Be special above the ordinary, not among the ordinary
We all want to be special. Materialistic culture directs our longing for specialness towards material things. It makes us believe that we will stand out [...]
We all want to be special. Materialistic culture directs our longing for specialness towards material things. It makes us believe that we will stand out [...]
Towards the end of the Bhagavad-gita (18.64), Krishna announces that he will share the most confidential knowledge (sarva guhyatama). Confidential knowledge (guhya) refers to the [...]
Some people think that everything in scripture is the teaching of scripture. But scripture gives the thoughts, words and actions of not just God and his [...]
“To avoid karmic bondage, renounce the world.” This widespread notion governs Arjuna’s reasoning at the start of the Bhagavad-gita. However, the Gita recommends an alternative [...]
Yogis, specifically dhyana-yogis, start meditation by focusing on some point, such as the tip of the nose or the space between the eyebrows. As such [...]
The distance between two people in any relationship is a function not of bodily location but of emotional disposition. Family members living under the same [...]
Emotions are the central feature, indeed the driving force, of our present existence. Many spiritual paths, especially impersonal spiritual paths, consider emotions as distractions, even [...]
Tolerance and transcendence comprise our twofold defense against temptation. Tolerance refers to the capacity to endure the presence of unwanted temptations without succumbing to them. [...]
The yoga of the heart refers to bhakti-yoga, the yoga that centers on spiritualizing our heart’s central force: love. The heart of yoga refers to [...]
“Eat this; see this; touch this – and you will enjoy.” The world glamorizes sense gratification thus. In striking contrast, the Bhagavad-gita (05.22) asserts that [...]
“Go from darkness to light, from illusion to truth, from mortality to immortality,” exhorts a celebrated aphorism from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.3.28). The Bhagavad-gita, also [...]
We sometimes feel a hole within – a sense of emptiness that gnaws especially when we aren’t deadening ourselves internally with the racehorse pace and [...]
Many people think that meditation is primarily a way to still the agitated mind. So, they think that any object such as a candle or [...]
At the start of the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna is overcome by myriad complex emotions that bring him on the verge of an emotional breakdown. By the [...]
The Bhagavad-gita (06.06) cautions us that the mind can be our worst enemy. How does the mind act inimically? By misdirecting our attention and energy [...]
On the spiritual path, the mind misdirects us from our intended focus on Krishna to thousands of distractions. In fact, the mind distracts not just [...]
Many conventional seekers think of the world only in two terms – action or renunciation, either to act in the world or to renounce it. [...]
The Bhagavad-gita repeatedly urges us to see pleasant and unpleasant situations equally. How is this possible? To understand, let’s analyze a Gita verse (06.08) that [...]
In a war, an army wins not just by the determination of its soldiers fighting on the forefront, but also by the steadiness of the [...]
Some people conceive of spiritual perfection as an emotionless peace, a sanctuary of silence beyond the agitations and complications of material existence. Gita wisdom acknowledges [...]
We are all innately pleasure-seeking creatures. Where we seek pleasure defines us and determines our destiny. Normally, due to the influence of the culture externally [...]