Krsna's Teachings

I always choose the best for myself. You select things that you want to have very carefully when offered a choice. Notice how you go round the buffet table to take those things in your plate that you like the most. You avoid those things that you don't like at all.  In your life also you do the same. You select the good lookers in the bar or at airports you don't pick up someone's folded newspaper but pick up the one which look fresh. Similarly, we do the selection of veggies or garments that look good to our eyes and feel fresh.  This is the type of life you have been brought up with since you were born. Notice the baby doing the selection of the best toy or food with good looks. Even your ice cream toppings are the best.  But what happens to you when you have to gift someone else? If it's your girlfriend then you will choose the best but if it is for someone whom you don't know, then you will do all sorts of compromises and select relatively good one.  Our likes a...

Why doesn't a man learn even after he has fallen once? Man keeps on falling and does the same mistake again and again and still does not learn. Though mistakes are in the path to get knowledge about the right path but man has this uncanny habit of falling for the same stuff again and again and veering away.  Do you think the man who drinks and is an alcoholic has no idea that what he is doing is wrong? Or the woman who succumbs to a voracious sexual appetite has no idea that she is doing something bad to her own while sleeping around outside? Or a man who sells everything by robbing to do his drugs? Or that person who mugs people around? Don't these people have any qualms? Do they have any conscience or not?  If you think they have a conscience and should listen to it, then you really have no clue. The first or the second time that they did what they are now habituated to do, their conscience actually pricked but then they succumbed to the sin. Thereafter the going was very ea...

Krishna bar and restaurant, Shiva restaurant, Radha dancing school, Buddha bar and what not! Have you ever seen Jesus in any way bring addressed like that? Or for that matter any god or saint from any other religion? Strange!  Here we have people fighting to see the underwear removed if it carries a god picture or a sandal. But these same hypocrites allow the names of bars to be called Krishna bar and restaurant?  So you may ask, what's in a name? That could be the name of the owner of the bar? Just like these rap artist say Yeesus!!! Would you call that artistic impropriety or just their creativity?  This was very beautifully demonstrated by Swami Vivekananda to the king once. When asked why do people go and pray in temples when it is said that God lives within us? He asked one of the court guards to bring down the framed picture of the king and then stamp it with his feet. The guard refused saying that the photograph represented the king himself. Swamiji then proved to ...

What does it mean to have a hand to mouth existence? You know it very well, since it's the phrase which tells you about how poor you are. It also shows you how much you are valued in this world.  Food on the table is a luxury for the poor. The daily needs are never met fully, except for some plain food stuffs. That would mean a solid grain and some watery gruel. Some call it sambhar and rice or roti and curry. Still considering the costs are you? Let me tell you both together would come for anywhere between twenty to fifteen bucks. My travel would be free almost every time since I don't have the luxury of buying tickets. Some days when I have money, I refuse to spend on public transport. I travel about twelve to fifteen miles a day so that I can use that money. The hovel I live in costs about a thousand bucks. I sometimes pay up and at other times I just disappear from that place for a few days.  My clothes are used ones. I normally pick them up once in a few months from the u...

Do you understand what it means to be lonely? Someone asked me once and I said that I can never be lonely. Listening to the song by Boys To Men-"Show me the meaning of being lonely," would make you know how loneliness feels but that's not what loneliness means.  Someone passes away or you loose your beloved and then the emptiness strikes you. This is a sure fire way of being lonely. But we are born alone and we die alone. So what makes us feel lonely? Is it attachment to that person or object? When we are attached and when we loose them, we feel left out, alone, lonely and empty. Devoid of their presence will tell us how we miss them.  But the moment we have the idea that they were our co-workers in this universe we can understand that their duties were over. We do not cry for our co-workers when they retire, right? So when serving God's purpose for us we meet them as our relatives or parents, friends or lovers, husbands or wives, kids or grand kids, let us be clear t...

I heard this words everyday- I worry for you a lot! Now you too have said them so many times. It may be for your children or your pets too. What do you mean by saying I worry for you?  You are worried if the children will reach school in time. You worry whether the food will be sufficient for your guests or not, or whether the lights or the tap were left on when you went to work. You worry how your kids education will proceed when you don't have any money left. You worry whether the mortgage amount will get paid or not this month since you are having to pay for medical bills. There are so many things to worry about.  So then just by worrying what do you achieve? Some progress happens or you end up getting frustrated and angry? Your anxiety creates more trouble for you than the one you worry for.  This person just walks out of the issue and moves on to the next one. From frying pan into the fire you will say. These people are capable of giving you white hairs earlier than ...

There is always that edge of the seat feeling when something is supposed to happen yet it's not happening. Something's gotta give yet it doesn't. The anxiety caused by the suspense is very tiring.  This happens to everyone of us. Whether it's our examination results or admissions, loan sanctions or pregnancy results, life and death, marriages and divorces, likes and hatreds, in love or not in love.... The times we wish to get answers from such unnerving situations are many in life.  Even if we know the outcomes by gut feel, we still have that anxiety within us. The either/or is a terrible time. Especially if it is related to someone close to us. Our children's results gives us sleepless nights, whereas they are least bothered. Sometimes the one who is responsible for our own anxiousness is not even aware that we are suffering.  Like they say, you will either grow bald or have grey hair soon because you worry so much. The tensions are too much and then there are thos...

