I Wish You Had Died Instead of My Mother
"I Wish You Had Died Instead of My Mother" I could feel the father's pain as he repeated those words. I was staying for a [...]
When the Lord Shook Hands with Brahma, How Exactly Did He Shake Hands?
This was the first question I received after my Srimad Bhagavatam class on 2.9.19 at ISKCON Toronto on September 12, 2026. It came from Bhaktimarga [...]
The Most Dangerous Manipulation
Most of us have probably seen someone being manipulated—or have ourselves been manipulated. Usually, manipulation works by identifying and exploiting a weakness. Someone who is [...]
Leadership Insight: When to Translate Power into Control?
Suppose a child throws a tantrum in a public place, demanding a toy. The parent obviously has far greater power than the child. Yet does [...]
Why speech needs to be more than truthful
The Bhagavad Gita teaches that the discipline of speech involves much more than simply speaking truthfully. Along with truthfulness, it identifies three other qualities of [...]
Should we be strict with ourselves and lenient with others?
Answer: First, there is no scriptural basis for the idea that we should always be strict with ourselves and lenient with others. It may be [...]
Why Do You Laugh at Your Own Humor?
This question came from a friend who had just attended one of my talks. He explained, “Normally, in executive humor—that which is appropriate for workplace [...]
The Same Words, Different Worlds
Today morning, on July 6, as I was leaving Delhi to catch a flight to Mumbai, I was in the car talking on the phone [...]
Dealing with problem people according to our position and disposition
Sometimes, we face situations where serious problems are caused by specific individuals around us. This could be an exploitative boss, a manipulative colleague, or an [...]
Two ways to know our attachments
To understand our attachments, we need to notice where our thoughts go when they have nowhere else to go. Our minds are always full of [...]
A hard look or a hard knock — what will we choose?
If we don’t take a hard look at ourselves, we will soon get a hard knock from ourselves. We often worry about people who are [...]
Seek inner harmony through persuasion, not domination
If we consider our inner world as a territory where disputes occur, there are broadly two ways to address these disputes. The first approach is [...]
When others hurt me, let me give them the benefit of the doubt, not shut them out
uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ When others hurt me and my mind rushes to judgment, Help me meet its [...]
1.28 How fear can be an educator
Have you ever met someone who had no tension in a situation you were tense about? Maybe you were coaching them for a critical interview, [...]
3.35 Let fear inform our choices, not deform our values
Fear isn’t always bad. Sometimes it warns us of real dangers to avoid. The Bhagavad Gita (3.35) points to such healthy fear, teaching that choices [...]
How the mind and the intelligence are to work together
The mind is meant to be the complement to the intelligence, let it not become the replacement of the intelligence We live in an age [...]
How to prevent life’s daily ups and downs from becoming dramas and traumas
Life is filled with ups and downs. These fluctuations, when seen with exaggerated importance, can turn routine events into massive dramas, escalating into emotional traumas. [...]
Do we have an inner deception detection mechanism?
As we go through life, we learn that we can't always take things and people at face value. Part of growing up involves realizing that [...]
Might we be wrong about being strong?
If our ego makes us incapable of even considering that we might be wrong, then we are not being strong. Rather, we are being too [...]
Emotional intelligence: Knowing when to respond with equanimity and when with empathy
When someone experiences emotional turbulence, especially during difficult or potentially traumatic times, our response can significantly influence not only their emotional state but also their [...]
Don’t be difficult while going through difficulties
Our life may be difficult, but that doesn't give us the right to be difficult When we face tough situations, they naturally affect our behavior. [...]