Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #8 – Bhāgavatam: The Book of Revelations

February 23rd, 2026

For ten years I have been able to come up with a solid realization to write about every week. For the last six weeks it has been a struggle. By Thursday again also nothing. I knew the reasons why. It had something to do with a month of leading retreats throwing me off schedule, but I needed to do something about it immediately. I could just not tolerate offering another reprint Monday. In desperation a thought came.

 

Due to the retreats, I have also have not been steady in my study of the Bhāgavatam. Scripture arms one with jñāna-cakṣus, a vision of the world through the eyes of knowledge. Only one empowered in this way can see the world in a way that enables one to write something meaningful about it. I thought, if I read the Bhāgavatam maybe some realization will come.

 

I immediately picked up the Eighth Canto and started to read. I vowed to become steady in my daily reading again.

 

I began to hear verse after verse listing the Manus, the universal administrators. There was practically no commentary. I needed more philosophical content to be inspired, so after twenty such verses I skipped to Chapter Two, Gajendra Mokṣa. That should be interesting. That’s chock full of philosophical input. It begins, however, with verse after verse intricately describing the beauty of the heavenly Trikūṭa mountain. The verses were simply descriptive, but again not many teachings there. A question came to my mind.

 

The Bhāgavatam, and almost all Vaiṣṇava literature, is composed in verse form. It takes so much effort when the expression of one’s thoughts is confined to meter and rhythm and the other demands of writing in this way. Why did the writer expend that effort for composing the verses I was reading when they contain, little, if any philosophical or devotional content?

 

Voila! I have this week’s topic. Why is traditional Indian philosophy often or mostly expressed through verse?[1]

 

In verse individual Sanskrit words are impregnated with meaning and feeling.

 

The import of verse is especially highlighted by the selected words chosen, often impregnated with deep meaning and feeling in themselves. As you study and naturally become familiar with certain Sanskrit words your understanding of the feeling and philosophy of the text and the school’s teachings becomes significantly enhanced. Those words also give you an easy reference when they have been used elsewhere, further elucidating the meaning of the verse you are studying. In other words, verse is the best vehicle to reveal a school’s teachings by highlighting important words that are filled with special meaning.

 

Verse codifies philosophy and is a tool for learning.

 

A sūtra is a terse statement that codifies philosophy. When you study, or preferably memorize a verse, commentaries help unpack the meaning of each word. You can easily memorize a school’s teachings by just recalling each word of the sūtra and then unpacking its meaning. Verses in the Bhāgavatam are not necessarily sūtras, but the same mechanism is there; learning a key verse often gives one ownership of a whole tattva or philosophical truth.

 

Poetic verse has a special potency to involve the reader.

 

Marshall McLuhan was a prominent Canadian social philosopher focusing on media theory in the late 1960s. He is famous for coining the expression “The medium is the message.” He theorized that the effect of the medium itself is more important than the content it communicates. Mediums that have the maximum stimulating impact make you the most active in learning the messages they convey. There is not a better medium to make the reader actively involved than poetry, because the reader must search for meaning that is often indirect and hidden.

 

Poetic verse is the best medium to convey emotion.

 

The Bhāgavatam is rasa śāstra. That means it is meant to convey an intense emotion to the reader, which in this case is bhakti. In conveying emotion, it is always better to make the reader feel it rather than explaining it. Poetic verse seems the best medium to communicate emotion by encapsulating it in poetic verse in a way to make you feel it.

 

Poetic verse is the best way to reveal the meaning of śāstra.

 

Śrī Jīva describes the way the meaning of śāstra is revealed. “In śāstra the words (vācaka) themselves carry the inherent power to reveal what they signify (vācya).

 

If the words themselves have the power to reveal the meaning of śāstra, then what better way to present those words than with the methods of poetry where specific words are highlighted for their meaning and feeling?

 

I was stuck today in my writing. I took shelter of the Bhāgavatam and some realizations came.

 

The Bhāgavatam indeed is the book of revelations![2]

 

 


[1] We are using the word verse here to indicate verse with poetic skill, not just any simple often clumsy rhyme.

