Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #4 – How to Feel Bad About Yourself!

January 26th, 2026

I’m a hopeless optimist. A friend once joked: “You’re so optimistic that you could be falling out of the Empire State Building and on the fiftieth floor say, ‘So far so good.’ We laughed, but it is no joke.

 

A dose of pessimism, however, is essential for bhakti. I think I am realizing that increasingly with age. Hopefully my unhinged optimism is cracking. How?

 

The pain of purification

 

Devotion gradually cleans the heart and helps you see yourself, warts and all. When the mind is cluttered with desires it is often hard to notice our faults, like not noticing something out of place in a cluttered room. Finally, a glimpse of reality: How many lifetimes have I been parading as Pauṇḍraka?[1] Can I bear the pain of purification?

 

The pain of understanding God

 

How painful it is to conform one’s way of living to a truth higher than one’s whims and attachments. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam informs me page after page, “You are not up to the mark. Change!” Can I bear the pain of transformation?

 

The pain of realization

 

I not only understand a truth; I see a truth — a realization. That realization is so clear that I kick myself. “It’s so simple. How in the world did I miss that?” I am pained to have lived in ignorance. As more realizations inevitably come can I bear the pain of self-realization?

 

The pain of regret

 

Bhakti begins with regretting our previous life of selfishness separate from God and then surrendering to God. That first stage of spiritual commitment is called tapa, or remorse. Tapa also means heat. Such remorse is heat because it challenges or burns our false sense of superiority. “No, I am not wrong! It is not my fault! It wasn’t a mistake!” Am I strong enough to resist such rationalization and enter the path of devotion? Admit it; regret it. Let that acknowledgment burn your charade. Can I bear the heat of remorse?

 

The pain of opening the heart

 

The essence of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is to chant the name of our beloved Lord without attachment or inhibition. Such simple-hearted sincerity is painful because the proud fear such vulnerability. Chanting means to open that heart fully and beg for the mercy of the holy name. Why the resistance? Can I bear the pain of opening my heart in devotion?

 

The joy of pain

 

The world is humbling, which is painful, but it doesn’t have to be ordinary suffering. If we can turn it into the soul’s aching for connection to God, it can be the birth of devotion and a source of the greatest joy.

 

And that’s how to feel bad about yourself on the path of Bhakti!

 

 


[1] A foolish king described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam who paraded around in the dress of Krishna and declared himself God but was later killed by Krishna.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #3 – Can Destiny Be Changed?

January 19th, 2026

Can Destiny Be Changed?

 

First, a story from the Jain tradition that sheds some initial light on our inquiry.

 

Five friends walk into a forest of mango trees to eat. In a very crass tone the first friend advises, “Cut down the tree!” “Why cut down the tree?” the next friend counters, “Just break off one branch.” “Why saw off the whole branch?” the third one protests, “Just break off the part where the mangos are.” The fourth suggests something more sensitive: “Why not just pick the mangos?” The fifth friend is even more considerate: “Why do we have to pick the mangos at all? Why not just take the ripe ones that have fallen on the ground?”[1]

 

The reactions of the different friends who desire the mangos from the tree represent different degrees of selfishness, with each requiring a commensurate level of atonement to nullify the offense.

 

For example, the person who wants to cut the whole tree is the most selfish and requires the strongest reaction to learn the lesson. No atonement would suffice, and only the full brunt of a karmic reaction could rectify the offense.

 

The person who just takes the ripe mangos that have fallen on the ground, but does not offer them to God, represents the least selfish alternative. To counteract the offense, simple sincere regret for the offense may be sufficient atonement.

 

The Jain text below commenting on our story sums up the science of atonement (nullifying egocentric acts):

 

If one unwittingly makes an imperceptible and minor mistake in dealing with someone, simply regretting one’s mistake may be sufficient to mitigate the reaction. For a more serious mistake an apology may do. An even more severe offense may require atonement. For the most egregious offenses, however, only by suffering a commensurate reaction to the offense can one be purified of that transgression. In such a case one’s destiny is certainly set in stone.

