Wisdom of the Sages

How can material things mean nothing when Krishna's energy is in all material things down to the atom? / If the material world means nothing and is an illusion, why wouldn't we just stay in the spiritual realm from the beginning? / Why is chanting talked about as 'the only way' in this age? / Am I worthy of owning the Bhagavatam without being a full time Bhakti-yogi? / Karmically, how responsible am I for these people who are under my care as a business owner? / How to respond to someone who tells you that you aren't putting into practice 'everything you read in your books' during a disagreement/argument?

we all need a spiritual mission / we're born to contribute / reprograming the mind through shloka memorization / drop your phone and hold the mind steady / you need a peaceful lifestyle for a peaceful mind / self knowledge frees one from body negativity & anxiety / smash your mirrors / phones are sickly addictive… turn it off! / climbing the 8 limbs of yoga SB 3.21.4

if I have an enemy, I have a problem / accepting illusion as truth in the material world / higher beings, lower being, snakes, angels, mystics, sages, demigods, demons, ghosts, fiends, sages & the father of mankind / the problem with counteracting bad karma - you don't get to the root of the problem / it was The Clash Raghu, The Clash, (not the Jam) / the Srimad Bhagavatam family tree SB 3.20.1-21.3

continuous practice reframes all of life's challenges / 2 ways to see the world - it's meant for me to enjoy - it's meant for me to learn from / Kaustubha met a wild boar! / our bodies are unreal / what about stillness Raghu? / doubt your doubts / even alpha-male elephants need to cry for help sometimes / 5 potent practices SB 3.19.20-38

What to do when you catch your 15 year old smoking Marijuana in the house? / Is there a place for women renunciants in the Bhakti tradition? / Do the Bhagavatam or other Vedic scripture provide any direct insight on parenting or the development of the child in the first weeks and months?

happy birthday Mara! / create ripple effects of love / zoom the hell out - its over in a moment / worry is a lousy investment / you can love your enemies when you zoom the hell out / God is to us as the root is to the tree, or as the stomach is to all the limbs of the body / Raghu's Christian outreach method / when it comes to personalization - make that circle big / Vishnu's battle with Hiranyaksha SB 3.18.1-3.19.18

1. don't let hate make you hate / 2. don't let revenge, resentment or spite enter your heart / 3. step back and zoom out - its just a tiny moment in time / 4. we've got karma to burn / Bhagavatam works! / the words of the shaman / Krishna always saves us / we'll all be severely tested so that we can break the cycle of birth & death / by Krishna's grace we can pass over all life's obstacles / building up to the big fight - Hiraṇyākṣa vs Vishnu! SB 3.17.1-31

checking in with the 3rd generation / listening to the Bhagavatam just makes my day better / I may have been a chicken in my last life / the appeal of Bhagavatam at all stages of life / Krishna's forgetfulness is part of his perfection / Krishna gets lost in play to taste love / when you displease great souls, you lose your beauty & luster / Krishna, looking like a puppet made of butter, gets lost in playing as Krishna getting lost in play (It's a Fibonacci Spiral!) SB 3.16.27-37

Bhakti helps you deal with the pain of material existence / uproot & let go of the hurt / don't be petty back / Kaustubha's dentist chair prayers / Vishnu steals your victim card / taking radical responsibility / Guna, Purusha, Yuga, Shakyavesa & Lila Avataras SB 3.16.24-26

from the gangsters of Chicago to the Goswamis of Vrindavan / the renunciation of Raghunath dasa Goswami / family responsibility as exemplified by Gopal Bhatta Goswami / the loving dealings of Sanantana Goswami / madhukari - collecting one's meals like the bee / the vast contribution of Rupa Goswami / Jiva Goswami's humility /the tomb of esoteric books / Srila Prabhupada presented the teachings of the Goswami's in a way that even we can understand and apply / the confrontational debate consciousness bans us from entering the meditation of Vrindavan / Jahnava Devi - the female saint and head of the bhakti community / Gangamata Goswamini - the princess turned saint https://chaturatmadasa.com

can you recommend any strategies for me to use to help bring my mind to higher things and away from these carnal thoughts? / why are we given a number of rounds to chant, rather than a length of time? / beating ourselves up can lead to unnecessary amounts of guilt and shame, but so-called self-acceptance can lead to remaining attached to things that are holding us back - how can we continue making progress in bhakti without being overly hard on ourselves? / how does Bhakti, although highly specialized, avoid the pitfalls of other forms of specialization & points of view that are prevalent today?

