Accepting our powerlessness can be most empowering
When people fall sick, a lot of their misery comes from resenting their sickness, “Why am I suffering when everyone else is enjoying?” Such resenting [...]
When people fall sick, a lot of their misery comes from resenting their sickness, “Why am I suffering when everyone else is enjoying?” Such resenting [...]
In life, we all go through various trials. A trial seems especially trying is when it appears pointless, when it seems as if that trial [...]
In a boxing match, a boxer may be knocked down, but only when the fallen player fails to rise does the knock down become a [...]
When a principled person stands up to a powerful person, especially when that powerful person is autocratic or atrocious, then that act of standing up [...]
The culture assaults our senses with perceptions of tempting sense objects and we often can’t avoid those perceptions. How then can we protect ourselves from [...]
The world is inevitably a place of duality – something that we can’t avoid just as a boat can’t avoid being moved up and down [...]
When a boat is at sea, the danger of a storm exists constantly. If the boater becomes lulled into complacency by, say, the calm waters [...]
Some people say, “We drink, but we don’t get drunk – we drink moderately.” Such reasoning neglects the subtle and subconscious way habits become addictive. [...]
Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by our circumstances. Not being able to respond appropriately to them, we may even feel as if we are simply being [...]
Sometimes life throws at us devastating reversals that cause overwhelming grief, fury or frustration. Some losses may even make us feel that life itself is [...]
Seekers sometimes ask, “I am practicing bhakti-yoga seriously, yet I feel tempted by worldly desires. Why is bhakti not working?” Bhakti is definitely working. The [...]
When we make mistakes, we naturally feel annoyed, even infuriated, with ourselves. While these feelings can help if they prompt us to self-improvement, they can [...]
The mind often misdirects our energy. It makes us crave for trivial things or makes us worry about things that haven’t materialized and may never [...]
Some devotee-seekers ask, “While striving to live according to devotional principles, we sometimes slip and fall. How can we best deal with such falls?” Not [...]
“Money talks” is an idiomatic way of stating that those who show money are taken seriously – others respect them and hasten to do their [...]
Sometimes when life’s complexities perplex us, we may hesitate to ask others for help because of the fear of looking stupid. But by letting such [...]
To practice spiritual life means to enter into a war against temptation, the temptation for enjoying matter. The arena of battle is our own consciousness, [...]
When we don’t get something that we want and feel miserable, we attribute that misery to the frustration of our desire. But might such an [...]
In a war, the threat from the enemies out there is big. But much bigger is the threat from the enemies in here – the [...]
There is a grim finality to life. Once a moment has passed, it has passed forever. Once an action has been done, it can’t be [...]
Many people think that immoral behavior is ok as long as no one catches them. For example, people from culturally conservative families may think that [...]