[2] After writing this a thought came up. The translations of the verses of the Bhāgavatam are not in verse form. How much is therefore lost in translation? Perhaps this is why Śrīla Prabhupāda in his translation and commentary insisted that the Sanskrit, transliteration and word for word are also published. In this way, those who cannot read it in the original Sanskrit can still enhance their own study by memorizing select Sanskrit verses and become aware of the powerful meanings of select words. I personally cannot imagine studying in any other way.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #7 – In Defense of Ignorance

February 16th, 2026

“In defense of ignorance”?

 

Well, here it is:

 

“Those who worship avidyā (the culture of ignorance) come back to this world. However, those who are fully engaged only in vidyā (the culture of knowledge) fall even into a greater darkness.” Śrī Īśopaniṣad 9[1]

 

But how can that be?

 

Words often have multiple meanings depending on their context. Here vidyā refers to spiritual knowledge and avidyā refers to material knowledge. If we understand avidyā as material knowledge, the quandary is resolved.

 

Material knowledge is fundamentally ignorance because it binds one to the world of birth and death. But to engage in vidyā without it is in some ways worse. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes the utility of avidyā in his commentary to verse nine:

 

“The culture of spiritual knowledge necessitates the help of the body and mind; therefore maintenance of the body and mind is required if we are to reach our goal.”

 

In other words, to take to spiritual life without the understanding of how to keep the body and soul together is dangerous.

 

Another good example of such darkness is the premature adoption of sannyāsa. Sannyāsa means a life exclusively dedicated to the cultivation of vidyā. When it is adopted before one has been purified by avidyā, meaning working through one’s desires in varṇāśrama, then disaster looms. Has anything caused more disruption and pain in ISKCON that the repeated fall of those in the sannyāsa order who renounced the world prematurely?

 

It should be clear that when talking about avidyā, Śrī Īśopaniṣad it is talking about Vedic avidyā, material knowledge in support of vidyā, not illicit activities of gross ignorance, as avidyā on its own binds one to this world.

 

It should also be noted that within avidyā are certain skills almost essential to the path of bhakti. For example, the Six Goswamis, especially Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana, studied and wrote commentaries on poetics. It is an essential skill in understanding and expressing the finer points of vraja bhakti. Again, standing alone, a study of poetics by itself is not transcendental.

 

Two verses later in Śrī Īśopaniṣad the value of avidyā is stated emphatically—we should not renounce those things that have value in bringing us to the platform of spiritual knowledge (vidyā) even if they seem to be material.

 

“Only one who can learn the process of nescience [avidyā] and that of transcendental knowledge [vidyā] side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.” Śrī Īśopaniṣad 11

 

And that’s my defense of Ignorance!

 

 


[1] This is Śrīla Prabhupāda’s translation of the verse:

“Those who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the culture of so-called knowledge.”

I used in my post the translation of the verse from Hari Parshad’s class during the Saranagati retreat at the Govardhan Retreat Center from February 5th through 9th of this year, titled Bhoga, Tyāga, and Beyond.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #6 – There is No Victim Consciousness in God Consciousness

February 9th, 2026

There is no Victim Consciousness in God Consciousness[1]

 

“Victim consciousness is a stage of consciousness in which people deny personal responsibility for the things that happen in their lives. People in victim consciousness believe that the world is acting upon or against them, and they are the innocent targets of other peoples’ action or behavior.”[2]

 

Elevated God consciousness is the opposite. Here are four examples:

 

Dharma the Bull

 

King Parīkṣit was informed that a bull had been badly beaten. He immediately rushed to the scene of the crime. Although the bull knew that he was beaten by the personality of Kali, the bull refused to identify him.  He knew that ultimately without the sanction of the Lord, no one could afflict trouble upon him. He then began to explain in detail the various misconceptions about the cause of suffering and how one could use them to abnegate personal responsibility and remain ignorant of the lessons God meant for one to learn.

 

Observing the bull’s reaction, and hearing his exposition full of knowledge and philosophy, the king recognized the bull as Dharma (the personality of religion): “You are speaking according to the principle that the destination intended for the perpetrator of irreligious acts is also intended for one who identifies the perpetrator.” In other words, although it is the duty of one to protect the vulnerable from exploitation, victim consciousness is not encouraged.

