“Say Krishna, think of Krishna, and chant Krishna-nama. Krishna is your father, mother, life and all. Krishna has come for your sake to deliver you all. Surrender to Him, do not anything that is wrong.” (Chant of Haridasa Thakura and Nityananda Prabhu, Chaitanya Bhagavata, Madhya, 3.83-84)

One cannot imagine how sinful Jagai and Madhai were. It is said that Yamaraja, the demigod in charge of delivering justice to the just departed souls, could not count the number of sins committed by these two men. There wasn’t enough paper available to write down all of their offenses. Since they were such a plague on society, their fate in the afterlife couldn’t even be determined right away. Though they were born to brahmanas, or men of the priestly class, they barely resembled human beings in their behavior. Yet two fearless preachers, on the order of a higher authority, came and…

“All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when they are annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation?” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.28)

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Friend1: God is nice.

Friend2: Of course.

Friend1: Because He is Paramatma.

Friend2: The Supersoul, residing in the heart.

Friend1: He is always with me. I am actually never without God.

Friend2: You, me and everyone else. He is the very definition of the atom, paramanu. Think about it. How amazing was the discovery of the atom?

Friend1: It was pretty big.

Friend2: And yet the Vedas had already defined it. The concept of paramanu predates the discipline of science itself, or “natural philosophy” as it was once known.

Friend1: People will say that they received the grace of God after something good happens to them. Especially if that thing came…

“Of all kinds of animal killing, the killing of cows is most vicious because the cow gives us all kinds of pleasure by supplying milk. Cow slaughter is an act of the grossest type of ignorance.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 14.16 Purport)

For those growing up in a tradition where meat eating is the norm, learning that other societies protect and sometimes even worship an animal like a cow seems a little strange. “Perhaps it is part of their tradition or just some sectarian belief. Like wearing different kinds of shirts, the different religions practiced are there to be accepted on faith or just inherited from the parents as a matter of obligation. I am this or I am that, but what ‘that’ actually means doesn’t really matter because all there is to ‘that’ is the acknowledgment that I am ‘that’ and nothing else.” Though the Vedic traditions may be followed…

My best human interaction this week occurred not with a friend, nor a family member, nor even a co-worker. It occurred with a stranger, an arborist who had come to take down part of my dead Siberian elm.

He arrived as arborists will, with a massive truck towing a wood chipper. Before he had even parked, he had done damage, clipping two healthy evergreens near the road in front of my house, dropping a low-hanging branch from each. Not a good start, and I was already anxious about the job.

The elm, which had provided a shady canopy over part of my sun-washed deck, died when an arctic front moved through in November 2014, freezing the sap still flowing in its veins. The loss shocked me. For decades, the towering old tree had been hardy and uncomplaining, surviving through years-long droughts while other trees and shrubs withered. Losing it hurt.

In…

“After downing her [Simhika] by using his vision, determination and dexterity, that brave monkey quickly again grew in size.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 1.195)

tāṃ tu dṛṣṭvā ca dhaṛtyā ca dākśiṇyena nipātya ca |

sa kapipravaro vegādvavṛdhe punarātmavān

Forming a daily routine to manage the performance of one’s necessary tasks is certainly beneficial. After all, with each new day come new responsibilities that must be met. Failure to execute these tasks results in very unpalatable conditions afterwards; therefore the wise prioritize their different activities each day, ensuring that the most important responsibilities are completed in a timely manner. If there is a wrinkle to be found in this system of regulation and timeliness, it comes from the increased difficulty in coping with adverse and unexpected conditions. If we are focused on our agenda at hand, with each specific job having a corresponding time of execution, the unexpected responsibilities…

“O king of the Vanaras, he who possesses all these four qualities of courage, vision, intellect and skill as you do never fails in the performance of his actions.” (Celestials praising Hanuman, Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 1.198)

yasya tvetāni catvāri vānarendra yathā tava ||

dhṛtirdṛṣṭirmatirdākśyaṃ sa karmasu na sīdati |

If the worker tasked with a particularly important duty happens to possess courage, proper vision, necessary intelligence and sufficient skill, the likelihood of defeat greatly decreases. One who knows how to marshal these potent attributes can achieve any desired end. A particularly notable historical personality was given a task which seemed almost impossible to complete successfully. Not even the most powerful accompanying forces could even attempt what this person was trying to do; yet due to his possession of the four notable qualities, and more importantly his proper utilization of them, he was able to accomplish his end. For…