Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan das

If someone has hurt us and we don’t have the courage to tell them, what can we do?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/05-17%20QA/If%20someone%20has%20hurt%20us%20and%20we%20don’t%20have%20the%20courage%20to%20tell%20them,%20what%20can%20we%20do.mp3

The post If someone has hurt us and we don’t have the courage to tell them, what can we do? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Gita 16.24 Absolute Knowledge doesn’t have to be dogmatic and open-mindedness doesn’t have to relativize everything
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/05-17%20classes/Gita%2016.24%20Absolute%20Knowledge%20doesn’t%20have%20to%20be%20dogmatic%20and%20open-mindedness%20doesn’t%20have%20to%20relativize%20everything.mp3

The post Gita 16.24 Absolute Knowledge doesn’t have to be dogmatic and open-mindedness doesn’t have to relativize everything appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

How do mantras change our consciousness – by their frequency, word order or word choice?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/05-17%20QA/How%20do%20mantras%20change%20our%20consciousness%20-%20by%20their%20frequency,%20word%20order%20or%20word%20choice.mp3

The post How do mantras change our consciousness – by their frequency, word order or word choice? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Gita 18.38 Don’t be so caught in choosing the right seat as to fail to choose the right train
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/05-17%20classes/Gita%2018.38%20Don’t%20be%20so%20caught%20in%20choosing%20the%20right%20seat%20as%20to%20fail%20to%20choose%20the%20right%20train.mp3

The post Gita 18.38 Don’t be so caught in choosing the right seat as to fail to choose the right train appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

How can we increase our attraction to reading Prabhupada’s books?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/05-17%20QA/How%20can%20we%20increase%20our%20attraction%20to%20reading%20Prabhupada’s%20books.mp3

The post How can we increase our attraction to reading Prabhupada’s books? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

What to do if we feel like being in the temple constantly but can’t?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/05-17%20QA/What%20to%20do%20if%20we%20feel%20like%20being%20in%20the%20temple%20constantly%20but%20can’t.mp3

The post What to do if we feel like being in the temple constantly but can’t? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

What to do if the calm got from attending spiritual programs disappears when we face the world’s problems?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/05-17%20QA/What%20to%20do%20if%20the%20calm%20got%20from%20attending%20spiritual%20programs%20disappears%20when%20we%20face%20the%20world’s%20problems.mp3

The post What to do if the calm got from attending spiritual programs disappears when we face the world’s problems? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

As we advance, will our physical needs go down to Raghunatha Dasa Goswami’s level?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/05-17%20QA/As%20we%20advance,%20will%20our%20physical%20needs%20go%20down%20to%20Raghunatha%20Dasa%20Goswami’s%20level.mp3

The post As we advance, will our physical needs go down to Raghunatha Dasa Goswami’s level? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Let go of the burden of hate
→ The Spiritual Scientist

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Suppose a person is carrying a huge boulder on their back. When asked why they are carrying it, they reply, “I want to throw it on my enemy’s head.” If their enemy lives far away and carrying that boulder that far is likely to break their own back, then they will end up hurting themselves far more than their enemy.

We wouldn’t usually burden our back thus, yet we frequently burden our heart thus. When someone hurts us badly, we often let ourselves become filled with resentment and anger towards them. Anger, when built up, becomes hate. And hate burdens our heart – it crushes our higher aspirations, reducing our world to a colorless, joyless desert wherein nothing matters except taking revenge against our offender. Worse still, hate sticks to our heart. Even if we take revenge, we find to our dismay that hate has become a habit. Some other wrong done by someone soon becomes our new object of hate, again and again and yet again.

How can we free ourselves from this burden? By choosing love instead of hate as our driving emotion. Choosing love doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to love those who have hurt us – that often requires a level of saintliness we may not yet have. Still, at our level, we can choose love by focusing consciously and conscientiously on the things we love. By meditating on the contributions we wish to make in the areas we love, we can direct our intentions more positively. By remembering that life is too short to be wasted in hating anyone, no matter how hateful their actions, we can get the determination to fight against hate instead of for hate.

The Bhagavad-gita offers a vision of life that makes choosing love easier. It explains that we all are souls, eternal parts of the all-attractive supreme, Krishna (15.07). We are meant to find lasting satisfaction by learning to expand our love from the temporary to the eternal. Our love expands when we direct it towards Krishna through the time-honored practice of bhakti-yoga. Such practice helps us experience Krishna’s love for us and relish security and satisfaction therein. Being thus bolstered, we feel inspired to reciprocate by offering him our love through constructive service according to our talents and interests. Hateful people with their malicious agendas can mar some specific paths in our life, but they can never mar our life’s ultimate purpose of linking with Krishna in love. If we focus on loving Krishna and expressing our love for him through practical service in our particular vocations, then we can always find a way to serve, no matter what who does.

Of course, some people may act so unconscionably that they need to be corrected. For example, the Mahabharata depicts how the vicious Kauravas were unrepentantly atrocious. After all attempts have been exhausted, the Bhagavad-gita asks Arjuna to fight for punishing them (11.33). […]

The post Let go of the burden of hate appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.