Practical Spirituality

Seek self-affirmation through what you do for others, not what others do for you

Redefining freedom

Taking responsibility for our spiritual advancement

Go beyond testing Krishna to tasting Krishna

Can we love someone whom we hate?

How can we balance between submission and overdependence?

Chances, Changes, Choices – Making Life’s Big Decisions

How can we practice bhakti in today’s competitive world?

How can we prevent repeated falls from shaking our faith in bhakti?

How can we deal with friends who hurt us?

How can we know that our service is pleasing Krishna?

Understanding what is our quota in material life – 2

Resist the temptation to be discouraged

Learn to see the material and the spiritual as cumulative, not competitive

Understanding what is our quota in material life – 1

How can we avoid forgetting in real-life what we learn in classes?

How can we prevent our faith from flickering amidst problems?

When guidance is not easily available, how can we make good choices?

How can we assess our service when we are not pure-hearted?

How can we avoid over-controlling the things that are in our control?

In the practical-philosophical categorization, where does the emotional fit in?

When we face problems, we need practical solutions, not philosophical solutions – how can scripture help?

What is the best way to monitor our mental habits?

How can we help those who are suffering but are still imagining that they are enjoying?

If someone rationalizes their wrongdoing by saying that Krishna loves us unconditionally, how do we respond?

Doesn’t Krishna feel bad when we do something wrong – doesn’t that make him unwilling to shelter us?

If our mistakes have got us into trouble, how can we overcome the guilt that disheartens us while taking shelter of Krishna?

Changing the default settings of our mind

You have gone through a lot of pain in your life – what is your realization?

How can we prevent sense enjoyment from depriving us of Krishna’s shelter?

When we don’t feel like surrendering, what should we do?

How can we overcome inconsistency in deity worship caused by our wavering feelings?

If our material life takes us temporarily away from our spiritual life, how can we later regain our spiritual enthusiasm?

If our material activities interfere with our spiritual life, how can we see those activities as spiritual?

If our family members don’t support our bhakti, what should we do?

How can we spiritualize our work without disturbing our colleagues?

If bhakti practice makes us less emotional, is that good?

Do we make our destiny or are we made by our destiny?

Is obsession with spiritual things ok?

How to balance attachment and detachment in daily life?

How can we focus on our spiritual advancement without becoming selfish?

If we can’t stop overeating, how can we control ourselves?

Balancing intensity and sensitivity in bhakti – Learning from HH Radhanath Maharaj’s example

When we become responsible in our material life, our employers may exploit us – how to avoid?

Is starting spiritual life because of frustration undesirable?

How can we make our wandering consciousness more connected to the body?

Have you had a near-death experience?

Overcoming our mental energy drainers

How do we balance our fundamental and functional identities?

If we understand that we are souls, do we need to reject the whole life we have built on our bodily identity?

As devotee-students, do we have to lead two lives?

Devotion as sentiment, commitment and attainment

If it doesn’t work, get out – is such a utilitarian attitude in bhakti towards things like marriage justifiable?

When we face mental health issues, how can we deal with them spiritually and what can we learn from it?

Be not fretful or fearful – be faithful

How to deal with indulgences that we aren’t able to give up?

Did many devotees leave ISKCON because they couldn’t see suffering as Krishna’s mercy?

Will those with low self-esteem mistake tolerating injustice to be humility?

How to decide between tolerating a situation or changing it?

Why do we promote our suffering as if it is the worst?

For a pure devotee, is the subtle body dissolved or does it still remain?

How can we know what is a principle and what a detail?

How can the tension between rigidity and fluidity be resolved in a living tradition?

Understanding attachment, detachment, commitment 3 – Devotion as emotion, disposition and cultivation

How can we appreciate good devotees who are offensive about some issues?

If we are more attached to Krishna and less attached to family responsibilities, does that incur bad karma?

If our chanting is simply mechanical, will that please Krishna?

How can we cultivate more of a family atmosphere in our movement?

Can the desire for subtle sex – pride, adoration, distinction – be dovetailed in bhakti?

Won’t neglecting our attachments and focusing on bhakti lead to rationalizing our wrong actions?

To get stimulated out of sleep, can I visit Facebook first thing after waking up?

If we are following the principles to be initiated but have to wait for long in queue, does Krishna see us as initiated or uninitiated?

If senior devotees behave unethically, how can we maintain our inspiration?

Understanding attachment, detachment, commitment 2 – Detachment is not hardheartedness – it is levelheadedness

How to deal with the emotions and inclinations that take us away from Krishna?

If we have a vision to do something but the authorities are not supportive, what to do?

Shouldn’t we expect to grow to the higher stages of bhakti?

Shouldn’t we take up challenging services to become humble & dependent on Krishna?

How can we find the service by which we can best contribute?

Why were the Pandavas treated so badly by their elders – in similar circumstances, are we meant to be submissive?

Suppose a talented, dedicated devotee encounters failure repeatedly – how to respond?

How can we counter the mind’s tendency to see the negative even in devotee association?

Understanding attachment, detachment, commitment 1 – Frustration is not renunciation

Won’t picking and choosing sections of philosophy or process rationalise rejecting important aspects of bhakti?

Is adopting something because it works a sufficient criterion for choosing a spiritual path?

What to do if our doubts block us in relishing bhakti?

Does our past karma affect our present free will?

When devotees debate fiercely over different aspects of bhakti, how should we respond?

Is taste in service Krishna’s reciprocation?

How do we balance hunting for the rhino in our services with being realistic?

Go beyond the painkiller of karma-kanda or modern science to the curative medicine of bhakti

How can we be humble enough to recognize the necessity of changing our habits?

While using tricks like propinquity to control our senses, don’t we neglect the bhakti aspect?

When genuine intentions will express as actions, how can we say that intention is not enough?

Should we make major life decisions based on bhakti considerations alone or also based on our material nature and situation?

When the Gita insists that we work according to our nature, why do ISKCON authorities tell us to do the needful, without considering our nature?

If we can’t replace our mind, how does purification change the mind?

If the material and the spiritual are separate, how can chanting attentively lead to good book distribution?

Growing from grudges to gratitude – Bhagavatam 10.14.8

Overcoming obstacles 8 – Focus less on detachment from the world and more on attachment to Krishna – part 2