From honor-culture to honorable action - The Bhagavad-gita’s call for honorable action (02.34) reflects a characteristic of most traditional cultures: a concern for honor. People [...]
The difference between honor and pride - Synonyms aren’t always interchangeable. They can have connotations that may lead to meanings that are differing or even [...]
Does how others perceive us matter? - The Bhagavad-gita (01.34) states that for those who have been honored, dishonor is worse than death. This verse [...]
How fear of dishonor can motivate us - Dishonor or shame can motivate us to desist from a wrong choice or persist in a right [...]
Is dishonor really worse than death? - The Bhagavad-gita (02.34) declares that for respectable people, dishonor is worse than death. This verse raises the question: [...]
Why be bothered by dishonor? - The Bhagavad-gita (02.34) declares that for those who have been honored, dishonor is worse than death. This verse raises [...]
Thoughtfulness amid crisis - Suppose the CEO of a company loses their job because their company goes bankrupt due to a recession. The CEO will [...]
How sorrow points us toward spirituality - Loss and the resulting sorrow are unpalatable yet unavoidable experiences during our life-journey. When we lose something desirable, [...]
No time to think? - The Bhagavad-gita’s first chapter describes its setting: a battlefield where two huge armies were assembled, ready to fight. Wars are [...]
From the specific to the universal - We learn best by an expert combination of the specific and the universal. Specifics catch our attention as [...]
When our inner map fails - Suppose we are driving on an important journey using a digital map, but suddenly our map stops working. That [...]
The QUEST acronym - The Bhagavad-gita is widely known as a book of profound philosophy. Why does such a book start with an entire chapter [...]
10.11 How knowledge relates with devotion - The Chatur-Shloki Gita offers a nuanced understanding of the relationship between knowledge and devotion. Let’s try to understand [...]
10.11 How knowledge manifests in devotion - Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya “Move from darkness to light.” This well-known saying from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad succinctly conveys [...]
How devotion leads to dynamic intelligence - Our destiny is determined by our decisions; the choices we make can radically alter our life’s trajectories. Unfortunately, [...]
Why our mood matters in our bhakti practice - Suppose we meet someone whose words or gestures convey that they don’t want to be with [...]
How devotion encompasses our entire being - In the Chatur-shloki Gita, the second verse (10.09) describes the characteristics of the devoted in terms of their [...]
Chatur-Shloki Summarized in terms of reciprocation - If we read the Bhagavad-gita’s Chatur-shloki (its four-verse summary:10.08-11), it becomes evident that its essential theme is bhakti-yoga. [...]
Why speech matters so much in devotion - In its second verse, the Chatur-Shloki Bhagavad-gita (10.08-11) states the characteristics of the devoted in terms of [...]
Devotion is seen through dedication - Suppose someone claims that they are strong patriots. On observing them, if we find that they hardly do anything [...]
Devotion changes our inner home - The Bhagavad-gita’s Chatur-Shloki (10.08-11) begins by stating that Krishna is the ultimate reality, loved by the enlightened (10.08). The [...]
