Defiance of God dooms us to dependence on matter
Some people openly defy God and claim, “I am independent – I will do whatever I want and enjoy whichever way I choose to.” While [...]
Gita 15.06 explained
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan Now Krishna will start speaking [...]
Gita 15.03-04 explained
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan Now Krishna is saying don’t [...]
Gita 15.02 explained
Bg 15.2 adhaś cordhvaṁ prasṛtās tasya śākhā guṇa-pravṛddhā viṣaya-pravālāḥ adhaś ca mūlāny anusantatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣya-loke Synonyms: adhaḥ — downward; ca — and; ūrdhvam — upward; prasṛtāḥ — extended; tasya — its; śākhāḥ — branches; guṇa— by the [...]
Gita 15.01 explained
We are in the Jyana section and in this section, Krishna is systematically establishing how Jyana culminates in Bhakti. In the 13th chapter, He talked [...]
Scripture makes our sight right
Our eyes are among our most used and most relied sources of perception. To make sense of things and make decisions, we want to see [...]
Let the Gita lead from the voluminous ambiguous expanse of the Vedas to their essence
The Vedas are a voluminous body of knowledge. Often compared to a desire tree, they provide guidelines for people at all levels of consciousness to [...]
The point is not to get it right, but to get it across
Scripture is not merely to be learned, but to be lived – a truth that every translator of scripture needs to constantly remember. Getting scriptural [...]
“Seeing is believing” requires unbelievable believing
Atheists sometimes argue, “Seeing is believing. Only if you show me things like the soul will I believe in them.” The belief underlying this slogan [...]
God we cannot be, but godly we can be
Some spiritualists claim that we, as eternal spiritual beings, are God, or will become God on attaining liberation. But the Bhagavad-gita (15.07) declares that we [...]
Our Choice: Infinite Longings or Longing for the Infinite?
The Bhagavad-gita (15.18) states that those who are enlightened offer all their heart's love to Krishna, understanding him to be the supreme person, the highest [...]
The eye can’t find the I as long as the I seeks through the eye
“The eye can’t find the I” means that the eye being material can’t perceive the real I, the soul, which is spiritual. “The I seeks [...]
Metaphysical blindness is more dangerous than physical blindness
Physical blindness makes us unaware of our surroundings, whereas metaphysical blindness makes us unaware of ourselves – our identity and our purpose. The Bhagavad-gita (15.10) [...]
The Gita’s choice is not about nonviolence or violence – it’s about disintegration or integration
The Bhagavad-gita’s asking Arjuna to fight understandably unnerves many people. Though the Gita’s framing narrative involves choosing violence over nonviolence, its core is far deeper. [...]
Knowledge of Krishna’s position stimulates submission and his disposition stimulates affection
Some neophyte devotees ask, “In bhakti-yoga, why do we need to study scripture and gain knowledge? Isn’t simply loving Krishna enough?” Yes, it is. But [...]
Service is unavoidable – why not make it relishable?
The scriptural teaching that we are servants of God often seems unpalatable to our ego: “Why should I serve God?” Rarely do we grasp the [...]
The tolerance that has no tolerance for transcendence is the worst intolerance
In today’s multi-cultural world, religious tolerance, a ‘live and let live’ attitude towards different religious groups, is appealing. The Bhagavad-gita strikes an ecumenically tolerant note [...]
Emotions come from reality and return us to reality
Emotions are the central feature, indeed the driving force, of our present existence. Many spiritual paths, especially impersonal spiritual paths, consider emotions as distractions, even [...]
By recognizing our identity and redefining our activity, we revolutionize our destiny
Our identity, activity and destiny are our defining features. But do our names, jobs and dreams actually define us? After all, we can change them [...]
Krishna is concrete, close-by and caring
“Always remember Krishna? That’s impossible.” This may be our understandable reaction on hearing the Bhagavad-gita’s central devotional recommendation. Thinking about Krishna constantly will naturally seem [...]
The oneness of love rests in the twoness of the lovers
Many people conceive of spiritual perfection as a state of absolute oneness, wherein one’s sense of personal identity is dissolved in the impersonal absolute. This [...]