Sensuality is the rust that blunts the axe of our consciousness
Woodcutters who try to cut trees with a blunt axe waste their time. Taking time out to sharpen the axe is prudent. How can we [...]
Culture is meant to instill values, not instigate cravings
We all are shaped by the culture of our times. In today’s world, the culture is extremely sensual and materialistic. Consider, for example, the contemporary [...]
Reality is not as rosy as our dreams, but neither is it as scary as our nightmares
We often see life with rose-tinted glasses because of the media propaganda that unending sensual bliss is available through worldly enjoyment. These fantasies are deflated [...]
Seek God not just in the privacy of the heart but also the activity of the world
Some people think that to seek God, we must renounce the world, go to a secluded place in a forest and meditate on him in [...]
Mental blocks block far more than road blocks
While driving, if we find a road block, we can’t just deny or wish it away – we need to practically deal with it, either [...]
Failure is not the enemy of success – it is the entry to success
Some people ask, “When we try to improve ourselves, if we fail repeatedly, how can we avoid becoming discouraged?” By reconceptualizing failure – instead of [...]
Let introspection be for fact-finding, not fault-finding
While striving to live according to principles, if we falter, we become disheartened. Even if we introspect to find out why we fell, that introspection [...]
To think that the illusions tempting us are new is an old illusion
The world we live in is a place of illusion. The primary illusion is that sense objects can make us happy. But the illusion runs [...]
We can never have a bird’s eye-view – we can only have a human eye-view from a bird’s perspective
Getting a bird’s eye-view of something refers idiomatically to looking at the big picture, seeing that thing in a broader context – akin to how [...]
The cunning combination of complacency, complicity and carnality consumes our conscience
Our conscience is our inner guard – it cautions us whenever we feel tempted to do anything unworthy. However, just as a carnivorous predator may [...]
Don’t treat others as a waste-basket for your words
If we have a lot of waste in our house, we wouldn’t throw it at any visitor. But strangely we sometimes throw our waste-words at [...]
See Krishna not just as a shock-absorber, but also as a goal-transformer
Many people treat God as a shock-absorber. Just as a car’s shock-absorber is needed to minimize jolts while driving, they think God is needed to [...]
One person’s diversion can be another person’s devastation
To relieve life’s monotony, we sometimes seek various diversions. While diverting ourselves, we may simply want some harmless entertainment. But diversions can easily degenerate from [...]
We are not our feelings – we are the feelers of our feelings
Some people ask, “We often act on our feelings such as anger, frustration or dejection, and later regret those actions. How can we avoid such [...]
To offer our best, we need to discover our best
Suppose someone has a precious inheritance buried in their backyard, and they want to give a valuable gift to their loved one. Naturally, they would [...]
Spiritual vision is meant for deepening our experience of reality, not denying it
Some people conceive of spirituality as world-rejecting. They hold, “This world is the arena of illusion, wherein we are trapped by the attractiveness of worldly [...]
The biggest battle is not around us; it is inside us
We are often enmeshed in various battles around us – political battles in our countries, corporate battles in our offices, and domestic battles in our [...]
Subtle time subtly causes colossal changes
When we see a huge cloud moving in the sky, we don’t often realize that it demonstrates how the subtler affects the grosser – the [...]
What begins as titillation can end as tribulation
We may sometimes titillate ourselves by, say, watching scenes depicting immoral indulgences. And we may rationalize such titillation by thinking that we have no intention [...]
See as much as you can while you can
Suppose we are walking at night on a dark road and our flashlight starts flickering. While the light is on, we will try to see [...]
Repetition emphasizes – and so does the emphasis in the repetition
In linguistic communication, repetition is a standard rhetorical device for conveying emphasis. The Bhagavad-gita repeats in 18.65 the same two and half lines as in [...]