The Gita raises our consciousness from jagat to jiva to Jagadisha
The Gita is a complex philosophical book. Simultaneously, it is a practical spiritual guide. When we understand its essential concepts, we can discern, amidst its [...]
Don’t let the mind control the activities meant to control the mind
During a war, an army can sabotage its opponents by seizing control of their weapons and then using those very weapons against them. Our mind [...]
The instrumental self is not the self – it is the instrument to the self
One of the most intriguing Bhagavad-gita verses states: Elevate the self with the self, don’t degrade the self with the self; the self is the [...]
People need to feel understood before they become ready to understand
Suppose a patient goes to a doctor and, without hearing the patient, the doctor starts giving a prescription. The patient will be taken aback, “I [...]
Set it and forget it approach won’t work because the mind will reset it
Suppose in our home we have a fire alarm that can be set to go off whenever any danger signs arise. Some devices are advertised [...]
The mind makes us serious about the frivolous and frivolous about the serious
Our mind often skews our sense of perspective – it makes us serious about the frivolous and frivolous about the serious. Serious about the frivolous: [...]
Don’t just fight the mind – fight to get the mind to fight for you
Suppose a part of a country is afflicted by insurgency. To gain control, that country needs to not just crush the insurgents but to also [...]
The mind may be confused, but we don’t have to let it confuse us
Suppose while we are working we find a colleague suddenly starts mumbling something. If what they are saying doesn’t make sense, we might try to [...]
Train yourself to hack the inner hacker
A major danger in today’s digital world is hacking, wherein unscrupulous people gain access to our confidential, valuable data. A similar danger plagues us all [...]
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. [...]
Infuse charity with compassion, not calculation
Some pious people give charity, seeing it as an investment in a bank that lasts beyond death – the good karma will benefit them in [...]
Spirituality enables us to stand tall without standing on others
To ascend to success in material life, winners often have to stand atop their competitors, causing the death of their dreams. For example, in a [...]
Change of inclination requires not just resolution but also reconstruction
Our mind is inclined towards certain things: some good, some bad. We often resolve to overcome our unworthy inclinations, yet we succumb to them. To [...]
See the effort in focusing the mind as an exercise, not an exertion
Suppose a person arriving at an airport finds that they don’t have any porter to carry their luggage from the carousal to the car. They [...]
The mind should do our work, not make us do its work
Suppose we need to know some information and so open the browser on our phone to visit a particular site. But while going there, suppose [...]
Gita 06.15 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 [...]
See the mind not as too strong for us to resist, but as too weak to resist the world’s toys
When we wish to do something constructive, the mind often diverts us here, there and everywhere. Seeing how forcefully the mind distracts us can be [...]
To change the way you feel, change the way you think
Suppose someone wants to rid a field of weeds – and they get a lawn mower. They may remove the weeds, but the roots will [...]
Strong security means that unusual activity triggers immediate inquiry
Suppose we log in to our mail id from a new place or device. If we have set a high level of security for our id, we will be immediately asked to pass through some verification option. Such vetting is meant not to prevent us from logging in, but to decrease our vulnerability to hackers.
Even in paradise, the mind will say, “Yes, but …”
We may know people who are habitual faultfinders. No matter how well a thing is done, they harp on some wrong that is irrelevant, insignificant or even imaginary. Being with such people is a recipe for misery. Unfortunately, we have to live with one such inveterate faultfinder: our own mind. It finds faults with the things we have, with the way people treat us, with the way life turns out.
The mind is a slow learner – learn to help it learn
Suppose parents learn that their child, who had been struggling at school, has dyslexia. This knowledge, though distressing, is also empowering. How? Because they can [...]