 

As one advances spiritually, however, one’s approach to altering destiny is not limited to atonement, especially as most of the karmic reactions we receive are connected to past acts that we are no longer even aware of. In other words, rather than merely putting one’s effort into preventing the ill fruits of one’s action, one counters one’s fate by the appropriate response to it.

 

After all, the real fruit of karma is the happiness and distress we feel, meted out by destiny. That certainly can be altered by understanding what is happening to us and appropriately responding to it. Socrates’ reaction to being condemned to death is a perfect example of this.

 

Socrates was sentenced to death by the Senate of Athens for the trumped-up charge of contaminating the youth with his teachings. He accepted his fate peacefully and made the simple request of being allowed to address his accusers.

 

His powerful words, recorded by Plato in “The Apology,” are worth pondering: “If you think you will harm me, you cannot harm me. You only will harm yourself.”

 

Socrates understood that we are eternal and that the real harm to us is acting against the interest of our soul. His thoughtful response therefore elevated his consciousness, while his accusers were karmically digging their own graves.

 

Was not Socrates’ fate changed by his enlightened perspective? Imagine the fate of a person in a similar situation but without his realization of the eternality of the soul. Would not that person’s fate be quite different? Therefore the best way to change our fate is by responding to our destiny with dharma or righteousness.

 

The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is filled with many such examples in which a deeper perspective on life alters the distress meted out by the mace of destiny, such as King Parīkṣit’s response to being cursed to die, or Vidura’s reaction to being banned from his kingdom by his evil nephew.

 

For this article I will just share Bhīṣmadeva’s advice to his grandson Yudhiṣṭhira, who inquired from him about how to digest his terrible fate in life. He suggested a way to gives us the realizations that ultimately elevates our consciousness and brings us true happiness:

 

There is no cause for despondency in life, no matter how trying circumstances get, if one, through understanding destiny as God’s beneficent and absolute will, does three things. One should bow one’s head in gratitude, respond in righteousness, and do so under one’s qualified mentors, thus extracting the fruit of destiny, a personal realization elevating one to a better life.[2]

 

To sum up: We can best counter destiny, which is ultimately our distress and happiness, by appropriately responding to destiny rather than changing it. In this way, by extracting the fruit of destiny, which is the realization meant to elevate our consciousness, we remain free from despondency. And in that sense we can change the essence of our destiny, which ultimately is our happiness and distress.

 

Although I am approaching my preferred word count, I think it will be very helpful in negotiating this challenging concept to add two analogies. They demonstrate that while the broad parameters of our destiny are mostly fixed, within those parameters our destiny can still be changed by how we view and experience it.

 

Example 1

Destiny is like being on a rocky road to a particular destination that we have no choice but to follow. In that sense destiny is fixed. One can, however, pave that road to make the journey smooth. In other words, within the parameters of our fate we can certainly mitigate our karmic reactions, and in that way change our fate.

 

Example 2

Destiny is like being dealt a bad hand in poker. Your cards are fixed. Still, if you play your cards properly you can minimize your losses or even win. This is a nice analogy to show both the fixed nature of destiny and the ability to change it by how we play our hand.

 

Can destiny be changed? In the most important way, yes! I will leave you with Rumi:

 

“When providence seems to be digging a hole to throw us in, it is actually planning to quench our thirst by drawing water from the ground.”

 

 


[1] This story is from a Jain treatise on karma that a friend shared with me many years ago when I was preparing a seminar on karma.

[2] This is my summary of Bhīṣmadeva’s instructions from Bhāgavatam 1.9.12-15.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #2 – Marilyn Monroe Died!

January 12th, 2026

Marilyn Monroe Died![1]

 

Note: This morning, I realized the Monday Morning Greetings post I was working on, titled “Rasa Theory Made Simple,” was not simple at all. I would never be able to explain such an esoteric subject within the two-page limit I generally set for my posts. And furthermore, I doubted I could accomplish such a task in the time I had. I thought I might search my archives for an article I could reprint, but first I thought just to click on the news for a minute and see what was happening in the world. I then stopped myself. I’m on an internet fast, at least from the news. So I began searching for a suitable reprint from at least six years ago and lo and behold, what is the first thing I hit upon? It was “Marilyn Monroe Died!”—a topic about “no news”. I thought it was a perfect article to reprint as it’s so commensurate with some of my realizations this week. That is generally how I come up with a subject to write about in the first place.

