Tolerance comes by meditating on not just matter’s ephemerality but also spirit’s eternality
Tolerance is a great power that enables us to keep small things small so that we can focus on big things. How can we increase [...]
Faith is the bridge between our finite reason and Krishna’s infinite reason
Some people ask: Can a rational person believe in God? We could turn the question around and ask: Why should we be rational? Why does [...]
The internal contains both the infernal and the eternal
We often sense a voice inside us, a voice that sometimes prompts us to do good and sometimes to do bad. We may wonder: Whose [...]
If we let our mundane desires drive us, they will drive us mad
To be conscious is to be desirous – our desires naturally drive our perceptions and actions. While traveling, when we desire to eat something, we [...]
Education is meant for not just literacy or numeracy or prosperity; it is meant essentially for spirituality
Education is highly sought nowadays, with people paying millions to get prestigious degrees. But what is education meant for? Some common answers are: literacy, numeracy [...]
The mind makes us juggle too many balls – and then makes us drop them all
Some circus artists juggle many balls, expertly catching them all before they fall. Still, even they have their limits – they can’t juggle too many [...]
The comfort blanket of rationalization keeps us willingly in the cage of illusion
Suppose a person is trapped in a cold cage. They will naturally look for a way to escape. But if inside the cage they are [...]
The heart that delights in the ephemeral can’t delve into the eternal
If we are searching for something in the dark, we need to focus our flashlight in the direction where that thing is located. If the [...]
Let Krishna’s visible protection increase our faith in his invisible protection
On seeing life’s many uncertainties, we may get the question, “Will Krishna really protect me amidst dangers?” Before looking for his protection amidst problems, we [...]
Ditch the road that ends in a ditch
Suppose we are driving along a road, and we find that it ends in a ditch. We would immediately look for a way to avoid [...]
The power of habit is terrible – and terrific
Habit can be terribly powerful. When people get caught in some bad habits such as smoking or drinking, they find quitting those habits almost impossible [...]
Illusion can cover everything, even the way out of illusion
Illusion sometimes captivates us, as when we see a mirage in a desert. When allured, we can find a way out of illusion if, say, [...]
Fanatics don’t hold opinions – their opinions hold them
We sometimes find some people irrationally attached to their opinions – attached to the point of being fanatical. Their behavior may make us wonder: “What [...]
People who are too full of themselves are empty
Egoistic people think and talk only about themselves: “I went here, I achieved this, I experienced this, I am so great.” Even if others talk [...]
We are shaped not just by our ideological faith but also by our functional faith
Nonbelievers sometimes demonize believers, highlighting religious violence. What such demonization overlooks is that the label believers is unhelpfully huge. It encompasses people who brainwash children [...]
Pure devotion is atelic, not telic
Telic refers to activities that are done for a particular goal. We may drive to get to office, work to earn a living or save [...]
Learn to see material attachments as negative equity
An asset that costs more than what it yields is a negative equity. If we learn that a prospective asset will become a negative equity, [...]
Matter matters, and so does manner
When we speak something authoritative, we often expect others to hear it submissively. Especially when we speak Krishna’s message, we frequently think that because we [...]
Knowledge in the mode of ignorance increases ignorance, not knowledge
Suppose a person goes deep into an unending dark tunnel. The deeper they go into the tunnel, the further they go from the light. Similar [...]
We are conditioned not by what we are, but by what we are missing
We all have our conditionings that sometimes make us act unwisely, even self-destructively. When some people get overpowered by their conditionings repeatedly, they start being [...]
Our existence and our faith are related causally, constitutionally and consequentially
Some people say how we live is all that matters, what we believe doesn’t matter. Actually however, the relationship between our life and our faith [...]