Vedic Scriptures

Why did the Dwarka Yadus kill each other?

Wisdom from Ramayana – New Book

Demons in Krishna-lila 6 – Bakasura – From Appearance to Substance to Transcendence

Was Vritrasura’s bhakti covered over because of his past offenses?

In Gita 09.32, why are women put in a separate category from the various varnas?

Gita 02.07 Seek first to understand the question to best understand the answer

Gita 02.06 The decision that seems a no-brainer turns out to be a brain-exhauster

Gita 02.05 Deliberation is desirable, but depth of deliberation is decisive

Does any Gita verse say that the soul is on a multi-life journey of spiritual evolution?

Gita 02.03 Identify behavior that is out of character with our character

Essence of the Gita – Identity, Activity, Destiny

Gita 02.02 Fight against lower emotions by fighting for higher emotions

Gita 02.01 The intensity of Arjuna’s emotion conveys the potency of Krishna’s solacing wisdom

Gita 01.46 The significance of our actions depends not just on the actions but also on the situations in which we do those actions

Appreciating Sanjaya’s appreciation of the Gita

Gita 01.45 The war was not to gain a kingdom but to protect the rule of law

Gita 01.44 When our emotion rules our reason, we rationalize a one-sided view of reality

Gita 01.43 Hearing is important, but from whom we are hearing is even more important

Gita 01.42 Disruption of dharma leads to overpopulation of disruptive souls, causing total breakdown of dharma

Gita 01.41 When the family is disrupted, the faith of the children is also devastated

Gita 01.40 Dharma prevents human society from being ruled by the law of the jungle

Gita 01.39 Our sense of honor coming from our lineage can raise us but can also stop us from rising to the highest

Gita 01.38 To restrain a violent madman, their restrainers may have to fight like the madman

Demons in Krishna lila 5 – Aghasura – Cruelty and violence

Gita 01.37 Consciousness that is contaminated becomes conquered and covered

Gita 01.36 The ethical tension between kula-dharma and kshatriya-dharma leads to emotional over-reaction and physical inaction

Ramayana series 4 – Sita’s faithfulness – The strength of devotional acceptance

Ramayana series 3 – Shurapanakha’s manipulativeness – Exploiting others’ weaknesses doesn’t make us strong

Ramayana series 2 – Ravana’s recklessness – Attachment makes us overvalue things

Ramayana series 1 – Comparing Dasharatha and Dhritarashtra – What we do is not as important as why we do it

Govardhana lila lessons – Krishna disempowers and empowers – and opens channels for reciprocating love

Gita 01.35 Our pleasure-pain calculation determines our decisions and is determined by our worldview

Gita 01.34 To retaliate and cause death requires courage, but to not retaliate at the cost of one’s own death requires greater courage

Gita 01.33 When various purposes pull us in different directions, we need to prioritize our purposes

Gita 01.32 Don’t let the means to an end become an end that diverts us from the actual ends

Appreciating Krishna’s longing for love through Damodara-lila

Gita 01.31 What we think of as long-term may not be long-term enough

Gita 01.30 When we face challenges bigger than ourselves, we look for omens to sense the intentions of forces bigger than ourselves

Practical application of the Gita – MAIL acronym

Gita 01.29 Know which emotion is mental and which spiritual not just by content, but also by context and consequence

Gita 01.28 Our thought-train’s journey from intentions to actions is diverted by our emotions

Gita 01.27 The sequence of perception determines the consequence on our emotion

Gita 01.26 When we can’t fight the circumstances that make us fight against our loved ones, we have to fight against our loved ones

Gita 01.25 What catches ouar attention is determined by what is prominent in our external situation and in our internal disposition

Gita 01.24 The position of maximum visibility is also the position of maxiumum vulnerability

Gita 01.23 Virtue doesn’t count when determining the military count in a fight

Stop fighting battles that are already lost and start fighting the battle that is never lost – Vritrasura pastime analysis 3

Gita 01.22 Asking to see something that is already known points to a dynamic that is not known

When the source of liberation becomes the source of illusion 2 – Mohini-murti pastime analysis

