Wisdom of the Sages

"Forget injuries, never forget kindness." - Confucius / getting even with those who have helped you / regulating practices of gratitude / Bhagavatam asks us to mature from ritualistic consciousness, to the level of seeing God in others / clarity of vision is maintained through faith, austerity, scriptural conclusions, full sense and mind control, and meditation / the Vedas are compared to a mirror because they reveal everything about the world / may good behavior be my wealth / honoring the masters SB 4.21.41-49

the root of joy is gratefulness / the root of sadness is entitlement / learning to be grateful before you unwrap the gift / the need to grant status to the wise / tolerance, penance, knowledge and education are the qualities of the brahmanas / Krishna serves the brahmanas / dharma isn't black and white / making it a mission to serve great souls SB 4.21.38-40

Can Bhakti yogis gain truth through other traditions?

See people for their potential / We aren't cutting things out, we're adding spirit / our work should be aligned with our liberation / Sacrifice foolish speech for transcendental sound / Woo world Wednesday / Our lives are teetering- you might forget death, but death hasn't forgotten you / This body is a rented vehicle / Offending a vaishnava is losing at Kerplunk / Discern but don't condemn 4.21.33-37

How to deal with overindulging the senses? / Why is Rama's name in the maha mantra? / Should we forgive continued unkindnesses? / What to do if we don't have access to prasad?

On the day of the New York Rathayatra Festival, Raghunath and Kaustubha explain a bit of its esoteric meaning.

the spiritual purity of Madhava Prabhu's kirtan / Bhagavatam brings fire under the feet and bliss in the heart / pull Krishna back into your heart / the mystery of the universe revealed - Krishna is the root, we are the leaves / Donkey perspective - are they fanning me or are they fanning Jesus? SB 4.21.32

On the occasion of Ganga Puja, Raghunath and Kaustubha discuss the glories of the river and goddess with Sacinanadana Swami SB 4.21.30-31

catching echos of the cosmic dance / cultivating pure vision / trade in your iPad for a creek (careful about staring into fire) / the natural opulences /the Vedas are a manual for how to live in harmony with God and Nature / truth of dharmic principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated, self-realized person SB 4.21.1-29

"What is serious to men is often trivial in the sight of God" - Thomas Merton / "If we could let go of our own obsession with what we think is the meaning of it all, we might be able to hear His call and follow Him in His mysterious, cosmic dance" - Thomas Merton / seeing the good fortune in God's plan / we are the bird in the kitchen / the esoteric side of Bhakti-yoga - the varieties of divine love / Krishna is calling us to dance SB 4.20.33-38

Gopal Chandra discusses being diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the importance of forgiveness, compassion and love as he faces death.

How to help someone who feels they can have no compassion or empathy? / Can you please explain the flow of wealth and power within the Varnasrama system, and how it is different from historical and modern feudalism? / Is food offered by Sikhs to the Guru Granth Sahib considered prasad by Krishna bhaktas? / Have we been planets, gods and goddesses at some point in our journeys?

"For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories." – Plato / the 6 enemies - lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride, envy / 6 more "enemies" to be conquered - the 5 senses and the mind / through devotion one can see heaven, hell and liberation with an equal mind / don't blame, reframe / the mysteries of the world have fallen on our lap / getting beyond the triggers SB 4.20.31-32

"He has the most who is most content with the least." – Diogenes / all that exists to satisfy the senses cannot satisfy a person whose senses are uncontrolled / positive spiritual bypassing - bypassing the fickle mind and going straight from intelligence into action / turning up the comfort level makes us intolerant / in the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, samadhi does not take place / Existential Shift #1 - from dharma to karma / Existential Shift #2 - from karma to jnana / Existential Shift #3 - from jnana to Bhakti / declutter externally, helps declutter internally SB 4.20.30

Prithu, a gladiator in touch with his feminine side / Krishna is the friend of the poor / Krishna magnifies whatever insignificant service we do / when the King becomes the street sweeper / even liberated souls take to Bhakti / in Bhakti-yoga the means and the end are the same / snipers are picking us off everywhere! / when the jnana-yogis knowledge is complete they surrender to Krishna / Self-realization is not complete unless one comes to the devotional platform / Shankara's monism, Bhaktis response and the Neo Vedanta blend / is love merely a psychological, social phenomena, or an existential reality? SB 4.20.27-29

