To have our needs met by being unhappy is unhealthy
Children who have neglectful parents may find that their parents’ give them attention only when they cry. Damaged by such parental neglect, they may develop [...]
Be a spiritual worker, not a material shirker
Some people who become spiritual but don’t have an inclusive understanding of spirituality start neglecting their work and their worldly responsibilities in the name of [...]
Gita 18.21 explained
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan Bg 18.21 pṛthaktvena tu yaj [...]
Being grateful in general is like being married in general
With the increasing secularization or more specifically desacralization of mainstream culture, many of the uplifting values that comprised the core character of respectable people in the past have been divorced from the fabric of the spiritual worldview on which they had been based. Thus, for example,
Gita 18.08 explained
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan After talking about renunciation in [...]
Be not fretful or fearful – be faithful
The present is all that we have – and all that we will ever have. But our mind often distracts us towards the past and the future through fretfulness and fearfulness. Fretful: The mind misdirected towards the past makes us fretful. We agonize over the many things that have gone wrong in our life
Life’s misfortunes are like thorns – don’t press on them; pass through them
Suppose we are walking barefoot and the path turns thorny. If that is the only way to our destination, we will gird ourselves to endure the pain. But we won’t press our foot on the thorns – we will take it off as quickly as possible and pass through.
The essence of bhakti is not moving backward or forward, but moving upward
Some spiritually-minded people, being engaged in mainstream society with its notions of progress centered on science and technology, pursue bhakti for getting peace, meaning and fulfillment – things elusive in today’s world. They see bhakti as a complement to their present way of living.
We can’t give what we don’t have, but in giving we can have
Suppose we were tormented by thirst, being lost in a desert; and some relief workers came, gave us some water and invited us to their hometown, an oasis with abundant water resources. We all are lost in the desert of material existence, thirsting for happiness.
Don’t let identity politics blind you to your identity
Identity politics refers to the phenomenon of people identifying themselves with particular political positions and viewing everything in terms of those positions, as for or against those positions. Identity politics can be corrosive.
Service attitude is the torch that lights the next step amidst the darkness of perplexity
Suppose we are walking through an unfamiliar area and suddenly the power goes off. We may rant initially, but soon we will turn on our [...]
Greater than the world’s power to hurt is God’s power to heal
The world sometimes afflicts us with reversals such as financial losses, relationship ruptures or devastating diagnoses. The resulting hurt may overwhelm and paralyze us. At [...]
Bhakti is not a rejection of human values, but a progression above them
The Bhagavad-gita (18.66) asks us to give up all dharma, which contextually means ordinary conceptions of right and wrong, and just surrender to God. Does [...]
Worry is the interest we pay on loans we haven’t yet taken
Suppose a friend is worried about paying the interest on a loan. On enquiry, we come to know that they haven’t yet taken that loan. [...]
The Gita doesn’t reject dharma, but raises dharma to its summit
The Bhagavad-gita’s concluding call (18.66: Give up all dharma) often perplexes people. They ask, “Why does the Gita, a book on dharma, ask us to [...]
Digging for gold requires dealing with dirt
Few activities captivate the human imagination as much as the hope of finding underground gold. However, such fantasies often overlook the reality that that gold [...]
In bhakti, understanding and practice are not just sequential, but also symbiotic
When we understand how some process works, say, how a particular fitness regimen works, our motivation to practice it increases. Thus, understanding inspires and intensifies [...]
Even if bhakti is not joyful, it is still fruitful
When we hear scriptural descriptions about the immense, intense bliss of bhakti, we may get the question, “Is this for real?” This question may become [...]
In bhakti, to talk is also to walk the talk
When people just speak about lofty principles of living without exhibiting any tangible improvement in character or behavior, others may chide them, “Don’t just talk [...]
We are defined by what we stand for, not what we stand against
Some people are perpetual agitators. They agitate against the government, against the police, against the corporate world, against the religious orthodoxy, against the cultural norms. [...]
In worrying about what all may go wrong, we go wrong
Worrying hurts us even before things go wrong, while things are going wrong and after things have gone wrong. Consider a student with a decent [...]