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When a leech bites us, we may be panic-struck to sense its tentacles sucking our blood. If we impulsively try to pull it out, it may have such a strong grip that we will end up pulling out a sizeable part of our own skin. If, however, we just stay calm and let the leech do its work, its tubules are not infinite; it can’t suck all our blood. Once its tubule is filled, it will itself let go and we can flick it off.

On the spiritual path, an intellectual temptation is obsession with technicalities. For example, on learning that the material energy comprises eight elements – earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego (Bhagavad-gita 07.04) –we may ask, “Where exactly are mind, intelligence and ego located? How exactly are they differentiated?”

Some people fear, “If I become conscious of Krishna, as the Bhagavad-gita recommends, won’t I become passive, just longing for some otherworldly reality, doing nothing practical?” No, the Bhagavad-gita’s setting and substance both convey that spirituality fosters activity, not passivity.

Practicing spiritual life is like fighting a war against our inner enemies. The Gita (16.21) cautions that the inner enemies of lust, anger and greed destroy the soul and lead to hell. Still, it concludes by urging us to give up these enemies, not kill them.

A cow, after eating all the grass in one row in a uniformly green pasture, can choose whether to eat the grass on the left or the right. Animals are driven largely by their bodily drives. Yet, within the scope of those drives, they do have the free will to choose how to fulfill those drives.

The world sees us outside in. It rates us by our clothes, phones and cars. Such a rating pattern often sentences us to insecurity and inferiority, especially when we are stuck, by factors beyond our control, with unimpressive externals.

Suppose we are learning to drive a car and suddenly find it veering off course. We will promptly brake and avert any danger. But if that one near-accident makes us paranoid and we refuse to take our foot off the brake, we will never get anywhere.

Some spiritually-minded people, being engaged in mainstream society with its notions of progress centered on science and technology, pursue bhakti for getting peace, meaning and fulfillment – things elusive in today’s world. They see bhakti as a complement to their present way of living.

To beware is to be cautious about danger. To be aware is to be conscious of oneself and one’s surroundings. Both of these can help in our spiritual life, but to be aware is more positive and productive. The Bhagavad-gita (02.54-72) describes the characteristics ...

Wisdom-texts often use metaphors as intellectual tools. Metaphors make abstract, abstruse concepts intelligible by comparing them with concrete, clear things from the real world. The Bhagavad-gita uses metaphors frequently.

Some people think that scripture teaches the same feel-good message of motivation and inspiration that they hear from worldly sources such as self-help teachers and life coaches. Undoubtedly, the Bhagavad-gita does motivate and inspire, but not by reiterating the world’s feel-good message.

The Bhagavad-gita outlines how everything in material existence can be analyzed in terms of the three modes of material nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. Those in goodness and those in ignorance may look similar when they are seated quietly on similar seats.

Suppose we were tormented by thirst, being lost in a desert; and some relief workers came, gave us some water and invited us to their hometown, an oasis with abundant water resources. We all are lost in the desert of material existence, thirsting for happiness.

Identity politics refers to the phenomenon of people identifying themselves with particular political positions and viewing everything in terms of those positions, as for or against those positions. Identity politics can be corrosive.

In today’s world, almost anything gets accepted if it is portrayed as a right to freedom. Especially in the sensual arena, much obscenity is legitimized, even glamorized, by calling it free love. However, when indiscriminate sensuality is rationalized in the name of freedom, people become shackled by their lower desires.

Sometimes, we find ourselves in restrictive situations where we can’t do anything new. Such constriction may make us feel that we can’t learn or grow. However, we grow not just by exploring new things, but also by adapting ourselves to unchangeable old things.

We all have an innate urge to change things for the better. Knowing where to direct this urge so that we can really improve things [...]