Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 06.

Don’t just renounce the material for the spiritual – bring the spiritual to the material by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 06.

The Bhagavad-gita in its sixth chapter analyzes the process of ashtanga-yoga. While such yoga is nowadays seen primarily as a tool for shaping and strengthening the body, the Gita is clear about the world-transcending thrust of yoga: Serious yogis need to renounce the world and retreat to a sacred, secluded place for lifelong exclusive dedication to yoga practice.

Yet after describing how yogis renounce the world, the Gita(06.32) declares the topmost yogi to be not those who regard the world with detachment or disdain, but those who regard it with concern and compassion. Having realized by their own experience how disconnection from spiritual reality brings misery and how reconnection with spiritual reality brings happiness, they want to share their joy with everyone.

Thus, their thrust is not so much on renouncing the material for the spiritual, but on bringing the joys of the spiritual level of reality to those who are still at the material level of consciousness. Just as people in an epidemic zone who have been cured by a potent medicine can commiserate with the pains of those still afflicted, spiritualists who have been cured of materialism by the potent process of yoga can commiserate with the pains of those still trapped in materialistic consciousness.

The Gita declares in its previous verses (06.30-31) that such compassionate yogis are personalists, for they see the personal manifestation of the Absolute Truth, Krishna, pervading all of existence. Understanding that the fully realized vision is not merely of the divorce of spirit from matter, but of the harmonization of both spirit and matter with their supreme source, they strive to help everyone progress towards that harmonization.

Such harmonization can be best achieved by bhakti-yoga, which efficaciously integrates personal realization and public compassion for individual and social well-being.

Chaitanya Charan

Let the Gita lead from the voluminous ambiguous expanse of the Vedas to their essence by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita

The Vedas are a voluminous body of knowledge. Often compared to a desire tree, they provide guidelines for people at all levels of consciousness to fulfill their desires.

Vedic knowledge can be ambiguous because guidelines for people at one level of consciousness may not apply at another level, and readers may not be able to figure out what applies to which level. The Vedas are like an unabridged dictionary. Just as finding thirty-five meanings for one word can overwhelm a linguistic neophyte, the many Vedic guidelines on one subject can overwhelm a religious neophyte.

How can we go beyond such ambiguity in the Vedas?

Just as finding thirty-five meanings for one word can overwhelm a linguistic neophyte, the many Vedic guidelines on one subject can overwhelm a religious neophyte.

By going to their source.

The Vedas are divine in origin, and Krishna is the highest manifestation of divinity. So, he is the best authority for conveying the Vedicessence. And he declares in the Bhagavad-gita (15.15) that the ultimate purpose of all the Vedas is to know him. This is not a self-promoting claim of an egoistic speaker – it is the philosophical truth shared by the supreme seer, the Absolute Truth manifesting in a personal form.

The Vedas are meant to fulfill our desires, and the deepest of our desires is the desire to love and be loved. Indeed, nothing can satisfy our heart as fully as love. Krishna, being the all-attractive, all-loving Supreme Person, is the object wherein our loving propensity finds perfect and perennial fulfillment. Vedic wisdom comprises a progressive program for increasing our faith by satisfying our many surface desires till we take the leap of faith towards loving the one who will fulfill our deepest desire. What the Vedas point towards, the Gita focuses on.

Thus, the Gita takes us from the voluminous ambiguous multi-level guidelines to the top-level goal of all the guidelines: Krishna.

Chaitanya Charan Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02, Text 18

There’s more to life than this life by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02, Text 18

This life” can refer to both the duration of our present life and our present conception of life.

When referring to our lifespan, “there’s more to life than this life” means that our life doesn’t end with death. Though we treat our life as meaningful, death’s suddenness can make our life seem meaningless. A blow or a bug can destroy our fragile bodies. No wonder when death abruptly befalls someone, especially someone we know closely, we feel shocked. Our shock is not just because we have lost that person, but also because our whole life conception feels threatened. We are brought face-to-face with the dubiousness of the assumption of meaningfulness that allows us to live and pursue as worthwhile the various goals that society sets for us.

