Wisdom of the Sages

perceiving the spiritual world in the material world / whatever our view of reality is, it's going to be far out, and require faith / taking a picture in the heart / when our interests merge with those of the Supersoul / the practice of the disciple - serving with love and affection, giving up sensual enjoyments, renunciation, austerity, peace and steadiness / the disciple cries when the guru leaves / the disciple and guru are live together eternally through the instructions

What's happening in the Spiritual World? / Are feelings of unworthiness on the Bhakti path common? / What is Hare Krishna 2.0?

Broken Pickers - We're attracted to the Causes of Our Suffering Krishna disguises himself as a boatman / Krishna disguises himself as a snake doctor / Are we attracted to things that are causing suffering? / the meaning of life is as simple as fixing our broken picker / the king develops attraction to Krishna through austere yoga / dharma is meant for developing attraction to Krishna - SB. 2.2.8 / the distinction between the soul and the Supersoul / we are the witness in the body - doing nothing / don't trust your instincts

old death-defying India vs new materially developed India / how the king became fixed in spirit - austerity, learning, regulative principles, self-control / practical ways to include austerity in our lives / Sri Chaitanya gave the highest spiritual sentiments to the most dented cans / Krishna is everything." Bhagavad-gita 7.19 / "For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome." Bhagavad-gita 12.5

the biggest cause of my distress is planning for happiness / beware of being the enjoyer in Vrindavan / if you come in a mood of service it's like you're already liberated / material indulgence always ends in indigestion / me first mentality is like Lord of the Flies / happiness through service is the peace formula / all there is within the universe for satisfying one's senses cannot satisfy a person who's senses are uncontrolled / if your happiness is from your ego, prepare for pain / contentment opens you up to deeper spirituality / association is everything

Pustulate 4 - let Krishna be the attractive one (because we can't handle the fame, power, beauty, wealth, etc.) / Krishna is the original addiction, the one that never gets old / the guru gives birth to attraction to Krishna - and the practices of Bhakti / the practices give birth to the varieties of devotion expressed though the authentic Bhakti lineages / the mind unites with attraction to Krishna and gives birth to detachment to external pleasures / a real disciple carries firewood / a real guru is expert in understanding the Vedic conclusion and always fixed in spirit / Bhakti is without selfish motive, and directed to Krishna, the root of all existence

Kaustubha interviews Shara McGlinn about growing up in Bhakti, and her journey through professional modeling, acting, recovery and back.

• How does a Bhakti-yogi face workplace challenges? • Can a Buddhist Love Krishna? • How can I be responsible for being misled by the heart and mind Krishna gave me?

On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of his Tirobhava (passing from this world) Raghunath and Kaustubha share their appreciation for Bhaktivedanta Swami by reading a short bio and hearing from Allen Ginsburg, George Harrison, Thomas Merton, and scholars Harvey Cox and Stillson Judah.

the mood needed to enter a holy place / we suffer for our over-indulgence / we move toward who we meditate on / a devotee has no vision other than Krishna / don't criticize but discern / charlatans exist in the East too / pseudo-avatāras,-svāmīs,-yogīs and others

letting go of resentments for Diwali / the loneliness of death / remembering the inner friend and well-wisher / open your home in loving service / starting the conversation with God in your heart / through control of the sex-drive, power is attained / in the presence of one who is established in nonviolence, enmity is abandoned

Kaustubha discusses with Professor Ravi Gupta about the unique role of Srimad Bhagavatam in the broader yoga tradition, and how it presents "Dharmic Reversals" where common religious, social hierarchies (in terms of gender, age, caste and even species) are turned upside-down. Dr. Ravi M. Gupta (Radhika Ramana dasa) is the Charles Redd Professor of Religious Studies and Department Head for History, Religious Studies, and Classics at Utah State University. He is the author or editor of four books, including an abridged translation of the Srimad Bhagavatam (with Kenneth Valpey), published in 2017 by Columbia University Press. Ravi has received four teaching awards, a National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship, three research fellowships, and a book award. He is a Permanent Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and a past president of the Society for Hindu Christian Studies. He speaks around the world on topics related to Chaitanya Vaishnavism, Vedanta philosophy, and Krishna bhakti traditions.

