To be awake is to be aware of our wake
Suppose a person is sleepwalking. They flail their arms and hit a loved one – something they would never do when they were awake. Being [...]
Count your blessings – and your toes too
When multiple problems threaten us, we may feel overwhelmed by negative emotions such as self-pity, pessimism and paranoia. Our mind frets about everything that’s gone [...]
To learn to speak well, learn when not to speak
Some of us may lament that we are not fluent in speaking. By training and practice, we all can improve our speaking ability. Even if [...]
Build roads, not roadblocks
Suppose someone had to go to a place that wasn’t accessible by road. We would expect them to clear a path to get there. If [...]
Fire-sacrifice is literal, metaphorical and transformational
The Gita talks repeatedly about yajna, sacrifices wherein oblations are offered to the sacred fire. We may wonder, “Does it recommend this activity literally or [...]
Even when a big enemy is out there, the bigger enemy is in here
The Bhagavad-gita is a discussion on a battlefield between a warrior and his charioteer-turned-counselor. Since this conversation occurs just moments before the start of the [...]
Even if the term is impersonal, the concept is personal
A cricket match report may refer to a top batsman as “a force to be reckoned with.” Here, the batsman, a person, is addressed with [...]
Seek not success in karma – seek success beyond karma
Success in karma refers to the attainment of worldly fruits such as prosperity, position, power, prestige and pleasure. Seeking such success, we often try to [...]
Bhakti has to be a choice before it can become a calling
Some people say, “I will become devoted to God when I feel his call from within.” The problem with such thinking is that we are [...]
To fight for what is right is right
The world today is haunted by the specter of terrorism, which rationalizes itself based on a religious book. Coming from this context, we may feel [...]
We don’t breathe twice in the same body
We frequently misidentify with our body. However, Gita wisdom explains that not only are we not our body, but the thing we call our body [...]
Get out of the drought of doubt
Doubt is a dangerous obstacle on the devotional path. In a heart scorched by doubt, the nectar of devotion gets evaporated and eliminated. Indeed, doubt [...]
Free love is far too costly
Many people find the notion of free love appealing because it brings together two things dear to us: freedom and love. Few things energize us [...]
When we remember Krishna, we dismember illusion
Suppose a warrior is being attacked by an enemy who is charging in with an upraised sword. But before the enemy comes close enough to [...]
Don’t take shelter of the intelligence – take shelter of Krishna with the intelligence
Our intelligence is vital for our spiritual growth – it helps us to reject illusion and choose reality. Aptly, the Bhagavad-gita (02.49) begins by asking [...]
Let temptation activate the warrior within, not the philanderer within
Suppose enemy forces sneak in to attack a country. If the border is guarded by their own spy instead of a faithful warrior, the spy [...]
Set targets not so much to meet them as to meet Krishna through them
Few things are as empowering in casting off lethargy as setting targets – they infuse our work with urgency and intensity. Of course, there’s a [...]
Not everything that comes in our vision is worth our attention
Suppose we are driving a car. In the path of our vision come so many objects: trees, houses, passers-by, billboards and landmarks. If we pay [...]
Love doesn’t have to come in the way – love can be the way
Some people conceive of spirituality as fundamentally centered on world rejection. Love is the strongest among all the emotions that we experience and usually our [...]
Strive for self-understanding, not self-esteem
As we live in a rabidly competitive society, we may feel that we lack self-esteem. Such feelings become aggravated when the media bombards us with [...]
The reincarnation of avatar in English is a revealing distortion
The Sanskrit word avatar has become mainstream in English due to both a Hollywood blockbuster and computer role-playing games. In contemporary usage, avatar refers to [...]