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...

“That is all I want in life: for this pain to seem purposeful.” ―   Elizabeth Wurtzel Was very saddened to hear the news of the demise of Actor Sushant Singh Rajput not because he was a famous Bollywood celebrity but because he was a fellow human being. Human life or for that matter any life is precious and it shouldn't be taken away or given up whimsically. Only God gives life and only He can take it away at a time of His choice. GOD FATHER FROM BOLLYWOOD The news is going across that he committed suicide due to depression. People say that he was depressed because of nepotism and favouritism in the Bollywood circle where only those having connection with the "so called" big shots have a firm ground to stand on, the rest are subtly pressurised to quit. Sushant was bullied and harassed by few stalwarts of the industry. He tried his best to get into their good books and get their "so called" blessings because he knew that without their blessings, he c...

Who is in your heart and in  whose heart are you in? When we love someone, we want to fully enter into the heart and life of our beloved and we want our beloved to fully enter our heart and life. But in reality it doesn't happen with the relationships of this world. This is possible only in our relationship with Krishna because only He is selfless in His love and capable of satisfying us fully. Therefore Krishna says in Srimad-bhagvatam 9.4.68 - "sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham mad-anyat te na jānanti nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api" "The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me, and I do not know anyone else but them." Rather than trying to give our hearts fully to the people of this world and being frustrated is to give our hearts fully to Krishna and never be...

Offering obeisances to the Supreme Lord in His deity form may superficially look like a very small and a simple activity. But, it is one one of the very important and significant aspect of Bhakti. Therefore Lord Krishna stresses the importance of offering obeisances to Him in one of the most important verse of the Bhagvat-gita in chapter 9, verse 34. "man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ" "Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me." - Bhagvat-gita 9.34 This verse comes exactly in the middle of Bhagvat-gita making it all the more important. Not only that, this is the only verse that appears almost as it is, again towards the end of the eighteenth chapter of Bhagvat-gita as follows - "man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo ...

"What is the value of a prolonged life which is wasted, inexperienced by years in this world? Better a moment of full consciousness, because that gives one a start in searching after his supreme interest." - Srimad-bhagvatam 2.1.12 THE WINNER OF HEARTS Today is the disappearance day of His Grace Jayananda Prabhu. He left his body, a day before Narasimha chaturdashi in the year 1977. Jayananda Prabhu is an example of a perfect devotee whom every devotee should follow. Born as Jim Khor, Jayananda Prabhu became one of the intital and senior most disciple of Srila Prabhupada. He was a mechanical engineer by education but he chose a simple, humble profession of a taxi driver in order to be free from an artificial life of name and fame. He was already a kind of spiritual seeker therefore, as soon as he came in touch with Srila Prabhupada and the Krishna Conscious movement, he got hooked onto it and took it up with all seriousness right from day one. He was enthusiasm ...

"I  suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye." - Irfan Khan from the movie "Life of Pi" Probably one of the best movie of Irfan Khan is the "Life of Pi" (that is the only movie I have seen of his). The movie shows how Irfan Khan as Pi, was saved once during the drowning of the ship in which his family was relocating to Europe and the second time, while being stranded alone in the Pacific Ocean along with a ferocious Bengal tiger called Richard Parker in a small sail boat. But in the movie of life, he sadly couldn't be saved from the cancer that was ravaging him. We may get saved many times from many life-threatening circumstances but there will be one situation when we will not survive. Whoever one is, however famous one may be, however educated and successful one may be, everyone has to meet this inev...

    Today a simple incident thought me an important lesson. Few days back, the nada string of the pyjama that I wear during my Yoga practice had come out. I stopped doing my Yoga practice due to this reason. Probably an excuse to take a break. I tried to find a safety pin to try to insert the thread back into it's socket. I searched a few places in the ashram where the safety pin could likely be found but, to no avail. I resigned from the endeavour to search and convinced myself that I will search for it some other day.  Today, I made up my mind to somehow resume my Yoga session. Which means, I had to find the safety pin - some how or the other. I searched one drawer but to no avail. Then, I searched the most obvious drawer. With a little searching, I found one safety pin lying in the corner of the drawer, as if waiting to be found. I was amazed and shocked to find it. It was as if someone magically put it there from the heavens. I had s...

  Before the lockdown, I never wanted to stay in the ashram throughout the day. I always wanted to go out and do programs or meet people. I always felt that I am "on the move guy" and always wanted action. Now after the lockdown period and being at ashram for quite sometime, I must confess that I have begun to love staying here. I guess once the lockdown opens, it will be difficult for me to move out. I was reflecting on how our mind functions. The situation that was not all to my liking has now become most likable. The mind after all gets adjusted to whatever the situation is. It keeps constantly fluctuating between likes and dislikes without any rationale. Probably, that's the reason sages and scriptures warn us not to trust our minds. We can't take it's thinking, feeling and willing too seriously.   Even though the mind has no rationale, there is another rationale which we need to understand. That is the rationale of "our needs"...