Sensual pleasure is too fleeting to be fulfilling
Suppose we are tormented by thirst in a desert. If someone gives us water, they would appear to be doing us a great favor. But [...]
Sensual pleasure ends, but it doesn’t end with pleasure
In today’s materialistic culture, countless images of attractive sense objects allure us incessantly. Our mind imagines that the pleasure therein is immense and irresistible. Believing [...]
What we need to give up is not material life but the materialistic conception of life
Some people think that becoming spiritual requires giving up material life. However, their apprehension arises from a misunderstanding of spirituality. The foundational spiritual text, Bhagavad-gita, [...]
Go beyond two equalities to true equality
A modern social critic, George Orwell, highlighted how the illusoriness of the equality that communism tried to create: “In communism all people are equal, but [...]
Crave not for what lies outside the fence – cultivate what lies inside it
Suppose we have a garden with the potential for beautiful flowers and delicious fruits. Still, we need to grow them. If instead we keep craving [...]
Our greatest weakness is our unwillingness to believe in Krishna’s love for us
We often think of our weaknesses in terms of lust or anger or greed or envy. Yes, these are weaknesses, but they all are the [...]
The mind issues checks that the body can’t cash
Suppose someone gives us a check that bounces. If that person issues checks again, we wouldn’t accept. Similarly, our mind often issues checks, but the [...]
The best way to control our thoughts is to direct them towards the one who is always in control
If we are say attacked by thieves, we may try to fight off them ourselves, but if we can quickly call the police and the [...]
Gita 05.26 explained
Bg 5.26 kāma-krodha-vimuktānāṁ yatīnāṁ yata-cetasām abhito brahma-nirvāṇaṁ vartate viditātmanām Word for word: kāma — from desires; krodha — and anger; vimuktānām — of those who [...]
Focus not on the pain of failing – focus on the pleasure of learning
When we fail in something important for us, we naturally feel disheartened. If we don’t process this feeling intelligently, we may quit. Failure is an [...]
Resist the temptation to expect immediate resistance to temptation
When we start practicing spiritual life, we may resolve to give up sensual indulgence. But as our material attachments are deep-rooted, they frequently overpower us. [...]
Education is needed not just to fulfill our desires, but also to know which desires to fulfill
We usually want education so that we can have a lucrative career and thereby fulfill our many desires. And, yes, education can serve this purpose, [...]
In the spiritual race, if we strive to be finishers, we will be winners too
Sometimes, people participate in runs to express their solidarity for a cause. In such runs, who wins the race is not as important as who [...]
The test of spirituality is not absence of temptation but persistence amidst temptation
Some people think, “To practice spiritual life seriously, I need to be free from temptations. And as I still get tempted, I can’t practice spiritual [...]
Seek more than sense pleasure, not more sense pleasure
Materialistic people consider sense gratification to be life's ultimate purpose – they crave and slave to achieve it. However, sense pleasure is inescapably temporary. The [...]
We may be unloved, but we are never unlovable
Small children feel unloved when their parents are too busy to spend time with them. Worse still, if this happens repeatedly, they feel unlovable – [...]
See temptation as an attack, not as a defeat
Suppose soldiers guarding the national border against a hostile neighbor find bullets whizzing past them. Naturally, they will see the bullets as signs of attack [...]
Our greatest power is not the power we have over others, but the power we have over ourselves
Many people hunger for power. Such power-hungry people usually define power in terms of externals, in terms of how much they can control others and [...]
Sex is a bodily function – letting it become a mental obsession is illusion
Some people ask, “Sex is a natural bodily function. Why is spiritual life against sex?” Spiritual life is not against the natural bodily function of [...]
The way of the body is the way of limitation and tribulation
People sometimes ask, “Why are bodily pleasures spoken of so negatively in the Bhagavad-gita?” The Bhagavad-gita recommends restraint in bodily indulgence not to deprive us [...]
External success may be a zero-sum game, but internal success isn’t
External success requires us to achieve worldly things such as positions and possessions that are considered markers of success. But such success markers are limited. [...]