Wisdom of the Sages

874: A Model's Journey Back to Bhakti / Interview with Shara McGlinn

Kaustubha interviews Shara McGlinn about growing up in Bhakti, and her journey through professional modeling, acting, recovery and back.

873: Q&A Volume 136

• How does a Bhakti-yogi face workplace challenges?   • Can a Buddhist Love Krishna?   • How can I be responsible for being misled by the heart and mind Krishna gave me?

872: Appreciating Bhaktivedanta Swami

On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of his Tirobhava (passing from this world) Raghunath and Kaustubha share their appreciation for Bhaktivedanta Swami by reading a short bio and hearing from Allen Ginsburg, George Harrison, Thomas Merton, and scholars Harvey Cox and Stillson Judah.

871: Real Bhakti Lineages vs Personality Cults

the mood needed to enter a holy place / we suffer for our over-indulgence / we move toward who we meditate on / a devotee has no vision other than Krishna / don’t criticize but discern / charlatans exist in the East too / pseudo-avatāras,-svāmīs,-yogīs and others

870: Sex, Violence & Their Relation to Truth Perception

letting go of resentments for Diwali / the loneliness of death / remembering the inner friend and well-wisher / open your home in loving service / starting the conversation with God in your heart / through control of the sex-drive, power is attained / in the presence of one who is established in nonviolence, enmity is abandoned 

869: Dharmic Reversals / An Interview with Dr. Ravi M. Gupta



Kaustubha discusses with Professor Ravi Gupta about the unique role of Srimad Bhagavatam in the broader yoga tradition, and how it presents “Dharmic Reversals” where common religious, social hierarchies (in terms of gender, age, caste and even species) are turned upside-down. Dr. Ravi M. Gupta (Radhika Ramana dasa) is the Charles Redd Professor of Religious Studies and Department Head for History, Religious Studies, and Classics at Utah State University. He is the author or editor of fo...

868: Q & A - Volume 135

Any advice for people coming to Bhakti later in life? / Am I practicing detachment or avoiding responsibility? / If God is singular, how can we all be God?

867: Fate Ordains That Dearest Friends Must Part



“But fate ordains that dearest friends must part.” – Edward Young / there’s only one friend that we don’t part with / starting the conversation with God in the heart / the wise voluntarily renounce what time will take away involuntarily / the spirit soul is the principal factor within the body / our schools need to engage us with spiritual knowledge / spiritual knowledge can heal us socially and psychologically SB 4.28.23-25

866: My Mind is in the Past, My Mind is in the Future

we try to keep death under wraps / Pompeii can happen at any moment  / fear, dread and resignation at the moment of death / fear for our loved ones in the future / regret about how we treated loved ones in the past / life will go on without us / they’ll be eating chips and dip, and laughing at your funeral / the iceberg of death is coming, destroying love and romance / only spiritual knowledge will save us from the pain of separation / our miserly intelligence limits our love SB 4.28.18-22

865: My Body is Not I, My Property is Not Mine



“… our concern must be to live while we're alive - to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are.” - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross / we’re here for self realization / there’s a bigger ROI on your spiritual life / yoga wisdom could save yoga asana / Postulate 4 - My body is a vehicle for devotional service / sexual attraction is the basic principle of material existence, and leads to thi...

864: I Sneeze - I'm a Man / I Sneeze - I'm a Woman



“Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.”- Haruki Murakami / the terror of death without spiritual knowledge / “Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go.” Jean de La Fontaine / death can be a gift to put your life in perspective / our deep affections for family should be based on truth / the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they’re too heavy to be broken 40% off Divya’s MasterClass at https://divyas.com/?ref=6799 15% off your first...

863: Food Charged with Prana - Interview with Divya Alter

Divya Alter discusses her new cookbook, how to incorporate ayurveda in your daily life, the importance of prana and pranic foods, and more. For Divya's Masterclass use our referral link for 40% off! https://divyas.com/?ref=6799  And for 15% off your first purchase at www.divyas.com, use code WISDOMOFTHESAGES15

862: Q & A - Volume 134

How to explain your new interest in Bhakti to loved ones? / Can you pinpoint the reasons why you both got into Bhakti?

