When scripture seems unbelievable …
When scripture seems unbelievable - On reading that the Bhagavad-gita was spoken to the solar deity (04.01), we may get the question, “How can any [...]
How faith and doubt can both be used spiritually
A functional car needs to have both an accelerator and a brake. While driving, when we are on the right track, we can press the [...]
When the tendency to doubt helps
When the tendency to doubt helps - In today’s educated circles, doubt is celebrated as an intellectual strength. Whenever thoughtful people encounter any claim, especially [...]
How pride can corrupt both faith and doubt …
How pride can corrupt both faith and doubt - We often equate pride with respect-demanding and self-congratulatory hubris. But it can appear much more subtly [...]
How could past people believe in things we find irrational?
How could past people believe in things we find irrational? - Some people argue, “Past people who believed ancient texts were irrational — that’s why [...]
Is the Gita’s declaration about the world’s distressful nature pessimistic?
Is the Gita’s declaration about the world’s distressful nature pessimistic? - When we hear the Bhagavad-gita statement (08.15) that the world is a place of [...]
When matter and spirit need to be differentiated — and when not
The Bhagavad-gita begins with a rigid differentiation between matter and spirit (02.11-30), wherein the properties of the spiritual particle, the soul, are shown to be [...]
Sincerity can show the path to ability; it can’t substitute for ability
Suppose a loved one is terribly sick and needs surgery. We sincerely want to help them, but if we don’t know the ABC of surgery, [...]
Don’t be so afraid of the irrational as to deny the possibility of the transrational
We live in an age that prides itself on its rationality. Few put-downs anger thinking people as much as being called irrational. As today’s mainstream [...]
Moral relativism makes wrongdoing tough to identify, tougher to rectify and toughest to purify
Many people nowadays argue for moral relativism: “What is wrong and what is right is relative; if something feels right to me, then you have [...]
We aren’t merely physical being seeking sustenance, safety and sex – we are essentially spiritual beings seeking purpose and progress
Today’s materialistic worldview holds that we are just physical creatures, who will be satisfied if provided with a steady supply of sustenance, safety and sex. [...]
When the mind insinuates, it is often more insidious than when it incites
Suppose a politician speaks hate speech against a particular community. Hearers can easily detect and reject such speech as emotional manipulation. But suppose that politician [...]
Everything expensive is not valuable, everything valuable is not expensive
We all long for the best in life, be it in looks, careers, positions, possessions, or relationships. While seeking the best, we need to differentiate [...]
If we put gravity to test, gravity will put us to rest
Suppose someone decides to test gravity by walking off the parapet wall of a fifty-story building. Gravity will soon put them to rest, stripped of [...]
Just as bigotry can blind emotionally, ideology can blind intellectually
In today’s social justice ethos, if someone makes a racist or sexist statement, they are called out immediately. Prejudices of any kind are frowned upon. [...]
Opinions are like onions – know when they need to be sealed and when peeled
When we have an opinion about something, we may hold on to that opinion irrationally, even if it exasperates those around us. We can understand [...]
Reason can’t reach beyond reason, but it can give us reason to reach beyond reason
Reason, or our rational faculty, is said to be the foundation of the scientific method that has dramatically transformed the way we interact with the [...]
Seeking requires believing: believing that something worth seeking exists and that we have the capacity to find it
Some people say, “Be a seeker, not a believer.” This differentiation rests on the notion that believers are sentimental and gullible, whereas seekers are intellectual [...]
Some people get many insights from one sight, others don’t get even one insight from many sights
Some people learn so much from small incidents in daily life, whereas others forget the lessons learned through big blunders. Why the difference? Are some [...]
Materialism reduces you to a number and glamorizes things that make you number
Most people nowadays are materialistic: they live to seek materialistic sensations and possessions. Yet most of them haven’t thought through the philosophical implications of materialism. [...]
The choices you make make you
During our life, we constantly make choices. Even when we know that our choices are consequential, we may not realize how consequential they are. Why? [...]