There is a purpose for everything we experience, even the things we don’t want to experience
Suppose we are forced to go through certain experiences that we just didn’t want to go through. When such things happen, it’s natural to feel [...]
Happiness is found not in collecting and consuming, but in connecting and contributing
Today’s corporate-controlled consumerist culture makes us believe that our success and happiness are defined by how much we collect and how much we consume: how [...]
Obscenity is objectionable not because it shows too much of a person, but because it shows too little and obsesses people with the too little
Obscenity is becoming increasingly accessible and visible in today’s media and especially on the Internet. And it has some aggressive proponents: “If people want to [...]
Our loudest desires won’t lead us to happiness – our deepest desires will
In a conversation, suppose one person speaks the loudest. That doesn’t make them right; the person who has given the deepest thought to the issues [...]
Be not self-seeking, be seekers of the self
Self-seeking people care for their own pleasures, without caring for anyone else. Such people can’t be seekers of the self because what they seek is [...]
Even if we can’t stop feeling sensual urges, we can stop feeding sensual urges
Suppose we live in a forest cabin. We may not be able to prevent the arrival of unwanted animals. But we can avoid feeding them, [...]
To free yourself from the burden of self-consciousness, become conscious of a purpose bigger than the self
Self-consciousness can be a big burden for many people. When they interact with others, especially in public settings, they are choked by their self-consciousness: “I [...]
Pleasure and pain are both life’s ringtones – don’t keep hearing the tone, start picking up the phone
Suppose our phone rings. Some ringtones are soothing; some, jarring. However, how the ringtone sounds is not as important as what it indicates: that someone [...]
The body reacts mechanically – don’t take its reactions personally
Suppose we had a machine that was programmed to behave in a particular way, to respond to certain stimuli with certain actions. Suppose we didn’t [...]
Turning away is not running away if we are turning toward something better
Suppose we see a person who constantly agitates us. Not wanting to interact with them, we turn away. Are we being cowardly? Not necessarily. If [...]
We don’t have to outweigh our urges; we just have to out-wait them
Suppose a thief is trying to barge into our house by breaking the door. Suppose further that the door has a loose bolt that we [...]
When we resist our urges, they may become scarier, but they don’t become stronger
Suppose an animal trainer is domesticating a wild tiger by starving it till it becomes compliant. Like all other living beings that are kept hungry, [...]
If conscience doesn’t create a barrier between impulse and indulgence, intelligence must
Suppose a river tends to overflow unpredictably, flooding the nearby areas. To protect those areas, a barrier would be constructed on the riverbank. Similarly, in [...]
Gita 5.24 explained
Now Sri Krishna talks about turning inwards once again Bg 5.24 yo ’ntaḥ-sukho ’ntar-ārāmas tathāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ sa yogī brahma-nirvāṇaṁ brahma-bhūto ’dhigacchati Word for word: [...]
Gita 5.15 explained
Bg 5.15 nādatte kasyacit pāpaṁ na caiva sukṛtaṁ vibhuḥ ajñānenāvṛtaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ Word for word: na — never; ādatte — accepts; kasyacit — [...]
Gita 5.12 explained
Bg 5.12 yuktaḥ karma-phalaṁ tyaktvā śāntim āpnoti naiṣṭhikīm ayuktaḥ kāma-kāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate Word for word: yuktaḥ — one who is engaged in devotional service; [...]
Gita 5.11 explained
Now what is the motivation for such a person to work? If one is not involved, one should not be having emotional desire for the [...]
Fulfilling our every desire won’t make us happy, focusing on our most important desire will
We all have many desires that remain unfulfilled because we don’t have the necessary resources. For example, we may want to wear the trendiest clothes, [...]
Don’t just work on our conditionings – work with our conditionings
Suppose someone has a condition with no easy cure, such as blindness. Though they may keep trying to cure that condition, they will also work [...]
Intelligence shows how indulgence is harmful and how harmful indulgence is
Less than a century ago, smoking was considered harmless. It took decades of intelligent investigation to reveal that smoking harmed health, and harmed it so [...]
Chemical highs can’t cure life’s lows, we need to go spiritually high
When life’s adversities push people down, they often feel so dejected that they desperately seek something to lift themselves. And often they turn to chemicals [...]