861: Inspiration for Our Stay in the Planet Earth Guesthouse

know that Krishna listens to the voice of your chanting / share the spiritual messages that strike you with others / remain clear that we are staying only a short time in the guesthouse of planet earth / do I treasure things that aren’t so valuable? / are my thoughts giving me energy? / finding the small spark in the heart and acting out of love https://www.urbandevi.com/the-inspiration-list/

860: Life Just Doesn't Get Any Better than This!

dying as a spiritually aware person / time is creeping up on us / Time gives birth to Old Age, who teams up with Fever & Disease to attack our body / Vaishnavas are immune the anxiety and suffering of old age and disease / even curses can be blessings / old age can be an impetus for our spiritual life / separating ourselves from our external reality through Bhakti / yoga leads to boundless happiness, truth, and steadiness through life’s greatest challenges Bhakti Tirtha Swami's last kirtan...

859: Observe, Learn, Grow, Love & Then Return Home

we’re here to observe, learn, grow, love and then return home / you don’t need to decorate your hotel room / Postulate 14 - let Krishna be the attractive one / we can’t handle fame, wealth, beauty, etc. / both materialistic piety and decadence lie on the other side of truth / Krishna comes in the form of time and forces us to surrender / our life airs are being attacked by time, along with the days and nights / every time the sun sets we can reflect that my body is losing a battle / for thos...

858: Material Happiness Will Shoot You in the Groin

what is normal now is really abnormal / the blind pursuit of materialism is a hamster wheel of debt / 
making sense of an upside world through Bhakti / stay where you are but cultivate wisdom / Bhagavatam juxtaposes spirituality, not only with moral decadence, but with materialistic piety as well / material enjoyment is just a thin veneer over suffering / material happiness will shoot you in the groin /  disease and time are creeping up on us / what’s your pillow, that helps you sleep throug...

857: Clear Out Ordinary- Make Room for Extraordinary

the desires of the guru are always in the heart of the disciple / “What is sacred is considered to be ordinary & what is ordinary is considered to be so important.” -  Radhanath Swami / Clear out the junk in your mind to make space for the extraordinary / let your Inner archaeologist dig deep /  Krishna’s Lila as the ultimate focal point / It’s not just cleaning and emptying the house, it’s filling the house with love / the higher consciousness is inaccessible through the material senses / m...

856: Q&A Volume 133 with Radhanath Swami

855: Q & A - Volume 132

How to associate with “wonderful” non devotees? / How to find joy again after the loss of my daughter? / Can you share 1 everyday practice for people who don’t live in an ashram? / How to gracefully receive worship, praise, validation & love?

854: This is What Unsteady Spiritual Practice Looks Like

clutter smothers, simplicity breathes / the results that arise from weakness of heart / what unsteady spiritual practice looks like - (1) enthusiasm based on over-confidence, which is thus feeble and short-lived,  (2) irresolute, sporadic, endeavors, (3) indecisiveness and doubts constantly assailing one’s resolve, (4) the battle with desire for worldly sense objects, (5) the inability to uphold vows, (6) delighting in the mundane benefits afforded by bhakti

853: Begging Our Dharmic Intellect to Come Back

once we neglect it, dharmic intelligence does not come back so easily / a mind without devotion and dharma endowed intelligence is like an empty home / worse than the tangible karmic reaction is the deepening of adharmic disposition which steals our freedom / reestablishing dharmic intelligence through giving up false ego and respecting the Bhakti-yogis / battling the voices of adharma in the mind / we are both tiny and significant  / our subordination to insignificant objects / in weakness ...

852: Resetting the Algorithm in the Mind


“No man was ever wise by chance.” – Seneca / the lifelong attempt to acquire wisdom / I want your body, but not the emotions that come with it / the mind’s power over us is eroded by hearing (śravana), reflecting (manana), and meditating (nididhyāsana) / working the renunciation muscles / resetting the algorithms in the Mind / what do we need to “unfollow” / coming back to our dharmic intelligence SB 4.26.10-13

851: Cynical Hippies & Stone Hearted Killers

“Remember that pain has this most excellent quality. If prolonged it cannot be severe, and if severe it cannot be prolonged.” - Seneca / “There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall.”- Gandhi / there is something to learn from our pain / “Apart from separation from the devotee of Kṛṣṇa, I know of no unbearable unhappiness.” - Ramananda Raya / cynical German hippies / we’re all spirit souls, treat everyone with dignity / anima...

