QA Audio : 2016

​How do we explain the triangularity of desires to children?

​Isn’t it better to know our needs and be satisfied on getting them instead of trying to be satisfied with what we have?

When bhakti provides higher pleasure than sensuality, why does the mind still crave for sense pleasure?

If we don’t have the inclination to do some service, should we still do it just to purify ourselves?

In our spiritual life how can we be both satisfied and ambitious?

​When Sita was devastated on Rama’s exiling her, how can we say that she just accepted her exile?

When we can’t even be sure whether this world will exist tomorrow, why bother thinking about some other world that is anyway held as inconceivable?

​Is old age present in the spiritual world?

​Yoga Maya can cover Krishna – how is this different from the Mayavadi idea that we all are God covered by Maya?

​Can individual or group chanting promote world peace?

​Some devotees see social issues as irrelevant – isn’t bhakti meant to be socially relevant?

​How can we explain rasa-lila to new people?

​How can spirituality help amidst increasing social polarisation, often caused by religion?

​Are all svakiya relationships in this world false?

​How can we guide our children in their teenage years?

​When anxiety distracts us during chanting, should we try to counter those thoughts or just wait for those thoughts to go?

​Does our enthusiasm in bhakti come from our sincerity or from Krishna’s mercy?

How can we know that God is still living?

​How is Hinduism different from other religions?

​How can we prevent our faith from going down with the passage of time?

​We know our likes and dislikes, but how can we know ourselves?

Is there any way we can use procrastination positively?

When religious conflicts cause violence, how can religious practice bring peace?

​Did Karna choose his fate or was he fated to die?

When mantra meditation involves actions and changes, how does it take us from the unchanging to the changing?

Where is the svabhava stored – is svabhava always unfavourable to bhakti?

​What is the difference between svabhava and conditionings?

​How can we avoid getting sucked into local temple politics while practicing bhakti?

​Is meditation on sound preferable to silent meditation?

Does becoming spiritual involve running away from problems instead of solving them?

​How can we know which situations are in our control and which out of control?

​How are we affected by positive or negative thoughts?

When people are diagnosed with depression, should they take medicines or practice spirituality?

Why did Nalakuvera-Manigriva not untie Krishna before going to heaven?

As exalted devotees don’t want liberation, should we not desire to get out of this world?

If it is Radharani’s love that binds Krishna, then is her love greater than Yashoda’s?

​Terrorism threatens human life – what is the spiritual perspective on this?

​What is the difference between premature death due to accident and due to suicide?

​Is a goal-oriented approach in bhakti in the mode of passion?

​What is consciousness – can we attain consciousness without giving up family life?

​If we all are parts of God, then is God the sum total of all beings?

​Is knowing our weaknesses one of the results of materialism?

​Krishna is the basis of all being, not just the best of all beings – what does this mean?

​Why does Krishna descend to this world – to kill demons or to teach the Gita?

​Why did Krishna not stop Yudhishthira from gambling?

​Did everyone on the Kurukshetra battlefield see Krishna’s universal form?

Do we need to appreciate devotees before we can appreciate Krishna?

Does exercising that increases our breathing rate decrease our lifespan?

Why do some people come close to death, but escape death?

If some people are more tolerant by their nature, does that tolerance mean they are advanced devotees?

Is bhakti the only way to higher taste – or are there other ways too?

Is multi-tasking desirable or undesirable?

What exactly is polymorphic monotheism?

Is the God of different religions one or different?

​​​​If religion is meant to love God, what about Buddhism which doesn’t refer to God?

​Why does God let difficulties happen in our life – please explain based on your personal life?

​How do we see people who use their faith to justify their bigotry?

Does the soul choose its parents in its next life?

​Do the Puranas talk about caste by birth and the Gita, caste by qualities?

​Why were the lower castes so abused in the caste system, though it was given by Krishna?

Won’t saying that don’t pursue worldly pleasures demotivate students from academic performance?

How can we control sense gratification?

What is ISKCON doing to address the fear that terrorists may attack temples?

​Why would kshatriyas, especially devotees like Arjuna, hunt?

Is bhakti meant for setting things right in our life or for liberating our soul?

​Why was Arjuna Krishna’s favorite among the Pandavas?

How did Draupadi have so much devotion for Krishna, more than that of even the Pandavas?

Among the Gita’s four varnas, what is your varna?

Does Krishna tell Arjuna that you are a kshatriya at the level of a brahmana?

​If we don’t grieve at someone’s death, aren’t we devaluing them?

Is our next body shaped by our desire or by our mind?

Does the Gita recommend doing yajna-dana-tapa or giving it up?

​How does bhakti counter anxiety?

What role does time play in differentiating between wants and needs?

How can we regulate our material wants in our spiritual life?

Why was Bharat Maharaja punished with a deer body for his compassion?

​Are all our material choices pre-determined by our past karma?

When Krishna is in our heart and knows our desires, why do we need to pray to him?

Can devotees ask Krishna for a material thing such as a child?

​Did Karna ever feel that he had made a wrong choice by fighting for Duryodhana?

​When did Kunti reveal to Karna that he was her son – why?

​When Krishna descends to destroy the miscreants, why does he try for peace with the miscreant Kauravas?

Does Krishna ask Karna for his punya when Karna is about to die?

​How to share bhakti with our relatives who are addicted to materialism?

​How to deal with the conflict of feeling like giving charity and fearing that it may be misused?

​What to do if the association of some devotees makes us negative and agitated?

​​​​How can we use our intellectual faculty to elevate ourselves and others spiritually?

​QA on Science & Religion at Cambridge University

Devotionally, we need to be humble. Professionally, we need to promote ourselves. How to reconcile?

How can we reduce the time we spend on devices?

​How does the mind make decisions?

​How to deal with the mind if it traps us in the same behaviour repeatedly?

​How can we expand our resolutions from time-bound to lifelong?

What to do if the mind acts on us even before we realize what is happening?

​Why are academic scholars of a tradition often derided by the tradition?

How does scripture explain evolution?

​Are scientific claims of journey to other planets compatible with scripture?

​What happens to our accumulated karma when we surrender to Krishna?

Why do some pious people face prolonged suffering before death?

What is the destination of those who have died too young to have done any good or bad?