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 [...]
Peace in the presence of disturbance
Whenever we are disturbed and we are seeking peace, how do we go about doing that? Often, we seek to drive the disturbance away. If [...]
Gita 06.27 explained
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya 10-32: From practice to perfection in [...]
Why all forms of concentration are not equal …
We all know that we can perform better if we could concentrate better. But is concentrating on anything equally helpful? Some people get rapt while [...]
Beyond feel-good spirituality — and beyond feel-bad spirituality
Many people nowadays present spirituality as a tool for helping us feel good about ourselves. Such a presentation serves a vital human need because today’s [...]
Purification puts the mind in the silent mode
When we are working on something important, if we are repeatedly disturbed by our phone’s beeps, we will put it in the silent mode. Just [...]
Contemplation on Krishna provides purification, elevation and satisfaction
People often ask, “What do you get by thinking about Krishna, as the Bhagavad-gita repeatedly recommends?” Let’s discuss three of the fruits of thinking about [...]
Don’t go behind the mind, go beyond the mind
To go behind the mind means to follow the mind, to do whatever it does. To go beyond the mind means to seek something higher, [...]
Spirituality stills the mind and fills the soul
When starting spiritual life, we may expect different things. Some people expect to levitate; some, to see a mystical light, some, to acquire an aura. [...]
The mind is a maddening chatterbox – silence it by absorption
We probably know chatterboxes. Especially detrimental are chatterboxes who are also gossipers and pessimists, who speak negatively about people, about things, about us, about everything. [...]
In meditation, the way to relaxation is through concentration
Many people try out meditation for de-stressing and relaxing themselves. However, when they start meditating, they often find concentrating during meditation demanding, even draining. And [...]
Distraction is draining; concentration is energizing
When we practice meditation and strive to focus our mind on higher spiritual reality, the struggle to concentrate can be disheartening. But we don’t have [...]
To beat problems, first beat the problematic mind down to size
When an army is fighting a war, it depends on its intelligence – its information sources – to know the strength of the enemy. But [...]
When the mind becomes peaceful, we become joyful
Seekers sometimes ask, “Bhakti is supposed to be joyful. But I don’t get much joy in practicing it. Why?” Because the mind interrupts our practice [...]
When the mind accepts the impure to be impure, we become pure
Impurity is essentially a perception-distorter. The impurity of addiction to alcohol makes alcoholics think that the very alcohol that is the cause of their suffering [...]
The mind that is clean is serene
Our high-speed stress-filled urbanized culture makes peace of mind a wanted but elusive commodity. Many people think that going to a peaceful setting such as [...]
We need a break – from the mind
Our mind harasses us constantly with internal proposals for material enjoyment. Moreover, it has a formidable external ally: the current culture. The culture does externally [...]