Hari-kirtana is an author, mentor, and yoga teacher who shares his knowledge and experience of how the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningful and transformative spiritual experiences.
Our next FREE Community Conversation
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Greetings Reader - The 2026 edition of our free monthly series, Community Conversations, kicks off next week. This month, we're going to explore the question of how to reconcile the idea of surrender to "divine will" with the moral imperative to participate in the project of making the world a better place. However, the precise cause of any given effect can be hard to ascertain. Yoga philosophy doesn't buy in to the cop-out of "God works in mysterious ways," but does tell us unseen cosmic forces are at work behind the scenes. Yoga wisdom encourages us to let go of our attachments and accept the fact that we can't control of how things turn out, to tolerate cycles of good and evil without being disturbed. How do we do that? Is this instruction a call to inaction? Should we just tune in, turn on, and drop out? What does yoga wisdom say about moral responsibility and civic duty in light of the influence of cosmic forces beyond our control? How does social action fit into the context of yoga's ultimate goal of transcendence? How can we balance acceptance of what we can't change with determination to change what we can? Can so much suffering, injustice, and chaos really be part of some divine plan? If so, what kind of divinity would plan such a thing and why? Does acceptance of the unstoppable will of providence make political activism a Quixotic exercise in futility? What can we do, what should we do, and, most importantly, what's the best consciousness for us to do it in? We'll explore these and other related questions in our next COMMUNITY CONVERSATION a free monthly study group Live via Zoom @ 12:00 pm Eastern Time NEXT CONVERSATION: Wednesday, January 14th, 2025 TOPIC: "SPIRITUAL SURRENDER AND SOCIAL ACTION" Registration is free – CLICK HERE to get updates and the Zoom link! This conversation will be recorded - if you can't join us live you can watch the replay anytime. Community Conversation is a FREE monthly online gathering where we connect spiritual ideas to real life by talking about personal challenges we all share, difficult issues we all face, and how the ancient spiritual teachings of the yoga tradition offer practical guidance for navigating our way through life in the modern world. If you haven't registered for our free monthly Community Conversations yet, CLICK HERE to get updates and the Zoom link for the live discussion, and (usually) the recording link so you can listen to the replay if you can't join us live. If you're already registered, you'll get reminder emails with the Zoom link next week and receive a link to the recording soon after the live conversation. Hoping to see you next Wednesday, - Hari-k P.S.: The start of a new year naturally invites reflection. For yoga teachers, that reflection can surface questions about clarity, confidence, and how their teaching is evolving. If you’re a yoga teacher who feels ready for deeper support, I offer a small number of 1:1 yoga teacher mentorships. These sessions are deeply rooted in both the yoga tradition and real-world teaching experience, and are designed to support you as a practitioner and as a teacher. CLICK HERE to read more about how the mentorships work and apply. P.P.S.: In the D.C. area? Join me this Sunday evening, January 11th for 60-minute in-person movement and guided meditation class at Luneh Yoga. You'll be guided through a simple series of movements and poses to prepare your body for Yoga-Nidra: a deeply relaxing state of lucid dreaming. This class can be especially helpful to those who deal with chronic stress and sleep irregularity. The class starts at 5:45 pm. Luneh Yoga is located at 2000 S Street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Enrollment is $30 — CLICK HERE to save your spot. |
Hari-kirtana das
Hari-kirtana is an author, mentor, and yoga teacher who shares his knowledge and experience of how the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningful and transformative spiritual experiences.
Greetings Reader, According to our friends at Merriam-Webster, yesterday’s Word of the Day was “senescence.” Senescence is a word that refers to the state of being old or the process of becoming old. It’s related to words like senior and senile. It's also connected to ancient Rome and the Latin word for the council of elders, the Senatus, which acted as an advisory body on administrative, financial, military, and foreign policy matters of great importance to the Roman Republic. This may...
Greetings Reader, Last week someone told me how much they liked the way I rendered a Sanskrit phrase into English in my book, Journey Into the Bhagavad Gita. It was an especially meaningful compliment because I’d put a lot of thought into how to render this particular phrase. I felt obliged to honor the requirement of matter-of-factness in the delivery of one of the Gita’s heavier reality checks. I also felt the need to convey the message with a level of poetic sensitivity that would honor...
Greetings Reader, ‘Tis the season to light candles, decorate trees, spin dreidels, honor ancestors, exchange gifts, listen to Handel’s Messiah (or Mariah Carey), and, apparently, contemplate questions about chakras. A mysterious synchronicity in the questions I receive occurs from time to time. This time, the synchronicity revolves around the mystery of chakras, as several people have asked me the same questions (more or less) over the last few days: "Are chakras really referenced in the yoga...