When Convenience Becomes Dependence
“Your flight has already departed.” The Air Canada staff member at the Frankfurt Airport transfer counter told me this in a flat, nonchalant voice. I [...]
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 [...]
When Does Love Become Toxic?
Love naturally makes us protective. But when one relationship becomes so important that every other relationship becomes expendable, love can become destructive. Dhritarashtra’s love for [...]
Birthmarks and the Memories of the Soul
The Bhagavad Gita explains that the soul transitions from one body to another, just as a person progresses from childhood to youth to old age. [...]
Consciousness Outside the Body
A common assumption in modern science is that the physical brain generates consciousness. However, scientific evidence regarding near-death experiences (NDEs) poses a significant challenge to [...]
The Three Longings That Biology Cannot Explain
From a purely biological perspective, human beings are often identified simply as biological machines. Biology suggests that survival and reproduction are the primary drivers of [...]
Why You Need a Metaphysical Orientation
Just as our bodies require physical nutrition to survive, our minds require a metaphysical orientation to thrive. Metaphysical orientation provides us with a profound sense [...]
The Conflict of Belonging: Kula Dharma vs. Kshatriya Dharma
The Bhagavad Gita opens with the word dharma. While often translated simply as "religion," dharma actually originates from the Sanskrit root dhru, meaning "to sustain." [...]
The Battlefield Metaphor: Why Intellectual Shortcuts Fail
The setting of the Bhagavad Gita is inherently jarring. Just before the climactic war of the epic Mahabharata is about to begin, the leading warrior, [...]
Death is a Comma, Not a Full Stop
If we identify ourselves solely by our biology, our existence seems terribly fragile. We believe that birth is the absolute beginning and death is the [...]
The Mystery of Agency: Why You Are Not Your Brain
In modern neuroscience, there is a strong tendency to reduce our entire identity and consciousness to the physical brain. However, pioneering studies suggest that our [...]
The Biological Illusion of Equality
Few things agitate the human heart as much as discrimination and unfair treatment. The aspiration for equality—the deeply held belief that everyone should be treated [...]
Why We Must Not Reduce Ourselves to Our Roles
In life, we wear many hats and play many roles. We possess functional identities based on our gender, age, profession, nationality, and relationship status. While [...]
Adversity, Atrocity, and the True Source of Agony
We often face problems in life at three different levels of acuteness: adversity, atrocity, and agony. Adversity is what life naturally throws at us, such [...]