Wisdom of the Sages

there's a sweetness in Bhakti melancholy / the effect of seeing a sadhu / feeling a call from within the deep caverns of their selves / flip the American dream / there's nothing of this material world that will satisfy my heart / there's a deeper steady happiness that's achievable if you devote yourself / Vishnu's never mopey / there's a face behind the shine / we've all got hang ups / the beautiful form of Lord Vishnu SB 4.8.45-46

In preparation for his upcoming trip to India, Raghunath shares stories of Vrindavan and answers questions about what makes Vrindavan so sacred, why Govardhan Hill is shrinking, and how to enter the holy dham and mentally prepare for a pilgrimage

Is my occasional frustration directed at God helpful in developing our relationship? / How can I see Krishna in everyone, even those who frustrate me? / What is the reason for different ways to spell Krishna and different ways of referring to Bhagavad-gita? / Should I respond to arguments that "African Yoga" predates "Indian Yoga"?

align body & mind with the nature of the soul / make your whole life an offering / Narada's advice - don't be affected by honor & dishonor - learn to by satisfied with whatever comes by destiny - try to adopt the right attitude toward everyone - no animosity for anyone - in this way you will be unaffected by the miseries of this world / we have a treasure trunk of tools to heal the mind / meditating on emptiness is harder - it's not us saying this, it's Krishna / empty the mind of turbo scenarios, revenge and espionage (material consciousness) & fill it with sweet Krishna SB 4.8.39-44

It may be news to many, but there is a large scale, vibrant community of Krishna Bhakti in Ukraine. Niranjana Swami is ISKCON's Governing Body Commissioner for Ukraine. In this interview Raghunath and Kaustubha ask him about the history of Bhakti in the former Soviet Union, and what it was like serving there undercover during Soviet times. Niranjana Swami also shares his personal experiences witnessing the character of the Ukrainian devotees serving under the pressures of military conflict in 2014, and updates us on what is happening on the ground right now. if you would like to helping the devotees in Ukraine or devotees serving Ukrainian refugees please follow this link - https://iskconnews.org/verified-donations-for-ukraine/ or send via PayPal to [email protected]

be compassionate to those less qualified, make friends with equals, be pleased with those who are more qualified / this isn't random etiquette or social restrictions designed to keep us down, it's a formula for happiness / Rama's response vs Dhruva's response / when you expect accolades, you set yourself up for disappointment / what's my next step toward self realization? / smooth out the dance between soul & ego SB 4.8.34-38 https://outofthisworldstudios.org

approaching Lord Shiva to enter Vrindavan / the material world will always fall short / You can't blame your way to a better future / material life plays out as a combination of good & bad karma / accepting all reversals as a gift / when a guru doesn't test a disciple's sincerity - red flag / sincerity is the key / there's no need to endeavoring for happiness -it comes automatically, just like distress

the more authentic you are, the less authentic the world seems / seers of the truth know what's real (the eternal) & what's unreal (the temporary) / the lotus eyed lord mitigates distress / remembering the lotus eyed lord makes everything pure / Krishna gives hope to the dented cans of the world / the guru appears when one gets serious / we're wandering around the universe, lifetime after lifetime / our dissatisfaction is another feature of the illusory energy SB 4.8.23-28

Raghunath and Drew dive into cosmic compatibility, traveling soul groups, karma from previous lives, and personal stories. Drew is a renowned author, consultant, speaker, visionary and Sanskrit scholar. Learn more at https://www.drewlawrence.com or contact him at [email protected]

How to deal with Neurodivergent disorders, like Asperger's, which make it difficult to socialize, in Bhakti communities, which are so social by nature? / As a practitioner, does weakness of heart, like lust, bar us from the association of Divinity? / If the soul travels from body to body, how come we can't speak when we're born? / If the mind travels with the soul, what knowledge stays in it? / What is "good" and "bad" karma? / What are some practices I can cultivate to deepen my devotion besides just chanting? / Is there a form of esoteric Krishna Bhakti to study?

character & competence / Bhakti is transmitted from one heart to another / there's every good reason to be angry, anxious & depressed – but Bhagavatam is our anchor / the bittersweetness in destitution / grief tastes bitter but it's meant to lead to intimacy of surrender, which is sweet / hold on to the chains of Bhakti / when we inflict pains on others, we suffer pain ourselves / truth is truth wherever it comes from / stir it around! / Godhead means Godness / bringing the awareness to God in the heart SB 4.8.17-22

wise souls see even the shoebill stork with the inner eye of wisdom / the soul is of the same nature regardless of its body / It's the mind that's warped, not the soul / true equality is based on principles of truth, not on a material conception / false equality, based on the body, doesn't bring peace / you need the inner eye of wisdom to be an instrument of peace in the world / don't let shoebill storks in the delivery room! / a wise person knows what to accept and what to change / wishing inauspicious for others brings inauspiciousness to yourself SB 4.8.5-17