Any advice for people coming to Bhakti later in life? / Am I practicing detachment or avoiding responsibility? / If God is singular, how can we all be God?

"But fate ordains that dearest friends must part." – Edward Young / there's only one friend that we don't part with / starting the conversation with God in the heart / the wise voluntarily renounce what time will take away involuntarily / the spirit soul is the principal factor within the body / our schools need to engage us with spiritual knowledge / spiritual knowledge can heal us socially and psychologically SB 4.28.23-25

we try to keep death under wraps / Pompeii can happen at any moment / fear, dread and resignation at the moment of death / fear for our loved ones in the future / regret about how we treated loved ones in the past / life will go on without us / they'll be eating chips and dip, and laughing at your funeral / the iceberg of death is coming, destroying love and romance / only spiritual knowledge will save us from the pain of separation / our miserly intelligence limits our love SB 4.28.18-22

"… our concern must be to live while we're alive - to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are." - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross / we're here for self realization / there's a bigger ROI on your spiritual life / yoga wisdom could save yoga asana / Postulate 4 - My body is a vehicle for devotional service / sexual attraction is the basic principle of material existence, and leads to thinking in terms of I and mine / who is the real sannyasi? SB 4.28.14-17

"Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it."- Haruki Murakami / the terror of death without spiritual knowledge / "Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go." Jean de La Fontaine / death can be a gift to put your life in perspective / our deep affections for family should be based on truth / the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they're too heavy to be broken 40% off Divya's MasterClass at https://divyas.com/?ref=6799 15% off your first purchase with code WISDOMOFTHESAGES15 SB 4.28.1-13

Divya Alter discusses her new cookbook, how to incorporate ayurveda in your daily life, the importance of prana and pranic foods, and more. For Divya's Masterclass use our referral link for 40% off! https://divyas.com/?ref=6799 And for 15% off your first purchase at www.divyas.com, use code WISDOMOFTHESAGES15

How to explain your new interest in Bhakti to loved ones? / Can you pinpoint the reasons why you both got into Bhakti?

know that Krishna listens to the voice of your chanting / share the spiritual messages that strike you with others / remain clear that we are staying only a short time in the guesthouse of planet earth / do I treasure things that aren't so valuable? / are my thoughts giving me energy? / finding the small spark in the heart and acting out of love https://www.urbandevi.com/the-inspiration-list/

dying as a spiritually aware person / time is creeping up on us / Time gives birth to Old Age, who teams up with Fever & Disease to attack our body / Vaishnavas are immune the anxiety and suffering of old age and disease / even curses can be blessings / old age can be an impetus for our spiritual life / separating ourselves from our external reality through Bhakti / yoga leads to boundless happiness, truth, and steadiness through life's greatest challenges Bhakti Tirtha Swami's last kirtan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0B8vOZJ3WY SB 4.27.21-30

we're here to observe, learn, grow, love and then return home / you don't need to decorate your hotel room / Postulate 14 - let Krishna be the attractive one / we can't handle fame, wealth, beauty, etc. / both materialistic piety and decadence lie on the other side of truth / Krishna comes in the form of time and forces us to surrender / our life airs are being attacked by time, along with the days and nights / every time the sun sets we can reflect that my body is losing a battle / for those who identify with the body, time brings anxiety / time brings disease SB 4.27.5-20

what is normal now is really abnormal / the blind pursuit of materialism is a hamster wheel of debt / making sense of an upside world through Bhakti / stay where you are but cultivate wisdom / Bhagavatam juxtaposes spirituality, not only with moral decadence, but with materialistic piety as well / material enjoyment is just a thin veneer over suffering / material happiness will shoot you in the groin / disease and time are creeping up on us / what's your pillow, that helps you sleep through life's important messages? SB 4.27.1-4

the desires of the guru are always in the heart of the disciple / "What is sacred is considered to be ordinary & what is ordinary is considered to be so important." - Radhanath Swami / Clear out the junk in your mind to make space for the extraordinary / let your Inner archaeologist dig deep / Krishna's Lila as the ultimate focal point / It's not just cleaning and emptying the house, it's filling the house with love / the higher consciousness is inaccessible through the material senses / meditation on Krishna's Lila arises in the consciousness, reveals itself and summons the eternal, blissful participation of those who meditate upon it / Krishna's dance is the churned essence of all the Vedic literature

