Chinese Wisdom
1. When you are alone, mind your thoughts.
This is a stern warning for those who are alone, which means many today.
Privacy is especially destructive for those who cannot control their minds fully, as it invites speculation and worthless ideas. For this reason, Srila Prabhupada discouraged us from engaging in private bhajan or retreating into seclusion. Of course, association with determined materialists is very destructive as well, and it is for this reason that Srila Prabhupada encouraged temple life for brahmacaries and sannyasis and community life for grhastas. Grhasta asrama provides this valuable protection; one is never really alone and is always monitored by one's wife and children. Brahmacaries MUST have the association of brahmacaries. The model of today's „brahmacary,” living in seclusion for social welfare and having 2000 friends on Facebook, is not very conducive to spiritual life, as even in the name of Krsna Consciousness, one can imagine spiritual life instead of living it.
2. When you are with friends, mind your tongue.
This is common sense, and it was commented upon by Srila Prabhupada:
„What is the use of so much talking? Simply creating enemies.“ Indeed, friends become enemies simply through loose talk, familiarity, and disrespect for each other's spiritual dignity.
3. When you are angry, mind your temper.
Once a devotee took shelter in Srila Prabhupada by reporting to him that „he is always falling down because he gets angry.” Srila Prabhupada surely surprised him by stating that there is nothing wrong with anger as long as it is applied to Krsna Consciousness and controlled in this way. He even mentioned that Krsna spoke the whole Bhagavad Gita to make Arjuna angry, as only in this spirit can one fight.
He also mentioned that Hanuman served Lord Ramachandra through his anger towards Ravana. But such anger is controlled and can be withdrawn at any time when not useful in devotional service. We saw it exemplified in Srila Prabhupada himself, whose anger, as reported by his personal servants, could be fiery.
If one cannot control their anger, better to avoid situations that provoke it.
Anger based on attachment and selfish pursuit of one's own agenda is offensive.
4. When you are with a group, mind your behaviour.
The whole Vedic culture teaches humans to behave properly, meaning to behave according to their position. There is a system of hearing and speaking, defining under which circumstances one becomes a listener and one becomes a speaker.
This is dealt with on this website in the article on empathic listening.
5. When you are in trouble, mind your emotions.
Naturally, when in trouble, we become likely to be victimised by hankering. Hankering is a clear sign of bodily consciousness and ignorance of the cause of the pain we experience. Material pain is based on material attachment. To the degree one becomes tolerant of one's own discomfort, we can test our advancement in Krsna Consciousness. One extreme example from Srila Prabhupadas travels exemplifies this: When travelling in Mauritius, Srila Prabhupada got involved in a front-crash car accident. Sitting in the back seat, he remained besides a brake on his knee relatively unharmed, but the driver was in total agony, the car was completely demolished, and Srila Prabhupada simply set silent on the back seat, entirely in control of his emotions. He remained silent until his entourage finally reached the hotel, not dwelling much on the likely deadly car accident he just survived. It was an impressive demonstration of his amazingly grave Krsna Consciousness.
6. When God starts blessing you, mind your ego.
This is a stern warning to all those who are empowered by God. In a sad way, we could already observe the falldowns by some wonderfully empowered devotees, and the reason was always the same. The false ego took over, manifesting in their total immunity to any warning coming their way. By surrounding themselves only with those compatible with their ideas, they ended up living in a world of their own. Regarding the level of Krsna Consciousness at which one operates, one should never give up the ability to hear. Of course, naturally, the more one advances, the more selective one becomes about whom one is inclined to hear and from whom one is not inclined to hear. After all, advancement in Krsna Consciousness is demonstrated by increased ability to discriminate and not by its demolishion, as advertised by some pseudo-paramahamsas. If one cannot hear from ANYONE, then one is doomed.