850: The Ties Between Our Cruelty & Our Suffering

"Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands." - Seneca / lust is the beginning of misogyny / we’ve got a quiver of unlimited desires / a womanizer can’t be kind / cruel reactions follow cruel behavior / global pandemics, climate change related disasters, and war are all tied to the cruelty of factory farming SB 4.26.1-4

849: Q & A - Volume 131

How to practice humility free of shame & unworthiness? / Am I callous or wise? / How to study with devotion? / What is compassion in a Bhakti context?

848: Q & A - Volume 130

How to explain Krishna to my child? / Is it wrong to put down a pet? / Why does the Vedic Literature teach in a progression to Bhakti?

847: The Bikini Cardboard Cut-out Seen Through the Lens of Reason

“When 'happiness' eludes us - as, eventually, it always will - we have the invitation to examine our programmed responses and to exercise our power to choose again.” - Richard Rohr / do we feel invited to resent, complain, feel self-pity…..or examine our mind? / the 9 gates of the body / expanding the space between stimulus and response / the bikini cardboard cut-out seen through the lens of reason / there’s no reward for dancing dogs SB 4.25.24-62

846: The Battle to Reclaim the Mind



“Contemplation is an alternative consciousness that refuses to identify with or feed what are only passing shows. It is the absolute opposite of addiction, consumerism or any egoic consciousness.” - Richard Rohr / contemplation is freedom / pause for thought / the mind should be our employee / “sattvic scrolling” / if we could only monitor the mind / Jagrat (waking state), Svapna (dreaming state), Sushupti (deep sleep state) / in the waking state the mind experiences outward impressions - ...

845: 2 People, Holding Hands, Walking Towards Divinity

Egoic consciousness is the one we all normally operate with, until we are told there is something else! – Richard Rohr / identifying our common central reference point is the key to “checking the imbalance of values” and “achieving real unity and peace in the world” / my body is deteriorating while I’m in it / there’s no even playing field in the material world / egoic consciousness = seeing everything in the context of the enjoyment of our senses - rather than in the context of the Source t...

844: Bypassing vs Facing the Obstacles with Wisdom

“Faith is not for overcoming obstacles; it is for experiencing them—all the way through!” - Richard Rohr / read 5 Bhagavad-gita versus today / this isn’t bypassing, it’s facing the obstacles with wisdom - so we can grow / giving up on figuring out the meaning of life is bypassing / before the truth sets you free, it makes you miserable / the dream within the dream / positive role models lift us up / what is prana? SB 4.25.34-39

843: Q & A - Volume 129

Idolatry & Bhakti - what’s the deal? / What is pure devotion pure of?

842: Lowercase love, the Demoniac & Satanic Friends

“Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.” ― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet / postulate 31 - upper and lower case love / We should have a mad pursuit for growth (not happiness) / understanding the “demoniac” mentality / Kaustubha’s Satanic friend / the idea that there is no moral ...

841: Q & A - Volume 128

How to have better inter-sangha relations? / How to become more sincere? / How to get over feelings of insecurity? / Is there a motive in Bhakti?

840: Did I Change My Mind, or Did My Mind Change Me?

“The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness.” - Khalil Gibran, The Prophet / that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within timelessness / spiritual energy means beyond time / why Raghunath hangs out in graveyards / how much of my time is spent in timelessness? / great cultures were built on contemplation of life’s most important questions / three apps operating on the computer of the mind - manas, ahankara, and buddhi / freedom is most effectively taken away by g...

839: Observing My Emotions, as the Inner Witness

“Accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.”  –  Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet / Bhagavad-gita 2.14-15 / becoming the inner witness by disengaging from identification with our thoughts and emotions and just observing them / by embracing the delusion of dualities it becomes impossible to acquire self realization / without self realization there’s no God realization...

838: The Murder of the Passion of the Soul

“Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral.” ― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet / austerity feels difficult at first, and liberating in the end / the mind is a computer, the senses are the plug in devices, the soul is the user (and the battery) / our senses are servants of the mind, each with hundreds of desires / attachment and aversion are two sides of the same coin

837: Q & A - Volume 127

How does one know when they are ready to make a commitment to seek a guru and initiation? / How does one chant mantras on beads? / How to let go of resentment?