Celebrate Episode 500 with us as we hear testimonials from Wisdom of the Sages listeners about how the podcast, bhakti & Srimad Bhagavatam have transformed their lives.

reading wise things won't make us wise- we need to apply it / Vishnu is exceedingly attached to his devotees / 3 principles of spiritual culture - cleanliness, austerity and mercy / our nonsense got us here, we need wise people to lead us out / the need to honor the speakers of truth / live simply to be happy / frogs are dying / what's the news - everybody is burning / dharma is hidden in the hearts of the great souls SB 3.16.19-23

Sherri's kirtan adventure / to be aloof from public opinion / Vishnu asks a favor / being bound by love / knowing the mind of the master / getting beyond religious superficiality / the most confidential knowledge is when God reveals His heart / the 4 Kumara's try to make sense out of Vishnu's love / Sanatana dharma - there is an eternal standard for what is good / Kaustubha's satanic friend SB 3.16.12-18

the importance of routine / even people of the lowest behavior are purified by their interest in hearing about Vishnu / interest in Vishnu obliges Vishnu personally / Vishnu is glorious because he honors the Brahmanas / good fortune is always with Vishnu because he serves such devotees / Vishnu is more pleased by service to devotees than by ritual offered to him directly / ritual becomes void if you can't treat others with respect & love / how we treat the vulnerable is how we treat God 3.16.6-11

when there's no ego the heart dances / Sherri's kirtan adventure / there's more happiness in serving than in being served / nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded / a brahmana is known by their qualities, not by their birth / God takes radical responsibility and apologizes / Vishnu is sacred because He serves his devotees / how social justice is woven into bhakti culture / how ideas of cultural appropriation can be misapplied to yoga culture SB 3.16.1-7

How does the bhakti community view the LGBT community? / Does hearing Raghunath and Kaustubha on a podcast recommending "chant the maha mantra" count as receiving the mantra from guru & does it make a difference if I haven't been personally directed by a teacher to set aside time each day to chant? / In this modern age of internet association, how can someone develop a real relationship with a teacher & how do you actually ask the teacher to be your guru? / Is Krishna present in full, in all things?

kirtan at the Bhakti Center / our egos get in the way of everything / Krishna is like the sun, and I'm a stinky t-shirt / 3 approaches – karma, jnana & bhakti / engaging the mind, words and body / the devotee is fearless - heaven & hell are the same to them - externals don't matter / Krishna is my inner engineer SB 3.15.49-50

eagerness is everything / rapture / Dhruva / spiritual form /The Absolute Truth can be understood in three features — impersonal Brahman, localized Paramātmā, and Bhagavān / the personal feature is the last word in understanding the Absolute Truth / untie the knot in the heart / becoming materially exhausted / nothing in the material world will satisfy your heart / its what can I give, not what can I get SB 3.15.46-48

the Bhakti-yogi is like salt / the Bhagavatam perspective shift / #BhaktiGoesNiceWithAge / even the 1% is dying / Bhakti is superior to mukti - example 1. Sukadeva, example 2. the four Kumaras / the supreme dharma is Bhakti / Paramatma in the heart of everyone & in every atom / as our consciousness spreads though our body, Paramatma's consciousness spreads through the entire universe / as we have a right of proprietorship over our bodies, Paramatma is the proprietor of the universe SB 3.15.44-45

