When strengths make us weak and weaknesses make us strong
To survive and thrive in our hyper-competitive culture, we usually hide our weaknesses and hype our strengths. Such a strategy may be necessary in material [...]
Are we letting knowledge steal our humility?
When we get introduced to Gita wisdom, we discover a magnificent body of knowledge that answers life’s fundamental questions. As we enrich ourselves with this [...]
Blinded and addicted or illumined and liberated?
Suppose everyone in a country was addicted. With everyone suffering the pulls and falls of addiction, the addiction would seem normal. Because addicts frequently see [...]
Are we putting too much faith in doubt?
Atheists sometimes induce doubts in us by presenting anti-scriptural arguments that seem irrefutable. The Bhagavad-gita (04.42) urges us to slay doubt with the sword of [...]
Sharpen the head, ripen the heart
A fruit-bearing creeper when carefully tended gives a ripe fruit. Similarly, our devotion to Krishna when carefully tended gives an eternal life of love with [...]
The way to transcendence is through tolerance not indulgence
All of us periodically battle urges that damn us: urges born of lust, anger and greed, for example. We want to be free from these [...]
Gita wisdom frees humanity from speciesism
Speciesism refers to discrimination against living beings based on their species. Belief in speciesism is implicit in today’s world. For evidence, we need to look [...]
Learning begins with unlearning
None of us like to feel ignorant. That’s why we try to keep ourselves well-informed about things, even spiritual things. However, our information about spiritual [...]
A package in which the best and the worst aren’t bound together
Pleasure, profit, success. We look forward to these in life. But they are only one part of the package. They are inevitably and inextricably bound [...]
When self-righteousness obscures rightness…
When we share Gita wisdom with others, we sometimes find them arguing for the sake of arguing, holding on to positions that are illogical and [...]
Have we become the slaves of our clothes?
Slaves. The word conjures images of miserable people forced into bonded labor, stripped of self-respect and denied life’s pleasures. That’s not an image we will [...]
Those who mistake torture to be pleasure sentence themselves to perpetual torture
When a moth sees a fire, it becomes so captivated that it rushes straight towards it. The closer it gets, the hotter it feels. However, [...]
Detect the storm of temptation when it is still a blip
For a boat a storm is one of the greatest dangers.No wonder trained boat drivers alertly look for signs that presage a storm. By identifying [...]
Transcend the labor pains of devotion through loving anticipation
We normally don’t like pain. But when a to-be-mother undergoes labor pains, love shifts her thoughts from the present pain to the future child. Her [...]
Aspire not for feelings but for relationship
Is bhakti a feeling that arises spontaneously in the heart, a feeling that some people get and some people don’t? We may think thus when [...]
Are we trying to control without because of being uncontrolled within?
We all want to control our dependents. And we do need some control to guide them properly. Yet by their very nature people often go [...]
The road that turns into a roadblock
Our culture indoctrinates us with the belief that the body is the road to enjoyment, especially sexual enjoyment. The sexual experience seems exhilaratingwhile it lasts.But [...]
The bond that sets us free
Surrender. The idea often conjures images of a warrior accepting defeat and being bound by the enemy. When the Bhagavad-gita (18.66) asks us to surrender, [...]
Krishna wants our presence more than our presents
We may injure our relationships by an unwitting error: giving things more of our attention than the people for whom we are doing those things. [...]
Are riches cutting us off from the richness of life?
We all need money for living. But neither our culture externally nor our mind internally allows us to stay satisfied with earning for living. Both [...]
Parent the childish mind by being vigilant and diligent
When a mother cares for her child, she has to be vigilant and diligent: vigilant to constantly watch whether the child is doing anything mischievous [...]