Our feelings are not always our feelings
The Bhagavad-gita (14.22) points to a fascinating thought-exercise that involves taking on the role of an observer towards our feelings. Let’s understand the whys and [...]
Lust is a black hole – beware of its gravity pull
The Bhagavad-gita (03.37) states that lust is the all-devouring sinful enemy of the world. In its capacity to devour everything that comes within its reach, [...]
Those who desire to be fused are confused
Many people think that the ultimate goal of spirituality is to merge into God, whom they conceive as a dazzling, all-pervading spiritual light known as [...]
Be rooted in the unchanging, not the changing
The Bhagavad-gita (02.16) encourages us to meditate on the difference between the unchanging, the spiritual realm within, and the changing, the material realm without. Gita [...]
How our freedom of thought is lost – and regained
The Bhagavad-gita (2.44) indicates that worldly attachments, especially attachments to sex and money, abduct our consciousness and sabotage our prospects for inner stability. Whenever we [...]
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 [...]