Understanding the Bhagavad Gītā
The Bhagavad Gītā is an amazing book for many reasons. One reason is that it is amazingly difficult to understand.
Family attachment is a form of violence disguised as love
As explained before, the conditioned soul’s identity is a conglomerate formed by his gross and subtle attachments. Thus when he says “I”, it does not refer to his original identity, but to the “I” formed by the sum-total of acquired brothers, sisters, mother, friends, land, wealth, social position and so on. This conditioned identity changes as the objects it is shaped by change.
Sādhanā bhakti is outside-in, while bhāva bhakti is inside-out.
We have previously examined the concept of sādhanā bhakti and bhāva bhakti, and the difference between them. The article below explains the difference between them in less technical terms by expanding on concepts introduced in a lecture by Sri Babaji (Bhakti-rasamrta Sindhu lectures, 2017, Vrindavan). The mind of […]
Denying that Kṛṣṇa is Indian may be a form of cultural appropriation
With the globalization of bhakti, people argue that Kṛṣṇa is not Indian because God cannot belong to any country. So the idea that Kṛṣṇa is Indian is sectarian and ought to be rejected. Sounds nice, but is it the truth? Lets look at the evidence. Kṛṣṇa is described […]
How the guru is and is not Kṛṣṇa
The concept of the guru is unique to Indian theology. Rupa Goswami quotes a famous verse spoken by Kṛṣṇa (Bhāgavatam 11.17.27) in the Bhakti rasamrta sindhu – “ācāryam mām vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit | na martya-buddhyāsūyeta sarva-deva-mayo guruḥ || Know the ācārya to be my manifestation, and never disrespect […]