Intelligence means keeping accessible not just the factors that push us toward transcendence but also those that pull us. When we aspire to grow spiritually [...]
Desire abducts with the promise of pleasure and abandons us in the province of trouble. The Bhagavad Gita (18.38) states that sensual desires lead us [...]
Detachment arises from understanding that desire can only be dealt with by tolerating it, never by titillating it. We all face sensual desires, and it [...]
Impurity needs to be tackled by focusing on transcendence, not tickled by fantasizing about indulgence. Whenever we have any impurity within us that triggers desires [...]
Let our thinking not be wishful or fearful; let it be prayerful and purposeful. Our thinking capacity is our most powerful capacity. It is the [...]
The concept of karma has become widespread to the point of having gained mainstream acceptance, both in terms of parlance and worldview. Both the frequent [...]
Our intelligence is meant to be our protector, akin to an inner guard. We need such a guard because inside us is our mind, which [...]
The Bhagavad-gita begins and ends with surrender. But these two forms of surrender are significantly different. The initial surrender in 2.7 happens when Arjuna acknowledges [...]
The Bhagavad Gita (15.19) declares that those who understand Krishna as the Supreme Person, worship Him with all the emotions of their hearts. What is [...]
The Bhagavad Gita (6.6) warns us that our mind can be our enemy if we are not in control of it. In politics, there are [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita verse (4.10), Krishna describes how we can move from material emotion to spiritual emotion. Broadly, the various emotions we have in association [...]
The Bhagavad Gita (18.73) concludes with Arjuna surrendering to Krishna, not in a passive way by accepting Krishna's will as it is happening in his [...]
Circumstantial anxieties are unavoidable because, no matter how much control we have over our external environment, there will always be some things beyond our [...]
To be present in the present, we need to learn to focus gradually and incrementally. If our mind is wandering, we can bring it back [...]
Whenever we study scriptures, we tend to identify with the virtuous characters, whether it is Ram or Sita or Hanuman. That's good, but it's also [...]
Lessons that disturbed our peace of mind may well take us toward peace of the heart. Sometimes, we may value peace to such an extent [...]
Devotion is not just emotion, it is emotion expressed through dedicated action. Some people dismiss devotion as simply expressive and sometimes ineffective emotion. However, devotion [...]
Only when we stop chasing the life of pleasure can we find the pleasure of life. The life of pleasure means that we think life [...]
We may be far away from God, but God is close to us. Sometimes we may pray to God and not get any result from [...]
When our prayers are unanswered, how can we stay faithful? By seeing how we can be grateful for unanswered prayers. If we look at our [...]
When it seems that God has not answered our prayers, actually, God has answered our prayers. Even a 'no' is an answer. And when it [...]
