Wisdom of the Sages

reaching out when struggling over the holidays / I can’t save my face and my butt at the same time / praying for more stuff within the prison cell / it’s not sectarianism, it’s orienting our minds to higher thinking in whatever tradition one is from / frying out the seeds of material desire / freedom from the mentalities of “you and I” and “yours and mine” SB 6.16.36-46

response to a Stephen Hawking anti-nugget - we get it that computers don’t have an afterlife, but their users do / response to a Christopher Hitchens anti-nugget - we get it that germs cause disease, but where did the germs come from? / the forgotten past of microbiology from Sage Scientist Kanva in the Atharvaveda / nobody has a monopoly on truth / It takes a scientist, a  philosopher and a theologian / If we’re just bags of chemicals, why give holiday gifts? / Sattvika-bhavas - unpremeditated, involuntary expression arising directly from the spiritually surcharged consciousness / unconquerable Krishna is conquered by love / even Brahma is a secondhand God SB 6.16.31-35

Um, sorry Kiss, but your digital avatars don’t make you immortal / centrifugal vs centripetal force / glowworms only appear bright in the dark / the truth is we are fallible, vulnerable and dependent / finding meaning and happiness in truth, not illusion / sometimes our tragedy is just a little karma left to burn / clearing all the corrupted files in the mind SB 6.16.21-31

Can you please clarify the difference between imperfect senses and being illusioned as described in Vedic epistemology? / Can you share your thoughts about depression and the need for a guide to study Bhagavad-gita? / Is there any scriptural advice for a situation regarding the heart hardening to those who have done us wrong? / Do you have any practical guidance on studying Bhagavad-gita?

“You have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.” – Marcus Aurelius / We are all made of the superior energy of God. / We are far more effulgent than the sun! / we can be permeated and vitalized by God’s ever-blissful spiritual rasa / Social media has us dancing like puppets / You want resurrection? We got resurrection / our senses and mind are nothing but trouble / we’re qualitatively one with god, and quantitatively different / hear the sage’s wisdom, watch the body burn, and come out of the river a different person SB 6.16.11-20

“It’s better to conquer grief than to deceive it.” —Seneca / Citraketu conquers grief / deluded by ignorance, the living entity wanders in the forest of this material world, enjoying the happiness and distress resulting from his past deeds / let grief open you up to truth / Excuse Me Indian Gentlemen in the Back, but This is Satyam / “and this schizophrenia, we call pleasure” / we can love but we can’t possess / if I was a director I would cut to the faces of the co-wives / Krishna has a better plan / Bhagavatam solves the world’s problems SB 6.16.7-10

the gift of the association of pure devotees / mantras change your vision / Has your lord ever manifested into a boar or a dwarf?! / to the degree you want to be closer to Krishna he comes closer to you / our children are our children for a moment / See past the temporary roles and love the soul beneath / to love an actor you need to see beyond the illusion of the roles they play / be cold to the illusion but warm to the spirit SB 6.16.1-6

“You have no choice. You must leave your ego on the doorstep before you enter love.” ― Kamand Kojouri / Bhaktivedanta is the fullest expression of the self / To the degree there’s ego, there’s no room for intimacy / looking at our own pain with the discernment of a stone cold Vendantin and a soft heart of a Bhakti-yogi / ask the sages for knowledge during times of pain / wisdom eases the pain of grief / “All that is left of this family life is a list of names.” - Srila Prabhupada / when you’re wailing on the floor, you’ve just got a little karma to burn SB 6.15.17-28

“Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.” - Colin Powell / I identify only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa / “The ego is like a clever monkey, which can co-opt anything, even the most spiritual practices, so as to expand itself.” ― Jean-Yves Leloup / because the individual soul has desired to act in forgetfulness of his original identity since time immemorial, he is accepting different positions in material bodies and being designated according to many divisions of nationality, community, society, species and so on / 2 two side effects of Bhakti - 1. freedom from material designations 2. and one’s senses are purified (of the drivers of desire) SB 6.15.8-16

How to come to the point where I do everything purely the love of Krishna? / Should I be putting my chanting first before any other aspects of my Sadhana/Seva? / I have lost most access to long term memory so have a hard time maintaining a steady practice. Can you help?