We can’t delete our memories, but we can choose what we remember
Some of our memories may have scarred us – memories of abuses we have suffered or allurements we have succumbed to may agitate us whenever [...]
Focus not on letting go of things – focus on taking hold of your thoughts
In spiritual life, we are often exhorted to let go of things. However, we viscerally resist because we feel as if we are losing the [...]
To see Krishna’s love through the filter of our desires is to blind ourselves to his love
Suppose a child gets infatuated with a toy and demands it from his mother. If she refuses, he cries, “You don’t love me.” The mother [...]
When we distribute what we have, we appreciate what we have
Suppose someone works with medicines day in and day out. Medicines lie all around them. Because of the prolonged familiarity and abundant availability vis-à-vis medicines, [...]
The search for security is ultimately the search for spirituality
Some people say, “I am not interested in any spiritual stuff.” They feel uninterested because often they don’t understand what spirituality is. In today’s culture, [...]
Life is too precious to be wasted in doing perpetual post-mortem operations
When someone dies because of unknown causes, legal authorities often do a post-mortem operation to determine the cause. Similarly, in our life, when things go [...]
Empowerment doesn’t mean absence of obstacles – it means perseverance amidst obstacles
In spiritual circles, special souls who do extraordinary services are considered empowered by the divine. When we try to do some service and face some [...]
We may be unloved, but we are never unlovable
Small children feel unloved when their parents are too busy to spend time with them. Worse still, if this happens repeatedly, they feel unlovable – [...]
Culture is meant to channel our curiosity constructively, not destructively
To be curious is natural for us as conscious beings. Where we direct our curiosity is largely shaped by our culture; what we are exposed [...]
Cultivation of satisfaction requires not the rejection of desire, but the selection of desire
Some people feel, “Dissatisfaction is the spur for performance. If we simply become satisfied and give up the desire to excel, how will we achieve [...]
Don’t let the mind control the activities meant to control the mind
During a war, an army can sabotage its opponents by seizing control of their weapons and then using those very weapons against them. Our mind [...]
Anesthesia is meant to help heal sickness, not hide it
Suppose a surgeon is operating on a patient. Naturally, the surgeon needs to give anesthesia so that the patient’s pain while being operated is minimized. [...]
Life’s miseries are meant to be analyzed and addressed, not anesthetized
Suppose a distressed person on finding their pain decreased by anesthesia before surgery regularly starts anesthetizing themselves. This would deaden them in their capacity to [...]
Comfortable misery is still misery
We living in our AC homes and offices may pity people of the past who had to work outdoors, sweating profusely under the burning hot [...]
See temptation as an attack, not as a defeat
Suppose soldiers guarding the national border against a hostile neighbor find bullets whizzing past them. Naturally, they will see the bullets as signs of attack [...]
Doing what we don’t feel like doing is not necessarily being superficial
Some people say, “Why should I practice bhakti when I don’t feel like doing it? I don’t want to be superficial. I won’t do it [...]
In the war of egos, the winner is the bigger loser
When people disagree on an issue, the disagreement sometimes degenerates into a war of egos, where the issues are pushed into the background. People obsess [...]
The Gita complements verbal exposition with visual demonstration
The Bhagavad-gita expounds on the inconceivable relationship of God, Krishna, with this world through two paradoxical verses (09.04-05). These verses state that all of existence [...]
Purity reverses our mental gravity
Gravity refers to the force by which objects fall to the earth. Our mental gravity can refer to the force by which our thoughts naturally [...]
The instrumental self is not the self – it is the instrument to the self
One of the most intriguing Bhagavad-gita verses states: Elevate the self with the self, don’t degrade the self with the self; the self is the [...]
People need to feel understood before they become ready to understand
Suppose a patient goes to a doctor and, without hearing the patient, the doctor starts giving a prescription. The patient will be taken aback, “I [...]