exploitation.

But isn't the pure mind a product of sraddha?

Mind cannot be pure, just as a fossil cannot produce life. Similarly, mind cannot produce sraddha. Sraddha is original and fundamental. When the Supreme Lord appears in the heart, mind vanishes. Reality is just the opposite. Darkness cannot produce light: light comes—darkness vanishes. So truth appears when real pure consciousness appears, and mental speculation vanishes.

The mind is concerned with misconception. It is an element of the aparasakti, the inferior potency. That potency is both subtle and gross. Earth, water, fire, air and ether are gross; mind, intelligence and ego are subtle; but they're all material. Soul is transcendental. And Svarupa-sakti or the Lord's Personal Potency, bhajana or Divine Service, and Goloka-Vaikuntha are all Supra-mundane and Transcendental—on the other side of the soul, not on the lower side where the mind is located.

Mind emerges from the ego, that is, the false ego, and it is made of the exploiting tendency. But Mahaprabhu says, mora mana—vrndavana: “My speculation is on the other side—Vrindavan.” That is not an element of this mundane plane.

So there is a pure mind?

Properly speaking, the word ‘mind' does not deserve to be used in this context at all, otherwise everything will be wrongly equated. The residents of Goloka also possess senses, etc., but the affairs of the mundane world are never one with that. The mundane mentality is a product of exploitation, sense-exploitation.

We need relief from this mind. We are surrounded by poisonous thought. In the narration of the Tridandi-sannyasin in Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.23.45, all the disciplines are common in that the mind should be checked.