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 – [...]
To argue that the truth is unknowable is to presume that it is knowable
Some skeptics look for flaws in all philosophies, especially philosophies that strive to explain the nature and purpose of existence. They argue that all such [...]
What we fear reflects what we hold dear
When we feel fearful, our fear points to something we hold immensely dear, something whose possible loss terrifies us. The Bhagavad-gita (16.11) indicates that as [...]
To not feel bad on doing bad is bestially bad
Suppose we accidentally step on someone’s foot. We would naturally apologize, ask if they are ok, and do what we can to help. Overall, we [...]
To know people’s backgrounds means to know what’s on their back and what’s under their ground
If we see someone walking with drooped shoulders, we might judge them as lethargic – till we notice that they are carrying a huge burden [...]
Godliness is both a decision and a disposition
When we strive to lead a godly life, we soon realize that some of us are innately inclined towards God, while others aren’t. We may [...]
Materialism reduces human life to an inhuman race from nowhere to nowhere
Many people adopt a materialistic lifestyle without thinking about its implications. A materialistic worldview implies that we have come from nowhere because we didn’t exist [...]