Being present means to feel what you are feeling, see what you are seeing, hear what you are hearing, and taste what you are tasting. In other words, your mind is not somewhere else during these experiences. If your mind is not present you lose the actual experience you should be having, to one degree […]
If your wife or husband says that I don’t like something that you do, if you’re smart you will listen carefully. It is the principle of a good relationship: you want to make the other person happy. (And by the way, your spouse provides your personalized marriage manual when he or she tells you what […]
Today I heard a wonderful story. A devotee wrote Prabhupada because his disagreed with the tactics devotees were using to raise donations, tactics supported by the Temple President. He expressed his specific concerns in his letter to Prabhupada. In Prabhupada’s reply, he did not address the issue. He did not say he favored one idea […]
We want to build positive japa samskaras (habits) through regular good japa practices. Once we develop positive japa habits, our japa will naturally be good – the way we always chant japa. However, if we don’t correct bad japa practices and replace them with good habits, bad japa will be our default setting. First you […]
If you wait to feel like acting before doing something that’s important, that’s not intelligent. You might end up waiting for a few thousands more lifetimes before you finally get around to doing it. You just need to act. When do you need to act? I hear you say, “Okay, I’ll do it tomorrow.” In America when […]
Another list of spiritual symptoms without mentioning God. Amazing! And they are very ambiguous. This is due to the fact that these so-called spiritual teachers are not following a bona fide guru. They have omitted God from their spiritual teachings. Truly Kali-yuga in full swing. Krsna, save this world! Here is how we would use […]
A devotee once told me that her husband had taken money from their joint account, ran off with it, and left her with nothing. This woman was asked by a counselor to tell the same story again, but this time to tell it from the viewpoint that she was responsible for what happened. By telling […]
A construction supervisor, working on the sixth floor of a building, calls a worker on the ground floor. Because of the construction noise, the worker doesn’t hear his supervisor. To draw his attention, the supervisor throws a dollar bill at the worker. It falls right in front of him. He picks it up and puts […]
Tech Support: Yes, how can I help you? Customer: Well, after much consideration, I’ve decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process? Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed? Customer: Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready. What do I do first? Tech Support: […]
“Who do you think you are to treat me this way?” I haven’t read that sloka in our books, have you? But this sloka I have read, “Whatever is coming to me is only a fraction of what I deserve.” How come we miss this point and spend useless energy battling others in our mind, […]
To feel bad that you are not more Krsna conscious is good if the focus is on Krsna. To feel bad that you are not more Krsna conscious is bad if the focus is on how bad you feel (i.e. the focus is on you). The former is transcendental and the latter is in the mode of […]
In the book My Glorious Master, Bhurijan Prabhu writes, “A devotee asked Prabhupada for help, saying that he was not able to follow the four rules. Prabhupada looked sternly at him, ‘If you do not follow the regulative principles, then no one can help you’.” The platform from which help comes is following the principles and […]
Attachments come from conditioning (habit) and the best way to break a bad habit is to stop indulging in it. Once an alcoholic gets off alcohol, he is told never to take one drop of alcohol again for the rest of his life. He shouldn’t get near alcohol, look at it, think about it, etc. […]
What is the cause of our anger? Anger has nothing to do with external situations or people’s behavior. It may seem that these cause us to become angry, but nothing can cause something to come out of us if it doesn’t already exist within us. In other words, it’s not out there; it’s inside of us. […]
What you think not only affects you, it affects those around you. It can even affect those not in your immediate presence. Your consciousness also affects matter. Did you know that a scientific experiment is affected by the person observing the experiment? Srila Prabhupada said the world would become Krsna conscious if one percent of the […]
When someone does or says something crazy, we might say, “He must be out of his mind.” To chant well we shouldn’t be crazy but we should be out of our mind. Why? Prabhupada said we don’t need the mind to chant. Feeling is a function of the heart, not the mind. Feeling is what keeps […]
Realizations come in proportion to our need for them. In other words, when we desire to go further in Krsna consciousness, we need more knowledge, deeper insight, a new attitude, greater determination, or more faith. It is by having a strong desire to move a little closer to Krsna that He gives us what’s needed […]
We critisize others more often than we think. Make a mental note of how often you find fault with others and why you do it (both with devotees and nondevotees). See if you can go a day, a week, a month, or more without saying anything bad about anyone. (Calling a thief a thief is […]
Krsna helps us to the degree we have the intention, and make the effort, to improve. Certainly no problem of ours is too great for Him to solve. We just need to be willing to let Him solve it. One of the offences to the holy name is to maintain material attachments. The holy name […]
When we lose a loved one, it’s common to question how Krsna could have allowed this to happen. We may think it doesn’t seem right or we don’t deserve it. This can even create resentment, subtly or grossly, towards Krsna. Srila Prabhupada was asked why Krsna created a world in which there is suffering. He […]