Wisdom of the Sages

mutual love is the major law of our existence / the vision of Vishnu in the heart of Brahma / Vishnu's smile vanquishes distress / the competition between the Lord & His devotees / the worship of the Radharamana temple / the soul exists for God to feel his own blissful nature through the soul's love / we've all cried an ocean of tears / Krishna is happy, just waiting for us to reconnect / Arjuna's...

if there was one single verse that you would recommend to commit to memory, what would it be? / what does it mean to be a vanaprastha (retired person) in the modern context? / what should I do about the envy within me? / why don't yogis taste food while they are cooking it, or eat garlic, onions or mushrooms? / I'm finding Bhagavad-gita to be difficult to grasp, is this normal or should I just kee...

what is normal? / Brahma searches for his source externally & fails / Brahma searches internally & succeeds / realizations at the burning ghat / the qualification to understand life's greatest mysteries involves the quality of one's attitudes & character / observational bias – "the drunkard's search principle" or the "streetlight effect" / no one can understand Kṛṣṇa by the blunt material senses /...

Arjuna's confusion / antah sukha (inner happiness) / samadarshina (equal vision) / samatvam (even-mindedness) / the sage of steady mind / freedom from attachment fear & anger / maturing knowledge into wisdom through reflection on what we've heard from the yoga texts / media & politics are clouding our minds / distilling the consciousness

Raghu's spiritual morning makes no material sense / Kaustubha's special day / the story of Gajendra the elephant / we need to be situated in our element to fight / the value of memorizing verses / the story of Vibhishana & Rama's forgiveness / the story of Jatayu - even failure is success / give your life & trust

the higher power via tattva / the higher power via rasa / shuddering at the thought of eternal service / Krishna is naturally controlled by love / Krishna wants to be seen as the servant of Arjuna / yoga-sutra's recommendation to give ones life to "the controller" / the love of the Gopis defeats Krishna / a young lover's mind is the highest yoga / Krishna makes yoga easy for the one with love

how can awareness of a higher power be useful for us? / "We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." / the bird & the higher power / the child & the higher power / recognizing karma & time as the influences of the Higher Power / Bhagavad-gita Ch. 13 - an exposition on the Higher Power

how can someone be tolerant, still come across with a strong voice? / gossip, negativity & intrigues have been exhausting me & making me do and say things that I regret afterwards - what to do? / is it an offense to touch someone's feet? / if yogis aspire to see things equally, why make any quality judgements at all? / how to endure disappointing behavior from those who are supposed to be setting...

born into a bhakti community / finding bhakti on one's own / learning the offering of Ayurveda / learning from a bhakti-yoga master / leading by caring for each individual person / the constant need for clear communication / what comes next www.thesisterscience.com

it actually is all good / the celestial Ganges river as a universal highway / the season, or cycles of the universe / the universe unfolds from Vishnu's lotus / if a woman can create a human in her abdomen, is it really so impossible for Vishnu to create the universal Lotus from His? / cultivating spiritual vision - seeing equality on the spiritual level SB 3.8.3-15

Does God have to be a person? / What are some good practices for spiritual contemplation while walking in public? / I want to follow traditional fasts as part of the yoga culture but I work construction which is very physically demanding - what to do? / How do you trust "spiritual people" after you've been hurt, lied to, tricked, used, and manipulated by someone you looked up to?

devoting exclusive time for spiritual practice / a focused commitment to change / first life clue - the death of Raghunath's cat / spiritual knowledge grants immunity to material miseries / these books aren't just for philosophizing - they're life instructions! / seeing the museum piece with devotional eyes / the book Bhagavatam & the person Bhagavat / our entangled lives & the solution in one ver...

