Focus not on freedom — focus on love
Today’s culture often enthrones freedom as the highest good, as an absolutely inviolable tenet. Undoubtedly, freedom is one of our innate longings, and it needs [...]
Today’s culture often enthrones freedom as the highest good, as an absolutely inviolable tenet. Undoubtedly, freedom is one of our innate longings, and it needs [...]
The world over, freedom fighters are lauded as national heroes. We all have the opportunity to do something heroic: become freedom fighters who strive for [...]
We live in a culture of mass distraction. Worldly things around us try to catch our eye in myriad ways. And with us lie devices [...]
The Bhagavad-gita concludes by urging us to share its message of love with others (18.68-69). Sometimes, we misconstrue this call to share as a license [...]
“Put your money where your mouth is,” we may tell someone who recommends big things without making any practical commitment. Suppose they respond by taking [...]
To achieve anything challenging, we need to be optimistic. Bhakti can boost our optimism by helping us realize that we are not alone; Krishna is [...]
We all want to be valued, recognized, appreciated. Living amidst the millions that crowd today’s metropolises, we may feel like an insignificant statistic. Standing out [...]
Suppose some non-Indians unfamiliar with cricket come to India and enter a cricket stadium. They may find the hullabaloo bewildering, and the noisy, sweaty, jammed [...]
If we are told to deliver something to someone, we may feel belittled: “I have better things to do than act as a deliveryman.” We [...]
Suppose we are rowing a boat in an area where the current is going in a direction different from where we wish to go. Suppose [...]
For making sense of the world, the Bhagavad-gita offers an analytical framework centered on the concept of the three modes of material nature. The modes [...]
Suppose, while we are walking, our shoulder touches a wall, and we find ourselves wincing. Our over-reaction indicates that we have on our shoulder some [...]
“Count me out of this,” is an idiomatic way of saying, “I won’t participate in this.” Counting as a precursor to withdrawal comprises the modus [...]
Sometimes people think that practicing spirituality means giving up all action. While some forms of spirituality do recommend inaction as a means for minimizing one’s [...]
Suppose our computer browser has a particular site set as its default home page. If we don’t want to visit that page, we can close [...]
Suppose we suddenly feel hungry. Nearby, we might have some snacks – some fatty, some non-fatty. If we consciously contemplate what we are doing, we [...]
We live in a culture of information overload – updates from various devices, feeds and apps clamor for our attention. We cope by skimming over [...]
We often dream of improving things. Among all species, we humans have the distinctive, even unique, capacity to dream of a better future and then [...]
When we practice meditation and strive for spiritual awareness, we often find that our mind wanders here, there and everywhere. We may become discouraged, thinking, [...]
Suppose a person has fallen in a well and is held there by someone malevolent. When some benevolent person throws a rope down to help [...]
We may sometimes lament: “I could do so much more in my life if I were more disciplined.” To cultivate discipline, we can break it [...]