 

Vidura

 

The elderly Vidura was unfairly thrown out of the kingdom by Duryodhana, his cruel nephew, whom he had served selflessly his whole life. In addition, he was harshly insulted by him. He refused, however, to play the victim. Rather, he saw that God was delivering to him an important message: it was time to retire from the intrigues of family and political life and leave for pilgrimage. An elevated soul sees destiny as the language of God.

 

Bhīmadeva

 

Although Yudhiṣṭhira led a noble and sinless life, his suffering year after year was unbearable. Even worse, nobody could satisfy his inquiry as to why he had to suffer. In frustration he inquired from his grandfather, Bhīṣmadeva, who was lying on the battlefield waiting to die. Somehow, his grandfather was able to muster up the strength to reply. Destiny, he explained, is just God’s grace offering us the gift of spiritual realization for those who respond to their fate righteously and according to appropriate guidance.

 

Socrates

 

When Socrates was unfairly condemned to die by the Greek assembly for political reasons, his wish to confront his accusers was granted. Rather than feeling persecuted, he informed them, “If you think you will harm me, you will not harm me; you will only harm yourselves.” Socrates was expressing something quite deep. The self or soul is eternal and spiritual. It therefore can only be harmed by one’s own acts of selfishness. In other words, if he was executed, the Greek Senate, who would kill him in a mood of exploitation, would be the one disadvantaged and not himself, who would respond in dignity.

 

It’s unfortunate how far the world has veered from a culture of personal responsibility and self-correction based on God consciousness.  Certainly, all forms of oppression and exploitation should be shunned and appropriately rectified. There are powerful realizations one can glean from the perspective of the downtrodden. One should be wary, however, of adopting the consciousness of victimization and conceding the power to change one’s life to external actors. Contrast this to the teachings of the Bhāgavatam which educates and fully empowers one to change oneself in any circumstance.

 

“We all suffer, but to be a victim is a choice.” — Unknown

 

 


[1] I just completed of a one-month yatra — Mayapur/Puri/Vrindavan/Govardhan. My computer crashed and I couldn’t write. Here is a substantially edited reprint of Monday Morning Greetings November 18, 2019.

[2] Barry and Janae Weinhold — https://web.archive.org/web/20220122105432/https://weinholds.org/victim-consciousness/

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #5 – How Are You? My Answer

February 2nd, 2026

How Are You? My Answer[1]

 

How are you?

 

Everything is going great, but there is one problem.

 

What is that?

 

I’m not the controller.

 

What?

 

If you are not the controller, how can you be the enjoyer?

 

Why not?

 

Because no matter how many things are going your way, if you are not the controller, not everything will go your way.

 

So?

 

When we are in the mood of the enjoyer, then the problem, the thing that doesn’t go our way, becomes prominent, and not the things that are going our way. That one lousy thing, no matter how insignificant it is, ruins everything, at least for most people.

 

How?

 

As it is said, “A pinch of suffering is felt more than a ton of happiness.” Think Bill Gates with a toothache. Not just physical pain, but any small insult, or any frustration of our immediate, or long-term desires, can ruin everything. As this world rarely conforms to our desires, it is always a place of suffering for those immersed in false ego, the desire to control and enjoy, which is, unfortunately, most people.

 

What to do?

 

We have to change our strategy. We need to go from seeking our happiness in destiny, what happens to us, which is beyond our control, to seeking happiness in in our free will—how we react to what happens to us—which is within our control. In other words, we need not to change the world, but to change our selves, and this is within our power.

 

Explain further.

 

We are consciousness, or being, who reaches fulfillment in love or service. Happiness is thus not controlling the world, but serving the world, and that opportunity and consciousness is available no matter what the circumstances.

 

How are you?

 

Everything is fine. I am not the controller, but when you have an inner life, then that does not matter at all.

 

 


[1] I am in the middle of a one-month yatra—Mayapur/Puri/Vrindavan/Govardhan. My computer crashed and I couldn’t write. Here is a reprint from nine years ago on May 29, 2017.