Escapism is the word which describes someone who wants to run away from facing situations in life or shy away from responsibilities. To find an easy way out of something quite tough.  I knew of a woman who agreed to marry a drunkard and live in a joint family only to escape her own foster parents who ill treated her all her life. But what happened to her then? She believed that she could change the man she was marrying. But couldn't. She finally burnt herself to death having totally lost from either sides. She couldn't find any happiness anywhere.  Another person whom I know had a terrible sex life. Being subjected to extreme sexual conduct by the spouse, indulged in dreamy storybook romance, kept looking for love outside the marriage. Involved with multiple romantic liaisons could never find the true love.  In another case, the person searched for ideal mate to marry during the second sojourn, but could land only an impotent person. Now trying escapism in real life has i...

Waking up Kumbhakarna was an impossible task! So how do we wake up a sleeping person? This question has been asked by many to me. Now let's get this straight, we are talking here about a person who refuses to do anything with his life and sleepwalks through it. It's about someone who doesn't lift a finger or does anything constructive in life.  First lets see the way people are. You tell your son or husband to do something and he rolls away saying that he is busy, or has too many things to do, or just watches some junk on the television, starts playing games on his computer, talks into the telephone to someone on the other side complaining about your cribbing, walks out of the house as if not hearing you..... His reasons are endless. I am not singling out men alone. It is also to do with women too. The laziness or inertia shown by these "extremely busy" people is appalling. When you know damn well they aren't doing anything at all. Their priorities are all ske...

Nirlajyam sadha Sukhi is a saying I has heard when I was a kid. I never could fathom what it meant till the last few years.  I met a young man who had a voracious appetite for food. He wouldn't feel ashamed to ask for more food. I liked him a lot and I always used to make fun of him. One day I asked him if he felt ashamed to ask for more or not? He told me that he has his bodily needs and the urge to fulfill them created the demands. So he just diligently fulfilled them. There was no shame or remorse in him. What is the use of remaining hungry, he asked? I liked his explanation.  I wanted some money from some reason once. I was feeling extremely awkward to ask people around. My little ego came in the way so I kept quiet.  Then I married a Gujarati lady and since that day I stopped feeling sorry for myself. She gave me that mental strength to ask and not feel small. You cannot do business if you cannot ask for money. What use is the shame or shyness? It's not going to put ...

Any kind of addiction can kill oneself and another too.  Many years ago I visited the house of a famous heroine and found her dead drunk. She was going through a very depressive phase of her life. Everyone had ditched her and she had become a recluse and an alcoholic.  Today when I was going through the morning papers, I saw another film heroine who had allegedly hanged herself with over 300ml of alcohol in her viscera. She too was passing through a very troublesome period in her love life.  My close relative would find imported liquor very mild so he would spike it with other intoxicating stuff all because he had nothing to do in his life with tones of money at his disposal.  In another case, after the government nationalizing every single property of theirs had left them paupers, the lady took to the bottle and wasted herself to death.  Now in all the above examples, doesn't it tell you that drinking in excesses is harmful to anyone. Yet, why doesn't the knowl...

What happens when you age in a middle class family? You are always responding to and responsible for someone or the other in your aging process.  It's either the kids or grandchildren or gardens. If you look at a typical grandparent, they would be dropping and picking up grand kids from school and back. Pottering around the garden at other times or playing lotto or mahjong or poker!  You really wonder what are they doing at this age. Considering their age they should have hung their boots and relaxed but what are they going to achieve? Watching useless episodes on the television which have no value except entertainment. Going to the place of worship or taking part in some religious activities. Once a year going on some annual tour.  Visiting some holy places or visiting children if they stay far away.  If not, being around all the people in the main hall reading, writing, staring blankly or going for therapy at the old age home.  Once in a month collecting their...

How many days can you have a wedding? How much festivity can a person take in? How many drinks can you gulp down? How much sex can you enjoy? How many years can you continue to live for your little self? Take a hold of yourself now and think about it!  The marriage lasts only till the consummation night. But is there one? You have already consumed and slurped it down. So what are you getting at? A sham for the world or are you deluding yourself into thinking that there is a pot of gold at the end of your bachelorhood? Man, you are getting into a bigger trap than you can imagine. The tantrum of your spouse or uncouth behavior that they haven't exhibited so far! The loud farts, the nose digs, the ball scratches or just the plain dirty overused undies! Her period pains, the loud groans, the lingerie thrown all over, the oversleeping, not having any clue how to light the gas stove!  Are you both ready for this game of acceptance of each other. And then the anxiety and panic attack...

So what's so special about this Diwali? Nothing much, you may say but key in to what's happening around you and you will be surprised.  The firecrackers have gone down, the new clothes are not visible, the prayers to Gods are nearly finished, the sweets are from the shops, the parents are least enthusiastic, the holiday season has come on weekly holiday and there are movies whose tickets cost a bomb. Now you tell me this happens every year?  When we talk of festival we believe the thoughts of God, prayers, offerings, sweets, celebrations, etc  evoke spiritual fervor but does it now? Not at all.  We have got so much entrenched in our lives that we believe festivals are some religious stuff which we can avoid. Any which way, there are no public holidays for our festivals since the government has to be secular and give everyone an equal chance. So the holiday scene is meant only for annual ones. That too we have to match with the kids vacation. Otherwise what's the use ...