remain in your position and just add bhakti / we can get over our own issues by getting lost in service to others / is my harsh speech justified, or is it born from anger, greed, envy, and adharma? / our own harsh speech and anger should be red flags / we can replace lifetimes of negative programming by contemplating truth / don't be a supercar fail, you silly goose! / the shoebill stork is the creepiest creature of all time! https://outofthisworldstudios.org/#/ IG @mukunda_maharaja SB 4.8.1-4

if you don't accept an insult it stays with the one who spoke it / don't accept an insult by granting it an emotional reaction/ Lord Vishnu is the root / nothing is independent of Krishna - that is oneness / food with love and devotion brings no karma / all of our thoughts and duties can be an offering to God / we're not interested in good or bad karma (we want akarma) / turn back to Krishna to break out of the system / hats off to Daksha SB 4.7.55-61

every thing has a purpose & every person has their dharma / our unique, temporary dharma connects us to our shared, eternal dharma / we're perfect & pure, we are just covered / see everything in connection to Vishnu to see peace / you can't win the competition in the material world / Krishna isn't Judge Judy shaming us, he's the supreme benevolent friend / we all benefit when we offer to the root / pain and conflict are designed to turn us toward truth SB 4.7.54 & BG 5.29

on India / on pilgrimage / on mentors / on beauty / on food / on the body / on family / on love

Why and how are certain verses selected as invocations before classes in the Bhakti tradition? / The term "plenary portion" is used throughout the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam commentaries. What exactly does this term mean? / Can you suggest a good book about Krishna's childhood days? / How important is the observance of Ekadashi in one's Bhakti-yoga practice?

Daksha's new beginnings / get off the Hate Express / don't cheat yourself out of growth and evolution by solidifying your partial truth / what do we do when we make a mistake? learn and accept full responsibility / we're here to evolve, not to extend our prison sentence SB 4.7.45-53

What's more important, the precision of our ritual or our mood in performing it? In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha discuss recent reports of how the Catholic Church deemed invalid twenty years of Baptisms preformed by a priest who unintentionally changed one word in administering the sacrament. In some Vedic paths the precision of ritual and mantra chanting is emphasized. But as the paths rise to the level of Bhakti it's the intention that is all important. The conversation spans important sources of wisdom including the Vedas, Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and The Brady Bunch. http://bhakticenter.org/join-our-team-3/

hearing Bhagavad-gita & Srimad Bhagavatam is the easy way to get out of illusion / even the powerful & strong are vulnerable to suffering & fear / the 4 paths of yoga conclude with hearing (Bhagavad-gita 13.26) / hearing is the nectar which delivers one from death / sthāne sthitāḥ - (fixed in your position) we don't need to give up anything, just add bhakti / deep love is higher than peace https://outofthisworldstudios.org/#/ SB 4.7.41-44

the materialistic dream has failed / we need an adult in the room / every object is radiating 1 of 3 influences / letting go of destructive habits / we've got a false sense of freedom / Bhakti is the formula for freedom from the modes of material nature / understanding the gunas is the first step to transcending them / get some shlokas in your head / what does it look like to be free from the gunas? / Divine love is where it all goes SB 4.7.39-40

On the 31st anniversary of their initiation ceremony in Vrindavan, Raghunath and Kaustubha reminisce about the day, discuss the meaning of initiation into a Bhakti lineage, samskaras, and the power and purpose of Bhakti-yoga culture.

on friendship / on aging / on marriage / on being a good man / on prayer / on forgiveness / on love

In this special Q & A episode Raghunath & Kaustubha answer four questions from Karuna, an 8 year old girl, and daily Wisdom of the Sages listener from Lebanon. Why did Krishna show us an example of doing his duty when he could just tell us to do it? / When I was reading Srimad Bhagavatam I thought that was how many humans are on this Earth, but are there always more coming? / In Narada-Bhakti-Sutra it said that Krishna dislikes the proud but likes the humble - so does Krishna like everyone except the proud or does He like everyone? / Yesterday i was talking with my mom about what worship you do in each yuga, so she was telling me that in the Satya yuga they do austerity to please Krishna etc. So do they please Krishna, or Krishna is only pleased when we chant Hare Krishna Mahamantra?

