Krishna ends the misdirection and frustration of our love
Loving anyone is a challenge. The poets frequently sing about the thrill of falling in love at first sight, but they rarely sing about the [...]
Let self-mastery be devotion’s fruit, not determination’s feat
Bending our impulses to our principles and thereby attaining self-mastery is vital for us to make tangible spiritual progress. At the same time, it is [...]
Give your prime time to the highest bidder, not the loudest bidder
Television channels charge phenomenally for their prime time. Knowing that maximum TV audience is available during this time, they allocate those slots to the highest [...]
Treasure Krishna’s message more than his miracles
Some of us may feel that our faith in Krishna would stabilize and increase if we could see his power through miracles: “If Krishna is [...]
Go beyond naughty desires and knotty doubts
When we embark on our inward spiritual journey towards Krishna, our mind blocks us with naughty desires and our intelligence, with knotty doubts. Bhakti removes [...]
Don’t miss the feast of the heart because of the lethargy of the mind
Love has its own life, and it needs its own food to survive and thrive. The food that love feasts on is the glory, the [...]
Fasting is an opportunity to sacrifice the good for the best
As spiritual seekers, werecognize that immoral sinful pleasures are obstacles on the spiritual pathway. What we may not recognize is that even innocent pious pleasures [...]
Change of values is more significant than change of desires
When we as spiritual seekers find ourselves becoming repeatedly afflicted by greed, anger or lust, we may become discouraged, thinking, “Despite my practice of devotional [...]
Go Within, Beyond the External – and the Internal
Many self-help books tell us that we can become peaceful by going within. But is the within actually peaceful? In our own experience, we often [...]
Krishna is a God who respects human intelligence and individuality
All theistic religious traditions talk about God, but not all of them invoke the same image of God. Some religious traditions portray God as an [...]
If we wait for inspiration, we are waiters, not worshipers
Many of us wait for external inspiration to intensify our devotional practices like chanting. When we don’t get such inspiration, we let our moods determine [...]
Subordinate the empirical and the rational to the scriptural
In today’s science, consciousness is a mystery that exposes the split between the empirical and the rational approaches to studying the world. From the empirical [...]
Conviction is the fuel for our resolutions to fly from take-off to landing
We often make resolutions to conquer our lower passions such as selfishness, ego, greed, lust or anger. Most such resolutions for self-improvement often have a [...]
The new life outside begins with the new life inside
We often feel dissatisfied with the same old things that keep repeating themselves in our life’s routines. So, we try to acquire new things: delicacies, [...]
What we hold mentally holds us mentally
Our media continuously offers us high-octane sensory stimulation, especially for our eyes. As compared to the rapidly changing and colorfully overdressed images that are dished [...]
Information is not enough in formation of character
We may have seen normal, sensible people suddenly act abnormally and insensibly. They knew well the harms of what they were doing – or at [...]
We need a break – from the mind
Our mind harasses us constantly with internal proposals for material enjoyment. Moreover, it has a formidable external ally: the current culture. The culture does externally [...]
See beyond life’s apparent nonsense to Krishna’s benevolent sense
“Why is Krishna doing this?” We may sometimes get this question when things go wrong and life doesn’t make sense. To help us make sense [...]
Titillating the senses ends in all pain, no gain
Our culture seems to offer us so much sensual pleasure for free. Alluring images in tantalizing poses invite us to enjoy them with our eyes [...]
Determination comes from the conviction that the prize is greater than the price
“Yet again I failed to keep my resolution! I will never be able to achieve self-mastery.” The mind may dishearten us with haunting thoughts like [...]
Go beyond indecision and indiscretion to introspection and inspiration
“What should I do now?” We frequently face this question when life’s perplexities disrupt our routines. We usually respond based on not just the external [...]