Wisdom of the Sages

our little mouths can create so much suffering / our speaking apparatus is an amazing faculty - very effective in either binding us or releasing us / Yoga is a process of cleaning the window for the sunlight to come in / we can create the spiritual world in the material world by vibrating transcendental words / pure words - relieve material hankerings, and remove envy and fear / Krishna is present where His devotees discuss Him / superficial spirituality sees God in the Temple only - deeper spirituality sees God in people

SB 4.30.35-38

For the Live to Give campaign of Bhagavad Gita distribution, text/whatsapp/call Malini at: +1 (669) 289-5563

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. - Matthew 5.8 / what does the heart need to be purified of? / "In monasteries, seminaries, retreats and synagogues, they fear hell and seek paradise. Those who know the mysteries of God never let that seed be planted in their souls." - Omar Khayyam / a moment of interfaith harmony / destitution is a prodding for Krishna / the yogis ask for their benediction - to be around those who speak of Vishnu, birth after birth / Find people who lift you higher and keep them close / hearing about Krishna relieves anxiety

Madan Mohan is an old friends of Raghunath & Kaustubha going back to their teens. A deep thinker and poet, he shares his thoughts and experiences as a youth that led him to the practice of Bhakti, where he's at today, and some of his poems.

Spirituality or Spiritual Bypassing? / If Bhaktivedanta Swami were alive today do you believe he would restrict the internet? / Can y'all recommend some slokas (or mantras) that are good to memorize?

that love should be transitory is intolerable / love leaps over the massive of our selfishness / love makes desire itself altruistic / love plants the interests of another in the center of our being / loving one (well used) prepares us to love all / bhakti yogis meditate on name, qualities, form and pastimes / let's god's satisfaction be our benediction / the Absolute Truth is realized in three features / one has to approach the Supreme Person through the impersonal Brahman / liberation is just the neutral point

SB 4.30.26-30

"To find love I must enter into the sanctuary where it is hidden, which is the mystery of God." - Thomas Merton / there's a secret love with capital L / lowercase love stinks / the reflection appears just like the reflected source, but it's backwards / our mind and words can't capture the Supreme / Krishna outsources creation, maintenance and destruction / knowing Krishna makes the world of duality seem meaningless / Wisdom of the Sages came overcome malefic planets / Krishna's lotus feet are captivating

SB 4.30.14 - 20

when the intention is selfless, work becomes yoga / "one who restrains the senses of action but whose mind dwells on sense objects certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender" - Bhagavad-gita 3.6 / a sincere sweeper in the street is far better than the charlatan meditator / the devotee does not feel hackneyed or stereotyped / in the heart of the devotee the Paramatma reveals Himself as ever-increasingly new

SB 4.30.14-20

am I a criminal or a victim? / Alexander the Great could have been content (right now) / satva guna = contentment, raja guna = discontentment / get off the treadmill / even the #1 materialist is in anxiety / striking the balance between competition & cooperation / the material model vs the spiritual model / there's room for competition in the spiritual realm

SB 4.30.13

"One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything." - Georg C. Lichtenberg / the need to question our sacred cows / the maturity needed to question our sacred cows / there's always time for questions in discussions of Santana dharma / the danger of giving up independent thought / question - boil away what's not real - and then place your faith on a more stable foundation / the need to question the sacred texts / the need to let others question

In today's show we hear from the participants of The Wisdom of the Sages Sage Groups, a way of connecting weekly online, in a small group setting, to learn, question and share, about practicing Bhakti-yoga.

Raghunath speaks with Bhanu-Nandini about connecting with God as a child while escaping a war torn country, and with Krishna Murari Goswami about the origins of Holi and growing up as a 14th generation Goswami in Nandagram.

40% of Divya's MasterClass at https://divyas.com/?ref=6799 and 15% off your first purchase with code Wisdomofthesages15

10% off Happy Girl Kitchen with coupon code WISDOM

Chasing Rhinos 3 book set at www.chasingrhinos.com

I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery / thank God I am not my mind! / if our body is forced to age, are we really free? / try a mantra mind experiment / Lord Vishnu appears / Lord Vishnu appreciates the friendship of the Pracetas / the mind can be trained out of lust, greed and envy

SB 4.30.1-13

40% of Divya's MasterClass at http://divyas.com/?ref=6799 and 15% off your first purchase with code Wisdomofthesages15

10% off Happy Girl Kitchen at www.happygirlkitchen.com with coupon code WISDOM

"There are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it." - Ann Landers / we are just playing our roles then we give them up / life will go on without us - they'll be telling jokes at our funeral / spiritual maturity lies in managing polarities / we want eternal life in a temporary world - it doesn't work / everything within time is a dream

SB 4.29.80-85

dreams as evidence of previous lives / "Because consequential things in our present experience turn inconsequential with the passage of time, as they do in a dream, we can be said to be in a dream." - Spiritual Scientist / The mind of the living entity continues to exist in various gross bodies / our old neighborhoods are like a dream / we're passing through bodies even during our sleep / shrinking the karmic stockpile / losing identification with the body during deep sleep, fainting, shock, death, fever / understand the purpose of the virtual reality