We are brought face-to-face with the dubiousness of the assumption of meaningfulness that allows us to live and pursue as worthwhile the various goals that society sets for us.

Gita wisdom assures us that life is indeed meaningful. Death doesn’t make life meaningless because death doesn’t end life. Life comes from the soul, which, the Bhagavad-gita (02.18) declares, is eternal. Instead of misidentifying with our bodily shell, we need to identify with our spiritual core, thereby changing our conception of life.

When referring to our present life-conception, “there’s more to life than this life” refers to the limitedness and hollowness of the pursuit of worldly pleasures, possessions and positions – pursuits that usually define our life. “This life” given to materialistic pursuits can never satisfy our heart’s innate longing for love. We long for not just love, but love that lasts – and lasts forever. And that longing can be fulfilled only when we embrace a spiritual life-conception.

When we truly understand our spiritual identity, we naturally direct our loving propensity towards the eternal supreme person, Krishna. In loving him and redefining our worldly pursuits as modes of loving service to him, we gradually relish the supreme love that makes our life eternally meaningful and joyful.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 06

The mind often misdirects our energy. It makes us crave for trivial things or makes us worry about things that haven’t materialized and may never materialize.

That’s why if we hear the mind, we will reduce ourselves to incompetence and incoherence. Worse still, the mind after getting us into unnecessary trouble by suggesting sinful indulgences as the quickfix solution to the troubles.

If we are not to be misled by the mind, we can’t afford to trustingly hear the mind – we need to mind what we hear. That is, we need to discerningly evaluate whatever inner voice comes to us and act as per our higher intelligence. The Bhagavad-gita (06.05) urges us to elevate ourselves with the mind and not to degrade ourselves.

To boost our higher intelligence, Gita wisdom offers us a readymade, reliable reference point.

We can compare what we are prompted to do internally with what we have learnt from scripture externally.

During military communication, the authenticity of the source of a message is evaluated by checking whether the message conforms to certain norms – to speak certain passwords, to convey messages that are in accordance with the nation’s broad interests, for example. A trained commander can identify that hostile forces have taken over the military communication system when the messages coming through it are against national interests. Similarly, a trained spiritual warrior can identify that the forces of illusion acting through the mind have sabotaged the inner voice system when the suggestions coming from it are anti-spiritual.

The more we study scripture and tune ourselves to hear the voice of God coming through scripture, the more we are able to identify his voice and to also expose whatever is not his voice. Thus, we can make healthy choices and march towards all-round success in life.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09

Many people treat devotion as a calling to which some are called and some (they) aren’t. Thus, they rationalize delaying their practice of devotion till some uncertain future when they will feel the call.

It’s true that many great saints had life-defining moments of calling – moments that folk narratives about them glamorize. But such narratives often neglect the reality that those saints’ devotion was not just a calling but also a choice, a choice they resolutely exercised lifelong.

The nature of the human mind is to wander and waver, thereby eroding even the most ardent calling. That’s why, though many feel called to a particular vocation, not all become successful. What separates achievers from also-rans is not the strength of their calling, but the strength of their commitment. Destinies are forged not just in the heat of moments of calling, but also in the cold grind of daily, determined choices after the moments of calling have passed.

Only by subordinating inconsistent feelings to consistent purpose are success stories scripted.

Though people acknowledge the necessity of commitment in most fields, they often treat devotion as an exception that can be left to calling alone. The Bhagavad-gita (09.14) counters this notion by declaring that devotees strive determinedly in their devotional service.

By such determination, calling and choice grow symbiotically. The Gita (15.15) indicates that Krishna from within our heart gives us knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness according to our desires. When we express our desire for him by choosing to practice bhakti-yoga, he reciprocates by giving us the remembrance that strengthens our calling.

