Why Do You Worship Your Spiritual Master More Than Krishna?
“Why do you worship your spiritual master more than Krishna?” A devotee from a traditional Sri Vaishnava background recently asked me this question. “What makes [...]
Is God Being Unfair to You—or Are You Being Unfair to God?
After one of my talks at Southern Connecticut State University, a young man came up to speak with me. We were in a classroom, and [...]
If both sequences of the mahā-mantra are scripturally valid, can someone chant the Rāma-first version and still be initiated in the Gauḍīya tradition?
The distinction here is between validity and fidelity. Something can be accepted as valid without being the particular practice to which we commit ourselves when [...]
Did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu change the sequence of the mahā-mantra to bring Kṛṣṇa first instead of Rāma?
To address this question, let us break it into four parts: 1. What does scripture say? 2. Did Mahāprabhu deliberately reverse the sequence? 3. What [...]
Independence: A Legacy to Treasure and Transmit
My childhood memories of India’s Independence Day are bittersweet. The strongest memory is of the collective singing of the patriotic song: “जो शहीद हुए हैं, [...]
Are life’s reversals karma, tests by Maya, or Krishna’s push to surrender?
When we face reversals in life, we often wonder whether these are the results of our past karma, tests by Maya, or Krishna pushing us [...]
Question: Considering the case of Ketan Agarwal, is murder destined or is it because of poor judgment?
Answer: Such a question has no simple answer. As the Bhagavad Gita itself acknowledges, gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ—the workings of karma are profound and difficult to [...]
How faith empowers us to face life
Faith is the readiness to wait for the full picture that God is forever unveiling before us. We often use metaphors, consciously or unconsciously, to [...]
Gita 04.36 – Explanation
Gita 04.36 – The subjunctive case underscores the redemptive power of spiritual knowledge Link - https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-36-the-subjunctive-case-underscores-the-redemptive-power-of-spiritual-knowledge/ api ced asi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ pāpa-kṛt-tamaḥ sarvaṁ jñāna-plavenaiva vṛjinaṁ [...]
Gita 04.35 – Explanation
Gita 04.35 – Knowledge takes us beyond illusion and reveals connection of everything with Krishna Link - https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-35-knowledge-takes-us-beyond-illusion-and-reveals-connection-of-everything-with-krishna/ yaj jñātvā na punar moham evaṁ yāsyasi [...]
Gita 04.33 – Explanation
Gita 04.33 – Let action be permeated by knowledge and culminate in knowledge Link - https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-33-let-action-be-permeated-by-knowledge-and-culminate-in-knowledge/ śreyān dravya-mayād yajñāj jñāna-yajñaḥ paran-tapa sarvaṁ karmākhilaṁ pārtha jñāne [...]
Gita 04.34 – Explanation
Gita 04.34 – Learn from guru how to do karma as yajna and attain jnana Link - https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-34-learn-from-guru-how-to-do-karma-as-yajna-and-attain-jnana/ tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā upadekṣyanti te [...]
How remembering Krishna is different from remembering anything else
Remembering Krishna is not like locking him into our memory bank When we try to remember something, we often imagine it as locking that fact [...]
Gita 04.32 – Explanation
Gita 04.32 – Knowing the unity among various yajnas grants liberation Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-32-knowing-the-unity-among-various-yajnas-grants-liberation/ evaṁ bahu-vidhā yajñā vitatā brahmaṇo mukhe karma-jān viddhi tān sarvān evaṁ jñātvā [...]
Gita 04.31 – Explanation
Gita 04.31 – Happiness in this world and the next don’t have to be mutually exclusive Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-31-happiness-in-this-world-and-the-next-dont-have-to-be-mutually-exclusive/ nāyaṁ loko ’sty ayajñasya kuto ’nyaḥ kuru-sattama [...]
Gita 04.30 – Explanation
Gita 04.30 – The knowers of yajna attain purification, satisfaction and liberation Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-30-the-knowers-of-yajna-attain-purification-satisfaction-and-liberation/ sarve ’py ete yajña-vido yajña-kṣapita-kalmaṣāḥ yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujo yānti brahma sanātanam Word-to-word sarve [...]
Gita 04.29 – Explanation
Gita 04.29 – Infuse pranayama with the imagery of yajna Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-29-infuse-pranayama-with-the-imagery-of-yajna/ apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ prāṇe ’pānaṁ tathāpare prāṇāpāna-gatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ apare niyatāhārāḥ prāṇān prāṇeṣu [...]
Gita 04.37 – Explanation
Gita 04.37 – The fire of knowledge reduces karma to ashes Audio Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-37-the-fire-of-knowledge-reduces-karma-to-ashes/ yathaidhāṁsi samiddho ’gnir bhasma-sāt kurute ’rjuna jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi bhasma-sāt kurute tathā [...]
Gita 04.38 – Explanation
Gita 04.38 – Don’t reduce jnana to jnana-yoga Audio Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-38-dont-reduce-jnana-to-jnana-yoga/ na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ pavitram iha vidyate tat svayaṁ yoga-saṁsiddhaḥ kālenātmani vindati (Bg 4.38) [...]
Gita 04.39 – Explanation
Gita 04.39 – Faith is the pre-condition for knowledge Audio Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-39-faith-is-the-pre-condition-for-knowledge/ śraddhāvāḻ labhate jñānaṁ tat-paraḥ saṁyatendriyaḥ jñānaṁ labdhvā parāṁ śāntim acireṇādhigacchati (Bg 4.39) Word-for-word: [...]
Gita 04.40– Explanation
Gita 04.40 – Don’t let doubts deprive you of happiness Audio Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-04-40-dont-let-doubts-deprive-you-of-happiness/ ajñaś cāśraddadhānaś ca saṁśayātmā vinaśyati nāyaṁ loko ’sti na paro na sukhaṁ [...]