Rumble, Grumble, Tumble? Or Humble?
Our media periodically presents us with celebrities who are self-obsessed egotists.Three words sum their life-trajectory: rumble, grumble, tumble. Rumble: These people are so self-obsessed that [...]
Be Intense, not Tense
The pace and pressure of our contemporary lifestyle often makes us stressed. This tension is a nag that lurks constantly in the background of our [...]
Confirmation comes by conformation
We may sometimes wonder: “Are the statements in the Bhagavad-gita about God’s existence and benevolence to be accepted on faith alone? Isn’t there any way [...]
Chemical highs cheat us of spiritual highs
All material pleasures are essentially chemical highs. Whenever we perceive any attractive objects with our senses, the corresponding sensory mechanisms secrete certain chemicals. This chemical [...]
Meditation is not a dulling duty – it is a thrilling opportunity
As devotee-seekers, we often begin mantra meditation with enthusiasm and anticipation. However, our mind soon starts coming in the way of our meditation with increasing [...]
Discover the democracy of misery
When problems assault us unexpectedly, we often feel indignant that life has handed us a raw deal. We also become haunted by the fear that [...]
Knowledge about Krishna is not for pooling, but for pulling
Our times are characterized by an infatuation for information. Those with the ability to commandeer uncommon bits and bytes of information on the spur of [...]
The loose ends never end
Many of us delay taking up spiritual life because of the pressures to improve our material life: our finances, fitness and family’s prospects, for example. [...]
Slick about sin or sick about sin?
A tragic trend of our times is the glamorization of immoral sexual indulgences as fashionable, as slick, as cool. This is especially evident in soap [...]
Loving the unlovable is the characteristic of God – and the character of the godly
Most of us know someone who annoys, irritates or enrages us. We may even feel that if only that person would be out of our [...]
Love is a prize far bigger than the palliative of peace
Some spiritual aspirants ask: “I had thought of spirituality as a state of peaceful withdrawal from the world while seated in a smart yogic posture. [...]
Krishna walks with us, but not for us
When we strive to live spiritually, we often find ourselves succumbing to materialism, despite our prayers to Krishna for protection. At such times, we may [...]
Devotion implies meditation independent of location
Many of us tend to compartmentalize our lives into the material side and the spiritual side. Such compartmentalization is initially helpful in ensuring that we [...]
Catch the eye, catch the I
Our eyes are often like voracious heat-seekers scanning the horizon for sensually hot objects. Our materialistic culture fully exploits our visual hunger. By planting seductive [...]
Be adept to adopt and adapt
Many of us may have suspected that the Bhagavad-gita being an ancient book might not be practical in our times. Some of us may have [...]
Those who dismiss the invisible as insubstantial dissipate their lives in the insubstantial
We human beings have an intelligence more advanced than our nonhuman fellow beings. This developed intelligence enables us to think beyond the immediate issues that [...]
Glue the mind to meditation, not mediation
Many of our problems often seem to have an inbuilt mental glue. They stick to our minds constantly. Especially during our mantra meditation, we frequently [...]
Bhakti offers emotional liquidity that is above, not below, intellectual solidity
We may sometimes wonder how to harmonize the two aspects of our human personality: the head and the heart. A preponderance of the head makes [...]
Our heart deserves more than a consolation prize
Our heart is flooded with many desires for happiness. However, most of these desires are unfulfillable due to the limitations of time, financial resources, bodily [...]
Bhakti purifies, sanctifies and amplifies our emotions
Emotions differentiate us conscious beings from unconscious things. As matter doesn’t have the capacity to experience emotions, the presence of that capacity in us suggests [...]
Let’s make our memory our treasury
When the present presents us with difficulties, we often turn to our memories of past emotionally fulfilling moments for inspiration. As our culture bombards us [...]