Vedic Scriptures

Akrura Katha 3 – Understanding cultural bhakti philosophical bhakti spiritual bhakti and Vraja bhakti

Meditation on Kaliya lila – Devotion grants access to a rich panorama of divine emotions

Akrura Katha 2 – Devotional disposition in association deepens our devotion

Akrura Katha 1 – When no one understands us Krishna understands

God is not present less in the hearts of the godless Gita 15.15

What role does our nature play in our taking shelter of Krishna?

Why is impersonalism condemned in Gita 9.12 and appreciated in Gita 9.15?

Krishna is the trans-personal shelter of all the things that shelter us

Is intelligence not always a good thing?

Is intelligence covered by the mode of ignorance unintelligent?

Why does the Gita in chapter sixteen describe divine qualities in three full verses and demoniac qualities in just one verse?

How is simplicity as an austerity of the body in Gita 17.14 different from simplicity as an austerity of the mind in Gita 17.16?

Morality may be relativized but the consequences of immoral indulgence can’t be relativized Gita 03.17

How is the Gita relevant amidst today’s stress-filled times?

Can all karma be offered to Krishna or does ugra-karma have to be given up?

How could Lava-Kusha defeat Rama who is the undefeatable Lord?

When the Bhagavatam contains so many stories involving sex is it appropriate for children?

Can you explain some section of scripture that we can’t easily understand?

Why does Bhagavatam say that Bhishma merged with the Supersoul?

What is the best way to understand the Bhagavad-gita?

Why do you speak more on bhakti than on karma which the Gita stresses?

We are never too far away from relapse Gita 02.60

Our intelligence is our security system – don’t let temptation disable it Gita 02.63

Why crave for hours and years for pleasures that last for moments Gita 05.22

To say that philosophy is dead is to be dead to philosophy Gita 18.22

Isn’t Prabhupada’s Gita just one among the many interpretations of the Gita?

Mental weight can’t be wished away, but it can be worked away Gita 06.35

Don’t let perfectionism come in the way of progress towards perfection Gita 02.14

When Airavata existed earlier, how did he appear during the churning of the milk ocean?

The inner war is unavoidable Gita 03.43

Why didn’t the Pandavas think that the Kauravas were simply instruments of their own past karma?

Is the Mahabharata that occurred in another age even relevant today?

Is the Mahabharata an excellent drama or is it historically true?

If everything in the Mahabharata is arranged by Krishna’s plan, why do we blame Duryodhana or Karna?

Why is Arjuna considered the greatest archer when all his power came from Krishna?

If Dhritarashtra had stopped Duryodhana from fighting, how would the Gita have been spoken?

When Dhritarashtra was forced by the modes to support Duryodhana, why is he blamed?

Did the celestial voice stopping Duryodhana from committing suicide interfere with his free will?

How can we understand that the attractiveness of all attractive things comes from Krishna?

How is Rama’s treatment of Sita justified?

The possibility for self-improvement is reduced by materialism and expanded by spirituality Gita 18.60

Study the Gita for understanding it, not undermining it

Once we slip down a slope, we can’t control how far we slip down Gita 03.36

The mind can make a soldier into a deserter or even a betrayer Gita 05.22

Don’t waste your mental energy on people on whom you won’t waste your time Gita 11.55

Address misery first by recognizing its fundamental cause then its circumstantial cause Gita 09.33

Don’t give your enemies weapons to beat you with Gita 03.36

Ask not how could he have done that – ask what is to be done next Gita 03.39

Dumbness is not inability to understand gibberish – it is inability to see gibberish for what it is Gita 18.63

Gita 14.11 Don’t chase the objects in perception – clean the doors of perception

Gita 16.08 Materialism strips not only the other world of reality but also this world of meaning

Gita 08.20 Those who reject a world beyond this world sentence themselves to pointless business in this world

Gita 18.58 Devotion brings the inner morale to combat outer problems

Gita 16.11 Technology is not just the provider of facility – it is also the shaper of mentality

Gita 14.04 Dialogue requires methodological humility

When Tvashta gave Narayana-kavacha that made Indra invincible, how could Tvashta himself be killed?

Gita 14.11 Our mind can be a transmitter, distorter or reflector of our consciousness

Gita 01.46 – When emotions block our consciousness, Gita wisdom removes the blockage

How can the Gita’s knowledge help poor people?

Does the Gita give spiritual solutions to all material problems?

Gita 18.63 The call to the heart complements the call to the head

Gita 18.38 Don’t be so caught in choosing the right seat as to fail to choose the right train

Gita 17.01 Worldviews are meant to be vision-enhancers, not vision-diminishers

Gita 17.16 Purity has to be cultivated as an austerity before it can be savored as a state

Gita 16.11 Use developed human consciousness to decrease material fears, not increase them

Gita 18.22 – Rise from tunnel vision through funnel vision

Bhagavatam study 1.13.1-7 – The detachment that fosters attachment to Krishna

Gita 13.13 Bhakti wisdom frames our knowledge and our need for knowledge within our aspiration for eternity

When Karna abused Draupadi, why didn’t anyone punish him by taking away his position?

Karna wanted revenge and Draupadi wanted revenge – what is the difference?

Gita 12.08 Living in Krishna is a matter of not just relocation, but also of realization

Gita 02.07 When surface identities lead to conflicting duties, seek the fundamental identity

Gita 10.6 See genealogy as an arena for manifesting Krishna,s actions in this world

SIMHA acronym – Glories of Prahlada and Narasimha

When Ravana had been seen going southwards, why did Rama send monkeys in all four direction?

Gita 18.38 Contact of senses and sense objects is not just physical but also visual

Why did Vali attribute negative intention to Sugriva – was he already suspicious?

After Valis death why didn’t Sugriva console himself by focusing on Valis atrocities?

When Sugriva had planned Vali’s fall, why did he feel remorse?

Gita 02.08 Don’t let comforts lure you away from life’s purpose

Gita Essence 3 – The transformational power of love – World-knowledge as the vehicle for love

When Bhishma took shelter of the Kauravas’ wealth, why did Krishna shelter him at death?

Gita Essence 2 – The transformational power of love – God-knowledge as the fuel for love

Gita 18.78 Human excellence and divine omnipotence herald victory

Gita 01.42 Today’s war against family increases self-centeredness and obstructs spiritual growth

What does seeing but not acting with equal vision mean?

Gita 18.22 – A truncated representation of reality is not reality

Gita Essence 1- The transformational power of love – Self-knowledge as the basis of love

Gita 16.24 – The transition from description to prescription requires discretion

How free is our free will?

Gita 02.58 Inevitable exposure to sense objects is different from initiated or instigated exposure

Gita 16.09 All truth-claims are power-claims – This is also a truth-claim and a power-claim

Gita 14.26 – Bhakti is both a state and a process

Gita 18.63 – Don’t sway others – inspire them

Gita 14.05 – The modes comprise objective reality and color subjective perception

Focus on the Bhagavatam’s universal purpose beyond its specific details – invest one’s emotions in Krishna, not the world

QA with children on Ramayana-Mahabharata

When Arjuna was sinless, why did he have to go to hell?

If we are detached from our goals, what will inspire us to work?

IDEA acronym – The Bhagavad-gita in essence