the mad elephant offense / smiling Lord Vishnu melts the heart / so called pleasure is just a cessation of pain / have faith that happiness lies in service / #dontbeasuckerbeaserver / the Bhakti-yogis don't try for liberation, but liberation herself stands with folded hands waiting to serve them / everyone has a backstory / the fact that the atmaramas take pleasure in the form of Krishna is proof that His form is spiritual SB 3.15.39-43

our attractions & aversions are randomly programed into our minds / the illusion of duality / Raghunath's exercise / happiness is an inside job / purification through the fire of knowledge / see the Divine orchestration in everything / we accept the curse, but may we not forget Vishnu / we aren't asking for peace, we are stepping in the fire / high level meditation on the form of Vishnu / the appearance of Lord Vishnu / seeing God in the skunk SB 3.15.34-38

we're either grateful or entitled / gratitude leads to spiritual awakening / the myth of the more choices the better / regulation gives rise to beauty / finding value in the tough times / parampara - from one to another / being endowed with billions of years of tradition / life is a game of frogger / people have shown me kindness that was otherworldly / the catharsis of gratitude

Can departed family members send us signals, and how can their souls stay with us and simultaneously take on a new body? / How can Bhakti help me to manage expectations of others and how can I manage expectations of others on me? / In the sacred texts we hear about how humiliation can stimulate spiritual growth, but also how Krishna uses fear of humiliation as an encouragement for Arjuna's growth. How would you connect the two? / Do you have any suggestions for ashrams in India to visit or stay at?

taking radical responsibility / Srimad Bhagavatam every day! / when the mind is out of harmony with the soul, we experience discord - anxiety, fear, boredom, depression, etc./ train the body to dance with the soul / as you become more spiritual you become aware of discordance within / religion = allegiance to a church; spirituality = developing the qualities of God / harmony of the body & mind with the true self is yoga / a positive spin on subordination SB 3.15.32-33

relinquish the burden of resentment / squash it quick! - be quick to apologize and quick to forgive / the pain derived from humbling oneself is less than the pain derived from offending someone / the qualification and disqualification for freedom from anxiety / Vaikuntha Man / the verse we wear around our necks / Krishna is sending us people for our evolution / superficial peace crumbles when it's challenged / the boy sages approach the gates of the spiritual world / anger is the younger brother of desire / the anger of the liberated person is different SB 3.15.26-31

sound is transformative / "the darkest region of ignorance" like those football hooligans / to change your life wipe out Blame & criticism / how we open the gate to fear, anxiety & depression / the rare opportunity of earthly human life provides just enough pleasure & pain for one to decide to transcend / you can't step into reality with a hard heart / 5 steps to getting blown up in a spiritual land mine SB 3.15.23-25

Madhava's Rock Band is saving Raghunath from the Brahma Complex / the Brahma Complex = don't you know who I am – who do you think you are? / you don't punk Krishna, Krishna punks you / we get bitter or we get better / seeing the inner child of the football hooligan / their desires are fulfilled by rendering transcendental loving service / the residents of Vaikuṇṭha have a better standard of pleasure / bringing the principles of the spiritual world into the material world = spiritual activism SB 3.15.20-22

Ouch! Wisdom of the Sages gets rejected by Madhava's Rock Band (we love them anyway) / Diti puts a pause on her pregnancy (we're beyond uniformitarianism over here) / we can fight the law - but the law always wins / the first description of the spiritual world / the metaphor of the upside-down banyan tree / illusion follows desire / the metaphor of the reflection in the window / it's not that dogs & vegan doughnuts don't exist - it's just that we are trying to enjoy their reflections SB 3.15.1-19

rational, ethical & metaphysical challenges to the sacred texts / 3 levels of thought - literal, rational, transcendental / burden carriers vs essence seekers /the folly of uniformitarianism / 3 challenges to miracles / just because something happens routinely doesn't make it any less extraordinary / the mathematical complexity of digestion / rationality is a call for open-mindedness / sci-fi - why is attraction to the supernatural so natural? / what we call reality depends on the scale of our perception / celestial perspective vs human perspective / how we devalue scripture & how we devalue science / humility facilitates open-mindedness

How can I share wisdom with people going through a death in the family? / How do I stop lying to myself? / What does it mean that Krishna is the most renounced? / Do you or the bhakti lineages find any use in vipassana style meditation?

