Venugopal Acharya's Blog, page 7

Are you single or in a relationship with God? – Part 2

“Being attracted by external opulence, the non-devotee always forgets his intimate relationship with Krishna. Such a person does not like the idea of becoming Krishna conscious.”

– Srila Prabhupada (Purport to Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya, 12.184)

The four quadrants of a relationship with God

Now, let us merge both figures 1 and 2.

You have four quadrants in this new image in your mind (figure 3).

On the bottom left, we have quadrant 1- the space of no effort and no remembrance ...

Are you single or in a relationship with God? – Part 1

“Religion means to know God and to love him.”  – Srila Prabhupada

An exercise will help you discover where you stand in your relationship with Krishna/God:

Open your mind’s eye. Now visualize a screen/board and draw a vertical line – the line of struggle. (Figure 1).

The space on the left of the line denotes ‘No struggle/effort’ in spiritual life and the area on the right signifies ‘Struggle/effort’.

If you believe spiritual life to be a laid-back, relaxing process, where we simply f...

You could fool your mind – Part 3

“For man, the mind is the cause of bondage and the mind is the cause of liberation. Mind absorbed in sense objects is the cause of bondage, and the mind detached from the sense objects is the cause of liberation.” – Amrita-Bindu Upanishad (Mantra 2)

I was now ready for tracking yoga, writing, and hearing Srila Prabhupada lectures. Regarding book writing, I simply wrote one line daily and I linked it to the existing habit of finishing my lunch. He revealed to me that these were two habits – be...

You could fool your mind – Part 2

“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” – Bhagavad Gita (15.7)

Habits unknown to us

I wanly said I have no habits as if I had resigned myself to being inadequate and unable to improve.

He smiled assuredly and said, “You have at least thirty habits, and I can reveal them to you if you so desire.”

Again he had grabbed my interest. How could he be ...

You could fool your mind – Part 1

“Every disciple should always remain busy in some work for Krishna. We shall not allow our mind to remain vacant, and if the mind is always filled up with Krishna consciousness activities, there is no chance of Maya to sit on the mind and force us to act under her spell.” – Srila Prabhupada (Letter to Mukunda, May 06, 1968)

We’ve often heard how the mind tricks us, but have you ever wondered how you could fool your mind as well?

I learnt this technique from a dear friend Ananda Gopal Prabh...

From the Temporary to Eternity – Part 2

“Time is eternal and is compared to a sharp razor. A razor is meant to shave the hair from one’s face, but if not carefully handled, the razor will cause disaster. One is advised not to create a disaster by misusing his lifetime. One should be extremely careful to utilize the span of his life for spiritual realization, or Krishna consciousness.” – Srila Prabhupada (Purport, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 6.5.19)

Another friend of mine, Rajat, sent me videos made in the early 1920s of cities and parks ...

From the Temporary to Eternity – Part 1

“Living like an animal, not understanding the goal of life, one foolishly thinks that there is no eternity and that his life span of fifty, sixty, or, at the most, one hundred years, is everything. This is the greatest foolishness.”
– Srila Prabhupada (Purport, Shrimad Bhagavatam 6.5.19)

In our inner world, we have a natural attraction to ‘belong.’ We want to feel ‘safe’ and ‘sheltered’ – at home. This is commonly understood as peace.

Just as a young boy and girl get attracted to each other...

How to become strong internally? – Part 2

“Therefore, any comfort of life or any material happiness which does not warrant an eternal life is but an illusion for the eternal living being. One who factually understands this is learned, and such a learned person can sacrifice any amount of material happiness to achieve the desired goal known as brahma-sukham, or absolute happiness. Real transcendentalists are hungry for this happiness, and as a hungry man cannot be made happy by all comforts of life minus foodstuff, so the man hungry for ...

How to become strong internally? – Part 1

“One whose happiness is within, who is active within, who rejoices within and is illumined within, is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme.” (Bhagavad Gita 5.24)

Although our external lives are important, it can’t be at the cost of our inner growth. We may analyse others expertly by our mind. But do we analyse our own mind? Can we separate ourselves from our thoughts for some time in a day? Can we live in a space beyond the mind – ...

Empower Yourself

“Spiritual strength means sincerity and sincerity means spiritual strength.” – Srila Prabhupada (May 14, 1975, Perth)

A song from the 1954 award winning Bollywood film Boot Polish, graphically explains how empowered we are: John, a bootlegger teaches little children self-respect and asks – nane munne bacche teri mutti mein kya hai? – ‘Oh dear children, what’s in your fists?’

The children reply: mutti mein hai tagdeer hamari – ‘My fists contain my destiny’

A child today may sing, “My fis...