Wisdom of the Sages

1837: Flirting with Krishna | Live with Pilgrims from the Himalayas

Some people meet Krishna, feel overwhelmed, and run. Years later, they find themselves bathing in the Ganges in the Himalayas. In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha go

1836: The Absolute Truth Goes to School | Why Krishna Studied Under a Guru

He is the origin of every branch of knowledge, and yet he sits down at the feet of a teacher. In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha, live from the ISKCON temple in Toro

1835: Can You Love Without Possessing? | Siddhartha and the Art of Letting Go

A sage who has found peace beside the river is suddenly undone by love for a son he never knew he had, and Time, in the form of the river, laughs at him. In this episode

1834: Hurt Others, Hurt Yourself | The Web of Mutual Obligation

"I'm independent. I don't owe anybody anything." It's the modern dream: happiness without obligation. Moral teachings answer that we're woven into a web of mutual obligat

1833: If You Don't See God in All, You Won't See God at All | Beyond Religious Ritual

You can attend every service, perform every ritual perfectly, but if you're unkind to the people around you, then you've missed God entirely. In this episode Raghunath an

1832: Adapting Ancient Wisdom Without Losing It / Q&A Vol. 302

How does an ancient wisdom tradition survive for thousands of years? It needs teachers who hand it down unchanged, and yet each generation has to hear it in a new way. In

1831: Living Bhakti Among People Who Don't Share It / Q&A Vol. 301

There's a sticky note in Ashley's refrigerator that reads "meat section." She's the only devotee in her home, and between a loving family that doesn't share her path and

1830: Bhakti Doesn't Grow in a Hard Heart / Q&A Vol. 300

Someone on the street asks you for money, and you're fairly sure where it will go, and it's not good. Can walking past be compassion, or is it quietly hardening your hear

1829: A Field Guide to Your Inner Demons | Bhaktivinoda Thakur Decodes Krishna's Pastimes

In the 19th century, British colonial scholars dismissed the pastimes of Krishna as primitive and immoral, and a generation of educated Indians began to believe them. The

1828: We Never Learned the Power of Our Thoughts | You Become What You Think About

Be good. Behave. Behave yourself. Growing up, most of us heard plenty about our actions and almost nothing about the thoughts that produce them. In this episode Raghunath

1827: The Emptiness of Peace and the Fullness of Love | Meditation Beyond Stillness

Most of us long for a quiet mind. But what fills it once the noise is gone? On a solo bike ride across upstate New York, Raghunath finds that solitude alone doesn't bring

1826: Why the Comment Thread Is Killing Your Soul | Speaking Truth to Power

When something is wrong and we say nothing, our own inner light begins to fade. But speaking up only heals when it comes from a place of love. Raghunath and Kaustubha dra

1825: Our Labels Are Warping Our Vision | The Many Ways We Respond to Krishna

I'm a man. I'm a woman. I'm American. I'm this, I'm that. Every label we carry colors how we see the world, ourselves and God. Yoga starts from a bold premise: our percep

1824: You're Not in Control | The Placebo Illusion and the Bhakti Reality

Our sense of security is based on illusion — confirmed by both modern science and the sages of the Bhakti Yoga tradition. A landmark psychiatric study reveals something s

1823: Life Is Sacred and Life Is Everywhere | The Earth Personified in Krishna's Pastimes

In the form of a beautiful teenager God enters a new city, meets a hunchback girl in the street, transforms her body and enters a romance with her. On the surface it soun

1822: Grace in Your Face | Human Nature's Resistance to Unconditional Love

Are we all like wounded animals caught in a fence, biting the hand of the person trying to help? Is spiritual grace something exceptionally rare — and most of us the unfo

1821: Krishna Doesn't Need Your Zucchini Bread | But He Wants Your Love

The Bhagavad-gītā sings of Krishna as the Absolute Truth — complete in himself, independent and lacking nothing. He doesn't need anything we can offer him. And yet — he w

1820: They Took Him Into Their Hearts Through Their Eyes | Krishna Enters Mathurā

When Krishna and Balarāma entered Mathurā, the women climbed to the rooftops and showered them with flowers. They took him into their hearts through their eyes — embraced

1819: Daring to Fly Higher | Jonathan Livingston Seagull and the Ascent to Bhakti

In the 1970s the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull became a bestseller. A parable about a gull who refuses to follow the flock and discovers that his true nature is limitl

1818: Why Nothing in This World Satisfies Us

Voltaire — the greatest writer of the French Enlightenment wrote that there is a dim flame burning in every heart — an intuition that somewhere there is a home, a happine