1819: Daring to Fly Higher | Jonathan Livingston Seagull and the Ascent to Bhakti

In the 1970s the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull became a bestseller. A parable about a gull who refuses to follow the flock and discovers that his true nature is limitless. It serves as an insightful description of the spiritual path. The masses mistake worldly objects for sources of happiness — and spend their lives chasing what can never deliver. And some brave few dare to fly higher, brushing aside the disapproval of the flock. In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha explore that courage alongside Akrūra's extraordinary prayers — about chasing the mirage and missing the divine love in one's own heart. Srimad Bhagavatam 10.40.26-30 ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Voltaire — the greatest writer of the French Enlightenment wrote that there is a dim flame burning in every heart — an intuition that somewhere there is a home, a happiness that is real and lasting.  We spend our lives chasing it in bodies, children, homes, wealth, relationships. And it never quite delivers. In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha explore that intuition, what covers that dim light, and how the sacred texts of the bhakti tradition say it can be uncovered. Srimad Bhagavatam 10.40.10-24 ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Westerners who take interest in Eastern Spirituality may be reacting to elements of exclusivism found in Western religion (we're right and everyone else is wrong). The swing to the East may carry all the way to Hyper-Inclusivism (everybody's right). In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha explore what it means to hold a vision of truth that is both inclusive enough to appreciate truth wherever it may come from, yet nuanced enough to recognize falsity, or gradations in truth. Srimad Bhagavatam 10.40.1-10 ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Most Vedic literature speaks from a perspective within this universe. But some reveal that this universe is just a tiny bubble among countless others — and invite us to view our place in existence from outside. Depending on which angle we look from, either Vishnu or Krishna will appear to be the origin of the Avatars. Raghunath and Kaustubha explore that question alongside Akrūra's extraordinary vision in the Yamuna — seeing Vishnu in the water, coming out to find Krishna on the chariot, going back in and seeing Vishnu again. When I am seeing you, what have I not seen? Srimad Bhagavatam 10.39.40-57 ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

It is said that Krishna never takes one step out of Vrindavan. But it appears that he does leave, and breaks the hearts of the Gopis. In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha explore that image the idea of how it is true that he never left, what A holy place is, how anywhere can become one, and the six lessons a bhakti-yogi can learn from dogs. Srimad Bhagavatam 10.39.32-39 ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

What happens when an individual soul thinks the gifts they have are their own? Why do we see so many celebrities struggle, even though they have achieved so much success? Raghunath and Kaustubha explore the source of all opulences — beauty, strength, wealth, fame, knowledge, renunciation — and how when we receive even a touch of them we tend to think they are ours. And then the truth arrives. Crash. Srimad Bhagavatam 10.39.25-31 Join Bhakti Recovery Retreat in Spain here: https://share.google/kShWGFuanwn4clArJ ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

To the philosopher, the weeping of Krishna's lovers looks like ordinary suffering. To the mystics it's the culmination of the highest knowledge. Evelyn Underhill — first woman to lecture in theology at Oxford — said the mystic speaks the disconcerting language of first-hand experience, something only really understood by another who has felt it. Raghunath and Kaustubha explore what it means to move from thinking to tasting — and why the passion of the gopīs is where all philosophy ends. Srimad Bhagavatam 10.39.8-26 ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

It's not the coat of many colors that mattered. It was the love her momma sewed into every stitch. Dolly Parton understood something the Bhagavad Gīta states plainly: offer me a leaf, a flower, a little water — but offered with love, that moves me. It's not the grandness of the offering. It's what's inside it. Raghunath and Kaustubha explore that truth alongside Akrūra in the home of Krishna — fed, honored, overwhelmed. "What is unattainable for one who has satisfied the Supreme?" And yet those who truly love Krishna want nothing. They are so full of love there is nothing more the heart can desire. Srimad Bhagavatam 10.38.40 - 10.39.7  ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

A taste, a smell, a place, a song — something dormant rises suddenly from the depths. The Vedic tradition calls this Udīpana — stimuli that transport you. But where? Raghunath and Kaustubha explore that question through Proust's famous Madeleine moment and Akrūra finding Krishna's footprints in the cowherd pasture — the footprints whose pure dust the rulers of the planets hold on their crowns. This is a shadow world — it has the imprints of the real world but can't give you what the real world gives. The senses have the power to transport you. The question is always: where are they directed? Srimad Bhagavatam 10.38.15-39 ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Anxiety, OCD, eating disorders, panic disorder, depression – beneath the specific symptoms of almost every mental health condition there is a fear of death at the root. This is the conclusion of a landmark study that synthesized 129 studies across 38 countries and 58 years of research. "Death touches a nerve. Quietly, constantly. It shapes how we live, how we suffer, and how we heal." The person with OCD isn't really afraid of germs. The person with social anxiety isn't really afraid of embarrassment. What we're really afraid of is death. In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha explore that finding alongside the Vedic tradition's answer: the panacea for mental and social disorder is spiritual knowledge. Our misidentification with the material body causes all our fear. Srimad Bhagavatm 10.38.15-21 ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************