 

So, here is a substantially rewritten reprint of “Marilyn Monroe Died!”.

 

Marilyn Monroe Died!

 

My friend visited a renowned saint in Vrindavan. I am not sure why — it seemed a bit inappropriate — but he asked him, “What was the last thing you heard in the news?” I guess he had heard that when this saint arrived in Vrindavan in 1962 he vowed to never again hear anything of this world. The kind bābā searched his memory for a second. His matter of fact answer took my friend aback: “Marilyn Monroe died!” Soon after, my friend related this conversation to me. I was impressed.

 

Last week I got a similar message. It reminded me of the vow of that saint.

 

I was texting back and forth with a friend who had just finished some research work in Vrindavan and decided to stay a few weeks more. At the end of our conversation, I casually asked him a more personal question: “How is your bhajan?” His texts surprised me:

 

“Chanting 64 rounds

And reading Bhāgavatam for hours a day

It’s so amazing how Vṛndāvana is so different in summer

Nothing going on

You are the only one I shared actually

I never knew it’s possible

I also left social media. I use none whatsoever.”

 

The last line, “none whatsoever,” struck me. Although I am not personally on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, I do read about the world. But how much could my meditation improve if the input of the world, with its distractions, likes, hates, and dualities, was completely shut off?

 

I began to think of those friends that seem to go much deeper than others in their chanting of the holy name. They all seem to have, to one degree or another, one thing in common. In terms of social media, they are all in the school of “Marilyn Monroe died,” so to speak.

 

I thought, yes, media, “none whatsoever.” What is the use of having the mind stimulated with so many thoughts that are of no use to the soul? Why not go even deeper into the holy name? Time is short.

 

I recalled a talk that I had listened to recently that seemed relevant to what I was thinking:

 

Simon Sinek described how the constant use of social media has the same chemical effect on the brain as any form of addiction, from gambling to alcohol.[2] They all produce an inordinate amount of dopamine, the chemical in the brain that activates the nucleus accumbens, the brain’s pleasure or reward center. [3]In time, as the nucleus accumbens is over-stimulated by dopamine, it naturally adapts, requiring one to take more and more of the addictive substance to obtain the same dopamine “high.” Compulsion takes over, and one is addicted. And here’s the real point that struck me: “If you arise in the morning and the first thing you do is check your computer you are addicted!”

 

Okay, I am using “media” to research and write this. Certainly, it has many good uses. Compassionate souls may research the world to comment on it with spiritual insight. Even Śrīla Prabhupada occasionally wrote or spoke on “that rascal Nixon” or “a prayer day in the U.S. Senate” and other worldly events to illustrate his point.

 

But here’s the question. How much external news does one need in Krishna’s service? The cultured sādhu retired in Vṛndāvana didn’t need any. And how much do you require for the service of Krishna?

 

If attentive chanting is our problem, or if we want to go much deeper into the holy name, perhaps this is the cause — too much absorption in what Śrīla Prabhupada called “the world of names.”

 

“The great kings, leaders and soldiers fight with one another to perpetuate their names in history. They are forgotten in due course of time, and they make a place for another era of history. But the devotee realizes how much history and historical places are useless products of flickering time.” (Bhāgavatam 2.2.3, purport)

 


[1] This is a rewritten reprint from July 8, 2019.

[2] Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU

[3] This explanation of the effects of dopamine mentioned in Simon Sinek’s talk comes from article on addiction from Harvard Heath Publishing a division of Harvard Medical School. https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/how-addiction-hijacks-the-brain

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #1 – The Art of the Essay and Happy Tenth Birthday, Monday Morning Greetings!

January 5th, 2026

That’s over five hundred original essays! In my first essay of every year, I celebrate the birth of my blog by writing about writing.

 

One thing that I am proud of, and I hope that doesn’t sound egotistic, is that I have honed my craft. I write about that every year. This year, specifically I want to share some writing about writing by some prominent American authors that encouraged me to feel that my craft is going in the right direction.