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul – Democritus / Dr. Pain comes to Raghunath (reminding him that none of this is ours) / the beauty and simplicity of Krishna's devotees / the awakening voice comes through the mouth of a pure devotee / let Krishna reclaim you / never break a devotee relationship SB 4.20.25-26

Socrates on the sage of steady mind / its as easy to get swept away by success as by misfortune / Maharaja Prithu feels devotional ecstasy / water parks aren't fun alone / serving together is the best association / Vishnu demonstrates the purity of the Bhakti-yogis's heart by offering a boon to Prithu / Prithu's boon - to hear about Krishna from the devotees / when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and the senses become inert SB 4.20.19-25

How does yoga "clean the mirror of the heart"? / When trying to fix a relationship, can we intentionally resolve the quarrel or it all comes down to Krishna's mercy? / How are we to know when we are dealing with a Perfected Being, and what is the difference between a Perfected Being and an incarnation of Krishna? / What is the Mantra at the beginning of the song "Message of the Bhagavat"?

"To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal" Ralph Waldo Emerson / "We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough" Ralph Waldo Emerson zooms out / school shootings & other tragedies – the answer lies much deeper than political solutions / forgiveness right down to the level of the heart / how to forgive when people refuse to change? / this is a lifetime mission - to become tolerant, compassionate, kind, forgiving, wise / loosen the noose of hate SB 4.20.17-18

Beware what you set your heart upon, for it surely shall be yours. – Ralph Waldo Emerson / all we do is desire / desire + karmic merit = next body / lessons from the Twilight Zone / advancing in spirituality means we can laughing at ourselves / Krishna's not impressed with sacrifices, severe austerities or mystic yoga / krishna fulfills our material desires in a way that we realize we don't want them / you can be emotional, and equipoised on Krishna / jacked, tanned & disappointed SB 4.20.15-15

it's never too late to learn Sanskrit or plant a fruit tree / be bound in friendship not guilt / redirect desires through divine friendship / study like you'll live forever, do sadhana as if you'll die tomorrow / we should always be learning / set aside some time every day exclusively for spiritual practice / working on the functional level, with the fundamental always running in the background / don't become a leader or parent if you can't deliver your dependents / we don't need forced religion, but we do need spiritual values SB 4.20.12-14 instagram link: @bhakti_kids_sangha facebook link: Bhakti_kids_sangha | Facebook youtube link: Bhakti_kids_sangha - YouTube

we're walking right past clues to the magic of the universe / the stars admonish us for our pettiness / the recipe for inner satisfaction - tying your functional dharma to your fundamental dharma / Bhagavatam ties all sorts of theistic worship into one excellent principle - Bhakti / knowledge of calculus doesn't diminish addition and subtraction / duty, performed for any reason but love, is a waste of time SB 4.20.10-11

"He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety" Ralph Waldo Emerson / we all have 2 identities - functional and fundamental / an advanced human being is never malicious / even the mental states are of the body / we're all victims of the three modes of material nature / there's no karma for devotees / the recipe for inner satisfaction - tying your functional dharma to your fundamental dharma SB 4.20.1-9

the Gita's universal question - "what is the right thing to do?" / 3 stages of the Gita's popularity / it's not just action that entangles - it's motive / wisdom lying between the polarities, and on multiple levels / moral dilemma vs ethical dilemma / Krishna gives a philosophical world view with a moral framework for ethical dilemmas / the Gita's battlefield setting - violence is absent in terms of content, context and consequence / reading into a book / gaslighting & knowledge in the mode of ignorance / uncertainty as a symptom of humility

How to deal with heartbreak? / How to understand the Demigods? / Can one have pride in Bhakti?

