Two obstacles to gratitude
When we try to cultivate gratitude, we may encounter various obstacles, with greed seeming to be the most evident candidate. The focus of gratitude and [...]
Two connections between gratitude and mental health
Nowadays, there are increasing concerns about mental health. More and more people find themselves feeling internally slowed, stymied, or even sabotaged by their own emotions, [...]
Gratitude for the ordinary
During our life, whenever we receive something special — for example, getting an unexpected job promotion or winning the lottery — we feel overjoyed. And [...]
No to incite yes to insight
The world contains many power-hungry people who ruthlessly pursue their selfish, even devilish, agendas. To serve their own ends, they have no compunctions about manipulating [...]
Might life be better if we pursued something other than happiness?
We live in a world that oversells happiness to us, with unending promises and unendingly glamorized products. And we have minds that are programmed with [...]
Feeling God or trusting God?
During our life, there will be times when we are down, yet we feel God's presence guiding, strengthening and uplifting us. However, there will also [...]
Facing losses but not feeling lost — the reorienting power of gratitude
Suppose we are driving through a remote area guided by GPS and suddenly the GPS connectivity gets lost due to a heavy storm. Not knowing [...]
From gifts in life to the gift of life
When striving to cultivate gratitude, we often attempt to look at the things that are good in our life and see those things as gifts. [...]
Is gratitude a state or a trait?
Gratitude can be both, and it is best when manifested as both. Let’s see how. State: Gratitude as a state refers to the emotions of [...]
What we do with our blessings
In our life, we all have both blessings and problems. Unfortunately, we often tend to fixate on our problems, which may arise due to our [...]
How to work with our mind
Even a little introspection can demonstrate to us how distracting and distractible our mind is — it gets captivated by trivial things and then makes [...]
Is a long life a good life?
When somebody dies in old age, people often say about them: “They had a good life.” But does the length of a life determine its [...]
Bhagavad-gita Chapter 6 summary — part 2
[Having ceased worldly work, how do advanced yogis progress further?] They focus constantly on the self — to that end, they stay alone in a [...]
Dutifulness but with a different consciousness (02.69 analysis 4 — Krishna-Arjuna relationship level)
This verse (02.69) addresses Arjuna’s concern articulated earlier: he couldn’t see the point of fighting (01.30) when it was going to be at the cost [...]
Be ready to stand apart from the world (Gita 02.69 analyzed 2 – Chapter level)
The Bhagavad-gita’s second chapter is essentially Krishna’s summary answer to Arjuna’s central question in the Gita (02.07): what is dharma, the right thing to do? [...]
Gita 09.26 explained
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan Bg 9.26 patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ [...]
What made us the way we are?
We tend to ascribe to God our life’s starting conditions — our complexion, our birth family and our default disposition. Justifying such an ascription, we [...]
Are we asking God the wrong question?
Suppose we find ourselves impeded, even imprisoned, by some conditioning — say, our mind keeps becoming jealous or angry, despite our best efforts to fight [...]
Gita 5.20 explained
But how will one practically do this? So now Sri Krishna will describe a process, so set of verses from here are both descriptive and [...]
Gita 09.30 explained
Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan Now after describing this Sri [...]
How can we situate ourselves in our spiritual identity?
Suppose we are in an ocean characterized by huge waves. How can we protect ourselves from being swept away by those waves? By having an [...]