Are we connecting the dots or concocting the dots to connect?
Connecting the dots is a sign of perceptive intelligence, while creating the dots that can then be conveniently connected is a sign of deceptive intelligence. [...]
How desire abducts and abandons us
Desire abducts with the promise of pleasure and abandons us in the province of trouble. The Bhagavad Gita (18.38) states that sensual desires lead us [...]
What truth will our life story demonstrate?
We can choose what truth our life story will demonstrate: what is possible with God or what is inevitable without him. Our life is defined [...]
Tackling impurity from indulgence to transcendence
Impurity needs to be tackled by focusing on transcendence, not tickled by fantasizing about indulgence. Whenever we have any impurity within us that triggers desires [...]
“If you say yes I say no” – why we sometimes make irrational decisions
To reject an opinion by default just because we dislike the person giving that opinion is just as bad as accepting an opinion just because [...]
Feeling better or healing better?
Feeling better or healing better? When we are trying to grow spiritually, it’s important to be clear about the parameters for growth. Frequently, we understandably [...]
Regrettable but not regretted decisions
Just because a decision is regrettable doesn't mean that it will be regretted. Our life is filled with decisions—some small, some big, some good, some [...]
Going beyond spiritual dumbness & numbness
Overcoming our numbness and dumbness toward spiritual things, including ultimately God, involves addressing two ways in which we become spiritually deadened. As indicated in the [...]
When an action triggers fear…
The Bhagavad-gita (18.30) states that intelligence in the mode of goodness is able to view actions holistically in terms of their consequences, whether they are [...]
Transform our wandering into a pilgrimage
In the Bhagavad Gita (18.61), Krishna states that he is directing the wanderings of all living beings from his strategic vantage point, which is within [...]
Are nostalgia or utopia distracting us from meditation?
Meditation is essentially about connecting with a timeless divine reality that resides and presides beyond the mundane reality, which is constantly subject to change due [...]
How remembering Krishna makes the mind peaceful
In the Bhagavad-gita [18.61], Krishna directs the wandering of all living beings. Does this mean he also directs the wandering of our minds? After all, [...]
How meditation differs from obsession and frees us from obsession
The Bhagavad-gita (18.22) describes knowledge in the mode of ignorance, which leads people to obsess over one thing as if it were everything. Such an [...]
Does surrender mean that God manages our life for us?
The Bhagavad-gita begins and ends with surrender. But these two forms of surrender are significantly different. The initial surrender in 2.7 happens when Arjuna acknowledges [...]
When meditation seems like a fruitless struggle …
The Bhagavad-gita (18.32) states that intelligence in the mode of ignorance arrives at conclusions which are the opposite of the right conclusions. Navigating Fruitless Struggles [...]
Get out of the intelligence in ignorance
In the Bhagavad-gita (18.32), Krishna states how the buddhi that is in tamas – the intelligence that is in ignorance – arrives at conclusions opposite [...]
Surrender is not passive but active
The Bhagavad Gita (18.73) concludes with Arjuna surrendering to Krishna, not in a passive way by accepting Krishna's will as it is happening in his [...]
How worrying and meditating are similar
Many people feel that meditating is not for them. They feel, "I just can't meditate." That's largely because they don't clearly understand what meditation is [...]
Anxiety — circumstantial vs existential
Circumstantial anxieties are unavoidable because, no matter how much control we have over our external environment, there will always be some things beyond our [...]
Nothing to be worried about worried about everything
Some people think that if they had nothing in their lives that would cause them worry, anxiety, or fear, their lives would be peaceful. [...]
Anxious mind sick mind — be patient
Suppose someone has a severe disease that takes time to cure. We don't hold it against them if they don't become healthy overnight, even after [...]