differences of opinion embittered by group hostility / Daniel Dennett's Four Steps to Arguing Intelligently / expressing respect by trying to understand the other / understanding morality requires more than citing the moral rules of scripture / sometimes good people perform bad deeds / Bhisma's progression to consequentialism / Prthu leaves it at 99 / the more we resist providence, the more we enter into the darkest region of materialistic thought / fate is the language of God / aligning one's heart with God's through full forgiveness SB 4.19.32-42

the gravity of Indra's transgression / all that glitters is not gold (there are plenty of phony holy men out there) / Prthu prepares to kill Indra / the Brahmanas prepare to kill Indra / Brahma overlooks Indra's behavior / deontological ethics vs consequentialism / the stories of Balaka, Kaushika and Mrigari the hunter / ya can't reduce dharma to a list of rules / sometimes it's better to speak a lie than to speak the truth SB 4.19.13-32

we're not buying into the false dichotomy – that other-worldly thought is opposed to worldly good / feeling vitalized by plugging into Bhakti / use the thorn to remove the thorn / Bhagavavad-gita on fake sannyasa vs real sannyasa / cultivating internal renunciation while embracing one's external duties SB 4.19.10-12

the reality of death can quickly deepen our spiritual insight / when it's bad it's good / ritual is meant to re-mind us / the perennial danger of 'religion' / seeing God in fire, the sun, water and other elements, in the heart of the guest, and in one's own heart / when Indra embarrasses himself it's in front of everyone! / real prosperity is accepting the gifts of the cows, earth, rivers, trees, and oceans SB 4.19.3-9

C.S. Lewis week begins / when it's bad, it's good / prosperity can be an obstacle to approach Krishna with sincere feeling / how intellect can shape samskaras as they enter the subconscious mind / why is Lord Indra always being humiliated? / Bhagavatam is full of dharmic reversals / even the most successful materialist suffers from fear and envy / Indra steals the last horse / Indra send a seductress to break a yogi's determination / Bhagavatam shares the highest truth, which is understandable by the non envious / the litmus test of spirituality - happiness at another's good fortune / karma can cut the weeds in the heart, but Bhakti uproots them SB 4.19.1-2

Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder. - Henry David Thoreau / Sage vacation tips - don't travel for happiness - travel to learn, rejuvenate and especially to cultivate devotion / satva guna conditions one by a sense of happiness / we're second hand gods - we manipulate, we don't create / we're not destroying the Earth, we're destroying our relationship with her / seeing personhood behind nature - primitive or profound? SB 4.18.23-32

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. - Henry David Thoreau / #1 purpose – to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large… in order to check the imbalance of values in life, & to achieve real unity & peace / spiritual knowledge dissipates fear and thus conflict / perceiving the oneness and commonality on the spiritual level / according to one's association with the material qualities, one develops a certain type of character / the broadness of the Vedic presentation SB 4.18.22

there's a handbook to our universe / we are all souls passing through many bodies / with the human body comes more possibilities & more responsibility / minimize the pain in this world / the cosmic order between humans and the earth SB 4.18.19-22

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind" Henry David Thoreau / the mind's fluctuations are stilled by practice and dispassion / we've got rājasic & tāmasic saṁskāras, distracting memories & tendencies inherited from time immemorial / how practice becomes firmly established / through regulation comes freedom / re-establishing the cosmic order / Vedic knowledge to purify words, mind and hearing SB 4.18.8-18

all your money won't another minute buy / if I can only walk with sufficient carelessness I am sure to be filled / nature is constantly speaking to us / life is a riddle / there's truth in many paths, but some go further / hierarchical inclusivism / Bhagavatam presents a relentless focus on Bhakti causing dharmic reversals in terms of age, gender, caste and status / a learned person takes the essence of knowledge from all places / the laws of dharma are meant to bring out the best in us / when we ignore the sages we end up with Jerry Springer Show SB 4.18.1-7

Vedasara speaks of his journey as a 5 year old, lost in India, wandering with his 8 year old brother, how they grew up in a bhakti-yoga ashram, and of his services today in Atlanta, Georgia, serving the unhoused, and sharing Bhakti from heart to heart.

How to handle negative energy in the workplace? / Can I just choose a mantra? / Can I practice Krishna Bhakti and still believe in Jesus too? / Why are there so many paths, philosophies and religions to begin with?

everything is right / Bhaktivedantins see this world as a reflection of the spiritual world / am I a toiler? / for money, for little pleasures, for being slightly honored, we scold & insult each other / austerity is the wealth of the brahmanas / we need a thick skin and a thin skin / memories of Navidwipa Mandala Parikrama / the Earth surrenders / fate is the language of God SB 4.17.27-36

don't starve your inner Buddha / all sin already carries the divine forgiveness in itself / perceived danger when spirituality is seen through the lens of social justice / a deeper, more genuine compassion born of spirituality / spiritual vision cuts through division / in deep meditation, there is the possibility to see everything is good, everything is perfect, everything thing is Brahman / everything only requires my consent to be good for me / all of us are in rehab but only a few consent to it / all facilities are given to us to realize the Complete Whole / all forms of incompleteness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge / the illusory representation of completeness cannot fully satisfy us

