Wisdom of the Sages

Raghunath sits down with Krishna Murari Goswami and discusses the onset of the auspicious month of Kartik.

Chronic illness – how to know when to try to fix it or when to accept it? / If we don't forgive we will have similar difficult relationships with family members in our next life?" / What is the connection between Bhakti-yoga and Jnana-yoga? / How to see Krishna in your dreams?

"First things first … he's got three heads." / material existence is riddled with envy fear and worry / Indra blows it again! / freedom comes with a price / the gradual path of letting go / big opulence leads to big bewilderment / Laxmi belongs to Vishnu, not to our Maya / attachment creates humiliation / sadhu's gotta cut- don't be a dirty old man / Indra is the hero of the Vedas, but the buffoon of the Bhagavatam (because Vyasa want's to show us that mixed devotion is not the goal of life)

you surrender and then you transcend to body and are in a totally different space / don't weaponize your opulences / anything we're proud of will be removed / pride sets one up for competition, anxiety, fear and humiliation / Krishna doesn't tolerate false pride / our bodies have a low ceiling for enjoyment and a high ceiling for pain / we are the enjoyed, not the enjoyer / don't try to adjust the world to your enjoyment - adjust yourself to be harmonious with the world / your devotion is everything

there's constant war everywhere / the jiva is at war with the time factor / now is the time to connect with spirit / Narayana kavacha is a comprehensive insurance policy / we are existing in God and God is existing in us at every moment / Be careful what you wish for / purify, refine and distill our desires / our goal is to have prema as our only desire

What does transformation look like? / How can I keep the peace I've been feeling pilgrimage when I return home to figure out my material life? / How to gracefully move through mental layers of cynicism, skepticism and fault-finding?

we're missing out on a map for dharma / Visvarupa is broad minded, Indra divides on party lines / all the yoga, rituals, austerities, etc. are meant to lead to pure love / pure devotees are happy to serve in heaven or hell / Indra's prayers remind us of Hiranyakashipu / there but for the grace of God go I / Gods mercy follows the devotees mercy

too many possessions is like carrying a lot of luggage when you travel - it just creates anxiety / Siddhartha would be no greedy hawker of incantations / "A brāhmaṇa who desires to achieve happiness by gaining wealth through professional priesthood must certainly have a very low mind." - Visvarupa / to the degree you get into bhakti, you're satisfied with simplicity / the sooner we realize our happiness comes from within, the sooner we're relieved of anxiety / the Nārāyaṇa-kavaca Shield SB 6.8.1-15

India's timeless spiritual culture / our faces and wrinkles and abs are all about to burn / feel the presence of great souls in the holy places / add transcendental sound during downtime / "Why should I worry? Radharani knows exactly what I need" / in bhakti, if your intention is pure , mistakes don't matter / ask Krishna to stir it up / Indra's desires are the cause of his anxiety / Indra did not have Visvarupa's broad-mindedness SB 6.7.31-40

Can gratitude reinforce material attachments? / How do I surrender? / How to get the most out of a pilgrimage experience? / How do we know wether we're sincere?

"Etiquette is the science of living. It embraces everything. It is ethics. It is honor". - Emily Post / Can juniors bless seniors? / Bhagavatam is repeatedly encouraging us to see the divinity, dignity and spiritual potential in every living being - this is the fundamental spiritual principle / everyone should be respected as a temple of the Supreme / keep it sacred! SB 6.7.25-30

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." – Martin Luther King Jr. / dismantling the barriers of our love / what's so special about the cows and the Brahmanas? / by adopting a diet dependent on cruelty and petroleum based industry we are rapidly creating hell on earth / the positive alternative is an economy and diet based on simple living and a relationship of cooperation and love between humans and animals SB 6.7.22-24

Krishna is involved in every aspect of our life / how material opulence increases enmity, anxiety, mental agitation, pride and belligerence / we go through so much endeavor to increase and maintain our possessions, and we suffers great unhappiness when we lose them / external etiquette is for the internal change Check out Radhikesh Prabhu at www.radhikeshdas.com SB 6.7.13-21

"Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times." ― G. Michael Hopf / Krishna kindly dismantles all of our false identities / the arc in the life of a sadhu / the wise voluntarily accept austerity / Indra's opulence makes him weak - and brings on the hard times SB 6.7.12-13

Ingratitude is the frost that nips the flower even as it opens/ Don't repay gifts with ingratitude / Do we hear the voice of Daksha in our own heart? / Good karma can be bad and bad karma can be good / material enjoyment bewilders us and covers our gratitude / Anything I've got, I've received from my teachers / everything becomes a waste of time if you don't remember why you're doing it SB 6.6.1-6.7.11

How do I know if I'm choosing the right faith tradition? / If the Maha Mantra is the Yuga Dharma, were people chanting it before? / What is universal love?

Is it ok to chant while doing other things? / How to respond to manipulation in spiritual circles? / How would you explain that God can be a person too someone brand new to Bhakti?

"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart." - Marcus Aurelius / yogis anticipate criticism and accept it without becoming petty / If you don't purge your material attachment, it will get taken away anyway / material enjoyment is the cause of all unhappiness / the Bhakti equation - as love increases, detachment increases / Bhakti-yogis don't don't counter-curse SB 6.5.41-44

"When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you." - Winston Churchill / let the world love or hate you and stay even minded / forget body positivity - go for spirit positivity / the real enemy is the mind's negative programing and insecurity / "A perfect Vaiṣṇava's position should be just like Nārada Muni's, completely independent and unbiased." - A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami / we need high caliber devotees in our life / Daksha's half truths / knowledge and detachment arise automatically through devotion SB 6.5.39-41

we're born indebted / all debts are paid through Bhakti / all rules and rituals are meant to serve love - when we forget that, then religion becomes repulsive / awakening gratitude is the threshold of spiritual life / Daksha's blindness to pure devotion / How much Daksha is inside me? SB 6.5.36-38 Check out Ananda Murari's music at https://show.co/ygaQGrA

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. — Rumi / become the person Mr. Right is looking for / What's the barrier keeping us from receiving Divine Love? / the mantra is the third rail / if we are hearing wisdom daily then when suffering comes we'll be able to process it and grow / everyone was getting delivered except Daksha (what was his barrier?) SB 6.5.21-35

"Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time." - Mahatma Gandhi / of the unreal there is no endurance and of the real there is no change - Bhagavad-gita 2.16 / time is more than a measure, it's a powerful force / floppy disks are a poor investment / shastra are our real father / One should not become a parent if they cannot save their dependents from the impending danger of death SB 6.5.19-20

Can it be favorable to walk the path of Bhakti with a partner who doesn't? / In leading a Bhagavad-gita study group, how can I be respectful to those whose faith is different than mine? / How can I reframe suffering?

this is not a pipe, this is not success, this is not happiness, this is not my child, this is not love / "To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage." — Henri Matisse / we're living in the world of names / "Human life is simply meant for self-realization." – A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami / this life is neither comfortable nor secure / the soul yearns for the eternal / to the degree you invest in illusion, you strengthen the illusion / spiritually - the name and the named are non-different SB 6.5.18

when devotees come, everything becomes auspicious / "Great calm, generous detachment, selfless love, disinterested effort: these are what make for success in life." - Rabindranath Tagore / don't just run with the current - pause, breathe and examine / Zip it up! Our material bodies are not eternal! / to the degree of our envy, we live in illusion / don't let a cheating intelligence drag you around / austerity and knowledge are on the edge of samsara, but they flow quickly (in the form of anger and ego) SB 5.6.15-17 Check out Madhava's Rock Band at https://youtu.be/dxdvPy8EMAU?si=b0pkQtEHIFwQSSnj

anyone can draw / dismantling the blocks to creativity / identifying and processing our emotions / build a bridge of empathy / centering the intelligence around Krishna / in yoga there is a practice and a goal SB 6.5.13-14 Pre order Rukmini's book at https://a.co/d/imxKaou Check out what she is up to at https://www.dearruksi.com/book

"False happiness is like false money... when it is brought to the touch, we find the lightness and alloy, and feel the loss." - Alexander Pope / sattvic, rajasic and tamasic happiness / false happiness = senses contacting external objects, real happiness = internal nature of the self / what's the use of karma endeavor for temporary happiness / the false premise upon which we build our entire lives SB 6.5.1-12

How is it possible to perceive and love Krishna's presence, and not fall into despair, in the sick, backwards state of the world we are living in? / How should I honor an altar at home? / Which books would you recommend, Srila Prabhupada's original editions or the current revised editions?

