Pure consciousness is an oft-used term in spiritual circles, but impersonalists interpret it as content-less consciousness. To understand the problem with such an interpretation, consider [...]
Suppose we have a careless colleague who keeps making a mess of things, but whom we aren’t allowed to replace. The best way to deal [...]
In today’s materialistic culture, being well-off is enthroned as life’s primary, if not only, goal. The pressure on us to accumulate the trappings of success [...]
Alcoholics, for a few moments of pleasure, undergo the indignity of slurred speech, incoherent behavior and overall foolishness that takes a heavy toll on time, [...]
“Waterproof!” Declares the ad of a trendy gadget. Ads like these tap our apprehension that such gadgets may get inadvertently damaged. These apprehensions stem from [...]
Material existence is like a prison, for it subjects us to multiple miseries, especially the ultimate agony of death. What imprisons us eternal spiritual beings [...]
“I will die one day.” We find such thoughts hard to stomach because our insides recoil and rebel at the prospect of our annihilation. We [...]
Some people claim, “The Bhagavad-gita teaches that killing is ok because the body is anyway going to die. Such a teaching licenses indiscriminate violence.” This [...]
In cricket, fielders sometimes use sledging to unsettle a batsman. If the batsman lets their nasty words agitate him, he will in a rush of [...]
Some people ask, “The Bhagavad-gita wants us to stay unaffected amidst pleasure-pain, success-failure, honor-dishonor. Won’t that make for emotionless living?” No, because the Gita’s prescription [...]
At the start of the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna is agonized at the thought of fighting in a fratricidal war that will kill most of his loved [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita (01.43), Arjuna states that destroyers of dynasties will be condemned to live in hell forever. Is the Gita stating the idea of [...]
An oxymoron is a literary device in which contradictory words are placed together to convey a deeper meaning. The usage ‘the spirit of matter’ is [...]
The Bhagavad-gita (07.05) makes the intriguing statement that the living entities sustain the world. If the relevant root-word ‘dhr’ is taken to mean ‘to utilize,’ [...]
Towards the end of the Bhagavad-gita (18.64), Krishna announces that he will share the most confidential knowledge (sarva guhyatama). Confidential knowledge (guhya) refers to the [...]
“The eye can’t find the I” means that the eye being material can’t perceive the real I, the soul, which is spiritual. “The I seeks [...]
The empty-handed refers to those who have very little material resources. So, when they come to Krishna, they come with next to nothing. Yet Krishna [...]
Devotion is a state of the heart – a state of spontaneous inner attraction to Krishna. Yet that state manifests as outer action too, for [...]
we feel frustrated when things go wrong. While such frustrations are unavoidable for everyone, they become accentuated to the level of hopeless frustrations for those [...]
Some people ask, “Devotees and non-devotees both have to die – so what’s the use of practicing spirituality with all its restrictions?” That’s like asking: [...]
When we get doubts, the forces of illusion delude us further into thinking that our doubts are evidences of our intellectual superiority over believers: “I [...]