 

Robert AtwanThe four qualities of a good essay

 

The essay is a particular genre of writing. Years ago, to hone my essay writing, I started to read anthologies of notable essays from the beginning of the genre, which is credited to Montaigne. Every year, I would get the anthology of American Best Essays founded by Robert Atwan, the series editor since its inception forty years ago.

 

I was especially interested in his foreword each year. In these, he extensively discusses in different ways the genre of essays.  In one piece he outlined “four qualities we can find in all essays that have lasted beyond their moment of composition: 1) they explore original ideas about specific topics; 2) they include the vivid presence of the writer who readers can discern and track; 3) they incorporate moments of both self-awareness and skepticism primarily through reflection; and 4) they resist what Atwan calls “standardization” in content or form.

 

I thought, “this is what I try to do!” I hope my audience can sees this too in my writing.

 

I also related to this reference:

 

“[E]very work, be it fiction or serious treatise, is embalmed in some fantastic wrappage, some mad narrative accounting for its appearance, and connecting it with the author, who generally becomes a person in the drama itself, before all is over.”

 

—Thomas Carlyle, on Jean Paul Richter (1827).

 

Ernest Hemingway – Seven Tips for Good Writing[1]

 

Ernest Hemingway was a Nobel Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer and journalist. Recently, I came across several of his tips for writing. I felt gratified that without ever being taught those principles, I had already incorporated some of them in my own writing. These were the points I especially related to:

 

2: Stop writing for the day while you still know what’s coming next.

 

“Always stop when you’re going well and know what will happen next. That way, you’ll avoid getting stuck.”

 

4: Begin each writing session by reading what you’ve written so far.

 

“When it gets too long to read it all, go back a couple of chapters each day. Then each week, read from the beginning. This practice helps one reconnect with his story’s flow and keep continuity.”

 

5: Don’t describe emotions—create them.

 

“Newspaper writing tells what happened, often creating emotion through timeliness. Real writing, however, conveys the emotion as truthfully as possible. Instead of explaining feelings, let readers feel through the action and dialogue.”

 

7: Be brief.

 

“The Gettysburg Address was brief by design. The rules of prose are as unchanging as those of physics. Use valued concise, powerful prose that make every word count.”

 

Roy Peter Clark –“Murder your darlings”

 

Roy Clark is an American writer, editor, and writing coach. One of his most famous works on writing advice is called “Murder Your Darlings.”[2]

 

He wrote:

 

“Ask yourself, ‘Am I including this because it provides the reader with a memorable and delightful piece of evidence to prove the point of my text? Or is it beside the point even though it reveals what a good wordsmith I am?’ In other words, the phrase, sentence, or paragraph that’s the most precious to you, but doesn’t really add anything to your thesis, must go.”

 

I think this is one the most important things I Iearned about writing. It took me some time before I got it, but I am ruthless now in removing anything, no matter how seemingly profound or charming, that doesn’t serve the flow and focus of my writing. “Murder Your Darlings” is an essential writing tip.

 

Stephen King – “The adverb is not your friend”

 

The Adverb is Not Your Friend[3] is an essay by the famous novelist Stephen King that was shared with me by one of my writing mentors. I followed his advice of eliminating unnecessary adverbs, which means most. It made me a better writer.

 

It is beyond the scope of my post here to elaborate, but I recommend you read that essay The Adverb is Not Your Friend, if you want to be a better writer

 

All the posts for the past year can be found on www.wavesofdevotion.com. If you have the time and inclination I would appreciate if you could send me your favorite Monday Morning Greetings. Feedback helps me to focus on what to write.

 

All the best for a prosperous and spiritually uplifting New Year from Monday Morning Greetings!

 

 


[1] These tips aren’t from a single formal essay by Hemingway but are compiled from his letters, interviews, and essays, particularly those later collected in the book Ernest Hemingway on Writing (edited by Larry W. Phillips).

[2] https://barbaraleeharper.com/2023/04/25/murder-your-darlings/

[3] https://mecheng.iisc.ac.in/cnuiisc/DSRC/be.iisc.ac/13_StephenKing_adverb_is_not_your_friend.pdf