“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.” - St. Augustine / in fighting over inessential details we miss the essence / Bhagavatam is sarva-vedānta-sāraṁ - the essence of all the Vedic literature / if the inessential details aren’t bringing us to the essence, we can drop them / the mind unburdened by material concerns can appreciate the mercy of Vishnu / even anger and thievery can bring you closer to God / the paw or the claw SB 7.8.54 - 7.9.3

1315: How We Miss the Spiritual Essence

Truths about life from the timeless wisdom of the Bhakti-yoga tradition - fun, relevant, and deep. Learn about dharma, yoga, bhakti, and how it relates to all the basic questions of life. This show is about how to live your best life, let go of the external distractions, and uncover the spiritual happiness that lies within the heart as the true nature of the soul.

Raghunath and Kaustubha's connection goes back to their teens in the New York Hardcore Punk Scene of the early 80s, through serving together as Bhakti-yogi monks in the 90's, to sharing their experiences in the world of yoga in the 21st century.

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I want to be initiated into the path of Bhakti but I struggle to chant the required 16 rounds per day, so I feel guilty - can you please share some advice? / How can I keep myself and my daughter on the path of Bhakti when we live far away from other devotees? / Can you explain the analogy from Srimad Bhagavatam - that when one’s face is decorated, the reflection of one’s face in a mirror is also decorated?   Check out our new website at www.wisdomofthesages.com

1333: Q & A Volume 227

It does not matter that you are in the material world - so long as you stay connected through hearing spiritual content / St. Francis’s counterintuitive formula for life / the courage to lead a spiritual life / St. Francis gets naked / your net worth is your spirit to contribute / by bringing your awareness to the purity of a devotee's love, our own awareness is purified / decorating oneself with the qualities of patience, tolerance, and kindness, etc. / devotees purify all places SB 7.10.13-22

1332: The Courage to Lead a Spiritual Life

Thomas Merton on climbing the ladder of success / analyze what your win is before you start the hustle / in a generation or two we will be forgotten / the Bhakti-yogi’s goal is a pure, soft heart / accepting that we are both very close and very far from the goal / “As soon as we have material desires, we lose our spiritual identity.” - Bhaktivedanta Swami / even as we live in the material world, by regularly hearing the sacred texts, our hearts and minds remain absorbed in spirit SB 7.10.8-12

1331: The Loss of Our Spiritual Identity

Can there be competition on the spiritual platform? / can there be fear on the spiritual platform? / “Your problem is that you are not afraid enough of maya” A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami / by contemplating the objects of the senses ……. / 2 types of perfected Bhakti Yogis - the eternally perfect and those who achieve perfection through practice / “love” desiring material benefit in exchange for their devotional service is no better than a merchant / a “master” who bestows benedictions motivated by a desire for prestigious is just as bad / filtering out all the impurities that contaminate pure love in the heart / We’re all searching for unconditional love SB 7.10.1-7

1330: An Exposition on the Nature of Pure Love

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart." - Kahlil Gibran / if external beauty is our currency, the market is gonna crash / for the Bhakti-yogi - the primary concern is the quality of their own heart / somehow, winning the lottery doesn’t buy happiness / one can reframe life’s struggle and pain as a purification of the heart / if we lean into Bhakti (and focused on the internal work) we could solve the world’s problems / religion doesn’t cause war - but the superficial understanding of it does / you’ve gotta start working on not being a dirty old man when you’re young / the more entitled we are, the less happy / satisfy the root, all the leaves are satisfied / foreshadowing the rasa of the 10th canto SB 7.9.52-54

1315: How We Miss the Spiritual Essence

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