How to avoid pessimism in our attempts at self-improvement
When we strive to improve ourselves, we often encounter internal resistance—our mind obstructs and even sabotages our progress. When such resistance happens repeatedly and relentlessly, [...]
Three ways to deal with the mind’s unpredictability
Stop worrying about the mind's unpredictability; start working on your RAP—readiness, alertness, purposefulness In dealing with our mind, we often feel confused or even confounded [...]
The difference between opinion and taste
What the uninformed downplay as opinions, the informed celebrate as taste. We live in a world full of relativity—relativity in opinions, preferences, and perceptions. For [...]
What detachment means and what it doesn’t mean
Detachment: Be cool-headed, not cold-hearted As we strive for spiritual growth, detachment is often emphasized as a vital virtue. However, detachment is frequently misunderstood. It’s [...]
How our desires become our demons
The desires we chase over time become the demons that chase us A strange psychological reversal often occurs within us as we navigate the workings [...]
Two ways to deal with our triggers
Know when to stay away from our triggers, and when to take the bullet away from the gun We all have triggers that evoke strong, [...]
Let our activism be transformative, not performative
Performative activism refers to the phenomenon where a person takes up a noble cause not to genuinely make a difference, but to gain recognition and [...]
How to compartmentalize our life and how not to
We may have to compartmentalize our life in terms of our activity, but we should not compartmentalize our life in terms of our identity. In [...]
We may be constrained by our past, but we don’t have to be contained in our past
All of us are affected by our past to varying degrees. Some of us may have incurred wounds so deep that we feel permanently damaged, [...]
Practice devotion for absorption, not achievement
Devotion is meant to be practiced in the mode of absorption, not in the mode of achievement. We live in a society that celebrates achievements [...]
Don’t let your mind become your dictator
The more we listen to our mind’s dictation, the more we let it become our dictator Our mind constantly speaks within us, commenting on what [...]
Hear to be here and be here to hear
The Bhagavad Gita concludes with Krishna asking Arjuna whether he was able to hear attentively and whether his illusions were thereby dispelled. This question points [...]
How pride blinds and brings as down
Pride doesn't just come before a fall; pride brings the fall -- we will be blasted for the very things about which we boasted. In [...]
When Attachment Turns Relationships into Burdens
When we are attached to someone, we become desperately dependent on their approval. We feel as if we cannot live with ourselves if they don’t [...]
Language in India: A Bottom-Up Approach, Not Top-Down Imposition
The language issue is becoming increasingly politically polarized in India. For example, what is being perceived as the imposition of Hindi on the rest of [...]
Mind your mind, or your mind will mind you—for its interests, not yours
Within each of us exists a power struggle: a dynamic between us, as spiritual beings (souls), and our mind. The mind serves as the intermediary [...]
Why thinking people are often uninfluential
It’s possible to win the support of every thinking person in a group and still be in a minority in that very group. We live [...]
When will you become the home of my thoughts? (6.47)
Bhagavad Gita 6.47: yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ "Among all yogis, the greatest is one, Whose immersion [...]
You arrange for spiritual awakening in the next lifetime (6.44)
Bhagavad Gita 6.44 pūrvābhyāsena tenaiva hriyate hy avaśo ’pi saḥ jijñāsur api yogasya śabda-brahmātivartate "By past practice, one is drawn along, By a pull [...]
Even when memory is lost, you preserve spiritual attraction (6.43)
Bhagavad Gita 6.43 tatra taṁ buddhi-saṁyogaṁ labhate paurva-dehikam yatate ca tato bhūyaḥ saṁsiddhau kuru-nandana "There he regains the wisdom past, From former lives that [...]
You ensure that even death can’t stop spiritual growth (6.42)
Bhagavad Gita 6.42 athavā yoginām eva kule bhavati dhīmatām etad dhi durlabhataraṁ loke janma yad īdṛśam "Or else, they’re born where yogis dwell, Among [...]