Wisdom of the Sages

Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder. - Henry David Thoreau / Sage vacation tips - don't travel for happiness - travel to learn, rejuvenate and especially to cultivate devotion / satva guna conditions one by a sense of happiness / we're second hand gods - we manipulate, we don't create / we're not destroying the Earth, we're destroying our relationship with her / seeing personhood behind nature - primitive or profound? SB 4.18.23-32

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. - Henry David Thoreau / #1 purpose – to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large… in order to check the imbalance of values in life, & to achieve real unity & peace / spiritual knowledge dissipates fear and thus conflict / perceiving the oneness and commonality on the spiritual level / according to one's association with the material qualities, one develops a certain type of character / the broadness of the Vedic presentation SB 4.18.22

there's a handbook to our universe / we are all souls passing through many bodies / with the human body comes more possibilities & more responsibility / minimize the pain in this world / the cosmic order between humans and the earth SB 4.18.19-22

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind" Henry David Thoreau / the mind's fluctuations are stilled by practice and dispassion / we've got rājasic & tāmasic saṁskāras, distracting memories & tendencies inherited from time immemorial / how practice becomes firmly established / through regulation comes freedom / re-establishing the cosmic order / Vedic knowledge to purify words, mind and hearing SB 4.18.8-18

all your money won't another minute buy / if I can only walk with sufficient carelessness I am sure to be filled / nature is constantly speaking to us / life is a riddle / there's truth in many paths, but some go further / hierarchical inclusivism / Bhagavatam presents a relentless focus on Bhakti causing dharmic reversals in terms of age, gender, caste and status / a learned person takes the essence of knowledge from all places / the laws of dharma are meant to bring out the best in us / when we ignore the sages we end up with Jerry Springer Show SB 4.18.1-7

Vedasara speaks of his journey as a 5 year old, lost in India, wandering with his 8 year old brother, how they grew up in a bhakti-yoga ashram, and of his services today in Atlanta, Georgia, serving the unhoused, and sharing Bhakti from heart to heart.

How to handle negative energy in the workplace? / Can I just choose a mantra? / Can I practice Krishna Bhakti and still believe in Jesus too? / Why are there so many paths, philosophies and religions to begin with?

everything is right / Bhaktivedantins see this world as a reflection of the spiritual world / am I a toiler? / for money, for little pleasures, for being slightly honored, we scold & insult each other / austerity is the wealth of the brahmanas / we need a thick skin and a thin skin / memories of Navidwipa Mandala Parikrama / the Earth surrenders / fate is the language of God SB 4.17.27-36

don't starve your inner Buddha / all sin already carries the divine forgiveness in itself / perceived danger when spirituality is seen through the lens of social justice / a deeper, more genuine compassion born of spirituality / spiritual vision cuts through division / in deep meditation, there is the possibility to see everything is good, everything is perfect, everything thing is Brahman / everything only requires my consent to be good for me / all of us are in rehab but only a few consent to it / all facilities are given to us to realize the Complete Whole / all forms of incompleteness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge / the illusory representation of completeness cannot fully satisfy us

"my goal is this: always to put myself in the place in which I am best able to serve, wherever my gifts and qualities find the best soil to grow" / turning your ambition over to Krishna / aligning the heart with the great souls / being bigger than the pettiness of the material world / the most genuine compassion is grown out of deep introspection / you might be the jerk / the universal system of order is designed to foster gratitude in the hearts of humans / non-binary mentions in Bhagavatam SB 4.17.1-26