Author: Chaitanya Charan

Mahabharata Characters 35 – Bhima 05 – Bhima’s heroics during incognito exile

Mahabharata Characters 34 – Bhima 04 – Meting punishment while giving forgiveness

Mahabharata Characters 33 – Bhima 03 – An attack on the gods that fulfilled a godly purpose

Mahabharata Characters 32 – Bhima 02 – No demon is a match to this human

Autobiographical Writing in Vaishnavism

Mahabharata Characters 31 – Bhima 01 – Growing stronger through danger and disaster

Mahabharata Characters 30 – Yudhisthira 08 – Dharmaraja’s moments of infamy and glory in the war

Is ISKCON an American organization that sends temple donations from India to America?

Mahabharata Characters 29 – Yudhisthira 07 – Steadiness through wisdom amidst the war’s worries

Why are Einstein’s and Prabhupada’s metaphors about blind man-lame man contradictory?

What does Einstein’s metaphor about science and religion mean?

Is science based on rational faith and religion on irrational faith?

Does religion require faith from start to end whereas science requires faith only occasionally?

Mahabharata Characters 28 – Yudhisthira 06 – Wisdom wins where strength fails (Nahusha & Yaksha)

Shrivas Thakura – The summit of selfless service in offering everything for the Lord’s pleasure

Vakreshvara Pandit – The wing of devotion for the Lord to fly into the sky of love

Mahabharata Characters 27 – Yudhisthira 05 – Words of wisdom vs words of anger in the forest

If we shouldn’t be disturbed by the mind’s impurities, then how can we beat the mind?

Kolavecha Shridhar – The wealth of devotion makes all other wealth irrelevant

Mukunda Datta – Exemplar of humble determined faith

Snana Yatra – Entry into the Lord’s circle of love through intimate service

Why do we have to give up material pleasures to experience spiritual pleasures?

Did past people believe in miracles like Govardhana lila because they were unscientific and gullible?

If Krishna is the cause of all causes, is he the cause of everything that we and others do?

Gita 14.18 – The holy name takes us out of the shackle of the modes

Maturity means to not let our emotionality interfere with our responsibility

Mahabharata Characters 26 – Yudhisthira 04 – The Pandavas dishonoured and dispossessed

If we concede that scripture doesn’t contain literal report of conversations then where will the erosion of scriptural authority end?

Are science and spirituality at war with each other?

Why are certain important verses quoted by acharyas not found in the scriptures?

Are chanting praying and meditation the same?

Why do some scriptures declare other gods to be Supreme?

Are the Puranas unreliable because they have so many different versions?

Prabhupada quotes largely from the Puranas so how can we show that our sampradaya is based on shruti?

I was born in another sampradaya, but became introduced to seriously bhakti through ISKCON. Which sampradaya should I follow?

Why do insubstantial religious groups spread extensively and pure saints remain unknown?

How the Gita’s ninth chapter reveals its bhakti essence

Mahabharata Characters 25 – Yudhisthira 03 – The virtuous victimized in the vicious gambling match

What is the destination of patriotic atheists like Bhagat Singh?

Why is there no Radha Krishna worship in the Madhva sampradaya?

Who is better – one who chants all day or one who chants a few times and serves others all day?

When Krishna always uses his free will properly, why don’t we too when we are his parts?

Meditation minimizes inner friction and maximizes outer contribution

If we cant fast nirjala on Pandava Nirjala Ekadashi what benefit do we get?

Is belief in God like belief in a cosmic teapot – undisprovable yet unreasonable?

How can India’s wisdom-literature be introduced in the education without the saffronization of the syllabus?

Should every action in the Lord’s pastimes be interpreted to get some instruction from it?

Mahabharata Characters 24 – Yudhisthira 02 – The world’s king glorifies the supreme king

Why does the Gita 12.11 include material charity in the bhakti hierarchy?

Where do religious social workers like Mother Terersa fall in the Gita’s yoga ladder?

How does karma yoga mature into ashtanga yoga?

How does the nishkama karma yogi attain knowledge and liberation? Through the same path or by adopting another yoga?

Does ashtanga yoga always start from jnana yoga?

If Durga is the superintendent of material nature how can Krishna alone grant liberation?

Is Durga devi a demigodess in the category of jiva tattva?

Are the jnanis mentioned in Gita 7.16-18 impersonalists as the example of Kumaras suggests or devotees as Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakura’s commentary states?

For a devotee-sadhaka Is the desire to go BTG desirable or should one just desire service?

How should we respond to indiscriminate violence against other communities done in the name of religion as a response to distortion of respected images?

Mahabharata Characters 23 – Yudhisthira 01 – Sticking to integrity amidst injustice

Confrontation or Penetration – Two approaches to sharing Krishna consciousness

Mahabharata Characters 22 – Kunti 03 – Successful amidst misery after misery

The vibhavas, prabhavas and anubhavas of Krishna’s para shakti

Mahabharata Characters 21 – Kunti 02 – The glorious mother sees the glory of her sons and her Lord

Non-vegetarians healthier than vegetarians?

Safe, Danger and Relapse Zones in the War against temptation

The nine tensions in the Bhagavatam

How Maya can refer to both Krishna’s energy in general and to his inferior energy in specifice

Mahabharata Characters 20 – Kunti 01 – The blessing that made a nightmare and a dream come true

Humility, not intellect, is the qualification for spiritual knowledge

Mahabharata Characters 19 – Vidura 01 – A true friend, affectionate but not attached

The cause of the unfortunate position of science is overconfidence

Mahabharata Characters 18 – Dhritarashtra 04 – Losing Everything Before Losing Blindiness

What does the identification of Krishna with time mean practically?

How the less intelligence of impersonalists deprives them of krishna-prema

Mahabharata Characters 17 – Dhritarashtra 03 – Blaming destiny for irresponsibility

Strive for nirbandhini mati even during vaidhi bhakti

When there are so many cases of past life memories, why don’t we find some people remembering their experience in heaven, hell or as animals?

Isn’t it distasteful for brahmacharis to be watching and quoting movies when people come to them to hear about Krishna

What is the difference between the Gita 9.34 and 18.65?

Isn’t violence against women in India, as in the Badaun rape case, caused more by the casteist society and not by the obscenity in the culture?

Don’t be discouraged by material desires

Is instantaneous forgiveness the characteristic of pure devotion and seeking retribution that of neophyte devotion

Mahabharata Characters 15 – Dhritarashtra 01 – The blindness of attachment begins

What is the significance of the word avyaya in Gita 9.2?

If Draupadi was dishonored due to her past karma, why did the Pandavas have to take revenge?

How can we strengthen our resolve to correct our wrongs?

How can we forgive not just with lips but with the heart?

When we don’t feel like asking for forgiveness what should we do?

What is the use of writing insubstantial articles in newspapers that don’t even mention the name of Krishna once?

Why are divorces more among devotees than nondevotees?

Why are all forms of science not equally authoritative – why is evoluion less reliable than gravity when its all science?

Internal steadiness is more important than external show of steadiness

Mahabharata Characters 14 – Drona 04 – Repaying deceit with deceit

Modi Swearing-in Ceremony – The Substance underlying the Form

Krishna’s unique mercy on the Vrajavasis

Mahabharata Characters 13 – Drona 03 – The Blunder Under Pressure

Can devotees watch TV serials about Krishna’s pastimes?

What is the meaning of Gita 14.11: “The manifestations of the mode of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge”?

Has ISKCON replaced the scriptural worship of Ganesh in Hindu temples with the unscriptural worship of Prabhupada in its temples?

Do we need to posit the existence of eternal souls to make the design argument robust?