We can’t avoid being pushed by time, but we can choose where we are pushed by time
Just as leaves fallen in an ocean are pushed inexorably by waves, we are pushed inexorably by time toward death. Does that mean we are [...]
When fighting temptation, focus just on surviving the present battle, not on winning the whole war
Suppose we were to fight a boxing match against a formidable opponent. Suppose further, before and during the fight, an acquaintance from the audience discouraged [...]
Don’t let the craving for clarity distract us from working with whatever clarity we have
Suppose we are driving through a storm. If water, sleet and dust obscure our front window, we will keep navigating the car with whatever clarity [...]
Don’t bolt from temptation, bolt the door to temptation
When a horse hears a sudden loud sound, like that of a gunshot or a thunderclap, it bolts from that sound. Struck with fear, it [...]
The body reacts mechanically – don’t take its reactions personally
Suppose we had a machine that was programmed to behave in a particular way, to respond to certain stimuli with certain actions. Suppose we didn’t [...]
Fighting urges is like a timed arm wrestling match – if we just survive the present round, we will resume on neutral ground
Suppose we are playing an arm wrestling match with someone. If our opponent is much stronger than us, they will force our arm down. On [...]
Even if we can’t understand Krishna, we can still stand under Krishna
Life sometimes assaults us with devastating adversities that cripple us materially and spiritually. Unable to understand why God is letting such things happen to us, [...]
Our urges aren’t like endlessly rising lines, they are like endlessly recurring waves – surf them patiently
Whenever some self-destructive urge attacks, we tend to think: “This urge is becoming stronger and stronger. Soon, it will become irresistible. When I will have [...]
Turning away is not running away if we are turning toward something better
Suppose we see a person who constantly agitates us. Not wanting to interact with them, we turn away. Are we being cowardly? Not necessarily. If [...]
Problems may get stuck inside us, but we don’t have to get stuck inside them
Suppose someone writes abusive graffiti on our house wall. We will be annoyed. If the graffiti is written with indelible ink, we will be more [...]
We can never start in our life unless we start with our life
Suppose we wanted to walk somewhere, but somehow took several wrong turns and ended up far away from our destination. To get there, we will [...]
We don’t have to outweigh our urges; we just have to out-wait them
Suppose a thief is trying to barge into our house by breaking the door. Suppose further that the door has a loose bolt that we [...]
When we resist our urges, they may become scarier, but they don’t become stronger
Suppose an animal trainer is domesticating a wild tiger by starving it till it becomes compliant. Like all other living beings that are kept hungry, [...]
To be caught unawares occasionally is condonable, to be caught unawares repeatedly is condemnable
Suppose a person who runs a ferryboat gets caught in a storm because they don’t know that the sea tends to be stormy in that [...]
The mind’s complaining about a problem is often a bigger problem than the problem itself
When the weather is bad, say, too cold, we all are inconvenienced. But some people start complaining repeatedly, “It’s so cold, it’s so cold, it’s [...]
To see our own stupidity, unvarnished and unjustified, is infuriating and invigorating
When someone we care for does something stupid, they often try to hide it from us, either denying it entirely or concealing it under various [...]
If conscience doesn’t create a barrier between impulse and indulgence, intelligence must
Suppose a river tends to overflow unpredictably, flooding the nearby areas. To protect those areas, a barrier would be constructed on the riverbank. Similarly, in [...]
When the sensual deludes the eye, the spiritual eludes the I
The world around us is filled with innumerable sensual stimuli. And most such stimuli assault us through our eyes. When our eyes become captivated with [...]
Use introspection as a confession by the self to the self
Confession is a religious practice wherein confessants, people who have done something wrong, admit those wrongs to an authority figure, a confessor. As admitting our [...]
Pleasure is too fragile a purpose to sustain us through life’s troubles
We all seek pleasure. Yet life can put us in such dilemmas and traumas that pleasure can become utterly unavailable. In such situations, if we [...]
No matter how bad things are, we can always make them worse – we are never powerless
Sometimes, life puts us in so many difficulties that we feel utterly powerless. That feeling can drown us in despair, self-pity, resentment and even suicidal [...]