Get 10% off Happy Girl Kitchen products with coupon code WISDOM https://happygirlkitchen.com/

4.29.66-79

Lensa AI - a dream within a dream / when I want you, all I have to do is dream / we are constantly choosing the blue pill / we take on new bodies based on our desire and our punya (karmic merit) / working out, plastic surgery, makeup, hair styles, Lensa AI - all different ways of trying to taste the fantasy / Bring your warm and fuzzy to Vrindavan / the old want to look young, the young want to look old - we're never happy with what we've got / Yogis decide "I want reality", and the promise is that reality is way better than the fantasy

SB 4.29.62-65

Raghu Dreamt of Prabhupada - Kaustubha dreamt of Ringo / 3 apps operating on the computer of the mind - manas, ahankara and buddhi / consciously reprograming the mind / recreate the samskara / transformation starts with one good choice / trap, cotton candy and other forms of junk food / in dreams, do we go somewhere else? - are we somewhere else right now? / Positive habits lead to positive desires

SB 4.29.61

How to practice humility and tolerance? / How to prepare for pilgrimage? / Can you explain the 36 Tattvas (from Shaivism) in the context of bhakti? / Are there rituals to be performed before Japa meditation?

40% off Divya's Masterclass with link https://divyas.com/?ref=6799

Should we be detached from our family? / Are tattoos motivated purely by ego? / What does it mean to practice bhakti "without deviation?

For Episode 900, Raghunath and Kaustubha hear from their listeners about their favorite verses from Bhagavad-gita.

Prestige is a slippery slope / sometimes you have to make a change and don't look back / hyper-inclusivism vs hierarchal-inclusivism / Look for lessons everywhere

SB 4.29.55-62

we're here to love, not to control / our deepest attachments are our deepest vulnerabilities / we are trying to taste the rasa that Krishna enjoys / we can't protect someone from their destiny / Bhagavad-gita's formula = being complete dutiful, and completely detached / the love formula - two souls, holding hands, walking towards Divinity / Don't you get it - we're all about to die?! / At any moment your woohoo could end with a bonk / Get the hell out of the garden!

SB 4.29.52-54

40% off Divya's MasterClass at https://divyas.com/?ref=679 15% off first purchase with code wisdomofthesages15

"the river laughs both at me and at you" / to what path, to what deeds, to what sufferings have we been called? / "even if you died 10 times for him, you would not succeed in relieving him of even the smallest fraction of his destiny." / "this pain is of the sort that is tempting to laugh about" / Siddhartha lives his past again and comes back to OM / the novice sees materialists with disgust, the master sees them with love / "everything returned again, that had not been fully suffered and resolved; it was always the same sorrows being suffered again and again."

getting over our pretense / Mara's a good hearted woman in love with a good-timin' man / we're just wandering spirits looking for a way out / the Supersoul is provided remembrance, knowledge & forgetfulness / the Supersoul knows our desires like Amazon Prime / take shelter of the root for all good fortune in the heart / Siddhartha's letting go

SB 4.29.50-51

How to deal with guilt, shame and regret on the Bhakti path? / How can women navigate the effects of menstruation on their daily sadhana?

algorithms are distorting our perception of reality - we need to be meeting with people in person more / dance unabashedly / all the sages draw from the teachings of Vyasa / how do we know that Bhakti is not just a concession, rather than the goal? / this is not our real home

SB 4.29.45-49

Thanks to the Wisdom of the Sages family! / Its ok to recreate family / appreciate people and spread gratitude / zoom out and be thankful / choose serving the devotees over serving the senses / Narada has the cure for our material disease / the secret of success is hearing from the right person / receiving Bhakti through a heart to heart transfer / Hee Haw will not endure

SB 4.29.38-45

Bhagavatam is the thread holding it all together — Essential, relevant, and practical / time comes along and ruins the illusion / There is no material solution / have courage and take shelter / all of our suffering is due to illusion / the only real solutions lie in spiritual principals / we have to laugh at ourselves and our own attachments / Postulate 7 - Evolve or Repeat

SB 4.29.34-37

"Every solution to every problem is simple. It's the distance between the two where the mystery lies." ― Derek Landy / my attachments stand in the way of the simple solution / kindness & simplicity are always the solution / lean into spiritual life / the wise can find great joy with nothing / sometimes you've gotta get the mafia involved / the sacred cow vs the tractor / a meat-based diet and economy dependent on cruelty, machinery and fossil fuels vs simple living and loving cooperation between humans and cows

SB 4.29.32-33

How can one apply Bhakti wisdom to the grief of the loss of a loved one?

The influences of the gunas are woven into the tapestry every object w encounter, and every circumstance we experience / a wise person learns how to make the gunas work for them / only when one is content, can they focus inward

SB 4.29.26-32

careful what you look for- you'll find it / attachment clouds truth perception / who am I in this story - wise Narada or the attached king? / peeling away the layers of attachment / the humility of Akinchana Krishna das Babaji / am I in control or am I being controlled?