How to transform our heart 2 – Vritrasura’s dramatic transformation

Gita 01.21 The non-partisan position of the Gita’s revelation points to its universality

When the source of liberation becomes the source of illusion 1 – Mohini-murti pastime analysis

How to transform our heart 1 – Vritrasura’s dramatic transformation

Gita 01.20 Life is so unpredictable that it can unbalance the unflappably balanced

Gita 01.19 The Pandavas win the mental battle before the physical battle

When life hurts 3 – When our good deeds causes problems – Prahlad pastime analysis

When life hurts 2 – When people attack us – Gajendra pastime analysis

The Gita tells us to do karma, but also asks us to understand karma – what karma does it refer to?

Gita 01.18 The Pandavas lost Pandu but gained Drupada as a father figure

Gita 01.17 Don’t let minor grammatical disputes overshadow major narrational and philosophical thrust

What is the significance of Duryodhana’s use of the past tense in Gita 01.09?

When life hurts 1 – when a small mistake causes huge problems – Parikshit M pastime analysis

Gita 01.16 Yudhishthira doesn’t come first in the list of warriors but is still their undisputed leader

Gita 01.15 The devoted see God before they see the world, the undevoted see only the world

Gita 01.14 The Gita’s audio-visual camera starts with the character of the questioner’s interest, but shifts now to the central characters

Gita 01.13 Actions that throw caution to the winds are preceded by caution

Demons in krishna-lila 4 – Vatsasura – Weakness is forgivable, wickedness isn’t

Gita 01.12 Just because we get others to do what we want them to do doesn’t mean we have won them over to our side

Gita 01.11 The protector too needs to be protected

Demons in krishna-lila 3 – Trinavarta – Giving up useless argumentation

Gita 01.10 Symmetry of structure stresses contrast in content

Cultivating the mood for studying Bhagavatam

Demons in krishna-lila 2 – Shaktasura – Overcoming Lethargy

Was Sati’s reaction to her father’s actions justified or was she also implicated?

Gita 01.09 Duryodhana’s slip of tongue leads to his speaking the truth unintentionally

Gita 01.08 We need to be calm-headed, not cold-blooded

Demons in krishna-lila 1 – How the metaphorical points to the transcendental and how Putana represents false guru

Gita 01.07 Be aware of how what we say to one person may be heard by others

How Gita wisdom helps us to deal with pain

Gita 01.06 Duryodhana diplomatically continues to incite Drona against the Pandava army

Gita 01.05 Our mode of description reflects our intention

Gita 01.04 Duryodhana tries to change Drona’s emotion for the opposite side from affection to anger

Gita 01.03 Context can convert compliment into criticism

Gita 01.02 Sanjaya addresses not just the content of Dhritarashtra’s question but also its intent

Gita 01.01 The Gita’s first word dharma conveys its essential, universal theme

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 55 -10.10.10-14 Narada curses not impulsively, but after deep reflection

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 54 – 10.10.1-9 The curse that takes us away from the things that take us away from Krishna is mercy

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 53 – 10.9.18-23 The kingdom of God is the kingdom of love

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 52 – 10.9.13-17 Krishna’s form appears finite but is infinite

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 51 – 10.9.7.12 Yashoda catches the Lord whom the yogis can’t catch

If Krishna already knew that Duryodhana wasn’t going to agree to peace, then did Duryodhana have free will to choose?

Bhagavatam transforms intensity of distress into velocity in devotion

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 50 -10.9.1-6 Yashoda demonstrates the same bhakti perfection as does Arjuna

If Duryodhana was generous enough to give the arrows to Arjuna why was he so hateful?

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 49 – 10.8.46-52 Transcendental and contextual explanations for the fortune of Nanda and Yashoda

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 48 – 10.8.42-45 Yashoda makes sense of the incomprehensible by taking shelter of the transcendental Lord

How Gita wisdom addresses mental health problems

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 47 – 10.8.32-41 Krishna shows the universe in his mouth once again

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 46 – 10.8.26-31 Vraja ladies complain about Krishna’s pranks cheerfully

Bhagavatam tenth canto study 45 – 10.8.20-25 Krishna’s childhood activities fill Vraja ladies with anxiety and ecstasy