Those who mistake the route to be the root stay uprooted
Many people confuse the mind with the soul because both are inside. However, the soul and the mind differ cognitively, constitutionally and functionally. Cognitively, the [...]
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 [...]
Information puffs us up; application builds us up
Devotion requires not the rejection of our material side, but its harmonization with our spiritual purpose. We can use our material abilities and resources in [...]
When the mind makes the irrational seem rational, catch it in its irrationality
When we do something irrational, we may wonder, “Why did I do such a thing?” Because the mind may have stupefied us by using some [...]
The defect of dallying with the mind is that it makes the dallier a defector
We are all in an inner war with the mind, which the Bhagavad-gita (06.06) indicates is often our enemy. In this war, scriptural rules that [...]
Reposition the mind as the object of observation instead of its subject
Seekers often question: “My mind keeps getting distracted from Krishna. What can I do?” Make the mind the object of observation, answers Gita wisdom. Usually, [...]
The mind herds us and hurts us and hurts others through us
Under the influence of the mind, we often do things that hurt us and hurt others too. For example, being impelled into a fit of [...]
Leave temptation – and don’t leave a forwarding address
When troublesome stalkers harass people repeatedly, they may decide to flee. For this strategy to succeed, they need to leave without leaving a forwarding address; [...]
Decrease the perception of effort and increase the anticipation of reward by intellectual conviction
When we practice spiritual life, our mind holds us back by making us feel that the effort is too much and the reward too little. [...]
We may be far away from Krishna, but Krishna is always close to us
The distance between two people in any relationship is a function not of bodily location but of emotional disposition. Family members living under the same [...]
The supposition of subjectivity is sabotaged by the subjectivity of the supposition
“It may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.” This is the reason many people often give for dismissing scriptural revelation of [...]
Even if we can’t be consistent in our devotion, we can still be resilient
When we want to drive to a particular destination, we stay straight on the path that will take us there. But if factors beyond our [...]
Freedom resides not in the right to experience whatever we like, but in the liking for the right experience
“Won’t spiritual discipline take away my freedom by forbidding the things I like?” This apprehension often checks prospective seekers on their spiritual quest. The apprehension [...]
Muster determination to master distraction
Distraction is one of the biggest problems on the path of devotion. When we strive to fix the mind on Krishna internally, then we feel [...]
The mind may replay, but we don’t have to play
Sometimes some nasty images come in our mind and make us feel appalled at ourselves: “What kind of devotee am I to be thinking such [...]
Let the intelligence’s discrimination lead through the mind’s delusion to the heart’s devotion
We all have an inner enemy within us – some mysterious presence that impels us to act against our best interests. Different traditions refer to [...]
Devotion expands meditation to include emotion and action
Many people think that meditation is primarily a way to still the agitated mind. So, they think that any object such as a candle or [...]
The mind needs not what it heeds and heeds not what it needs
The Bhagavad-gita (06.06) cautions us that the mind can be our worst enemy. How does the mind act inimically? By misdirecting our attention and energy [...]
The mind’s misdirection is not just mild but also wild
On the spiritual path, the mind misdirects us from our intended focus on Krishna to thousands of distractions. In fact, the mind distracts not just [...]
The purpose of bodily regulation is not physical deprivation but spiritual connection
Some religious seekers subject the body to deprivation through extreme fasting or even self-flagellation. They think that such deprivation will lead to detachment and eventually [...]