Therefore, rather than leaving our devotion to the mercy of some unpredictable calling, we can choose it right away and thus stimulate the symbiosis of choice and calling that will gradually catapult us to pure devotion and eternal life.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18

Inner calm activates the intercom to God by Chaitanya CharanDas Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18

We often use intercom to connect with people with whom we cannot talk directly. The process of bhakti-yoga acts like a spiritual intercom to connect with the supreme spiritual person, God. Bhakti invokes the presence of Krishna in our heart and enables us to relish his sweetness, thereby granting us an engaging higher taste that draws our attention away from the lower tastes of worldly pleasures.

However, just as a noisy environment can interfere with good communication through an intercom, a noisy inner environment interferes with our connection with God even when we use the intercom of bhakti.

No doubt, we can still chant and study and pray even when our inner territory is abuzz with the noises such as desires and worries. But these noises distract us and make us unreceptive to Krishna, thereby making our bhakti practice mechanical and devoid of enlivening spiritual experience. The inner noise can be be conscious wherein we can identify the desires or anxieties or subconscious wherein we can’t sense what it is that is bothering us. But whatever be the nature of the inner noise, it is the cause of the fluctuations in our experience of taste in bhakti practice.

These inner noises originate from both our inner impressions of past materialistic indulgences as well as the rampant materialism in today’s mainstream culture. And they can for all practical purposes cut off our communication with God.

Significantly however, bhakti practice itself can curb the noises in the inner territory, provided we continue practicing it even when we don’t get any taste. The Bhagavad-gita (18.62) urges us to surrender wholeheartedly to the indwelling Lord, with the assurance that it will grant us lasting peace. Thus, by bhakti practice, we will get inner calm, thereby becoming able to hear the voice of Krishna and relishing his presence.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18.

Make the mind wonder spiritually, not wander materially by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18.

The mind tends to wander to various worldly objects, going here, there and everywhere – except where it should be for constructive engagement. By its wandering, the mind often traps us in fantasies of material gains or anxieties about material losses. The wandering mind makes our thought process unproductive, akin to a fan that keeps moving round and round, but gets nowhere.

The mind wanders because it thirsts for pleasure, and its thirst reflects our innate-pleasure seeking nature as souls. That’s why it can’t be repressed; it needs to be redirected to an arena of higher happiness. The best such arena is Krishna, who is infinite and infinitely glorious. The mind can wander within him eternally – and relish constant wonder during that wandering.

 That charioteer contains within himself not just the chariot on which he sits, but also the earth on which that chariot rests, and even the whole universe within which that earth is just a speck.

The Bhagavad-gita concludes with Sanjaya declaring (18.77) that he is wonderstruck as he recollects the astonishing form of Krishna. Inconceivable is the glory of the Absolute Truth Krishna manifesting in a personal form. Though he is present within the universe, the universe is present within him. He appears to be like just any other mortal, being situated on a chariot in a none-too-conspicuous role as a charioteer. Yet that charioteer contains within himself not just the chariot on which he sits, but also the earth on which that chariot rests, and even the whole universe within which that earth is just a speck. How mind-boggling is Krishna’s greatness! And although Krishna is the source of innumerable living beings, he as the Supersoul accompanies each one of us. With inexhaustible compassion, he guides us towards everlasting fulfillment. How heart-warming is Krishna’s love!

When we start relishing Krishna’s glories thus, our mind will gradually replace its useless material wandering with rewarding spiritual wondering – seeking to remember him, planning to serve him, aspiring to love him and looking forward to live with him.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18

The world of love manifests through the words of love by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18

The world of love refers ultimately to the spiritual world, Krishna’s personal abode where there is endless love. There, Krishna exists eternally, the soul exists eternally, and their love exists and expands eternally.

