When clarification causes confusion, the culprit is pre-conception
Krishna speaks the Bhagavad-gita to remove Arjuna’s confusion about the best course for him: action or renunciation. The Gita’s second chapter, eschewing these two polar [...]
What is natural is not always desirable; what is desirable is not always natural
Some people oppose regulation of sensual pleasure: “Material enjoyment is natural. Why should we unnaturally suppress that which is natural?” The vital question here is: [...]
The purpose of service is not productivity or popularity but purity
In our rushed lives, we often have so many things to do that we are caught in getting them done, not in enjoying doing them. [...]
See beyond divergent ideas to convergent ideals
Some people ask: “How can we find harmony among the many different spiritual paths?” By looking beyond divergent ideas to convergent ideals, answers Gita wisdom. [...]
The body is a visa to pleasure, not a passport
Many people imagine that the body is the gateway to pleasure, as is often depicted in novels and movies. Pleasure is not our native country, [...]
What comes fast doesn’t last; what does last doesn’t come fast
Our culture allures us with the promise of immediate pleasure: “Eat this, smell this, touch this – and you will enjoy real fast.” Material pleasures [...]
The greatest danger is the danger of forgetting the danger
During a war, a wily enemy often induces in a well-equipped opponent a false sense of victory – and then fells the unprepared opponent with [...]
Purity transforms the roads to misery into the roads to ecstasy
When we travel along a road, we usually ask ourselves: Where will this road take me? Just as we travel physically along various roads, we, [...]
As long as we mistake the irresistible to be essential, we deprive ourselves of the essential
Sometimes worldly desires, especially immoral and anti-devotional sexual desires, seem irresistible. No matter how much we try to resist them, they seem to keep returning [...]
The biggest battle in life is to keep the biggest battle the biggest battle
Life is like a battle. Each day we have to overcome obstacles to achieve our goals. Among these daily battles, the biggest battle is in [...]
Pass the test, get the taste
We all long for happiness. And millions of things in this world promise us happiness. But none of them can provide lasting happiness because none [...]
Krishna is the best enjoyer – and the best source of enjoyment
“If I start practicing spiritual life with all its rules, no enjoyment will be left in my life.” Such apprehensions often check potential spiritual seekers. [...]
Krishna may be beyond our reach, but we are not beyond his reach
When our moral failings overcome us, we tend to feel discouraged: “Maybe I am too impure to ever become pure; Maybe Krishna is beyond my [...]
No problem is so dreadful and no pleasure is so wonderful that it is worth losing our inner connection with Krishna
The world offers us two main distractions: problems and pleasures. Both attract, even demand, our attention and make us forget the higher inner reality of [...]
Disdain the pain that is a pain to miss
We often think of self-restraint as a pain: “I have to give up so many of the pleasures of the world.” Factually however, for us [...]
Are we mistaking the cause of torture to be the source of shelter?
Suppose we are stranded in an ocean on a sharp jagged rock. The rock seems to be our shelter, but it is actually the cause [...]
The inner light reveals the worst within – and the best within
We like to think that we are better than what we actually are. Surprisingly, Gita wisdom agrees: we are, in fact, better that what we [...]
The false currency that keeps us trading in the stock exchange of illusion
Money. That’s what people hope to gain by trading in the stock exchange. The trading is often frantic and frenzied. But suppose the currency being [...]
Are we mistaking the red signal to be the green signal?
To navigate through traffic, we need to understand traffic signals properly. Similarly, to navigate through life, we need to understand the signals during our life-journey. [...]
Are our desires locking us into a world of frustration or releasing us into the world of fulfillment?
We all may have experiences of how while dreaming and desiring something, we get transported somewhere into the world of our dreams, removed from everything [...]
The balance between “matter alone matters” and “matter doesn’t matter”
Matter alone matters is the belief of materialists. They consider the things of this world alone as valuable and material enjoyment as life’s ultimate success. [...]