extract spiritual substance from the mundane / move straight like a bullet train with your service, detached from the results / we must go on struggling to be sadhus - recognize & resist the urge towards animosity & anger / the more we think that we are in control the less able we are at recognizing who is / Kaustubha's confession / mindfulness & peace with a purpose / the Hare Krishna's didn't make this stuff up, it's been around for millennia / Krishna is inclined to his devotees SB 4.7.38

what will we shove in the hole of our loneliness? / secrets & duplicity in ashramas / it's ok to be vulnerable / Daksha's wife shares a joke! / pramanas - ways of gaining knowledge / this knowledge is descending / direct perception has it's limitations / Bhagavatam is giving us windows into another dimension / discipline of the senses expands our insights / those who see God in everyone are very, very dear to God SB 4.7.36-39

the company you keep creates you / Krishna is your soulmate / a wise person realizes that happiness is an inside job / don't keep Lakshmi, keep Krishna and Lakshmi will stay / the attractiveness of detachment / finding shelter from the forest fire in the river of Krishna's pastimes SB 4.7.32-35

Was the goddess Sati in illusion when she took her own life? / How important is sangha --even if it is only online sangha? / How to set up an altar in one's home?

trade in expectations for appreciations / Ben Franklin nugget / saragrahi = essence seeker / spiritual reality lies beyond the scope of the material senses / we don't know what we don't know / who was Sankaracharya? / "just worship Govinda you fools" / reality is revealed through devotion - the problem is we want the purple pill / spiritual greed / the power of love is more powerful than God SB 4.7.31

If your path of self-improvement is making you hate, you're doing something wrong / don't focus on religious rituals and throw away God / we're gonna trip up on our spiritual path - pick yourself up and keep going / time is a snake, the world is full of ditches & the fire of lamentation is blazing / our material happiness is in a very precarious position / Raghu is thinking like Lord Shiva again / our materialistic life is nothing but hankering for the future and lamenting the past / Bhakti is living in the eternal present / knowledge of what lies beyond the senses descends - you don't climb up to it SB 4.7.28-30

a David Bowie birthday nugget for Kaustubha / aging brings either horror or wisdom / aging is working for our spiritual life, if we don't identify with body / the trauma of aging can make us humble / letting go of the facade / we are trying to be controllers of the material world- just be tolerant / the prison warden analogy / Raghu is thinking like Prabhupada again / it's not us - Krishna said all these things! / don't get stuck in Scranton SB 4.7.25-27

what do we mean by spiritual not religious? / ritualism, intolerance & dogmatism / Krishna didn't demand Arjuna's obedience, he asked for his deep deliberation / focused on differences vs focused on commonality / regulation is success vs regulation is the means / motive of salvation vs motive of transformation / spirituality as a state of mind, spirituality as a state of reality, spirituality as a path / spiritual manifestations in nature / does my spiritual experience lead to the stage of spiritual reality? / is my aversion to religion genuine or based on my aversion to regulating myself? / Spirituality transcends religion in Bhagavad-gita & Srimad Bhagavatam / only spirituality leads to complete satisfaction of the soul

How to explain Radha to a non-devotee? / From an ethical point of view, how do you decide what clothes and shoes to wear? / what does Krishna mean by the phrase "giving up all their activities unto Me"?

Marcus Aurelius zooms the hell out / cleaning out the spam folder of the mind / the Yoga system is meant to get the soul back on track / false ideas impressed within our minds are the cause of our losing touch with our true nature and seeking happiness externally / hitting the warning bumps in the material world / asking the "big why" in life / Daksha had the right lifestyle, but the wrong sentiments / niyamāgrahaḥ - following all the rules without knowing their purpose / the smile of Vishnu / yoga starts with controlling the tongue SB 4.7.17-24

sing your death song & die like a hero going home / what will it take in our life to die nobly? / burning is learning / no longer blaming the world for your shortcomings is the dawn of liberation / my gluetraps are my blessings / does my speech pass the hot mic test? / honor every being (they could be a deva in disguise) / the stumbling blocks are tests of our sincerity / Bhagavad-gita is anti cancel culture / this book is alive! SB 4.7.12-16

we all can be death doulas / Srimad Bhagavatam is one long death doula session / No Raghunath - you're not a death Doula / Who do I need to say "thank you", "I love you" and "I'm sorry" to today? / the brain is just hardware - consciousness is generated from the soul / Daksha's goat-headed remorse / Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam purifies the heart like autumnal rains upon pools of muddy water / God is perceived in the repentant heart / we've been battling the force of time & material energy - time to surrender and embrace God SB 4.7.7-11

if equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me / selflessness doesn't deny the need for adherence to dharmic principles / Sri Chaitanya's unconditional love / there will never be enough validation from others to make me feel whole / Xenotransplantation - is it possible to transplant a goat's head to a human? / is it possible that past civilizations were more advanced? / we've got to throw out our material attachments to receive the more valuable treasures SB 4.7.1-6

no blame, no reasoning no argument, just understanding / rewire & recalibrate the vehicle by hearing wisdom daily / we're doing time in the material world & hopefully learning lessons / tread with care with everyone you meet / taking offense is the first domino / the beauty of a tapasvi is forgiveness / we're all strapped a time bomb that's about to blow / you can't use the energy unless you know how to handle the energy / do all of my activities please God? / There is no real happiness without connecting to the roots / saranagati! SB 4.6.48-53

born into Bhakti / being schooled in ashrams / freeing the Soviet Krishna devotees / traveling the world with Indradyumna Swami / becoming a professor / Leadership Lessons From the Bhagavad-gita Follow on IG @sriprahlada_official Follow on FB Sri Prahlada Das