For a Bhakti-yogi, can it be at all helpful to incorporate other yogic practices such as kundalini, tantra, kriya, etc.? And if so, how can one practice safely while keeping Krishna in the center?

Conventional Vedanta vs Esoteric Vedanta / Vaishnava acharyas give us a glimpse of Esoteric Vedanta / centrifugal knowledge vs centripetal knowledge / Krishna works through multifarious energies / Radha is the personification of the pleasure potency - the embodiment of Divine Love / when our heart becomes softened it can receive the pleasure potency from the heart of another who has it / approaching the esoteric with reverence / dismantling the ego in the land of Radha's Love / when will Sri Radha cast Her merciful sidelong glance upon me? http://www.harekrsna.de/Radha-kripa-kataksha-stava.htm

"We carry within us a divine spark, and if we chose to recognize it, our lives have dignity, meaning, hope." - Dean Koontz / we aren't selfish by nature – selfishness is an artificial imposition / yoga is all about remembering who you are / Bhakti-yogis are already liberated / how is Krishna the God of love? / the peril of offense SB 6.4.51-54

there is no happiness equal to contentment / there is no disease like covetousness / there is no virtue like mercy / shastra calls us to be cool headed / if we purify our existence by tapasya we can do wonderful things by the grace of the Lord / austerities for the body, words, and mind / our speech should be truthful, pleasing, beneficial, non-agitating / we all come in the achyuta-gotra - the family of Krishna SB 6.4.47-50

"We create our own unhappiness. The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we are the ones who cause it." Willie Nelson / Woah! There's a purpose to suffering!?! / 2 world views – the world has no design or purpose or the everything in the world is designed with purpose / we can simultaneously hold 2 ideas - that we must be compassionate to all who suffer and that we cause our own suffering / the best way to deal with our own pain is to take responsibility / the bank robbery analogy / the evidence is everywhere - the question is how you interpret it / a formula for seeing God behind everything / WOTS - a simple fun way to Vedic epistemology / we can't remove every thorn in the world, but we can put on some shoes SB 6.24.46

"It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of." - Jonathan Swift / the body and mind have faults but the self is pure gold / It's the people that come that make a place holy / see God everywhere and everywhere becomes holy / the inconceivable form of Vishnu / Daksha places the manifestations of the Divine in a hierarchy / harmony is only around Lord Vishnu, not apart from him / Vishnu is always smiling SB 6.4.32-45

I feel unmotivated and depressed when it comes to my practice of devotion = any advice? / If our relationships in the material world are just temporary roles, what is the point of marriage?

"Those who cannot understand how to put their thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of debate." - Nietzsche / just as fire is hidden in wood - the Paramatma is hidden in the material elements / yoga is a practice of seeing God in everything / Paramatma puts us under a spell - we forget our own identities and argue incessantly without ever reaching a conclusion / Nyaya's 3 types of debate / Daniel Dennett's 4 steps to arguing intelligently SB 6.4.27-31

"Unhappiness is not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it." - Don Herold / why am I waiting in line to buy these sneakers? / Is all our pleasure from our ego? / ultimately we are just looking for love / we are unaware of forces that engage us / there's a firewall preventing our perception of paramatma / every aspect of our experiences is designed for our growth / the dark worldview = this world is unreal, without foundation, without a controller, and risen without cause / most live under the spell of material nature / seeing through eyes trained in knowledge / endeavoring transcendentalists can see behind the firewall / cats vs monkeys SB 6.4.25-26

we can't pay our spiritual debts back, but we can pay them forward / understanding our place in the levels of awareness / our experiences are being governed by unseen forces / the Supersoul is directing the workings of our senses / we own nothing / Paramatma writes the songs that make the whole world sing / If you were to find out how this entire universe works, would you expect that it all would be ordinary, or would you expect to hear things that would BLOW YOUR MIND! To donate a Bhagavatam set, contact Malini at +1 669 289 5563 SB 6.4.24

