4 Steps to Breaking Destructive Habits and Addictions
When the aspirant abstains from sensory pleasures, usually the longing for them lingers. But when the aspirant experiences union with God, even the longings cease (2.59 Bhagavad Gita) The outer war represented in the Bhagavad Gita is an allegory for the inner battle...
The Law of Karma
How Your Actions Shape Your Life Your karma determines your incarnations and the experiences you will have. Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 2.13 The word ‘karma’ has become part of the common parlance of the modern world, but its meaning is often misunderstood. The Sanskrit...
Dharma
3.35 Pursuing your own dharma is superior to pursuing the dharma of another, even if successful in such pursuit. Following another’s path breeds fear and insecurity and should be avoided. The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word dharma is, that which supports, bears,...
The Inner Struggle
6.5 Elevate your self (ego) with the power of the Self (Soul). Never let your will be weakened by the self. The Self is a true friend and can help overcome the self. The scene of the Bhagavad Gita is set in the most unlikely of places for a spiritual text: the...
Receding Freedom, Rising Totalitarianism
...and what to do about It Introduction The Rarity of Freedom and Democracy “Those of us who have been so fortunate to have been born in a free society, tend to take freedom for granted, to regard it as the natural state of mankind. It is not! It is a rare a precious...
Starving for the Sacred
Human beings in the 2020’s are starved for true nourishment. For nourishment beyond the immediate gratification of temporary pleasure of which there is an abundance. We are starving for something to believe in. For a framework to understand life. For guidance on how...
Traversing the Chasm: from Separation to Oneness, from Bondage to Freedom.
Sri Krishna to each one of us: Here, I have a very special gift for you - the gift of immortality - won't you reach out and take it? Thank you, we say, but can't you see? My hands are full of these sweet mangoes. Sri Krishna smiles and says patiently: Let go of the...
The Lord’s Prayer Re-Presented
https://youtu.be/DPExV4aLAbw Intro The story of Christ is one of the most powerful and influential the world has ever known. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ offers his disciples the Lord’s Prayer as a way to communicate directly with God. In the piece below, I will...
Narrow is the Way
Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter by it. Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14 Life can be...
Ahimsa is Love for All Beings
“Ahimsa is not just harmlessness or non-violence; this is the passive or negative state of ahimsa. The active or positive state of ahimsa is Love. Love for all beings, even the evil doers”. Gandhi Ahimsa is typically discussed as non-violence...
Your Desires Drive Your Destiny
You are what your deep, driving Desire is. As your Desire is, so is your Will. As your Will is, so is your Deed. As your Deed is, so is your Destiny Brihadaranyaka Upanishad It is desire that drives life.And our desires drive us.If desires arising from our lower...
The Aim of the Spiritual Aspirant is to Transcend Judgment and Practice Discernment
Yoga teaches us that we should aim to stop judging and instead start using discernment. Judgment involves seeing things from only one side. It causes us to label things as either good or bad, positive or negative. Judgment is biased, emotional and caused by avidya -...
Hate cannot cast out Hate
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate, cannot drive our hate, only love can do that". Martin Luther King MLK is still the man, though most activists today don’t heed his advice and are filled with hate for their perceived opposition.Buddha...