That world of love is not perceivable to us at present with our material senses. But it becomes manifest to us through the words of love, the words of wisdom and compassion spoken by Krishna through scripture and transmitted by the living tradition of saintly teachers. When we hear those words open-mindedly, we understand that there exists an arena where our deepest longing for love is perfectly fulfilled.

It is the nature of the living condition to seek loving reciprocation.

No doubt, love exists even in this world; wherever there is life, there is love. It is the nature of the living condition to seek loving reciprocation. However, because everything in this world is temporary, our love here being directed towards worldly things ends in frustration.

To help us redirect our love towards everlasting fulfillment, Krishna descends and disseminates his words of love. In the Bhagavad-gita (18.64), he reveals the most confidential knowledge – knowledge of the path of spiritual love, bhakti-yoga. And he suffixes this revelation with the declaration that he loves us dearly and desires our highest good. Krishna loves each one of us – and loves us more than anyone else ever can. As a further expression of his love, he assures in the next verse (18.65) that those who follow the path of bhakti and offer him their love will surely attain his eternal abode.

When we submissively hear Krishna’s words and redirect our love accordingly, bhakti starts working its magic in our heart, and we glimpse the world of love even in this life. Being enchanted by those glimpses, we press on enthusiastically and determinedly till we enter that world for life and love eternal

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02

Intention refers to conscious determination to do a particular thing. Intensity refers to wholehearted absorption in doing that thing.

Our spiritual practices frequently lack intensity. For example, when we meditate, often our mind doesn’t focus on the object of meditation, Krishna, but instead wanders to various worldly objects. Unintense devotional practices provide little taste because taste comes primarily when our consciousness connects with Krishna who manifests when we practice devotional service wholeheartedly.

Suppose a mother offers a delicious juice to her baby by pouring it into his mouth. But if the baby gets infatuated with something else and turns his face away from the juice, he can’t enjoy its taste. Our mind is like that unintelligent baby – it gets infatuated with worldly things and turns our attention away from Krishna even while we engage externally in devotional activities. As we are thus distracted, our devotional practices seem tasteless.

Rather than just berating ourselves for being halfhearted or pushing ourselves by brute force to concentrate, we can take a mental step backwards and ask ourselves: “Why am I doing this?”

How do we increase our intensity?

By probing and purifying our intention.

Rather than just berating ourselves for being halfhearted or pushing ourselves by brute force to concentrate, we can take a mental step backwards and ask ourselves: “Why am I doing this? Why is it important? What convinces me personally that it is important for me?” Such introspection pushes our consciousness towards the words of scripture, which gives the intellectual rationale for devotional service. Further, because scripture is a manifestation of the all-pure Supreme, contemplation on it purifies us, thereby reinforcing our pure spiritual intention. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (02.41) indicates that focused intelligence is the foundation of spiritual success.

When we are thus convinced that devotional service is important for us, we naturally feel inspired to concentrate on it and to drag our mind back to it even if it wanders. By such intentional and intense practice, our devotional service soon becomes tasteful and fruitful.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 06

Seek balance through dynamic determination, not frozen formula by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 06

We need to balance our various obligations and aspirations, material and spiritual. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (06.17) recommends regulation in attending to bodily needs.

In seeking a balance, we often look for a predefined plan – I will do this at this time and that at that time and so forth. However, life’s unpredictable vicissitudes frequently require us to adapt our plans. That’s why we can succeed in balancing not by any frozen formula, but by a dynamic determination – a strong resolution to pursue our cherished goals while simultaneously being responsive to changing circumstances.

What will keep us on course is our overall sense of direction coupled with a strong determination to move onwards by whatever way works.

To understand the principle of dynamic determination, consider the example of cycle riding. The normal balanced state of a moving cycle is the vertical state. But suppose we come to a dead-end or a traffic jam. To keep progressing towards our destination, we will need to turn left or right and seek an alternative way on which we will later turn right or left respectively. While turning left, the cycle’s balanced state would be a left-tilted state; and while turning right, a right-tilted state. If, however, we tilt the cycle for too long, we will end up going in a circle. What will keep us on course is our overall sense of direction coupled with a strong determination to move onwards by whatever way works.

