The desire that the dark be darker defines a dark mind
Suppose we know that someone is short-tempered. Suppose further we hear through the grapevine that they have assaulted someone. If we presume the rumor to [...]
Even if our worldview stays out of view, it shapes our every view
Suppose a beautiful bird is seen in the sky. A nature lover would reach for a camera to shoot its photo, whereas a hunter would [...]
Envy targets the envied, but torments the envious
Envy is the inner dark tendency that makes us miserable at others’ successes; it impels us to drag them down and plot their destruction. Envy [...]
Weakness makes us hotheaded, wickedness makes us cold-blooded
We all sometimes act wrongly. But not all wrong actions are equally serious – they fall at different points on a scale that extends from [...]
Intelligence is meant to be the mind’s instructor, not its instrument
We all have within us something that is impulsive and something that is reflective. Gita wisdom identifies the impulsive part as the mind and the [...]
We may forget gravity, but gravity won’t forget us
Suppose an intoxicated person forgets about gravity and steps off a ten-story building. Gravity won’t forget them; it will act and put them out of [...]
Artha divorced from dharma leads to anartha
Artha, wealth, and anartha, inner weakness, have a revealing relationship. Artha is vital for living, whereas anartha takes away the vitality of living. We need [...]
Read scripture and read from scripture – don’t read into scripture
For our life-journey, scripture is like a map. The Bhagavad-gita (16.24) urges us to make informed decisions based on scriptural knowledge. Let’s look at three [...]
16.02 Even if people are not faultless, we can still find faults less
When we find faults with others, we are often told to not have a fault-finding mentality. In response, we may defend ourselves, “But I am [...]
What we initially indulge in casually, we eventually indulge in compulsively
When contemporary culture tempts us with addictive indulgences such as drinking, it often offers a common rationalization, “Just drink once. It’s no big deal.” However, [...]
There is no scientific proof that you exist, but scientific proof exists because you exist
Suppose someone said in English, “I don’t know a single word of English.” Their statement would be a blatant self-contradiction. A similar self-contradiction results when [...]
Humility learns even from success; pride, not even from failure
We often learn much more from our failures than from our successes. When we succeed, we may become so full of ourselves as to think, [...]
Being a wizard brings the hazard of belittling others as dullards
Whenever we are wizards at something – superb at doing that thing – our ability can raise us to great heights. While we certainly need [...]
Indulgence decreases our capacity to push against desire and increase desire’s capacity to push us
Suppose we had to push a huge boulder uphill. That would be difficult enough. But on top of it, if we were becoming weak and [...]
As long as we are bound by desire, we will be bound to fear
Suppose an alcoholic is in a de-addiction center. Driven by desire for alcohol, they are sneakily seeking it somewhere. They will be fearful: will anyone [...]
Study scripture as a scuba diver, not a surface swimmer
When we swim in the ocean on its surface, we may find its vastness exciting. But if we want to find pearls, we need to [...]
Don’t see through others; see others through
To see through others means to look for faults in others even when none are evident. To see others through means to help others manage [...]
Free will is the distance between impulse and response
On seeing addicted people relapsing despite their best intentions, we may wonder, “Do they still have free will? Can we lose our free will?” No. [...]
Seek freedom from weakness, not freedom in weakness
Freedom from weakness refers to freedom from the lower urges that weaken our determination to act constructively. Our weaknesses are self-destructive forces within us such [...]
When the ego says go, tell the ego to go
When someone disagrees with us, especially someone we expected would obey us unquestioningly, our ego flares up. It goads us: “Yell at them; lash out [...]
Humans who pursue subhuman goals become anti-human
We humans are considered the most evolved among all species on our planet. Ironically though, we often cause more destruction than all other species – [...]