SB 4.29.1-27

the need for material success, popularity, and power stem from self-rejection / "Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence." Henri J.M. Nouwen / don't get triggered out of the treasure / the only satisfying identity is I am spirit / the soul is a person and an enjoyer in reality / non-binary gender identification mentioned in Srimad-Bhagavatam / our factual position - both one with and different from God / every Starbucks should have a swan

40% off Divya's Masterclass with link https://divyas.com/?ref=6799

SB 4.28.55-65

What do you do when your guru gives you an instruction but your heart and intuition say something else? / Was Srila Prabhupada a saint?

40% off Divya's Masterclass with link

https://divyas.com/?ref=6799

Guru Questions

Can one love, without loving themselves first? / What can I do for Krishna? Is intention enough? / Any advice for bringing kids on pilgrimage? / How does a swami become a swami?

"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." - Saul Bellow / How deep is my need for illusion? / Our home is the spiritual world / Plato's allegory - Life as we know it, is like being chained in a cave and forced to watch shadows of reality projected on a stone wall / Who am I, among Plato's cave dwellers? / things in the physical world are flawed reflection of the ideal forms in the spiritual world / Is there a source of light that will reveal the falsity in even our most basic assumptions? / physicists speak of a real world behind the world of perception and change / when the living entity wants to enjoy himself, he falls down into the material world / how we both fall and never fall, from the spiritual world / you should try to realize the meaning of what I have said through cit-samadhi, spiritual meditation

SB 4.28.54

how to relieve the world's suffering / spiritual knowledge as a way of checking the imbalance of values in life, and achieving real unity and peace / "The more directly one aims to maximize pleasure and avoid pain, the more likely one is to produce instead a life bereft of depth, meaning and community." - Emily Esfahani Smith / the Supersoul isn't a judge, He's a friend / how many burials or funeral pyres of our loved ones have we witnessed in our many lifetimes? / funeral pyre renunciation / how many times have we heard that voice and ignored it? / desiring earthly enjoyments, we've become attached / we're allowed to unfollow whoever we want

in life's most difficult moments, when one feels most alone, we may hear the voice of God within / we have an eternal friend in the heart / we're still far away from our original home / we've been traveling in different forms throughout this material world / we've forgotten our spiritual life and have been placed in various miserable conditions / our sense of identity shifts from one body to another / we're in the process of remembering what we are / formula to hear God - follow the instructions of a master - and then God will instruct you in the heart / just because there's lots of fool's gold doesn't mean there isn't any real gold

perceiving the spiritual world in the material world / whatever our view of reality is, it's going to be far out, and require faith / taking a picture in the heart / when our interests merge with those of the Supersoul / the practice of the disciple - serving with love and affection, giving up sensual enjoyments, renunciation, austerity, peace and steadiness / the disciple cries when the guru leaves / the disciple and guru are live together eternally through the instructions

What's happening in the Spiritual World? / Are feelings of unworthiness on the Bhakti path common? / What is Hare Krishna 2.0?

Broken Pickers - We're attracted to the Causes of Our Suffering

Krishna disguises himself as a boatman / Krishna disguises himself as a snake doctor / Are we attracted to things that are causing suffering? / the meaning of life is as simple as fixing our broken picker / the king develops attraction to Krishna through austere yoga / dharma is meant for developing attraction to Krishna - SB. 2.2.8 / the distinction between the soul and the Supersoul / we are the witness in the body - doing nothing / don't trust your instincts

old death-defying India vs new materially developed India / how the king became fixed in spirit - austerity, learning, regulative principles, self-control / practical ways to include austerity in our lives / Sri Chaitanya gave the highest spiritual sentiments to the most dented cans / Krishna is everything." Bhagavad-gita 7.19 / "For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome." Bhagavad-gita 12.5

the biggest cause of my distress is planning for happiness / beware of being the enjoyer in Vrindavan / if you come in a mood of service it's like you're already liberated / material indulgence always ends in indigestion / me first mentality is like Lord of the Flies / happiness through service is the peace formula / all there is within the universe for satisfying one's senses cannot satisfy a person who's senses are uncontrolled / if your happiness is from your ego, prepare for pain / contentment opens you up to deeper spirituality / association is everything

Pustulate 4 - let Krishna be the attractive one (because we can't handle the fame, power, beauty, wealth, etc.) / Krishna is the original addiction, the one that never gets old / the guru gives birth to attraction to Krishna - and the practices of Bhakti / the practices give birth to the varieties of devotion expressed though the authentic Bhakti lineages / the mind unites with attraction to Krishna and gives birth to detachment to external pleasures / a real disciple carries firewood / a real guru is expert in understanding the Vedic conclusion and always fixed in spirit / Bhakti is without selfish motive, and directed to Krishna, the root of all existence

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

• 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?

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.

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

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

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 four books, including an abridged translation of the Srimad Bhagavatam (with Kenneth Valpey), published in 2017 by Columbia University Press. Ravi has received four teaching awards, a National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship, three research fellowships, and a book award. He is a Permanent Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and a past president of the Society for Hindu Christian Studies. He speaks around the world on topics related to Chaitanya Vaishnavism, Vedanta philosophy, and Krishna bhakti traditions.