Surrender is not about giving up, but about going up
The Bhagavad-gita (18.66) concludes by calling upon us to surrender to Krishna. To some of us, the word “surrender” may conjure images of a defeated [...]
Krishna is impartially partial
The Bhagavad-gita (9.29) states two paradoxical features of Krishna’s nature: 1. He is equal to all and does not consider anyone to be an object [...]
Spiritual wisdom restores our freedom to choose our definition of happiness
The Bhagavad-gita (02.64) indicates that harmonizing our life with scriptural regulations is the way to happiness. Some of us may feel that regulating ourselves will [...]
Enrich yourself with the supreme legacy of immortal love
The Bhagavad-gita (04.01) indicates how Krishna shares spiritual offers the ultimate legacy to all of us, his children. That legacy is knowledge about the best [...]
Buddhi-yoga comprises both the eyes and the wings for our spiritual flight
To advance on the devotional path, we need both eyes and wings. The eyes help us see the spiritual world of love that is invisible [...]
Reality is more fascinating than what we have been allowed to believe
Today’s mainstream ideology is materialism, which doesn’t allow people to believe in non-material or spiritual truths. In the materialistic conception of life, the only possible [...]
All bluff, no stuff; that’s enough
The Bhagavad-gita (16.17) describes the godless to be self-complacent and impudent (atma-sambhavitahstabdah). They throw morality and spirituality to the winds for the sake of pursuing [...]
The Gita is an intellectual adventure with an emotional climax
We have two essential faculties: the head and the heart. The head is our intellectual center and the heart, our emotional center. The Bhagavad-gita being [...]
“Seeing is believing” reflects trust in the untrustworthy
The Bhagavad-gita (15.10) warns us against unwittingly subscribing to the childish idea of “seeing is believing.” This idea, known in philosophical parlance as naïve realism, [...]
The immaterial is not immaterial
The word “immaterial” can refer to “that which is not made of matter” and “that which doesn’t matter.” The immaterial (the non-material) isimmaterial (unimportant). So [...]
Retreat within to treat without
When external problems trouble us, we may feel that they need to be solved first, and so we can’t afford time for our inner life. [...]
When Krishna seems far away, it is we who have strayed away
The Bhagavad-gita (13.16) states that Krishna is situated far away from us – and is simultaneously very close to us. Paradoxical scriptural statements like this [...]
Be not allured by the pleasure that is pregnant with suffering
Why does the Bhagavad-gita ask us to regulate indulgence in sensual pleasures? To protect us from unnecessary suffering. The Gita (05.22) states that such pleasures [...]
Our fear of insignificance traps us in insignificance
“If I give up all my desires and just fulfill Krishna’s desires, won’t I be stripping myself of everything that makes me significant as a [...]
Cry, Vie, Lie, Die, Fie – Tie
The Bhagavad-gita (16.7-20) describes the mentality of the godless materialists who ruin themselves and those around them by their inordinate infatuation with temporary things. Their [...]
Krishna’s ways may not always be pleasant, but they are always benevolent
When things go wrong and disrupt our lives, a doubt may trouble us: is Krishna really my well-wisher? While dealing with such doubts, we need [...]
Take the mind’s promises with a bucketful of salt
Whenever we see an ad promising a huge gain for a tiny price, we tend to become skeptical. Such skepticism is the understandable and desirable [...]
Self-help can’t help without divine help
The Bhagavad-gita (14.10) indicates how the subtle forces of nature known as the modes exert competing psychological influences on us. Their contrary influences cause our [...]
Gita insights for New Year resolutions
The Bhagavad-gita (18.33)(18.34)(18.35) describes resolution or determination in the three modes of nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. The modes comprise subtle cosmological forces that exert [...]
Cultivate devotion not for its survival value but for the value it brings to survival
The struggle for survival characterizes the existence of all living beings – nonhuman and human. So, while evaluating whether a particular thing is worth doing, [...]
Is that me?
In the Bhagavad-gita, when Arjuna asks Krishna about what his activity should be, Krishna's sequence of answers indicates that the question of identity takes priority [...]