How to associate with "wonderful" non devotees? / How to find joy again after the loss of my daughter? / Can you share 1 everyday practice for people who don't live in an ashram? / How to gracefully receive worship, praise, validation & love?

clutter smothers, simplicity breathes / the results that arise from weakness of heart / what unsteady spiritual practice looks like - (1) enthusiasm based on over-confidence, which is thus feeble and short-lived, (2) irresolute, sporadic, endeavors, (3) indecisiveness and doubts constantly assailing one's resolve, (4) the battle with desire for worldly sense objects, (5) the inability to uphold vows, (6) delighting in the mundane benefits afforded by bhakti

once we neglect it, dharmic intelligence does not come back so easily / a mind without devotion and dharma endowed intelligence is like an empty home / worse than the tangible karmic reaction is the deepening of adharmic disposition which steals our freedom / reestablishing dharmic intelligence through giving up false ego and respecting the Bhakti-yogis / battling the voices of adharma in the mind / we are both tiny and significant / our subordination to insignificant objects / in weakness we buy into false arguments SB 4.26.14-26

"No man was ever wise by chance." – Seneca / the lifelong attempt to acquire wisdom / I want your body, but not the emotions that come with it / the mind's power over us is eroded by hearing (śravana), reflecting (manana), and meditating (nididhyāsana) / working the renunciation muscles / resetting the algorithms in the Mind / what do we need to "unfollow" / coming back to our dharmic intelligence SB 4.26.10-13

"Remember that pain has this most excellent quality. If prolonged it cannot be severe, and if severe it cannot be prolonged." - Seneca / "There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall."- Gandhi / there is something to learn from our pain / "Apart from separation from the devotee of Kṛṣṇa, I know of no unbearable unhappiness." - Ramananda Raya / cynical German hippies / we're all spirit souls, treat everyone with dignity / animals are not dead stone, but the killers of animals are stonehearted / attachment covers truth perception SB 4.26.5-9

"Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands." - Seneca / lust is the beginning of misogyny / we've got a quiver of unlimited desires / a womanizer can't be kind / cruel reactions follow cruel behavior / global pandemics, climate change related disasters, and war are all tied to the cruelty of factory farming SB 4.26.1-4

How to practice humility free of shame & unworthiness? / Am I callous or wise? / How to study with devotion? / What is compassion in a Bhakti context?

How to explain Krishna to my child? / Is it wrong to put down a pet? / Why does the Vedic Literature teach in a progression to Bhakti?

"When 'happiness' eludes us - as, eventually, it always will - we have the invitation to examine our programmed responses and to exercise our power to choose again." - Richard Rohr / do we feel invited to resent, complain, feel self-pity…..or examine our mind? / the 9 gates of the body / expanding the space between stimulus and response / the bikini cardboard cut-out seen through the lens of reason / there's no reward for dancing dogs SB 4.25.24-62

"Contemplation is an alternative consciousness that refuses to identify with or feed what are only passing shows. It is the absolute opposite of addiction, consumerism or any egoic consciousness." - Richard Rohr / contemplation is freedom / pause for thought / the mind should be our employee / "sattvic scrolling" / if we could only monitor the mind / Jagrat (waking state), Svapna (dreaming state), Sushupti (deep sleep state) / in the waking state the mind experiences outward impressions - in the dreaming state, it creates its own impressions developed from the materials of the waking hours / Japa locks you into the sacred sound / "From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self." Bhagavad-gita 6.26

Egoic consciousness is the one we all normally operate with, until we are told there is something else! – Richard Rohr / identifying our common central reference point is the key to "checking the imbalance of values" and "achieving real unity and peace in the world" / my body is deteriorating while I'm in it / there's no even playing field in the material world / egoic consciousness = seeing everything in the context of the enjoyment of our senses - rather than in the context of the Source that it stems from / when 2 people strike a deal - thinking that the other will satisfy them - they are setting up for conflict / ego consciousness does not necessarily mean David Lee Roth SB 4.25.40-43

