The Wisdom Park

Being born in this world is not easy and being born as a woman is definitely not easy and being a chaste woman and trying to live a principle-centered life is definitely, definitely not easy. The struggles a woman goes through being a wife, raising children and running a family is many times beyond comprehension and very often, overlooked. Running an empire is easier than running a family. But probably the biggest challenge of womanhood is in being understood. Every woman looks for some man to empathize with her struggles and see her side of the picture. But instead of being understood, she is more often than not, misunderstood and exploited by the stronger sex.  One of the reason Lord Krishna appears in this world is to protect chaste ladies and teach a lesson to all those who try to exploit the innocent womenfolk. Krishna was born to help his helpless mother, Devaki who was being tortured by wicked Kamsa. Krishna cried seeing the suffering of Kunti Devi and s...

Every morning when I wake up and notice my breathing and observe my chest swelling up and down being pumped with air, I invariably remember a verse from the Srimad-bhagvatam which states that our breathing is like the breathing of the bellows of a blacksmith. Both the bellow and our body is made of leather. The bellow may feel that it is breathing on it's own and is fully independent but, it does not know that as soon as the blacksmith stops pumping air in it, it will stop breathing and lay lifeless. Similarly, we may be proud of our breathing and our life and may feel fully independent but, we don't realise that as soon as God decides to stop pumping air into our system, our body will stop breathing and lay lifeless.  What is there to be proud of when we don't even have control over our breath?  We should be grateful to God for giving us the wonderful opportunity and gift to breathe and live. And, the way we express that gratitude is by using ...

The recent passing away of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaj has put devotees worldwide in a state of shock. He is yet another disciple of Srila Prabhupada who is no longer present with us now. I was remembering all the disciples of Srila Prabhupada who have in the last few years left this material world to join Srila Prabhupada in the spiritual world. With every departure of these treasured Vaishnavas and Vaishnavis, my heart is left a little more pained. Having grown up in ISKCON seeing all these inspiring figures, I just can't imagine living in a world without these personalities. Yet we know that the rules of this world is not going to change however we may wish for it to.  The fact is that in a few years from now, we will all be bereft of the association of the disciples of Srila Prabhupada, our fatherly, motherly figures. We know that on the spiritual plane, there is no separation. These personalities will ever be there to assist us, guide us and bless us. But o...