Watch Your Language
In the 1960s terms like yoga, karma, and mantra entered the American language. The rock ‘n’ roll culture of the hippies also popularized terms of Vedic spirituality, simultaneously creating new misconceptions.
Varnasrama-dharma
The four orders of social life called varna are scientifically arranged for the material progress of society, and the four spiritual orders called asrama are designed for natural progress in self-realization.
Experience of Karma Yoga
In Karma yoga, when you are working for Krishna, you can do your office tasks, speak to people on business, and do whatever you duty happens to be, for it all becomes part of your single aim: to return to God.
Kardama Muni, A First-Class Yogi
Kardama Muni practiced meditative penances on the bank of the Sarasvati River for a period of 10,000 years. It is understood that the yoga system, in order to be rightly practiced, must be performed by persons who possess a very long duration of life.
Seeing the Bright Side of Illness
While writing this month’s column, I am confined with an illness that has stopped my normal work. It’s a discouraging, uncomfortable interlude, yet I am seeing how illness can also bring one valuable realizations.
When Legislation Fails
The election year has ended, but the debates continue. And one of the most controversial issues is the role of religion in government. The Hare Krsna movement takes no side in the political battle, but it can offer thoughtful advice to help solve a complex problem.
Temple Worship
Service of the Lord, especially in dressing and decorating the temple, accompanied by musical kirtana and spiritual instructions from the scriptures, can alone save the common man from the hellish cinema attractions and the rubbish sex-songs broadcast everywhere by radios.
Religion’s Ultimate Goal
Generally people pray, perform rituals, and so on, in hopes of attaining temporary goals: better health, a good marriage, success in business. But in Bhagavad-gita Sri Krsna advises that those who practice religious life by seeking material boons are missing the real point.
How to Check the Age of Kali
Kali-yuga is a fallen age, the age of hypocrisy and quarrel. In Kali-yuga the basic principles of religion are abandoned, the government is ruled by the lowest class of men, and society lives on the basis of animal life.
How to Develop Spiritual Vision
In the Vedic literature we find the phrase sastra-caksus, which means “to see with the eyes of scripture.” Scriptures like the Bhagavad-gita teach eternal truths, and these truths can be confirmed in our daily experience.
How to Get Out of the Clutches of Maya
The Sanskrit word maya means that which is not. In other words, it is illusion. For example, if a servant of a king thinks that he is the king, that is illusion. Generally, it is the illusion of all human beings that they are the lords of all they survey.
Religion and the Engines of War
Many conflicts around the world are being billed as “religious wars.” Fighting between the Sikhs and Hindus in India, Christians and Moslems in Beirut, Moslem sects of Iran and Iraq, and Protestants and Catholics of Northern Ireland—all seem to have roots in religious conflict.
Instructions by Vidura
Vidura was filled with compassion by remembering the continual sufferings caused by Dhrtarastra to the Pandava brothers and their mother, Kunti. But at the same time, he was a great court philosopher and a true friend to Dhrtarastra.
Freedom from All Miseries
I have strong evidence to support the fact that there is no happiness in the material world and I have equally strong evidence to prove that any human being can achieve total, lasting happiness in this lifetime.
The Prayers of Akrura
Akrura lost all mental equilibrium at the sight of the actual footprints of Sri Krsna, and he jumped out of his chariot and fell onto the ground, shedding tears and crying, “How wonderful it is! How wonderful it is!”—touching his head onto the footprints of the Supreme Lord.
Narada Muni — The Transcendental Spaceman
Narada Muni is eminently distinguished. His pupils include the greatest devotees. Also, he is not restricted to one planet, but has the facility to travel to any part of the universe without the aid of a spaceship.
Transcendental Methods for Controlling Stress
Learning how to cope with stress in daily life is not a newly discovered gift from modern psychologists. Mental illnesses from anxiety, as well as expert cures for stress, are as old as humanity itself.
Liberation at Last
Recently I spoke to an acquaintance who is practicing “meditation” and I asked him the goal of his practice. The answer was, “Liberation. To merge with the one.”
Election Year: What Are the Choices?
The year of a United States presidential election always brings intense campaigning and debating, out of which we are supposed to choose our favorite candidate. But for many of us, election time also raises the question of whether a real choice exists.
Adventures of the Boar Incarnation
While Brahma was thinking, a small form of a Boar came out of his nostril. The Boar-like form became situated in the sky in a wonderful manifestation, grown suddenly into a gigantic form like a great elephant.