What are the benefits and pitfalls of ashram life? / What are some daily practices that you can recommend that I can start to incorporate into my daily life to help start building a closer relationship to God?

Cut off the chain of hate / project the ethic of love to the center of our lives / would Kaustubha wear deerskin? / mean-minded people have already been killed by providence / RED FLAG - when we are pained to see the flourishing condition of others / we don't have to be the administrators of karma / pray for the good fortune of those you envy SB 4.6.36-47

don't let the birds of sorrow build a nest in your mind / Louisa May Alcott sounds like a yogi / wisdom & austerity purify the senses / material desire leads to frustration and anger / material desire destroys knowledge & wisdom / regulate the senses to loosen the noose of addiction / austerity without devotion can harden the heart / if you identify with that which can be broken you will eventually feel broken / don't scratch the itch of material existence SB 4.6.35

a good attitude goes a long way / you can't bring the 'me first and the gimmes gimmes' into your spiritual life / before you dismiss it glibly, you need to examine it / Lord Shiva is 48 miles tall? / we've lost our potency - we're domesticated dogs / space, as described in Bhagavatam, involves unlimited scales & dimensions / our experience is very tiny & limited / divine love is the highest pursuit / Srimad Bhagavatam clarifies everything SB 4.6.31-35

The tubes of life float you down the river together just for a moment / Life is a series of repeating lessons designed to help us face the fact that there are forces more powerful than us / bow down mister / Apologize whole heartedly with complete conviction / Brahma didn't say "Not my circus, not my monkeys" / We think we're advanced…..not even close / the iPhone, the Giraffe & the Zebra all teach us to accept that unbelievable things are possible SB 4.6.6-31

the unexamined life is not worth living / examining the mind's desires / Raghu slows down / what good is your religion if you're offending great souls? / Daksha loses his head / Lord Brahma - the adult in the room, the voice of reason / be quick to apologize / apologize without mental reservations 4.5.20- 4.6.6

Arjuna's focus / gaining insights though practicing austerities / combining introspection with austerities / the fasting of Maharaja Pariksit and the sages / how can people less adept apply practices of austerity? / Krishna is in the Earth, in the food & in the fire of digestion / 4 quadrants of desire - needs, cravings, aspirations & yearnings / Prabhupada gave us so many ways to focus on Krishna Learn more at http://www.yogicharu.com or http://bhakticenter.org.

How can we bridge the gap between the truth that I am not the body & the practical reality that I need to take care of the body? / Are we karmically responsible for our thoughts & our dreams? / If I drink a glass of wine at dinner, would that make me less fit for Krishna consciousness? / How do I keep myself from feelings of envy & dejection when I hear of my peers out-achieving me? / Was Arjuna on psychedelics & was Krishna his guru in the use of psychedelics? / Can you please discuss how to interpret traditional yogic recommendations to sleep less in relation to modern recommendations for sleep?

Zuckerberg doublespeak / metaverse the next big thing that won't make us happy / the dream within the dream within the dream / all this technology is making us weak / there are no adults in the room / Prabhupada's vision of Bhakti in cooperation with earth & animals / persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance shall get light from Srimad Bhagavatam / it's about internal devotion, not the externals / Daksa's chickens come home to roost / don't mess with Lord Shiva / all hell breaks loose 4.4.31-4.5.19

the wise waste neither men nor words / even four harnessed horses cannot bring imprudent words back into the mouth / pray for the blessing to lose interest in village talk / the path of enjoyment & the path of renunciation / there's nothing of this world that will satisfy my heart / all the rules are meant to lead to Bhakti / dharma - from brahmacarya to gṛhastha to vānaprastha to sannyāsa / Sati sets off the spontaneous human combustion 4.4.20-30

focus on progress not perfection / the message of the Bhagavatam is that love (not religion) is the highest pursuit / if one's not careful their religion can foster envy & animosity / the spiritualist sees beyond the surface / the great souls magnify the good in others / if someones shares gossip with me - then what is wrong with me? / hearing criticism of great souls kills spiritual life / great souls transcend religious rules 4.4.11-19 [email protected] www.jivagcoaching.com