836: Sing, Dance, Eat & Tell Stories Together - Every Day

“Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / we need to sing together / how the results of yoga practice become firmly rooted through culture / Raghu’s recent parenting wins / Brooklyn Radha Govinda Temple back in the 80’s / India is lame (but with spiritual assets), the West is Blind (but with material assets) / blinded by the glitter of material opulence

835: Naked Man & the Box Revisited

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / are we free or are we following the programing in the mind? / shrimp scampi or cockroach scampi - what’s the difference / naked man and the box revisited / yoga is aimed at uncovering the true self, underneath the mental programing / we are all the king of our bodies, wandering with an unknown friend - the paramatma /  for one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is already r...

834: Postulate 1 - I'm a Lover by Nature

who is Narada? / don't be fooled by the highlight reels of peoples life / don’t work on decorating your prison cell, work on your reformation / never forget the reason behind the rule (divine love) / we’ve been wandering through different bodies and planets / everyone has dormant kṛṣṇa-bhakti — love for Kṛṣṇa — and  in the association of good devotees, that love is revealed SB 4.25.6 https://www.fooseforlife.com

833: Why Isn't Michael Jordan Happy?

“It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / the impulsive part of the mind is programed to believe externals bring happiness - the reflective part of the mind can reprogram it / “I acted and behold, service was joy.” - Rabindranath Tagore / what are “fruitive activities”? / material enjoyment comes with suffering - no way around it / even Michael Jordan’s not happy / when we try to take Krishna’s role we...

832: Interview with Gurudas - The Ripples from Prabhupada Carry On

Gurudas and Raghunath discuss the early days with Prabhupada, the Beatles, and his new book, The Swami who Rocked the Worlds, as well as his nonprofit organization The Vedic Care Charitable Trust. More info here https://vediccarecharity.org

831: Q & A - Volume 126

Why do we have to suffer so much? / Is it wrong for a yogi to drink coffee & tea? / Could you share a good morning ritual for someone with PTSD?

830: Be Like Water

“Be like water, making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.” - Bruce Lee / the universe is designed to assist us - so don’t be so rigid / the balance of knowing when to be soft like grass and when to be rigid like a tree / instead of sizing up the whole world find the good qualities / you won’t find self worth through others’ shortcomings...

829: Don't Go Wide, Go Deep


“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Bruce Lee / starve your distractions, feed your focus / find God in your heart and meditate on Him continuously / One who sees the Supersoul equally present everywhere, in every living being, does not degrade themself by their mind / Kaustubha’s prema breath work / Haridas Thakura become the Namacharya / keep digging into the mantra / keep digging into your heart SB 4.24.70

828: Bruce Lee & Brahman Realization

The medicine for my suffering I had within me from the very beginning but I did not take it.” - Bruce Lee / don’t empower the triggers / materialists look without, spiritualists look within / hack away at the unessential - distill the mind / triggers direct you toward your self work / here’s the key - human life is meant for inquiry of Absolute truth / 3 features of the Absolute Truth - Brahman, Paramatma, Bhagavan / you can’t understand a sage by the externals / the formula - staying situat...

827: Our 2 Options: Evolve or Repeat

“You don’t ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme.” - Bruce Lee / worship ≠ self-deprecation / focus all our good qualities to Krishna / worship = the development of deep respect and love for every living being / will we run our life away on the hamster wheel, or focus on learning life’s lessons? / we have 2 options: evolve or repeat / the rarity of human birth / 9 symptoms of an advanced devotee SB 4.24.67

826: World Peace Can't Be Done

Srimad bhagavatam - the great reminder / We aren’t selling you a religion, we’re waking up your true identity / excavate your spiritual identity / Bhakti is all inclusive / Let everyone sweep their own door and the whole world will be clean / Check ourselves on giving unsolicited advice / its hard to heal in isolation / friends don’t cosign friends’ nonsense / world  peace can’t be done, but there can be peace in our consciousness / fame exacerbates pain / even chickens are greedy / we are n...

825: Beauty & Love - Material vs Spiritual / Interview with Vaisesika Dasa

Vaisesika Dasa and Kaustubha discuss the Srimad Bhagavatam's presentation of beauty & love on the spiritual plane and how this world is a reflection of that.