Practical Spirituality

From ritual to spiritual 2 – Analysis of Krishna’s pastime with the ritualistic brahmanas – Understanding the brahmans

From ritual to spiritual 1 – Analysis of Krishna’s pastime with the ritualistic brahmanas

PAST acronym – 4 reflections to go past your past

QA at Bhakti Lounge, Wellington, New Zealand

What is the subconscious mind as explained in books such as “The power of the subconscious mind”?

How can renunciates sublimate the need for sexual pleasure?

To think or not to think – 4 reflections for a happy mind

3 ways to look for blessings amidst problems

3 roles of intelligence in bhakti

How Krishna can be seen – and how he can’t be seen

Don’t let your expectations of life come in the way of life

How can bhakti wisdom help us to become more forgiving?

Selfie – Self = IE – Two things that technology provides and two things that spirituality provides

Does the teaching that we shouldn’t over-endeavor impede our career growth?

When people are so confused that they can’t discern their own material inclinations, how can we engage them in bhakti?

Make a life, not just a living – LIFE acronym

Effective Leadership of spiritual communities

Debunking the mind’s fake news – 4 points

Worry not whether your path is genuine – worry whether you are genuine

Maturity in relationships – Four principles – QA

Will all our anxieties take us towards Krishna?

Should we fast on every acharya’s appearance and disappearance – how important is austerity in bhakti?

Maturity in relationships – Four principles – 3. Appreciate 4. Act

Maturity in relationships – Four principles – 2. Ascertain

Maturity in relationships – Four principles – 1. Accept

Three factors that determine what we see – Knowledge, Desire, Commitment

How can we maintain our momentum in devotion?

For seva if our svadhyaya and sadhana go down, then are we going into Maya?

If temple management uses philosophy to explain away wrong actions of devotees, what should we do?

Can forgiveness be a negative attribute?

Should we correct devotees and become a bad guy in their eyes or just turn a blind eye to their wrongdoings?

Krishna’s presence is more precious than his presents

For building a big temple, should a community’s focus shift from preaching to fund-raising?

Movie metaphor to understand how we are entangled and how bhakti liberates us

Rationally choosing our life’s purpose and process

Bring out the best within, not the beast within – Hindi

Three levels of purification – reaction, action and inclination – Hindi

How to increase our faith – Hindi

We can’t delete our memories, but we can choose what we remember

Awareness, Aspiration, Action – From standard of living to standard of loving

Role of determination and association in devotion – Hindi

Were past sages more spiritually advanced that they could live in seclusion whereas we need relationships to grow spiritually?

Should we never take sides when two devotees are in conflict?

If someone can memorize a lot of verses, is that due to their determination or their memory?

Will Krishna be more pleased if we feed the hungry than offer opulent bhoga to the Deities?

Why are great devotees sometimes subjected to baseless vicious accusations?

If someone is suffering but is not open to spirituality, how to help them?

When the mind starts misleading, does the Supersoul intervene?

If many other people are good in the area we are good, should we still persevere in that area?

If someone is very pessimistic about themselves, how to help them?

Will using our talents for Krishna lead to pure devotion?

When serving Krishna through our profession, should we try to become the best in that profession?

How can those in passion come to goodness to understand their nature?

Should we serve Krishna as we feel inspired or as we are instructed?

Philosophically, are certain activities in certain modes – is fighting in passion or can it be in goodness?

Should we serve according to our nature or try to transcend our nature?

If we keep whimsically repeating a mistake, what to do?

What are dynamic and static understandings of bhakti?

If our weaknesses make us lose perspective what can we do?

How do the soul mind intelligence and false ego interact with each other?

How do we know if we are doing a service for our ego or for Krishna?

We plan to do many services during vacations but end up in doing nothing – what to do?

How to balance between dependence on Krishna and diligence for Krishna?

If God could have stopped Hitler from killing innocent people why didn’t he do so?

Appreciating the potency of online outreach

When terrorists kill people are those people killed because of their own karma?

How can we explain why bad things happen without seeming insensitive by bringing in karma?

Be creative in fixing the mind on Krishna – Hindi

Should we appreciate the good qualities in nondevotees?

How does bhakti wisdom help us to become more tolerant?

Scripture glorifies association between seer and seeker – is association of equals also uplifting?

We may be hurt but we don’t have to stay hurt

If we have a million options to choose from how to decide?

Can we see everything that happens as Krishna’s mercy that he is giving us our own bad karma for making us take shelter of him?

Can ambition and devotion go together 2 – How to channel ambition in devotion

If our mind troubles us more than others’ mind troubles them what to do?

Amidst suffering should we see that Krishna has chosen us to go through this for some purpose?

How can we make difficult decisions responsibly?

Does Krishna interfere with the laws of material nature for a devotee?

How can we become more consistent?

How the mind troubles us – and how to protect ourselves – Hindi

Keep the mind on the spiritual track to keep it out of trouble

Why we need spirituaity in the age of technology

How can we practically understand humility and surrender?

Can ambition and devotion go together 1 – How happiness-distress are fixed and how they aren’t

Analyzing different religions to find life’s purpose 2 – The problem of evil original sin and karma

Analyzing different religions to find life’s purpose 1 – Seeking a purpose bigger than our problems

Is seeing believing 3 – Resolving science-spirituality conflicts

Is seeing believing 2 – What the map of science misses

Is seeing believing 1 – Even science explains the visible with the invisible

Understanding tradition and its conformers, deformers reformers – and presenters

The power of gratitude 2 – How to cultivate gratitude

The power of gratitude 1 – How gratitude empowers us

How can we avoid karmic entanglement while working in our office?

How can we change ourselves for the better as quickly as possible?

Varnashrama in bhakti – Focus on replicating the take-off not recreating the take-off point

If we make a strong resolution does the mind’s power ensure that we keep it?

Nourishing the creeper of devotion 4 – Finding our spiritual stimuil

Nourishing the creeper of devotion 3 – Avoid attachment to renunciation

Strive first for devotion then for pure devotion