the blind men & the elephant / Hinduism & Buddhism in Nepal / Krishna's beauty is absolute / puncturing the romance of the material world / human life is meant for inquiry about the Absolute Truth / Brahma Vishnu & Siva / dharma disconnected from prema (divine love) is useless / God doesn't want us to be Ned Flanders / the material world bubble is gonna pop

live from Kathmandu! / self-realization not sense gratification / burning is learning / the potato chip shloka / spiritual addiction is healthy / all there is within the universe for satisfying one's senses cannot satisfy a person whose senses are uncontrolled / be detached & serve with love / training the mind to be always thinking of doing good for others / the more we think of sense enjoyment,...

secret thoughts come out in our words & actions / austerity of speech means speaking words that are – truthful, pleasing, beneficial, not agitating to others, & regularly reciting Vedic literature / validation hounds / no junk food no junk speech / being a kind friend of every living entity BG 17.15 & 12.14 & 15

What exactly is a guru? / How should one correctly go about self criticism and introspection? How can I be honest with myself without evoking self hate? Moreover, once I identify my shortcomings how do I turn them from being a hindrance to a means for spiritual growth? / Is there a custom or even a ritual/prayer to be performed before starting with the Maha Mantra? / How can I stay true to my spir...

the gunas for children / if our capacity for austerity is meager, serve mahatmas / a human has to consider how they eat, sacrifice, perform austerity, give charity / once you take a picture of it, it's not yoga / austerity of the body - respecting great souls, cleanliness, simplicity, celibacy, nonviolence / it all boils down to kindness & simplicity SB 3.7.20 & BG 17.14

our value isn't based on the body / our disturbances have no other basis than the movement of the external energy / the fool is happy & one with transcendental intelligence is happy / when it's bad it's good & when it's good it's bad / service is the way out / Krishna is called Madhusudana because he slays our doubts and slays the false ego SB 3.7.15-19

our miseries are due to a misconception of self-identity / the counterintuitive key - human life is not meant for sense gratification, it is meant for self-realization / we're chasing a mirage that draws us deeper & deeper into the desert / controlling our senses means freedom / Bhagavad-gītā (2.59) - the higher taste / consciousness is active by nature SB 3.7.12-14

Welcome back Mara! / a pandit is born / Raghu's son transcends misery through the wisdom of the Gita / if the soul is unchangeable, and if God is always in our heart, then why do our activities result in misfortune and misery? Or, how do we lose touch with our spiritual nature? / analogy 1 - seeing your own head cut off - the sense of loss is illusory / analogy 2 - the quivering reflection of the...

How do you go deal with direct hate against you for no apparent reason? / I'm struggling with depression and my bhakti practices can't seem to shake it. Is there something I'm missing? / How does goodness (sattva guna) have a grip on us? / Are the spiritual teaching I read about before coming to Bhakti relevant? Is there any "one true path" for spiritual guidance or do they all contain nuggets of...

miracles are everywhere / the cobbler & the brahmin / Bhagavatam is the magic 8 ball - always answering our questions / our disposition can either reveal or repeal knowledge / Raghu's relationship with geese / is my toothache God's lila (divine play)? / if God is situated in our hearts, then why do our activities result in misfortune and misery?

2 monks - "you've been carrying her in your mind all day" / Raghunath's country klatch / miracles are everywhere / lawless Krishna of Mathura is also the universal juggler / the miracle of the banyan tree / the miracle of the whistler thorn / the miracle of the neem tree / everything we need literally grows on trees! / humans always screw it up!

Bhakta Louie practicing seeing God everywhere / find your service / engaging the speech & the ear / the body is a temple - how to keep it sacred / offer the senses to the master of the senses / engaging the body, words & mind / the chataka, which will drink only rain water / the chakora bird, which subsists of the moonbeams / simply by hearing the writings of the great sages one becomes perfectly...

we all get tested / the senses & corresponding devas (equipment for our avatars) / the 3 planetary systems (3 levels of the video game) / the varnas (categories of the avataras we can choose from in the video game) / each varna has it's strengths and weaknesses / false mastership is the basic disease of the conditioned soul / who am I? the servant of the servant