Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 37A young girl sets a basket on a river and lets go. Inside the basket is a newborn baby. He is wearing golden earrings, and a shining armour that seems to have grown into his skin. She kisses him. She weeps. She pushes the basket into the current. And she never tells anyone.Source note. Label: scripture. The story of Kunti and Durvasa's boon, the invocation of Surya, the birth of Karna with natural armour and earrings, the basket set on the river, the

“Shivaya Namah Om” was made live during a kirtan at Yoga Vidya Bad Meinberg in Germany. Here is the text to sing along: Shivaya Nama Om, Shivaya Namaha Shivaya Nama Om, Namah Shivaya // 1 // Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya // 2 // Shiva Shiva Shiva Shiva, Shivaya Nama Om Hara Hara Hara Hara, Namah Shivaya // 3 // Samba Sadashiva, Samba Sadashiva Samba Sadashiva, Samba Shiv(a) Om Hara // 4 // Shiva Shiva Shankara, Hara Hara Shankara Jay(a) Jay(a)

Recorded 1st December 2024In this spiritual discussion, practitioners reflect on Raghunatha Dasa Goswami's prayer from Vilapa-kusumanjali, where a soul drowning in an ocean of sorrow begs for shelter at Srimati Radhika's lotus feet.The conversation examines the core difference between material misery—which centers on bodily identity—and spiritual suffering, which stems from intense longing and separation from Radha, Krishna, and pure devotees. Rather than causing mere depression, spiritual

Recorded 30th November 2024In this profound spiritual discourse, the speaker delves into deep concepts of Raganuga Bhakti, exploring the inner emotional mood (bhava) of Shrimati Radharani’s maidservants (manjaris) and the true essence of devotional practice (sadhana).Drawing from Premabhakti Chandrika (Verse 53 commentary) and Srimad Bhagavatam, this discussion highlights: • Raghunath Das Goswami & Love in Separation: How Radharani and Her maidservants embody pure vipralambha and seva-rasa. •

Recorded 30th November 2024In this spiritual discourse, the devotees delve into the teachings of Srila Raghunatha Das Goswami’s Vilapa-kusumanjali. The discussion explores the mood of Manjari Bhava, exclusive devotion to Srimati Radharani, and the internal dynamics of divine love in separation (viraha).Key Topics Covered in This Video: Vilapa-kusumanjali & Manjari Bhava: Understanding the supreme mood of mental service (mansi seva) and one-pointed attachment to Srimati Radharani. Siddha-Deha

Recorded 30th November 2024In this deep spiritual discourse, the speakers explore verse 7 of Srila Raghunath Dasa Goswami’s Sri Vilapa Kusumanjali, featuring the commentary of Srila Ananta Dasa Babaji.Key Topics Covered in This Session: Spiritual Greed (Lobha): How genuine spiritual longing arises naturally within the soul through uncaused mercy (kripa), rather than through material effort or mental endeavor. Total Absorption (Svarupa-avesha): Understanding how divine attraction acts like a

Recorded 29th November 2024In this podcast episode, speakers dive deep into Text 117 of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi, composed by Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. The discussion explores the exquisite poetic descriptions of Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s transcendental beauty and the confidential loving service (sevā) performed by the mañjarīs.Key Topics Covered in This Episode: Redefining Worship (Upāsanā): Moving away from awe, reverence, or fear toward the true Vedic meaning of upāsanā — "sitting

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 36Take a handful of cooked rice, a little barley flour, a few black sesame seeds. Press them together in your palm until they hold. Round them into a ball about the size of a small fruit. That is a pinda. And for thousands of years, in millions of homes, this small, plain, unremarkable ball has been the centre of the rite that we call Pitru Paksha.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 29 first.Source note. Label: tradition and text. The meaning

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 35The greatest warrior of his age lay on the ground, held above it by arrows. They had pierced him from head to foot, so many, and so close together, that he did not touch the earth. His body rested on their shafts. But his head hung down, unsupported. And he was thirsty.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 34 first.Source note. Label: scripture and tradition. Bhishma's vow, his boon of choosing the time of death, his fall on the tenth day of

“Good and bad, which are part of the illusion created by Hari, cannot be removed without worshiping Hari. Keeping this in mind, worship Rama and renounce all desires.” (Dohavali, 127)

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 34In the middle of a temple in Bihar, in a silver basin, there is a footprint carved in stone. It is about forty centimetres long. It is cut into a single block of dark basalt. And pilgrims from all over India queue for hours to stand beside it, and to say the name of their father. This is Dharma Katha, Season One, Pitru Paksha. Episode thirty-four, day six. It is a short one. In the last three episodes we told the story of a demon whose body became

Dear Choose Happy Community,It can take practice to recognize the patterns that keep us disconnected from our deeper truth. This teaching reminds us that beneath fear, limitation, and human pain, there is a capacity for unconditional love, compassion, creativity, and wholeness. We don’t have to pretend difficult emotions aren’t there. Instead, we can meet them with honesty and ask the source of unconditional love to guide us toward a different choice.Choosing truth and love is a practice we return

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 33Two brothers went to town to buy supplies for a funeral rite, and left a woman alone by a river. And, in some tellings, out of the river's sand a hand rose, and a voice said: I am hungry. Feed me. This is Dharma Katha, Season One, Pitru Paksha. Episode thirty-three, day six. If you have not heard the last episode, it tells how, in Valmiki's Ramayana, Rama offered forest fruit and berries for his dead father, and how tradition says he later went to

Krishna Das reflects on the enduring presence of Maharaj-ji, the medicine of devotion, and finding our own way into the practice of love.

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Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 32When Rama learned that his father was dead, he fainted. He was in the forest, in exile, a hermit's dress on his back. His younger brother Bharata had walked all the way from Ayodhya to find him. And Bharata, weeping, told him the news that Rama had not heard in all the years of his banishment. The king, Dasharatha, had died of grief, calling his son's name.Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 31 first.Source note. Label: scripture and

Dharma Katha · Season 1: Pitru Paksha · Episode 31There is a town in Bihar where, every autumn, hundreds of thousands of people come with a single purpose. They come to offer rice-balls to their dead. The town is called Gaya. And according to the tradition, it is named after a demon. This is Dharma Katha, Season One, Pitru Paksha. Episode thirty-one, and the start of our sixth day. For five days we have told stories about ancestors, about death, and about the road beyond it. Today we go to a real

Link to lyrics: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.radhakrishnaprem.com

Swami Swaroopananda, Global Head of Chinmaya Mission, is a revered spiritual leader known for his clear, profound Vedanta teachings. His wisdom guides many towards self-discovery and inner peace, making complex concepts accessible and inspiring globally. In this series, Swamiji distills the learnings from the Bhagavad Geeta and explains it in a way that allows everyone to enjoy the essence of the Geeta.

Engages with the life and ideas of the twelfth-century Shaiva mystic and philosopher-poet Allama Prabhu.In his last, profoundly innovative work Allama Prabhu and the Shaiva Imagination, D. R. Nagaraj (1954-1998) engages with the twelfth-century Shaiva mystic and philosopher-poet Allama Prabhu, whose enigmatic writings have perplexed many and thus resisted analysis. Nagaraj situates Allama in three intellectual contexts: the medieval philosophical world built around the worship of Shiva; the