Meditation & life – compartmentalized or integrated
Our love needs to be seen, not just through the words that we speak but also through the actions that we do. The Bhagavad Gita [...]
Hold a mirror to ourselves and feel satisfied
If we don't hold a mirror to ourselves, we may end up having no inclination or even an aversion to holding a mirror to ourselves. [...]
Get off the slippery slope of random inner desires
To get into a desire is far more difficult than getting out of a desire. Better to exercise our intelligence to decide whether to get [...]
When efforts to concentrate just don’t work …
Whenever we are trying to meditate on Krishna, we may often be challenged by our mind’s wandering here and there. In the Bhagavad-gita (6.26), Krishna [...]
Four ways our mind and intelligence may relate with Krishna
The Bhagavad Gita (8.7) states that to remember Krishna throughout our life, we need to dedicate our mind and intelligence to Him. Our mind is [...]
Cultivating emotions toward Krishna: An acquired taste
The Bhagavad Gita (15.19) declares that those who understand Krishna as the Supreme Person, worship Him with all the emotions of their hearts. What is [...]
From visible to invisible — challenges in meditation on Krishna
The Bhagavad Gita (7.7) states that Krishna is the invisible thread in the necklace of this world. When we are trying to meditate on Krishna, [...]
Are we in charge of our inner world?
The Bhagavad Gita (6.6) warns us that our mind can be our enemy if we are not in control of it. In politics, there are [...]
From material emotion to spiritual emotion
In the Bhagavad-gita verse (4.10), Krishna describes how we can move from material emotion to spiritual emotion. Broadly, the various emotions we have in association [...]
Get out of the intelligence in ignorance
In the Bhagavad-gita (18.32), Krishna states how the buddhi that is in tamas – the intelligence that is in ignorance – arrives at conclusions opposite [...]
Bhakti is a journey through physical reality to spiritual reality
The Bhagavad-gita declares that all attractive things derive their attractiveness from a spark of Krishna's supreme attractiveness (10.41). This implies that the world we encounter [...]
Surrender is not passive but active
The Bhagavad Gita (18.73) concludes with Arjuna surrendering to Krishna, not in a passive way by accepting Krishna's will as it is happening in his [...]
A better place even through a dark phase
In the Bhagavad-gita (6.30), it is said that for the realized yogi, Krishna is never lost to them, nor are they ever lost to him. [...]
Two dimensions of meditation
Meditation is a process of both taking in as well as going in. When we meditate on Krishna by chanting his holy names, we are, [...]
The mind needs to be cured not crushed
In the Bhagavad Gita 6.56, Krishna states that the mind can be managed only by an appropriate process. This emphasis on an appropriate process indicates [...]
How worrying and meditating are similar
Many people feel that meditating is not for them. They feel, "I just can't meditate." That's largely because they don't clearly understand what meditation is [...]
Anxiety — circumstantial vs existential
Circumstantial anxieties are unavoidable because, no matter how much control we have over our external environment, there will always be some things beyond our [...]
The mind is to be parented not terminated
The Bhagavad Gita states that the greatest problem with focusing our mind is that it presently acts as our enemy. Interestingly, the Gita does not [...]
Nothing to be worried about worried about everything
Some people think that if they had nothing in their lives that would cause them worry, anxiety, or fear, their lives would be peaceful. [...]
Anxious mind sick mind — be patient
Suppose someone has a severe disease that takes time to cure. We don't hold it against them if they don't become healthy overnight, even after [...]
Anxious that you are anxious
Our mind is like a machine, and different machines are wired differently; some people may be more prone to anxiety than others. While we try [...]