To be perceptive, be receptive
When we see perceptive people who catch things quickly and execute expertly, we may feel challenged: “I am not that perceptive.” We can increase our [...]
Control the mind before it controls you
Suppose a horse-rider becomes inattentive about controlling the horse. If the horse gets attracted by some fruit on the side of the road, it starts [...]
Outreach requires that we speak in the conceptual language that our audience understands
Suppose a speaker delivers an eloquent talk, but in a language that the audience doesn’t understand. The speaker’s effort gets wasted. Just as speaking to [...]
We need to know that which we can’t not know
We can’t afford to not have a map if we are on a road that ends in a free fall from a cliff into a [...]
Gita 13.34 explained
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan Next two verse will describe [...]
Willpower is a finite resource – use it wisely
We are finite beings, and finite are all our resources, including our willpower. That our willpower is finite means that we can fight only so [...]
Respecting religious pluralism doesn’t require disrespecting religion
Today, society is becoming increasingly multicultural. Due to the increasing connectedness of the whole world through communication and telecommunication, people are exposed to religious traditions [...]
The inner war may feature coronation or insurrection, but let it not feature execution
In a war for power between a heir apparent and a rebel, if the heir wins, a coronation occurs; if the rebel wins, an insurrection [...]
Channel the spirit of devotion, not the ghost of illusion
In common parlance, the words ghosts and spirits are used to refer to nonphysical beings. Among these, ghosts are often seen negatively, as beings to [...]
Second-guessing ourselves doesn’t reflect caution – it reflects confusion
Suppose we are driving to a particular place and have ascertained the path to get there. If we keep stopping repeatedly on the deserted road [...]
Spiritual progress is not all-or-nothing; material progress is all-for-nothing
All-or-nothing refers to situations where the winner gets everything and the loser, nothing. In a war, specifically the take-no-prisoners kind of confrontation that ends with [...]
The pursuit of God is never a 9-to-5 endeavor
When we work at a 9-to-5 job that we don’t particularly like, we dislike being disturbed by office work outside office-hours. If we like our [...]
We can’t deal with the enemies created by the mind without first dealing with the mind
When we feel that someone has wronged us, our mind often overreacts, painting them as mean and malevolent. However, in most routine interactions, people don’t [...]
We may be wired to explode, but we can change our wiring
Short-tempered people are sometimes said to be “wired to explode.” This expression draws metaphorically from technology to imply that our behavior is determined by our [...]
What is craved within gets carved within
We sometimes feel cravings for things that we would normally never indulge in real life. Yet we entertain those cravings mentally, thinking that the mental [...]
Be single-minded, not single-geared
Suppose we decide to drive by a particular path to a particular destination. If that path is blocked, we will flexibly choose an alternative path. [...]
What the uninformed see as restriction, the informed see as protection
A child playing in a courtyard sees a fence as a restriction that limits the area for playing. When that same child grows to become [...]
The test of spirituality is not absence of temptation but persistence amidst temptation
Some people think, “To practice spiritual life seriously, I need to be free from temptations. And as I still get tempted, I can’t practice spiritual [...]
To make sense of things by not thinking of the things that don’t make sense is self delusion
We humans innately need to make sense of things. Science, art and religion all are various means by which we try to find meaning in [...]
The world sees outside-in; God sees inside-out
The world often judges us by our actions. Even if we have the best of intentions, if our actions don’t work out right, the world [...]
To think that we may become proud suggests that we may already be proud
Suppose we have some special talents by which we can excel in an important service. But we may hesitate to use those talents, fearing that [...]