Go beyond the blindness caused by shortage of light – and by its surfeit
Whenever our surroundings go dark, say, due to a power failure, we become as if blind. Something similar happens to us as souls in material [...]
Choose to act your way to feelings, not feel your way to actions
“Acting our way to feelings” means choosing conscientiously to act based on our intelligence, even when our feelings don’t agree, till eventually those actions engender [...]
See sense gratification as spiritual deprivation
“You are depriving yourself of so much pleasure,” the mind whispers when we practice spiritual life seriously and regulate sense gratification. We may neglect the [...]
Don’t just read the Gita – heed the Gita
The Bhagavad-gita is a profoundly philosophical book, yet it is also an eminently action-calling book. This pragmatic nature of the Gita is seen in its [...]
The Gita is a book of theology for the purpose of therapy
“I am not interested in God,” so say many people while turning away from the Bhagavad-gita. What they don’t understand is that the Gita is [...]
Spiritual perfection requires detachment from our own body, what to speak of others’ bodies
Contemporary culture revels in glamorizing sex through myriad mind-grabbing means. This pervasive glamorization sometimes even seeps into spiritual circles, wherein appear slogans such as sambhoga [...]
Information puffs us up; application builds us up
Devotion requires not the rejection of our material side, but its harmonization with our spiritual purpose. We can use our material abilities and resources in [...]
Devotion frees us from living life inside a shell
The Bhagavad-gita (02.58) uses the example of tortoise safe inside its shell to recommend that we keep ourselves spiritually safe by withdrawing our senses from [...]
Say nothing doing to doing nothing
The idea of doing nothing often catches the fancy of those who want a retreat from the rush of materialistic life. And our culture does [...]
We are not to be the doers, but we are to do
The Bhagavad-gita’s teachings on doership are paradoxical. Initially, it (03.27) deems as deluded those who think themselves to be doers. Yet it (18.63) concludes by [...]
Enter the war, but don’t let the war enter you
“How can one act without being bound?” This is Arjuna’s essential question at the start of the Bhagavad-gita. And the whole Gita addresses it at [...]
Restraint is not repression – it is the roadway to real expression
Many people champion self-expression and deride restraint as repression. But is it really repressive? Consider musicians wanting to express themselves. Do they go on stage [...]
Things are not what they seem, but they are not a dream
Materialists often take things at face value. If something looks attractive, they assume it will be a source of pleasure. Even when it doesn’t give [...]
Self-pity is not humility
Self-pity can seem like humility because both appear to involve having a low, even negative, conception of ourselves. However, they are totally different both in [...]
To grow through problems, go beyond the circumstantial to the existential
“What should I do now?” When we face this question, we usually answer based on practical concerns. But when confronting dilemmas that have no practical [...]
When the mind makes the irrational seem rational, catch it in its irrationality
When we do something irrational, we may wonder, “Why did I do such a thing?” Because the mind may have stupefied us by using some [...]
The impersonal stereotype of impersonalists militates against personlism
An impersonal stereotype of impersonalists refers to the notion among some neophyte personalists that all impersonalists are blasphemers of Krishna. However, the Gita itself differentiates [...]
The best translation of the Gita is its translation into life
People interested in the Bhagavad-gita sometimes ask, “Which is its best translation?” The best translation is its translation into life. That is, the Gita’s best [...]
The defect of dallying with the mind is that it makes the dallier a defector
We are all in an inner war with the mind, which the Bhagavad-gita (06.06) indicates is often our enemy. In this war, scriptural rules that [...]
Expect meditation to be challenging before it becomes comforting
Seekers often ask, “Meditation is supposed to be rejuvenating, but I sometimes find it boring, even tiring. Why is that?” Because our misdirected mind distracts [...]
Materialism’s common wisdom makes us commonly unwise
During ragging in colleges, senior students often push their juniors to drink alcohol with the wise-sounding rationalization, “Babies don’t drink - adults do.” Obviously, drinking [...]