In our life-journey too, when we develop an overall sense of direction and streamline our determination accordingly, we will be able to respond intelligently to life’s emerging scenarios. While usually living according to a broad plan, we will appropriately adapt it when necessary, giving more time to our material obligations during exigencies and giving more time to our spiritual aspirations during special occasions.

When we balance and power our life-journey with such dynamic determination, we will march steadily and swiftly towards self-actualization.

               

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09

Falling down is not failure – staying down is by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09

Some devotee-seekers ask, “While striving to live according to devotional principles, we sometimes slip and fall. How can we best deal with such falls?”

Not by getting demoralized and staying down, but by gathering determination and rising again. To curb demoralization and cultivate determination, we can meditate on the longevity of spiritual practice and the infallibility of Krishna’s love.

To curb demoralization and cultivate determination, we can meditate on the longevity of spiritual practice and the infallibility of Krishna’s love.

Spiritual growth is a long, often multi-lifetime, process. From that long-term perspective, a few brief falls are mere blips – unless we unwittingly prolong them. Our falls are usually induced by spikes in our unrighteous desires. Even if those desire-spikes knock us down, what we do between those spikes remains in our hands. If we let our spike-triggered falls dishearten us, then our falling down degenerates into a staying down, and we end up as spiritual failures – not because external forces dragged us down, but because internal choices kept us down. Thankfully, we always have the power to make healthier choices. As soon as a desire-spike passes and we regain our spiritual bearings, we can use our free will to rise again and seek Krishna’s shelter.

To boost our morale, we can get further inspiration by meditating on Krishna’s unfailing love for us. In the Bhagavad-gita (09.30), he declares as saintly those devotees who despite misbehaving stay determined to serve him. Their determination conveys their attitude of not staying down, even if they fall down. And Krishna’s declaration conveys that he still loves us and wants our love.

By meditating on Krishna’s love-filled words, we can take heart amidst our falls and resume our practice of bhakti-yoga. Steady devotional practice will purify us, gradually making us strong enough to check and counter future desire-spikes. By that inner conquest, the next verse (09.31) indicates, we will attain virtuousness and peacefulness in everlasting devotion.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02, Text 55

Sense pleasure is not imaginary, but it is a product of imagination

Imaginary refers to that which doesn’t exist, whereas a product of imagination refers to that which results from the activation of imagination.

Sense pleasure is not imaginary in the sense that it does exist. The Bhagavad-gita (05.22) acknowledges the reality of this pleasure by stating that it arises when the senses and sense objects contact each other. When we see something beautiful or taste something delicious, we do feel some pleasure.

Gita wisdom doesn’t intend to deprive us of pleasure; rather, it intends to help us end our self-inflicted deprivation of pleasure.

Yet the Gita (02.55) urges us to reject such pleasures, declaring them to be a product of the mind (mano-gataan). It is due to the mind’s imagination that we deem such pleasures as immense and irresistible. So the pleasure exists, but it is exaggerated by the imagination. Its quantity, intensity and irresistibility are all products of imagination, akin to mistaking a drop of water in a desert to be an ocean. We succumb to such imagination because we need pleasure – we are innately-pleasure seeking beings.

And Gita wisdom doesn’t intend to deprive us of pleasure; rather, it intends to help us end our self-inflicted deprivation of pleasure. If we are in a desert desperate for water, then our desperation may make us imagine a drop to be far more that what it is. And if this drop lies in a direction opposite to where an ocean is, then pursuing that drop takes us away from the ocean. Similarly, bodily consciousness that is foundational for enjoying drop-like sense pleasure takes us away from the spiritual consciousness that is foundational for relishing oceanic devotional happiness in relationship with Krishna. By redirecting our thirst for happiness from matter to Krishna, by envisioning how we can serve him according to our talents and resources, we can fulfill both our mind’s propensity for imagination and our heart’s longing for happiness.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09

Don’t give Krishna your leftovers by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 09

The very idea of giving Krishna our leftovers may shock out devotional sensibilities – we usually give leftovers such as food to beggars, not to the Supreme Lord.

