Blunt the desire for enjoyment with engagement
The greatest obstacle on the spiritual path for most of us is the desire to enjoy material pleasures, especially anti-devotional material pleasures. Because most of [...]
Don’t give up the intelligence; go beyond the intelligence
Intellectuals sometimes feel alienated from scriptures due to what they feel are its inconsistent or illogical statements. As their intellect has been their guide and [...]
The present is all that we have – and all that we will ever have
We frequently lead life as if it were a practice run for next time. All of us want to do valuable, special, big things in [...]
Don’t let the mind eat your head
The mind sometimes makes us do self-defeating, short-sighted, stupid things. How? By making us headless. The Bhagavad-gita (02.62) indicates that when the mind contemplates sense [...]
Change the stories you tell yourself about yourself
Our mind is rarely satisfied with the world and especially with our present position in it. Consequently, it frequently goes into flights of fantasies of [...]
Happiness is always a byproduct, never a product
All of us want to be happy. And the world is filled with activities that promise happiness – movies, music, video games, food, sex… Yet [...]
Worldly beauty agitates, dissatisfies, pollutes; Krishna’s beauty pacifies, satisfies, cleanses
Beauty ranks among the world’s most fascinating – and frustrating – features. History is filled with stories of ill-fatedcaptivation by beauty. Can we not relish [...]
Don’t let information overload make relevance irrelevant
Our culture bombards us with irrelevant information. The attack on an embassy in Africa, a tennis tournament in America, an election in Europe – does [...]
Don’t let the sword sleep in the hand
Suppose medieval warriors with their hands on the swords by their side were surrounded by marauders, who were attacking innocent civilians and charging to strike [...]
Go beyond denial and dismissal to determination
“I fell from the scriptural standards yet again. What should I do now?” We often respond to such predicaments by either denial or dismissal. In [...]
Protect the conscience from being dumbed and numbed and dumped
A security provider who has protected us for millennia from ourselves has now been branded as outdated and unneeded; its very right to existence is [...]
Give yourself permission to love Krishna by suspending disbelief
When we are practicing devotional service externally, internally we may be checked by the doubt: “How can I love Krishna when I am not sure [...]
The Gita offers not just another worldview, but also another world to view
“That’s just another worldview to add to the confusing plethora of worldviews.” Thus do skeptics dismiss Gita wisdom. They argue that as we can’t know [...]
Gita wisdom is explicitly descriptive and implicitly prescriptive
Good teachers give explanations; great teachers give explanations and examples. Thus a great sports coach doesn’t just explain to budding sportspersons what to do, but [...]
Bhakti brings equality and universality on the spiritual path
Ours is an age that idealizes the equality of all human beings. The American Declaration of Rights which enshrines this equality is widely considered a [...]
Those who let reason usurp Krishna in their heart end up worshiping a false god
“Isn’t that mythology?” This doubt may trouble us whenever we hear about Krishna’s super-human pastimes such as lifting Govardhan hill that seem too unreasonable to [...]
Are our thoughts impoverishing or enriching us?
Few things live as close to us as our thoughts; few things influence us as immediately as our thoughts; few things define us as much [...]
Spiritual enforcement reaches where legal enforcement doesn’t
Corruption, crime, cruelty – these are increasing by the day. Faced with this spiral, the law enforcement agencies are often not only overworked, but also [...]
Might we be hitting the bull’s eye of the wrong target?
Cellphones, internet, robots – the technological advances in our society are impressive. Yet they haven’t made people happier, as the rising statistics of stress and [...]
Hell is not meant to cause us suffering but to save us from suffering
Some exclusivist religions claim that those who don’t accept their dogmatic beliefs will be sent by God to hell forever. In refreshing contrast to such [...]
What we do reflects on what we do
“What we do” can refer to our specific behavior as well as to our general vocation. What we do in our specific behavior reflects on [...]