Stop blaming your outer world, start building your inner world
Suppose the weather suddenly turns chilly. We could blame the weather and feel sorry for ourselves. Or we could don warm clothes and get on [...]
Just because pain is circumstantially beneficial doesn’t mean it is intrinsically desirable
Some people try to make sense of life’s difficulties by saying, “Pain helps us appreciate pleasure better. Bad times make good times sweeter.” Certainly, pain [...]
Spirituality reveals that our destiny is bigger than the biggest adversity
We all wish to have a better future. Using whatever talents we have, we often dream of achieving something wonderful, thereby fulfilling our destiny. But [...]
Krishna doesn’t promise a stormless sea – he provides an unsinkable ship
When we practice bhakti, we often expect to become free from problems. And if that expectation is not met, we become disheartened. Dharmic traditions often [...]
Even when bhakti doesn’t make life easier, it makes us tougher
Suppose we have a job to lift huge weights. That job can become easier if someone lightens that load or if our muscles become stronger. [...]
If we prayed as much as we worried, we would worry a lot less
We all worry, sometime or the other. Worrying may seem natural and unavoidable because so many things that are important for us are not in [...]
We may have scars, but we don’t have to be scarred
To have scars means to have some physical marks. To be scarred means to feel insecure and inferior because we let those marks define us. [...]
To lose the will to fight is to lose the fight
The Bhagavad-gita’s dramatic setting depicts the greatest archer of the times, Arjuna, on the verge of fighting the greatest war of his life on the [...]
Life is too precious to be wasted in doing perpetual post-mortem operations
When someone dies because of unknown causes, legal authorities often do a post-mortem operation to determine the cause. Similarly, in our life, when things go [...]
Our caliber is seen not just when we give our best but also when life gives us its worst
The caliber of sports players is revealed when they are in a flow, when they exhibit their peak performances. Their caliber is also revealed in [...]
Whenever things seem to fall apart, remember when things have fallen in place
Sometimes, life seems to hand out one reversal after another and all that we are doing seems to be falling apart. We may feel that the universe is hostile; we may question the benevolence or even the existence of God. At such times, it’s important to note that life hasn’t always given us a raw deal – we have had things fall in place for us. Whenever we have achieved anything substantial,
Be not fretful or fearful – be faithful
The present is all that we have – and all that we will ever have. But our mind often distracts us towards the past and the future through fretfulness and fearfulness. Fretful: The mind misdirected towards the past makes us fretful. We agonize over the many things that have gone wrong in our life
Life’s misfortunes are like thorns – don’t press on them; pass through them
Suppose we are walking barefoot and the path turns thorny. If that is the only way to our destination, we will gird ourselves to endure the pain. But we won’t press our foot on the thorns – we will take it off as quickly as possible and pass through.
Walking away from problems is not the same as running away from them
When we are driving for an important and urgent meeting, if someone cuts ahead of us, we may decide not to chastise or sue that [...]
Every trial is a teacher
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 [...]
Life determines our problems; we determine their size
We often feel irritated, overwhelmed, helpless when our dreams are wrecked by things beyond our control. But there is always something in our control. The [...]