Paramatma speaks when we have no separate desires / how to set off a ripple effect of divine energy / uniformitarianism: the assumption that the same laws that we witness apply everywhere in the universe / our desires compromise our objectivity / applicational spirituality / faithful & faithless Cro-Mags / letting go of the separate agenda / cultivating freedom from animosity / when Krishna is satisfied, the entire universe is satisfied SB 3.14.47-51

the poetry of Candi Das / the poetry of Rupa Goswami / cultivating humility, tolerance & respect / Kasyapa bows to his fate / inauspicousness follows the abandonment of dharma / bad news & good news for Diti / the saints emulate Prahlad by practicing freedom from animosity / like fire in different shapes of wood - we are all pure underneath / serving with knowledge & detachment is yoga / advanced yogi = seeing stones & gold as the same, more advanced yogi = seeing "friends" & "enemies" as thee same / the process of getting unscrewed SB 3.14.30-46

align with faith or with fear / the dark parts of Bhagavatam prepare us for the dark periods in life / hear, reflect, repeat, realize / Kasyapa's practices have given rise to a sensitivity or awareness of subtle influences / every-thing becomes an offering of love - our body, words, mind, time, energy, wealth, food, sex / If you're out after 10, watch out / everything becomes pure and auspicious when its connected to Krishna / Krishna preserves what we have & carries what we lack SB 3.14.19-29 https://www.supersoulyoga.com/yin

material miseries are superfluous to the soul / Bhagavatam spreads light in the dark age / Bhagavatam uproots misery / we mistake lack of self-control for freedom / self-control brings auspiciousness / Bhagavatam stands the test of time / I will either control my senses or be controlled by my senses / There's the pain of discipline or the pain of regret / Diti's 3 reasons for abandoning dharma - my lust, my jealousy, my desire for prestige / the folly of tossing out the Ikea manual SB 3.14.1-18

what is your favorite Aindra Prahbu tracks & what are some of your favorite kirtans to listen to? / is Krishna the abusive lover who punishes over and over & demands that we keep giving more and more? / how to behave in the presence of people who act as if they are some kind of God? / How can I see the spiritual energy & is that even important for me to see?

Isabel's 1st kirtan / 1st we appreciate the devotees, then we see the faults, then the faults become insignificant / verses from Bilvamangala / drop the quick fixes and turn to Bhagavatam / our lulls in bhakti aren't bhakti's fault / a little Gita everyday will change your life / the Earth is our mother / we've got no respect / a little ritual to cultivate the right consciousness / hearing with the right attitude pleases God in the heart / Krishna gets personally involved with anyone trying to surrender / 4 paths to realize God in the heart / train the mind to see the soul, not the externals SB 3.13.40-50

in this age our minds are always disturbed / replace the sounds that don't serve us / the earth laughed, "just see how these kings, who are actually playthings in the hands of death, are desiring to conquer me" / we're not possessors - as soon as we get it, peace comes / sacrifice is giving back with love / the ultimate end of all sacrifice is to attain bhakti / the Kaustubha-gita - chant, seeing every living being as your friend / dorking around for God SB 3.13.34-39