Yet we might unwittingly end up giving him our leftovers with respect to our time and thought. We often invest our time and thought in our many worldly aspirations and then whatever is left over, we offer it to Krishna through some devotional activities that we squeeze into our schedule. Such offerings express not heartfelt devotion, but reluctant accommodation.

Prioritization is the expression of our devotion, or at least our sincere intention to attain that devotion as quickly as possible.

No doubt, whatever we offer Krishna is auspicious – it will contribute to our eternal spiritual credit. The Bhagavad-gita (09.27) urges us to offer whatever we do to him. This verse underscores his compassion, his going out of his way to help us to kickstart our spiritual journey.

However, Krishna’s compassion can stimulate our devotion, not substitute for it. After all, relationships to be meaningful have to be a two-way street. If we want a loving relationship with Krishna and relish the kind of deep spiritual love that will fulfill our heart in this life and take us to his abode in the next, then we need to place him in the center of our life, not relegate him to some nondescript corner. Such prioritization is the expression of our devotion, or at least our sincere intention to attain that devotion as quickly as possible.

While putting Krishna first might seem difficult given our many other obligations and aspirations, we can rest assured that he won’t replace the things that are truly important for us – instead, he will permeate them. By his mercy and guidance, our devotional connection will underlie and unify our various activities with a divine purposefulness. This will harmonize our material and spiritual sides, gradually transforming our life into a symphony of devotion that is all-round fulfilling.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10

Don’t confuse “I can’t know” with “I don’t know” by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10

When applied to the question of understanding God’s glory as is manifested in reconciling his paradoxical attributes, “I don’t know” is an admission of ignorance. In contrast, “I can’t know” is a statement of knowledge, an intelligent acknowledgement of the incomprehensibility of the infinite when confronted with the finite human capacity for comprehension.

In the Bhagavad-gita (10.14), Arjuna acknowledges that not even the gods can know Krishna’s personality and reiterates (10.15) that Krishna alone knows himself. Yet this statement doesn’t stop him from enquiring more about Krishna – to the contrary, he requests that Krishna speak about his glories in detail for those glories are unendingly relishable.

Acknowledgment of divine incomprehensibility doesn’t imply that Gita wisdom doesn’t answer basic questions about God’s glory – it answers, and answers coherently and cogently many questions that have deluded thinkers for millennia.

The Gita’s paradox – of acknowledging inability to know and expressing desire to know – underscores that the purpose of knowledge on the devotional path is not intellectual conquest, but devotional attraction. Devotees want to know Krishna so that they can dissect him and have him all figured out. They want to know him because they love him and we naturally want to know more and more about those whom we love.

And when our love for Krishna is not yet strong, our acknowledgement of Krishna’s ultimate incomprehensibility opens the doors of paradoxes that were earlier intellectually shut for us during our spiritual journey. We no longer let seeming contradictions check our onward march towards Krishna.

We become like ocean divers whose purpose is not to measure the ocean, but to find pearls in it. The deeper we dive into the ocean of Krishna’s glories, the more we realize that his glories are infinite while simultaneously relishing that infinitude and falling increasingly in love with him.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18

One of these days” is none of these days by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18

“I will do it one of these days.” This is how we often respond when asked to take up spiritual life seriously.

We feel that we are too busy now because of this or that – and some other this or that keeps coming up, always. Thus, “one of these days” ends up as none of these days. The Bhagavad-gita (18.28) deems procrastination a hallmark of working in the mode of ignorance. This ignorance is an animal-like obliviousness to the truth that we have limited time before death, with that finite time-stock being depleted by each passing moment.

