“So much, O Krishna, do I long for you”
Love is characterized by desire: strong, sustained, single-pointed desire. As spiritual seekers, we aspire to awaken our love for Krishna. In the ultimate sense, that [...]
We are aliens on earth
The possibility of aliens coming to the earth fascinates the contemporary imagination: "Can we encounter life-forms from other parts of the cosmos?" Science fiction regularly [...]
Tried, tired – and retired
All of us want to do something new. Andour craving for newness seems ready to be fulfilled byall the new gadgets, new dresses and other [...]
What are our thoughts giving us:frustration or jubilation?
Most of our thoughts run along the default rails of eating, mating, sleeping and defending. These activities may be necessary bodily functions, but our thoughts [...]
Don’t waste time on the mind’s futile pastime: comparison
As soon as people enter our familiarity perimeter, our mind starts comparing us with them. Comparison is its favorite pastime. However, unlike Krishna’s pastimes that [...]
Guard against the vice of the wise
We often think of those with developed intellect as wise. We may even see a developed intellect as an indicator, or at least a facilitator, [...]
Today’s medals will be tomorrow’s baubles
One of our innermost drives is the drive to show the world that we are someone significant. This drive impels us to win medals, which [...]
Happiness through a perpetual tickling machine?
When children are tickled, they start laughing. Does their laughter indicate that they are happy? Not really. If happiness could be had just by tickling, [...]
Live beyond life’s tornadoes and torpedoes
Life confronts us with challenges both externally and internally. External upheavals – financial and political, for example – are like tornadoes that twist and topple [...]
Respecting Krishna’s rights is the right way to receive his revelation
Ours is an age of rights; we recognize that every individual has certain inviolable rights. As our rights consciousness expands, it is befitting that we [...]
Take exception to the hope for an exception
Our mind gets excited by any chance for material enjoyment. We have repeatedly experienced for ourselves that material enjoyment is at best an exasperating anti-climax, [...]
When style violates sense, style deserves to be violated
Few things obsess the contemporary mind as much as the latest styles. Most people today are possessed by the craze to parade themselves with the [...]
Let our words be like windows, not walls
Words are indispensable tools for communicating our ideas and feelings with others. These verbal tools have become increasingly critical in our hi-tech age of phones [...]
The mind traps us materially and trips us spiritually
We like our job one day and detest it the next day; we feel excited about our devotional activities sometimes and bored at other times. [...]
Krishna is not an optional filler in our life – he is its central purpose
Our time is among our most wanted resources. Our fast-paced culture places so many demands on us that fitting all the items on our to-do [...]
Guard against the last-ditch attack of the false ego
The notion that we are ourselves God is the false ego’s ultimate weapon. The false ego is the subtlest of all the subtle material elements. [...]
Seek not a problem-free life, but a purpose-filled life
The endless problems of life may wear us out and make us long for a problem-free life. Such a longing, however, is unrealistic and unfulfilling. [...]
Temptations in the consciousness are like dust in the carburetor
When dust enters into the carburetor of a finely tuned engine, the engine can no longer function optimally. Though the dust initially seems inconsequential, after [...]
Krishna ends the misdirection and frustration of our love
Loving anyone is a challenge. The poets frequently sing about the thrill of falling in love at first sight, but they rarely sing about the [...]
Let self-mastery be devotion’s fruit, not determination’s feat
Bending our impulses to our principles and thereby attaining self-mastery is vital for us to make tangible spiritual progress. At the same time, it is [...]
Give your prime time to the highest bidder, not the loudest bidder
Television channels charge phenomenally for their prime time. Knowing that maximum TV audience is available during this time, they allocate those slots to the highest [...]