Are we afraid of looking at ourselves?
Some people who are very bodily conscious and who especially feel that their body is not attractive enough, sometimes are afraid of looking at themselves [...]
What does meditation mean?
Does meditation mean that we become free from all thoughts? Some people have this idea that our thoughts are the cause of our troubles and [...]
Two characteristics of extremism
Any extremist ideology is totalizing and demonizing. Totalizing means that it claims to have a total understanding of everything, that whatever it says is [...]
Two kinds of extremism
Extremism can be in thought and in action. Extremism in thought is often called as exclusivism: where people believe, for example, if they are religious, [...]
Why to identify with villains in scriptures?
Whenever we study scriptures, we tend to identify with the virtuous characters, whether it is Ram or Sita or Hanuman. That's good, but it's also [...]
Two ways to look at emotions
Emotions are helpful when we see them as information, but they are harmful when we see them as instruction. Whenever we feel an emotion, say [...]
Three things we can do when we feel helpless
Suppose life puts us in a situation where we just feel that there's nothing in our control. Rather than giving into the feeling of helplessness, [...]
How not to approach religious differences?
When two people have difference of opinion over some issue of faith, be they of the same religious tradition or of different religious traditions – [...]
Choose silence in these 3 situations
Three situations when silence is our best friend, summarized by the acronym NOT: First is N when we have a negative opinion or attitude or [...]
Destiny determines our situations, but we determine our decisions in those situations
Whenever we are put in a sudden unexpected and unfavorable, even unbearable situation, we may resent and even condemn either God or ourselves for having [...]
Four ways people see religion
When people are in the mode of ignorance, they think of religion primarily in terms of grievance and vengeance: that, "Oh, I have been hurt [...]
Four ways people conceive God
When we are in the mode of ignorance, we see God primarily as a fearsome ruler and we try to stay on his good side [...]
Three steps toward becoming more focused
We all have the experience that we get distracted and waste a lot of time due to the resulting underperformance. To become more focused, we [...]
Invest in doing something worthwhile
Even if we can't control the quantity of our life, we can always control the quality of our life. Some people feel afraid that death [...]
Four ways people look at death
The Bhagavad-gītā explains the three modes of material nature and how they affect our vision of things. Let's see how the modes affect our vision [...]
Four ways people look at problems
Four ways people look at problems: When we are in the mode of ignorance, whenever we are faced with problems, we go into self-pity and [...]
When our mind weakens our connection with reality
Whenever our mind weakens our connection with reality, we need to stop, not rush forward. Suppose we are talking with someone on phone and say [...]
Intelligence means to see beyond the things that glitter
Intelligence means to see beyond the things that glitter to the things that matter. The world is filled with shiny trinkets and toys and these [...]
The discipline of mind that leads to happiness
To know what things are of value is good, to have the things of value is better and to value the things of value that [...]
We don’t get to choose whether we die
We don't get to choose whether we die, but we do get to choose whether we live before we die. Death is unavoidable for everyone. [...]
Jealousy becomes the recipe for unhappiness
The jealous are expert at two things, counting others blessings and discounting their own blessings. Jealousy is such a peculiar vice that when we are [...]