Spiritual practices help us to not only eventually attain the eternal, but to also here-and-now get the shelter of that eternal

We are like a person on a raft in an ocean. Life’s many distractions are like waves that destabilize the raft. The purpose of being on the raft is not just staying on it, but also navigating towards the land. Similarly, our purpose is not just to survive life’s dualities, but also to head towards the land of eternal life by spiritual realization. Those who simply try to stay on the raft will eventually get exhausted and will sink. So too will we sink in the ocean of material existence if we let our attention be consumed by worldly dualities.

To avoid such a fate, we need to replace “one of these days” with today. Spiritual practices help us to not only eventually attain the eternal, but to also here-and-now get the shelter of that eternal, somewhat like the raft being stabilized by an anchor. The supreme anchor is Krishna, the highest spiritual truth; connecting with him by our spiritual practices makes our consciousness calmer and clearer, thereby enabling us to act more intelligently and effectively. Thus, focusing on Krishna today also empowers us to deal better with today’s challenges, the very challenges due to which we ignorantly put off focusing on him.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18.

Everything attractive comes from Krishna, but everything attractive doesn’t take us to Krishna by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on BhagavadGita Chapter 18.

The Bhagavad-gita repeatedly urges us to not become attracted by sense objects. Yet the same Gita (10.41) asserts that the attractiveness of everything attractive comes from a spark of Krishna’s splendor. When the attractiveness of sense objects also comes from Krishna, why shouldn’t we be attracted to them?

Because becoming attracted to them doesn’t take us to Krishna. We get so infatuated by sense objects that our consciousness gets locked in them alone, and doesn’t go towards their source. What takes us towards Krishna is our remembrance of him and the resulting increase in our attraction for him. When we see beautiful sense objects, we hardly ever remember him; instead, we get overrun by the feeling that enjoying those objects will make us happy – a feeling that takes away most of our impetus for remembering him.

When we see beautiful sense objects, we hardly ever remember Krishna; instead, we get overrun by the feeling that getting those objects will make us happy – a feeling that takes away most of our impetus for remembering him.

Pertinently, the same Gita that asserts Krishna’s pervasion of everything also categorizes everything into three modes: goodness, passion and ignorance. Gita wisdom recommends that while pursuing the long-term goal of awakening pure love for Krishna, we should strive to live in goodness because among the modes, goodness is the most hospitable for our spiritual growth. In goodness, we can have the intelligence, as the Gita (18.30) indicates, to know which worldly things are spiritually conducive and which aren’t – and to accordingly choose liberating, not entangling, activities. If our mind somehow gets infatuated with a spiritually undesirable sense object, then we can, by contemplating how the attractiveness of that object comes from Krishna, convince the mind that by renouncing that object and focusing on Krishna, we will be giving up the spark for the sun – we will be gainers, not losers.

By thus philosophically guarding and guiding our consciousness, we can march straight towards the all-attractive Lord of our heart.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17

Speak not “to reveal the truth about others”, but to realize the truth about yourself by ChaitanyaCharan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17

Gossipers often act as if they are doing a valuable social service by “revealing the truth about others.” However, they frequently don’t check of the “truth” they are revealing is actually true. Further, their intention usually is not to help others but to become the center of attention.

Such gossipers end up doing a disservice to everyone – their object who gets needlessly maligned, their audience who gets misled and they themselves who lose the trust of others and face an eventual inevitable backlash.

The Bhagavad-gita (17.15) recommends speech that is not agitating, but is truthful, pleasant and beneficial – essentially the antithesis of gossip. Anticipating that such positive speech may be difficult, the Gita deems it a verbal austerity. This implies that even if we can’t control our speech effortlessly, we can still strive for control as a discipline.

