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 [...]
See through the mind’s troika of denial, misdirection and self-victimization
The mind often sabotages us by making us do foolish things. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (06.06) cautions that the mind can be our enemy. The mind [...]
Our conviction that happiness is our right is right
We all long for happiness and are deeply convinced that we have a right to be happy. But this conviction runs contrary to our lived [...]
The mind is a universe – not everything in it is relevant
The universe’s vastness and our smallness render irrelevant much of what happens in the universe. We don’t let, say, a comet shooting through the solar [...]
Scriptural regulation is productive, not restrictive
Suppose a gold-seeker digs at a place where there’s no gold and is told by a geologist to not dig there. Is such a direction [...]
The available becomes valuable when it becomes accessible
Suppose we come to know of a powerful feature in our phone. That feature was always available, but to us it was just an icon [...]
Don’t let the mind make you fight more battles than you need to
If soldiers while fighting a battle agonize about a reversal in yesterday’s battle or worry about the danger in tomorrow’s battle, they will undermine their [...]
Don’t relax the treatment just because the symptoms have disappeared
When germs of a deadly disease such as tuberculosis infect us and give rise to manifest symptoms of sickness, we take treatment immediately and diligently. [...]
Let scripture lead beyond the head’s complexity to the heart’s simplicity
The heart’s simplicity refers to, in the context of spiritual life, the simple love of the heart for Krishna, the uncomplicated faith that just by [...]
Check the train before you check into it
Suppose an inattentive person on a huge, noisy, crowded railway station boards a wrong train. Some trains may stop after a few minutes, but some, [...]
If we don’t recognize the mind, it will make us unrecognizable to ourselves
Recognizing the mind means to recognize the voice coming from within us to be the voice of the mind and not our own voice. When [...]
Absorption is a function of not just attraction but also determination
Sometimes during our devotional practices we may find our mind slipping away to other things that we are more attracted to and may wonder, “How [...]
If we let the mind fill in the blanks, it will overwrite the sentence
We all have during our schedules certain slots that are filled with obligatory engagements and certain slots that are freer. Though we may have lots [...]
The mind is illusion’s internal advertising agent
Much of today’s materialistic culture runs through advertising. Most multinational companies often spend far more on product promotion than on quality control. Advertising agents are [...]
Absent-minded means not that the mind is absent, but that our control on it is absent
In common parlance, the word ‘mind’ refers to one’s attention, as in, “Give your full mind to what you are doing.” In the Bhagavad-gita’s philosophical [...]
Don’t give the mind power of attorney – and don’t let it grab it either
Power of attorney refers to the power given by the owner to someone else to act in a legal capacity on one’s behalf. As the [...]
The mind makes the exhausting seem exciting and the exciting seem exhausting
The mind is often declared in scripture to be an enemy, as for example in the Bhagavad-gita (06.06). One way the mind acts inimically is [...]
Spiritual happiness never goes away – it just pushes us on the way
Seekers sometimes ask, “It is said that material happiness is temporary, whereas spiritual happiness is eternal. But even spiritual happiness seems temporary – sometimes we [...]
Regulation is the road to realization
Some people ask, “Isn’t regulation deprivation? If we enjoy something, why should we check ourselves in doing it?” The purpose of regulation is not deprivation, [...]
Don’t give guidance alone – give confidence too
When we practice spiritual life for some time, younger practitioners may come to us for guidance in tackling problems such as the uncontrolled mind. The [...]
Don’t lobotomize ashtanga-yoga to ekanga-yoga
In today’s cultural imagination, yoga is often equated with physical postures meant for shaping and toughening the body. No doubt, practicing postures is better than ingesting [...]