The body, mind and soul are all best geared for meditation in the morning
Some people ask: “Krishna resides in our heart and is available at all times. Then why emphasize morning for connecting with him?” Because we are [...]
Ask not “Why this?” but “How now?”
When we encounter sudden adversities, we usually get the question, “Why is Krishna doing this to me?” Gita wisdom explains that when we hold Krishna [...]
Contemplation on Krishna brings illumination
Some people question the spiritual recommendation to think about Krishna at all times and especially in times of distress: “What is its benefit? How is [...]
Place Krishna at the center of your secret life
All of us have a public life where we interact with the world and a personal life where we interact with our loved ones. Additionally, [...]
Transform disappointment into his-appointment
When life confronts us with disappointments, we can transform them into his-appointments, into opportunities to connect with Krishna at a deeper level and thereby enrich [...]
Navigate the troughs of consciousness by focusing on the peak
As aspiring devotees, we may find the state of our consciousness oscillating up and down like a sine wave. We may feel sometimes attracted and [...]
Humility means to accept but not expect respect
We may sometimes wonder, “How can I stay humble amidst the devotional culture of respectfulness? If nobody would notice me, it would be easier to [...]
Sex is extraordinarily ordinary
Nothing fascinates the human imagination as much as sex. Pictures, articles, TV programs, movies, novels, websites and almost all conceivable means of communication are frequently [...]
The material is not spiritual, but it is spiritualizable
“Everything that devotees do is spiritual, so even their material life is spiritual,” we may hear statements like these in devotee circles. Naturally, we may [...]
Our spirituality is a specialty, not an abnormality
“You don’t have to be so serious about your spiritual life. You don’t want to become an abnormal person, do you?” Those of us committed [...]
Don’t let the mind eat your head
The mind sometimes makes us do self-defeating, short-sighted, stupid things. How? By making us headless. The Bhagavad-gita (02.62) indicates that when the mind contemplates sense [...]
Change the stories you tell yourself about yourself
Our mind is rarely satisfied with the world and especially with our present position in it. Consequently, it frequently goes into flights of fantasies of [...]
Go beyond denial and dismissal to determination
“I fell from the scriptural standards yet again. What should I do now?” We often respond to such predicaments by either denial or dismissal. In [...]
Protect the conscience from being dumbed and numbed and dumped
A security provider who has protected us for millennia from ourselves has now been branded as outdated and unneeded; its very right to existence is [...]
Bhakti brings equality and universality on the spiritual path
Ours is an age that idealizes the equality of all human beings. The American Declaration of Rights which enshrines this equality is widely considered a [...]
Are our thoughts impoverishing or enriching us?
Few things live as close to us as our thoughts; few things influence us as immediately as our thoughts; few things define us as much [...]
Hell is not meant to cause us suffering but to save us from suffering
Some exclusivist religions claim that those who don’t accept their dogmatic beliefs will be sent by God to hell forever. In refreshing contrast to such [...]
What we do reflects on what we do
“What we do” can refer to our specific behavior as well as to our general vocation. What we do in our specific behavior reflects on [...]
Do not make a virtue out of alienating people
When we adopt spiritual practices seriously, we soon gain a bit of self-mastery. This self-mastery may create within us a sense of moral superiority that [...]
Four stages in Gita study: Veneration, Comprehension, Application, Transformation
The Bhagavad-gita is a profoundly empowering book. To tap its power, we need to develop our relationship with it through four progressive stages: Veneration: Some [...]
How the world sees us is not as important as how we see the world
We often worry about how the world sees us: “Do people notice me? Which way do heads turn when I arrive?” This outside-in approach seems [...]