Significantly, the Gita asks for not absolute abnegation of speech, but its constructive channelization. The same verse concludes by urging us to regularly recite scripture. The import of this goes beyond memorization and verbalization to assimilation – speaking on scripture in a way that makes its essential message more intelligible to others and to us. When we study scripture and explain it to others, the necessary sustained contact with this verbal manifestation of the divine purifies us, thereby deepening our scriptural understanding.

As scripture is essentially a guide to self-realization, regular scriptural contact propels us on that inner journey, enabling us to increasingly realize the most important truth about ourselves, the truth about our identity and destiny: we are eternal souls meant to delight forever in loving and serving Krishna. The more we realize this truth by using our power of speech to serve Krishna’s words, the more we relish life’s supreme happiness – the endless happiness of divine love.

Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16.

We have nothing to lose except our non-existence by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16.

When we consider taking up spiritual life, materialists often try to scare us by saying that we will lose the many material things that we presently enjoy.

Such scare drives can be countered by various philosophical truths – the things we lose give only illusory pleasure followed by substantial misery; we won’t lose anything important because devotional spirituality centers on not rejection, but redirection; we will gain Krishna, who will provide for our needs, including our need for happiness. But perhaps the best way to counter such fears is the strategy of attack is the best defense – highlight instead what we stand to lose if we don’t take up spirituality but hold on to a materialistic conception of life.

According to materialism, you as a person, as an individual irreducible unit of consciousness, as an integrated center of awareness and agent of action, don’t exist.

We will, of course, lose everything that we hold dear, at the time of death. But long before that, we will also lose something far more fundamental – we will lose ourselves, right here and now, at the very moment we accept the materialistic worldview. How?

Materialism holds that nothing exists beyond matter. As matter is not conscious, whereas we are, materialism implies that our sense of consciousness is merely an illusion somehow created by the brain’s electrochemical signals. According to materialism, you as a person, as an individual irreducible unit of consciousness, as an integrated center of awareness and agent of action, don’t exist. The Bhagavad-gita (16.09) points to this deleterious consequence of materialism when it states that materialists destroy their own souls.

Most materialists don’t realize this consequence of materialism because they unthinkingly gorge on the enjoyment sanctioned by materialism. Why should we join the ranks of the unthinking due to the fear of losing something inconsequential when by staying in their ranks we end up losing everything – for our self is the basis of everything we experience and enjoy and treasure?

We have nothing to lose except our non-existence by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16.

When we consider taking up spiritual life, materialists often try to scare us by saying that we will lose the many material things that we presently enjoy.

Such scare drives can be countered by various philosophical truths – the things we lose give only illusory pleasure followed by substantial misery; we won’t lose anything important because devotional spirituality centers on not rejection, but redirection; we will gain Krishna, who will provide for our needs, including our need for happiness. But perhaps the best way to counter such fears is the strategy of attack is the best defense – highlight instead what we stand to lose if we don’t take up spirituality but hold on to a materialistic conception of life.

According to materialism, you as a person, as an individual irreducible unit of consciousness, as an integrated center of awareness and agent of action, don’t exist.

We will, of course, lose everything that we hold dear, at the time of death. But long before that, we will also lose something far more fundamental – we will lose ourselves, right here and now, at the very moment we accept the materialistic worldview. How?

Materialism holds that nothing exists beyond matter. As matter is not conscious, whereas we are, materialism implies that our sense of consciousness is merely an illusion somehow created by the brain’s electrochemical signals. According to materialism, you as a person, as an individual irreducible unit of consciousness, as an integrated center of awareness and agent of action, don’t exist. The Bhagavad-gita (16.09) points to this deleterious consequence of materialism when it states that materialists destroy their own souls.

Most materialists don’t realize this consequence of materialism because they unthinkingly gorge on the enjoyment sanctioned by materialism. Why should we join the ranks of the unthinking due to the fear of losing something inconsequential when by staying in their ranks we end up losing everything – for our self is the basis of everything we experience and enjoy and treasure?