Some say that we are what we eat. In one sense that’s true since our bodies are formed by a combination of different material elements that come from the food we eat, but of course, it’s only valid to the extent we consider ourselves as the body. As devotees we understand we are not the body, but the soul inside the body.
However, “we are what we eat” also applies to a more subtle level that is more directly relevant to us. “We are what we eat” also applies to the different types of information we absorb, which form our consciousness. Although our original consciousness is to be an eternal servant of Krsna, this original consciousness is now covered. Although we still have it somewhere deep inside, it is currently practically lost for us. The consciousness we have now is a combination of the material mind, intelligence, false ego, and so on.
The false ego is composed of different misconceptions we have, such as “I’m a man”, “I’m a woman”, “I’m black”, “I’m white”, “I’m Indian”, “I’m American” and so on, while the material mind is a storage for all kinds of desires, memories, frustrations, etc. that surface from time to time. This combination of misconceptions and material desires determines how we are going to act. If I think I’m an American, for example, I will tend to identify with a certain culture, a certain way of life, it will influence my view of other people and other places, will influence the way I see life and see the world, etc. The desires stored in the mind in turn will give me the impetus to work in different directions, trying to obtain different things, using the material intelligence as a tool to move things around and obtain what I want. All these different desires, misconceptions, and the different types of work I become involved with make it hard for me to reconnect with my original, eternal identity as a servant of Krsna. That’s how we end up imprisoned for so many millions of lives in this material world.
However, how are the misconceptions of the false ego and the desires of the mind formed? All of these come from the information we receive. The concept of “I’m American” doesn’t just come from being born in America, but from all the information we receive, that reinforces our “American” identity. One who is born in the United States but grows up in another country may see himself as being part of the country he grew up in, and not from where he was born, and the opposite is also possible. Many Armenians who grow up in other countries, for example, identify themselves as Armenians and try to follow Armenian culture, due to the education they receive from their parents. Due to their insistence, the Armenian identity often predominates over the identity of the country they grew up in.
Similarly, all other types of information we receive influence the way we see the world. It influences our identity, our concept of reality, our desires, and so on. In the same way a person who spends all his time on Instagram and Tictoc receiving all kinds of useless information will have his mind filled with all kinds of material desires and undesirable false identifications, someone who instead spends time hearing about Krsna and associating with pure devotees will gradually start to identify with his original identity, will have his mind gradually filled with desires connected with service to Krsna, and will be able to grow into this direction by using his purified intelligence.
We can’t change the information we received as children. Whatever is done is done. However, what we can choose is the information we receive now, and use this choice to counteract whatever garbage we received in the past. Although it’s not possible to become completely disconnected from material sources of information, we should use our intelligence and deliberation to choose what we are getting, reducing our exposition to information that spoils our consciousness to a minimum, and increasing our exposition to valuable information that improves our consciousness.
This is an important choice since our consciousness at the end of our life will be a result of all the information we receive during our time here, and this consciousness will in turn determine where we are going next.
When we speak about information, nothing is free. We may think that watching a video on YouTube or Instagram is “free”, but actually it has a huge cost. Although it may not cost anything in terms of money, it takes time, and time is a resource more valuable than money. We can convert time into money (by working or doing business), but it’s not possible to convert money into time. When time is gone, it’s gone, and there is nothing we can do to get it back. Apart from time, watching a video also takes our attention, and creates impressions on our mind that can’t be easily erased. The same applies to every text or message we read, every image we see, and so on. When we take all of this into consideration, we may become more selective with the information we consume.