"my goal is this: always to put myself in the place in which I am best able to serve, wherever my gifts and qualities find the best soil to grow" / turning your ambition over to Krishna / aligning the heart with the great souls / being bigger than the pettiness of the material world / the most genuine compassion is grown out of deep introspection / you might be the jerk / the universal system of order is designed to foster gratitude in the hearts of humans / non-binary mentions in Bhagavatam SB 4.17.1-26

the material world is pruning everything away - you can get bitter or grow / I had to experience despair in order to experience grace / humility is the conduit for grace / sharing Bhagavatam pleases the great devotees / foreshadowing of Prithu's pastimes / anything started on this day will grow without diminishing / start something auspicious today / Vaishnavas spiritualize everything / the day we say "Krishna, I am Yours!" is the day the magic begins SB 4.23-27

allowing one's mind & heart to be shaped by the stories of the Bhakti tradition / a tsunami of Bhakti inundates NY / the beauty of kirtan masters inspiring devotion / government has both liberal & conservatives concerns / does absolute power corrupt absolutely? / when there's no trust, there's a need for transparency / government can't play favorites / the common portrayals of the relationship between rulers and sages / the ruler should be a philosopher / respect for women / the King's duty is to inspire piety for he bears the karma of the people 4.16.9-22

Raghunath & Kaustubha answer questions about mantra meditation. Is there a way I can clear my mind before chanting? / Is it considered disrespectful to not keep your beads in a bag when you chant? / Is chanting while multi-tasking disrespectful? / Is it OK to silently chant the mantra? / Is it acceptable to chant while practicing yoga asana?

wisdom is ripened knowledge / you can give knowledge but you can't give wisdom / daily sadhana cuts away ego, fear, anger, arrogance & resentment / seeing value in both liberal & conservative viewpoints / the trainings of sages is the safeguard against tyranny / the greatest burden on Mother Earth is a liar / I'll lose my own happiness if I don't learn tolerance / I'll compromise my own well being if I'm not kind / no one gets a pass on forgiveness / the ornaments of a sadhu / sacred texts are our GPS SB 4.16.6-8

wedding excitement! / Kaustubha's apology / my spiritual director said it's ok if I pray while I smoke / spiritual regulations are prescribed differently to different people / renunciation isn't the goal of spirituality - devotion is / arrogance is a greater sin than weakness / humility is fertile ground for spiritual growth / wisdom has to do with understanding how things grow / better to be with a prostitute thinking of God, than in the church thinking about a prostitute / the old lady who climbed on the Sannyasi

"we do not belong to the material world that science constructs for us" Schrodinger / quantum physics = science catching up to the past / modern science finds echoes of it's theories in the Upanishads / one can use hallucinogens to expand perspective, or one can read Bhagavatam / what am I not perceiving? / why do I scoff at perception beyond my imagination? / deep down we know we are all tiny specks / the taste for being glorified vs the taste for glorifying others / guru, sadhu & shastra / the yogi controls body, words & mind / what if we filtered out all of speech that had no value? / the Bhagavad-gita's austerity of speech SB 4.16.1-5

How do you know when to take charge or when to let go? / How can we understand and appreciate Christ's sacrifice on the cross from a Bhakti perspective? / What can we really do to stop the mind from suffering issues of self esteem? / Is it wrong to cut ties with family who were never really there to begin with?

what you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others / the depth of our spirituality is shown through our relationship with others / a sincere broadminded person should be able to suspend their skepticism / science requires objectivity and admitting what you don't know / whatever good qualities we possess have been gifted to us by others / bowing the body to the parents & the mind to the teachers SB 4.15.1-26

2 formulas - work for material prosperity vs cultivate spiritual principles / reluctantly, the sages enthrone Vena / arrogant Vena outlaws dharma / it's our common connection to the root that connects us to each other / the sages kill Vena with sound / the sages churn the body of Vena SB 4.14.1-46