Rajesh Takyar Author

Seeing Practice Across the Whole Day We make time for spiritual practice, but do we also prepare our lives for it? This question repeatedly brings me back to the dialogue in the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita where Shri Krishna speaks to Arjuna about food, sleep, wakefulness, and action. These matters may seem very ordinary in a discussion about approaching the Divine. Yet our haste to seek inner steadiness while overlooking them deserves attention. We want to change the moment of meditation without examining the daily life that leads us to it. Shri Krishna places the whole of life before the seeker. How much we take, how much we give up, when we rest, and the spirit in which we work are all questions connected with practice. If the mind is to move in one direction, we must also examine the direction of our activities. Simply sitting down after a day of chasing desires does not automatically end our inner distraction. Continually subjecting the body to hardship does not, by itself, prove spirit...

Looking at the Mind Before Speaking We say many things throughout the day, but we do not always notice what our words leave within another person. We take having finished our point as a sign that the conversation has succeeded. Sometimes a statement is correct, yet distance grows in a relationship. Sometimes very few words offer someone support. For me, therefore, speaking is not only a matter of deciding what I want to say. I also need to examine the feeling behind it and what may follow from it. In the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna makes speech a field of spiritual discipline. Restraint of the body can be seen, but restraint of words is tested in even our smallest conversations. At home, during work, among friends, and in disagreement, this aspect of our practice comes into view. Keeping the mind peaceful during worship is necessary; some of that peace should also enter our language. If devotion lives within us, sensitivity towards another person's dignity should be present...

Stories of Shiva bring joy to the mind, but some do not allow us to stop there. They ask questions. Shiva is described as perfectly serene, beginningless and all-pervading; yet in stories he appears to love, become angry, punish, grant boons and appear to protect a devotee. If we treat these scenes only as extraordinary events, we may feel wonder, but leave unheard the question concealed within them. In the chapter “The Importance of Stories” from my book Madhavshiv , the sages place precisely this unease before Vayu. They are not looking for fault in Shiva, nor are they asking from disbelief. They want to understand why Shiva’s divine acts should not be read as ordinary human behaviour. Their questions do not break faith. They make faith more careful and deeper. A Story Opens Through a Question There are two ways of hearing a story. One is to stop at the wonder of the event. The other is to seek the principle hidden behind it. The sages choose the second path. When they consider t...

The Heart Revealed in Prayer When we fold our hands before God, many desires arise within us. We wish for a difficulty to pass, unfinished work to be completed, happiness to remain in our home, and the future to appear secure. Amid these desires, I sometimes ask myself what I would seek first if all my prayers were heard. A brief episode involving the sage Garga and the child Krishna brings me to a pause before this question. Here is a prayer in which the one asking has already recognised the deepest longing of his heart. Garga takes Krishna to a secluded place. His eyes fill with tears, his body thrills with devotion, and his hands are folded. Before him is a child, yet the sage recognises the Lord of the world in that child. The scene is tender in itself. A sage rich in knowledge and years bows before this infant form. Praise rises from his lips, and his heart prays for the opportunity to serve. He places his devotion at the Lord’s feet. What I first notice in this prayer is clarity ...

The rules of life and nature What is the Gita? It is also a book of rules for every human being living in the world. You walk along a road, keeping to the right or left according to the rules. If you are travelling in a vehicle and see a red light ahead, you must stop, because failing to do so will mean bearing the penalty prescribed by the government’s rules. This is only a small example. The whole of nature is a system created by God. It too operates according to the rules he has made, and that is why it remains alive. Shrimad Bhagavad Gita is a book of those rules made by the Lord, which Shri Krishna explained to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. At that time, Arjuna was about to break a rule established by the Supreme Being. The question of duty in the face of attachment Arjuna was born into a Kshatriya family. A Kshatriya’s task is to protect society and the state, to protect his family, and to protect himself. But when the time came to do all this, he began to withdra...

The Meaning of Returning Home We remember the prayer that rises during a crisis. Sometimes the scene of returning home afterwards escapes our attention. In Krishna’s forest-fire episode, I want to pause over precisely this return. The fire has subsided, fear has lifted and the people of Vraja are filled with joy. But the story does not end there. Krishna comes home with everyone. Nanda gives gifts, feeds everyone, auspicious observances take place and the Lord’s name is sung. For me, these final events contain an important question: how will we now treat the life that we have experienced as being spared? In fear, the heart recognises its needs very clearly. It wants safety, the company of its loved ones and a way out of danger. When the difficulty passes, the same heart finds relief. Should only the old busyness return after that relief, or can something remain within that changes how we look at life? Vraja’s shared joy after the fire draws me towards the second question. Returning saf...

One journey, two intentions When trying to understand someone, we often look only at where they have come from and whose company they keep. After that, we have no questions left about their heart. We assume that their feelings must resemble those of the person with whom they live. Akrura’s arrival in Vrindavan makes me pause before this haste. The instruction to travel comes from Kamsa, yet the traveller’s heart longs to see Shri Krishna. Two entirely different intentions accompany the same journey. Without understanding this difference, we cannot fully understand the welcome Akrura receives either. When Kamsa learned about Shri Krishna and Balarama, he called Akrura and instructed him to bring the brothers to him. He did not even conceal his purpose. He intended to kill Shri Krishna and asked Akrura to entice them into coming. The episode begins harshly. While reading the loving encounter that follows, it would be wrong to forget that harshness. It is precisely this that deepens the q...

Yashoda’s question A moment of devotion can awaken much within us, but that awakening also needs care. Love arises, our eyes grow moist, and remembrance of God becomes natural. Does this mean our journey is complete? The conversation between Shri Radha and Mother Yashoda brings me face to face with this question. Here, devotion does not appear as something distant. It reveals its meaning within relationships where affection already exists. The question is how open our vision remains within that affection, and how deeply we recognise the true nature of the one we love. The episode begins in Dwarka. The auspicious ceremonies of Rukmini’s wedding have concluded. Nanda and Yashoda come to their two sons, Krishna and Balarama. Yashoda asks Shri Krishna about the path to her deliverance. She says that he has given knowledge to Nanda and asks him to show her grace as well. There is a mother’s love in this appeal, but not merely a mother’s claim. Yashoda recognises her own inner need. She seek...

Even Closeness Leaves Something to Learn When we have a deep relationship with someone, we sometimes assume that little remains to be known about them. Familiarity makes us comfortable, but curiosity can stop if that familiarity becomes confidence in complete knowledge. An episode involving Arjuna in Krishna Ki Radha opens up this assumption. Although he is Shri Krishna’s beloved friend, Arjuna asks him questions. He wants to know the divine pastimes and the realm of love whose nature has not yet entered his experience. His question concerns neither a battle plan nor victory or a kingdom. Arjuna wants to know who Krishna’s dear companions are, what their world is like, and where those eternally joyful places are. His questions unfold in detail. He also asks to be told any mystery still unknown to him that he has not thought to ask about. This curiosity reveals an acknowledgement of the limits of his knowledge. Being a close friend does not bring questions to an end. Krishna does not im...