When I was a young devotee, I was strict about attending all the temple programs. But I found myself critical of devotees who didn't always attend. One devotee suffered from an illness and did her best to come when she could. But I felt she could do better. Not long after those thoughts contaminated my consciousness, however, I became ill and often missed mangala-arati, the early-morning worship. Krishna accomplishes many things by one action, and one result of my illness was a diminis...

Women in general are unable to speculate like philosophers, but they are blessed by the Lord because they believe at once in the superiority and almightiness of the Lord, and thus they offer obeisances without reservation. The Lord is so kind that He does not show special favor only to one who is a great philosopher. He knows the sincerity of purpose. For this reason only, women generally assemble in great number in any sort of religious function. In every co...

“The Latin poet Virgil, has written, ‘Love conquers all’. The second part of what he wrote, in many ways is instrumental. He said, ‘Love conquers all, so let us all be conquered by love’. This is the principle of bhakti. The first and great commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and the natural consequence of that is that you will love your neighbor as yourself. And according to the Bhagavad-gita you will see every living being as your neighbor.” “But that a...

“My devotee is so dear to Me. He is My devotee because He always takes Me into the core of his heart, and he is always praying to Me, "Please let me engage in Your service." My devotee doesn’t want anything else. He is always thinking how he can serve Me. So therefore, I approach My devotee and I say, "Please let Me give you something." But My devotee says, "I don’t want anything." And the Lord says, "I want to give you something. Anything!"

Discussions about the relationship between science and religion usually end in a stalemate: Scientists accuse religionists of relying too much on faith, which they say is experimentally unverifiable, while religionists accuse scientists of relying too much on physical and chemical laws, which they say fail to measure the emotions and sentiments of a conscious living entity. The scientists fail to address or even acknowledge consciousness and its attendant needs; reli...

"I have another story; this one was told by my father. My father's elder brother was running a cloth shop. Before closing the shop my uncle would put out a basin filled with rice. Of course, as in any village, there were rats. But the rats would take the rice and not cut even a single cloth. Cloth is very costly. If even one cloth had been cut by a rat, then it would have been a great loss. So with a few pennies' worth of rice, he saved many dollars' worth of cloth. This Krishna culture is practical. They are also part and parcel of God. Give them food. They'll not create any dist...

Arjuna was a warrior, a ksatriya. A warrior is so by intrinsic quality, not by external denomination. For him, to desert an important battle and take the path of a hermit in the forest would have been artificial. Artificial things don't match one's internal quality or genuine predisposition. So, they deprive one from the strength coming from within. Without this internal force, any goal, material or spiritual, would be hard to pursue in the long run.

I know that Supreme Personality of Godhead who is transcendental to all material conceptions of darkness. Only he who knows Him can transcend the bonds of birth and death. There is no way for liberation other than this knowledge of that Supreme Person.“There is no truth superior to that Supreme Person because He is the supermost. He is smaller than the smallest, and He is greater than the greatest. He is situated as a silent tree, and He illumines the transcendental sky, and as a tree spreads its ...

I have a PhD in cell biology and have been researching the subject of consciousness and its relation to the mind. The above verses intrigued me, and I wondered how they were related to our experiences of the world. In my research I came across a concept that provided valuable insights – the concept of subjective experience. I am an individual with my own likes and dislikes. My individuality, with its preferences, applies to all sectors of my life, to every single activity I do, be it in regard to my eating or clothing or colors or car – the list is endless.