Respect to those practicing Bhakti where it's illegal and dangerous / imagination is more important than knowledge / Mahabharata Super Squirrel – Abhimanyu's death, Arjuna's vow, and Krishna's cheating out of love / Krishna cheats out of love again when Karma is killed / love is the highest dharma!

Wisdom of the Sages is mother approved (with cautious optimism) / "Realism is not a matter of any fidelity to an empirical reality.." - John Fiske / There's no empirical evidence that all that exists falls within the realm of empirical evidence. / there's a firewall between us and spiritual perception / virtue is a key to knowledge / sambhanda jnana (knowledge of the nature of our relationship) / ants have eyes, but they can't see very well / there could be a blue cowherd boy at the center of Swiss cheese universes SB 6.4.23

Is a broken heart real or just an illusion? / How should a Bhakti-yogi apply Vedic Astrology? / Why is Rathayatra celebrated on so many different days?

anger is an acid / anger ends in shame / the 2 things one should never be angry about / anger is a wind that blows out our reasoning / the best speech you will ever regret / raging in denial of what our inner self is telling us / would Plato hang out with Raghu and Kaustubha? / how many times is anger mentioned in Bhagavad-gita / transcending anger through devotion / Pajapati Daksha comes back

Raghunath and Kaustubha share their appreciation for Srila Prabhupada on the day of the festival celebrating his appearance.

On the occasion of Sri Krishna Janmastami (the appearance of Krishna) Raghunath & Kaustubha share some of their favorite verses of devotional song and poetry.

"The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in." / Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you? 1 Corinthians 6:19 / carry god awareness with you everywhere / "Please abide in the temple of my heart both day and night, O Krsna Murari" - Bhaktivinode Thakura / the clash between mixed devotion & pure devotion / we all got a little daksha-like resistance to pure devotion / don't shame people to change- inspire them / a leader is a protector / soften the heart to make fertile ground for Bhakti to grow / every body is a temple SB 6.4.1-13

What does it mean to be self realized or God realized? / How to respond to scandals in Bhakti communities? / How do understand our indebtedness without feelings of lack of self-worth and shame?

How does one know when they should be initiated? / How can I best support my friends during times of tragedy?

The world is a mess - but what does it prove? / universal harmony through placing the Divine source in the center / trying to leave Bhakti is like being a yo-yo / Karma, Janna, and Bhakti are found throughout the world's spiritual traditions / karmic ritualistic atonement in Buddhism / Bhagavatam is traveling throughout the universe, illustrating through a variety of dialogs, the superiority of Bhakti / you can't get the goal (Krishna Prema) through Vedic ritualistic atonement / I wonder what the Yamaduta's were wearing / Prabhupada got it SB 6.3.33-35

"We are good at preparing to live, but not very good at living." - Thich What Hanh / we're vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere / we're can be in eternity Right Now through Bhakti / Lord Brahma installed 5 features of illusion into the material world / painful life + spiritual knowledge = spiritual realization / Like honey, Bhagavatam is derived from a most beautiful source, thick, sweet and nourishing / becoming a Great Goose SB 6.3.28-32

New York becomes Vrindavan when Radha and Krishna are the center / would Raghu pull the lever to kill 1 person in order to save 5? / "To save a family, abandon a man." - Vidura / it's not always easy to determine right from wrong / we like to think that we are the one pulling the lever when in fact we are all tied to the tracks / Yuddhisthira on what is the most amazing thing / Ajamila was living like he wasn't tied to the tracks / with Bhagavat Dharma it's the intention that counts / even Yājñavalkya and Jaimini don't understand Bhagavat Dharma / the Yamadutas are ordered to not even go near the devotees SB 6.3.23-27