"Faith is not for overcoming obstacles; it is for experiencing them—all the way through!" - Richard Rohr / read 5 Bhagavad-gita versus today / this isn't bypassing, it's facing the obstacles with wisdom - so we can grow / giving up on figuring out the meaning of life is bypassing / before the truth sets you free, it makes you miserable / the dream within the dream / positive role models lift us up / what is prana? SB 4.25.34-39

Idolatry & Bhakti - what's the deal? / What is pure devotion pure of?

"Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow." ― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet / postulate 31 - upper and lower case love / We should have a mad pursuit for growth (not happiness) / understanding the "demoniac" mentality / Kaustubha's Satanic friend / the idea that there is no moral foundation to the world doesn't hold up / selfishness leads to pain and anxiety / time is running out - Now is the time to inquire into the absolute truth SB 4.25.29-33

How to have better inter-sangha relations? / How to become more sincere? / How to get over feelings of insecurity? / Is there a motive in Bhakti?

"The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness." - Khalil Gibran, The Prophet / that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within timelessness / spiritual energy means beyond time / why Raghunath hangs out in graveyards / how much of my time is spent in timelessness? / great cultures were built on contemplation of life's most important questions / three apps operating on the computer of the mind - manas, ahankara, and buddhi / freedom is most effectively taken away by giving the illusion of freedom SB 4.25.27-32 E-mail [email protected] and put WoS giveaway and your city in the subject line

"Accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief." – Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet / Bhagavad-gita 2.14-15 / becoming the inner witness by disengaging from identification with our thoughts and emotions and just observing them / by embracing the delusion of dualities it becomes impossible to acquire self realization / without self realization there's no God realization / human life is meant for asking the important questions

"Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral." ― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet / austerity feels difficult at first, and liberating in the end / the mind is a computer, the senses are the plug in devices, the soul is the user (and the battery) / our senses are servants of the mind, each with hundreds of desires / attachment and aversion are two sides of the same coin

How does one know when they are ready to make a commitment to seek a guru and initiation? / How does one chant mantras on beads? / How to let go of resentment?

"Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / we need to sing together / how the results of yoga practice become firmly rooted through culture / Raghu's recent parenting wins / Brooklyn Radha Govinda Temple back in the 80's / India is lame (but with spiritual assets), the West is Blind (but with material assets) / blinded by the glitter of material opulence

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / are we free or are we following the programing in the mind? / shrimp scampi or cockroach scampi - what's the difference / naked man and the box revisited / yoga is aimed at uncovering the true self, underneath the mental programing / we are all the king of our bodies, wandering with an unknown friend - the paramatma / for one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is already reached - Bhagavad-gita 6.7 / we can't find satisfaction through the body SB 4.25.7-12

who is Narada? / don't be fooled by the highlight reels of peoples life / don't work on decorating your prison cell, work on your reformation / never forget the reason behind the rule (divine love) / we've been wandering through different bodies and planets / everyone has dormant kṛṣṇa-bhakti — love for Kṛṣṇa — and in the association of good devotees, that love is revealed SB 4.25.6 https://www.fooseforlife.com

"It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / the impulsive part of the mind is programed to believe externals bring happiness - the reflective part of the mind can reprogram it / "I acted and behold, service was joy." - Rabindranath Tagore / what are "fruitive activities"? / material enjoyment comes with suffering - no way around it / even Michael Jordan's not happy / when we try to take Krishna's role we crash SB 4.25.1-5

Gurudas and Raghunath discuss the early days with Prabhupada, the Beatles, and his new book, The Swami who Rocked the Worlds, as well as his nonprofit organization The Vedic Care Charitable Trust. More info here https://vediccarecharity.org

Why do we have to suffer so much? / Is it wrong for a yogi to drink coffee & tea? / Could you share a good morning ritual for someone with PTSD?