We frequently think that our understanding of things is the correct understanding. When we study scripture, this mentality often makes us presume that our understanding [...]
Fire-sacrifices seem quaint or queer to many: “What’s the point of lighting a fire and putting ghee, grain and fruits in it?” The point is [...]
The Bhagavad-gita’s asking Arjuna to fight understandably unnerves many people. Though the Gita’s framing narrative involves choosing violence over nonviolence, its core is far deeper. [...]
Racial, religious and other forms of sectarian violence rend the world today. Such violence may have complex social, economic, cultural and political causes, but underlying [...]
Seekers often question: “My mind keeps getting distracted from Krishna. What can I do?” Make the mind the object of observation, answers Gita wisdom. Usually, [...]
Blame game usually involves pointing the blaming finger outwards to others whenever things go wrong. The blaming finger can also point upwards or inwards. When [...]
Battling over our choices refers to struggling to make the right choice while staying in the presence of temptation. Choosing our battles refers to deciding [...]
A question that contains the answer within itself raises questions about the question. For example, suppose someone asks, “After the diners sat down at the [...]
Many people treat games as if they are as important as life itself. Human culture has always featured sports as a form of recreation, but [...]
The concept of God refers to an intellectualized or sentimentalized notion of God that is more a projection of one’s own preference than the revelation [...]
Our intelligence is like a knife. It can cut through the surface appearance of things and see their deeper nature. Just as a knife with [...]
Materialists sometimes accuse spiritualists, “You people are so old-fashioned, holding on to regressive ideas like sexual restraint. The whole world is giving up such ideas [...]
Under the influence of the mind, we often do things that hurt us and hurt others too. For example, being impelled into a fit of [...]
People often ask, “If God, the creator of world, is good, why does evil exist in the world?” Evil arises not from Krishna’s intention but from [...]
To practice spiritual life means to wage an inner war against the illusion created by our lower desires, especially lust. The Bhagavad-gita (03.36-43) vividly outlines [...]
Some people find the Bhagavad-gita pessimistic: “Why harp on life’s problems? Why not see its positive side?” Actually, the Gita doesn’t harp on life’s problems [...]
Suppose thieves steal all the property from their victims. Still, the victims can get relief by, say, withdrawing money from their bank by using their [...]
Different traditions whose ranks incorporate not just lay people but also serious seekers and even saintly seers have varying conceptions of the divine. Why? Because [...]
“To avoid karmic bondage, renounce the world.” This widespread notion governs Arjuna’s reasoning at the start of the Bhagavad-gita. However, the Gita recommends an alternative [...]
An oft-quoted Sanskrit saying states, “Just as water falling from the sky reaches the ocean, the worship offered to the various gods reaches Keshava.” Does [...]
Disinterested refers to neutrality, a lack of partisanship, whereas uninterested refers to apathy, a lack of concern. Krishna is disinterested in the sense that he [...]