Bhakta Louie is one big heart / a charging boar can wipe out your ego trip real quick / God manifests in different categories of incarnations / you can't have joy or intelligence without sense control / the sages of the higher planets have a high grade of meditation - we've got reality television & porn / whatever we think deeply about is our meditation practice & it shapes our minds / ritual is designed by sages to reshape our dented mind / yoga is the harmony between our mind and ourself SB 3.13.27-34

confidential servitors are sometimes perplexed but never discouraged / Srila Prabhupada's clout / finding your own way to connect / we all need a get together / let go of resentments / the Purusha Avatars take care of business - the Lila Avatars have fun / the desire to play originates in God / Brahma's nose isn't like our's - Vishnu appears from his breath / nature is providing clues about what we are doing here / human paradigm, that's asinine / with a broad mind I'm sure we'll find different realities SB 3.13.14-27

corrupted by our skeevy desires / sitting alone - sitting with God /brahmacārīs sacrifice the senses in the fire of mental control, regulated householders sacrifice the objects of the senses in the fire of the senses / Manu & Satarupa sacrifice the objects of the senses in the fire of the senses / the essence of leadership is protection of the people / the nature of the guru/disciple relationship / one who doesn't satisfy Vishnu neglects their own interests, for He is the Ultimate Self / senses SB 3.13.12-13

Srimad Bhagavatam is the heart of bhakti-yoga / Bhagavatam is uncompromising / Vyasadeva's vision in samadhi / Bhagavatam reasons it's way to spirituality / the pathology of materialism / equality only exists metaphysically / Sanskrit in the Bhagavatam / Vedic parallels / ultimately spirituality is about devotion / Shankara's forced interrelation / the Gita's personalism / how far did Vedic culture travel? / a new novel "Justin Davis" https://hdgoswami.com

how do we find a guru? / could you please elaborate on how to properly prostrate when meeting elevated souls such as Swamis and could you please shed some light on taking Darshan for me? / if you work for something "bad", but you create "good" impacts out of it, what are the karma implications? / "Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, "I AM THAT" approach, how does that sit with Bhakti...?"

Bhakta Justin's bottle cap miracle / Mara's Mumbai miracle / Raghu's apartment miracle / Vijaya's 5 in 1 proof of God miracle / Andrea's Krishna painting revelation miracle / Liam's mantra miracle / Chakri's ghee lamp miracle / the Joe Rogan Wisdom of the Sages miracle / Laura Marco's double hurricane miracle / Joe Cantamessa's freedom miracle / Anonymous' prostitute pub double miracle / Raghu's temptation miracle / Vin's Radharamana miracle / Kateri's Willie Nelson miracle

lose yourself & find yourself in service / dasya bhava - the mood of service / service is joy / the stories we tell shape our attitudes / serve wholeheartedly / to not accept that there are others more qualified, wise, respectable is insane / Mara embodies dasya bhava / the flavor of dasya rasa is sweet / dasya bhava is a thread that runs through all the flavors of love / we've cheapened everything in this world / we each have a unique path SB 3.13.6-11

Raghu drops the ball on the parent talk / until we understand that we are not the machine we remain a slave to the machine / use the pain to go deeper / advancing in yoga starts with seeing God in everyone / every body is a temple / root out the hate in the heart SB 3.13.1-7

find the friend within / act as if you're in control, but deeply understand you aren't in control / knowledge & detachment transform work into yoga / especially at the forks in the road, take shelter of Bhagavatam & sages / A.J.'s coming out / our minute independence can be engaged in disconnection or reconnection / Bhaghavatam asks us to expand our minds / where religion goes wrong is when it's used to judge others rather than improving oneself SB 3.12.49-57

"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist" Pablo Picasso / a person who is materially detached and knows happiness comes from within can speak the truth / every social order has a particular psychology to purify / it's how much you make, not how much you give that counts / solving the caste system problem - it's your qualities and behavior, not your birth / Vedic culture was designed to create impressions in the mind that allow one to learn, relate, communicate toward self realization / We're in desperate need of true brahmins SB 3.12.34-47

guru means heavy / guru in the mind, guru in the heart, guru externally / the logic of the half chicken / the weakness of mantra without tapas / the reprehensible delusions of guruship / guru is a transparent via medium / a happy fathers day message

what is the Bhakti-yoga perspective on depression, trauma and managing through continuous difficulties in life? / could you share some practical tools for replacing the negative mantras in my mind when I struggle with criticizing and tolerating other people? / is good relative or universal, is forgiveness always good, and can hate be healthy?