To see life’s positive side, understand what life is and what its positive side is
Some people find the Bhagavad-gita pessimistic: “Why harp on life’s problems? Why not see its positive side?” Actually, the Gita doesn’t harp on life’s problems [...]
Illusion is the ultimate thief of not just our property but also our very identity
Suppose thieves steal all the property from their victims. Still, the victims can get relief by, say, withdrawing money from their bank by using their [...]
Harmonize conceptions of the divine with revelation by the divine through surrender to the divine
Different traditions whose ranks incorporate not just lay people but also serious seekers and even saintly seers have varying conceptions of the divine. Why? Because [...]
Without devotion, renunciation comes painfully; with devotion, even liberation comes joyfully
“To avoid karmic bondage, renounce the world.” This widespread notion governs Arjuna’s reasoning at the start of the Bhagavad-gita. However, the Gita recommends an alternative [...]
The worship of the demigods reaches Krishna, but the worshiper doesn’t
An oft-quoted Sanskrit saying states, “Just as water falling from the sky reaches the ocean, the worship offered to the various gods reaches Keshava.” Does [...]
Krishna is disinterested, but not uninterested
Disinterested refers to neutrality, a lack of partisanship, whereas uninterested refers to apathy, a lack of concern. Krishna is disinterested in the sense that he [...]
Krishna is not an explanation for the unexplainable – he is the explanation for explanability
Some people conceive of God as an explanatory alternative to science: “There’s so much about the world that science can’t explain; we need God to [...]
The culture may give a license to lust, but nature doesn’t
Lust is ubiquitous in today’s society with billboards depicting prurient images and movies enacting explicit scenes. Displays that would have appalled people even a few [...]
Hear to become aware of the savior who is ever here
How can we realize our spiritual nature? The Bhagavad-gita in its thirteenth chapter overviews the nature of the soul’s entanglement in matter and the way [...]
Lust de-spiritualizes the subject and dehumanizes the object
When the culture depicts lust as the expressway to enjoyment, how can we understand the Bhagavad-gita’s declaration (03.37) that lust is the enemy of the [...]
Fame is the pathway to not satisfaction but dissatisfaction
Fame is life’s driving purpose for many: “I would do anything to be the cynosure of all eyes, as are sportstars.” Little do they realize [...]
Leave temptation – and don’t leave a forwarding address
When troublesome stalkers harass people repeatedly, they may decide to flee. For this strategy to succeed, they need to leave without leaving a forwarding address; [...]
Don’t hide the devotion in the heart; hide the heart in the devotion
As we live in largely materialistic society, we may sometimes hide our devotion to avoid any unnecessary conflicts with others who don’t share our values. [...]
Euphemisms of deception are expressways to degradation
Euphemisms often help express distressing truths sensitively. But sometimes they are abused as tools of deception, as verbal sleights-of-hand to make evil sound good. Consider, [...]
Krishna is not just a point for meditation – he is the person for supplication
Yogis, specifically dhyana-yogis, start meditation by focusing on some point, such as the tip of the nose or the space between the eyebrows. As such [...]
AIM for Krishna to attain the ultimate absorption
When people do something they like, say, watching a sports match, they often get so absorbed that they don’t even notice discomforts such as sitting [...]
An intruder inside us is an intruder still
Suppose we find someone in our home. Will we assume that just because that intruder is now inside our home, he is our well-wisher? Suppose [...]
The real me is beyond jeans and genes
Being influenced by our superficial culture we often evaluate others based on externals. We may similarly evaluate ourselves too, imagining, say, that we are lovable [...]
Decrease the perception of effort and increase the anticipation of reward by intellectual conviction
When we practice spiritual life, our mind holds us back by making us feel that the effort is too much and the reward too little. [...]
Those who let the culture fill their brain with junk beliefs, fill their belly with junk food
Junk food is fast emerging as a serious health hazard. It is a major cause of obesity, which is rapidly becoming a leading global cause [...]
Reason is confounded not by faith, but by faithlessness
Does faith in God confound reason, as atheists argue? Not at all. Far from confounding reason, faith is the foundation of reason. The very idea [...]