You might consider a beautiful pearl necklace as a Mothers Day gift (always my mother’s favorite) and if so you would be offering a deep philosophical and theological gift as well.

Sometimes people ask - why can't I see Krishna? If God is the source of all, and is present everywhere, including in my heart, then why can't I see Him?

The Gita offers a reason why and it is connected to how the world (and necklaces) are made. Krishna says "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything rests on Me as pearls are strung on a thread.”

When shopping, don’t buy your Mom a necklace that has the thread showing - that's cheap, looks tacky, and will fall apart in no time.  A good quality necklace will never show the thread. You know it’s there, for you check to make sure it cannot be seen.

In the same way Krishna so expertly designed the world that even though it all rests on Him, He is not visible. The "pearls" of the world are so well strung, so expertly put together, that the thread upon which it all rests remains completely hidden. And at the same time we know the “thread” - Krishna - is there. 

The gift of the pearl necklace gives this understanding - that we forever rest upon, and are connected to, a divine and supreme Person, who is holding us and the world together, and will always be there for us. So can we ever see Him? Some day, when our faith rests upon threads of deep and pure love - for love and grace reveal everything.

Happy Mothers Day!

I went to a lovely presentation called  “Harmony and the Bhagavad-gita.” The speaker divided the talk into three sections - harmony within, harmony with nature, and harmony with others.  It prompted me to reflect on the 3 elements of the “peace formula” verse from the Gita and how it related to the presentation and to my own life:

‘A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries’. BG 5.29

When I was young, if I had to do a job around the house that I didn’t want to do, my mother would cheerfully tell me to “offer it up”. I always remember that. She introduced me to the first practice of harmony within and the peace formula--understanding Krishna to be the receiver of all offerings and sacrifices. Living your life for the pleasure of another (what? not me?)--and not just an ordinary “another”, but the supreme Another--opens the door to an ocean of peace.

Accepting Krishna as the Lord of all planets and demigods connects to harmony with nature. Nature and the world we live in belongs to Krishna. We may think we own land or a house, or belong to a town, an island, a country... but that is so foolish. We hold so tight to the sense of “I”  and “it’s mine” that peace and harmony cannot fit into our lives. We set the boundaries and are ready to fight at any given moment.

Harmony with others comes when we understand that Krishna is the “benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities”. Elsewhere in the Gita Krishna is described as ‘our most dear friend”.  Sometimes we think He is just our friend, and forget that He is a friend to others too.

Yesterday, someone told me how he had been really bothered by what he felt was an unfair situation--someone getting rewarded without making much of an effort. He was openly upset and angry about it. Then it came to him, “Krishna is their friend too. Perhaps He wants to give them a break right now.  After all Krishna has given to me freely and helped me out so many times”. He said the minute he began to think like that, a huge sense of peace swept into his mind and heart.

If we learn and start living this peace formula then the joi-de-vivre will be truly ours, for as the Gita also tells us - “there cannot be any happiness without peace”.

Sometimes we plan a retreat or sometimes life itself will bring us to the edge and cause us to slow down and reflect. Either way, being at the edge of somewhere or something can be good for deep thought. Here is what I found:

Standing by the ocean

The waves pounding the shore

I feel at the edge

Of heaven and earth

The edge is a good place to be

Neither here nor there

A place to pause

And ask yourself

Questions you may not have

Or even wish to

Ask or answer

Like - who are you?

And - where are you going?

Or - are seriously going to get there?

By the edge of the ocean

The water brings to balance

What time and life draw out from us

And asks us to remember and begin again

The journey within.

“Most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” This unsettling quote from Thoreau came up during a Bhagavad-gita discussion at Buddha B Yoga studio in DC.

In the beginning of the Gita we see Arjuna in crisis. He is facing the reality of being the cause of death for so many and the numerous consequences that war brings with it. The first chapter is sometimes called the Yoga of Despair. Things are not looking good for Arjuna, the kind-hearted and righteous soldier, and he wants to pull back and not fight. In desperation he turns to Krishna and asks for guidance.

I woke up the other morning after a restless night and longed for a good deep sleep. My, I thought, if only I could have this same desire for Krishna! So, I took that freshly felt longing for sleep and diverted it into my japa meditation. It helped me be very present and absorbed in chanting.

One can do the same with love. Srila Prabhupada talked in a lecture about diverting our love towards Krishna. We naturally love so many things in this world, he said, and when you feel those feelings divert them towards Krishna.