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 - Our free monthly series, Community Conversations, continues next week. This month, we're going to explore the difference between being apolitical and being non-partisan. People sometimes say: “Religion and politics don’t mix.” But that’s never been true, and it's certainly not true right now: there has probably never been a time in American history when religion and politics have been so intertwined.. And it's not just a matter of religious or spiritual values informing political debates; it's the appropriation of religion for the pursuit of political objectives. Despite this, I still hear some people say that yoga in general, and devotional yoga in particular, is apolitical, that bhakti precludes the possibility of choosing sides in political matters. Is this true? Is political neutrality even possible much less desirable? Is partisanship what happens when a spiritualist engages in political discourse or is the idea of having to "choose sides" a false dichotomy? What side does a bhakti-yogi really take when they connect the values of dharma to policy positions? What does non-partisan political engagement look like? What do yoga wisdom texts have to say about the relationship between spiritual consciousness and politics? We'll explore these and other related question in our next COMMUNITY CONVERSATION a free monthly study group Live via Zoom @ 12:00 pm Eastern Time NEXT CONVERSATION: Wednesday, October 8, 2025 TOPIC: "APOLITICAL VERSUS NON-PARTISAN" 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 |
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, It was very nice to receive so many replies to last week’s email. Reading about the many songs that inspire happiness in so many of you made me . . . happy. I’m also glad so many readers took me up on the challenge to find all of the song titles and references I inserted into my email. The funniest thing was that someone (thank you, Cynthia) found a couple of song titles that I didn’t even intend to include! They were “I Want to be Happy” from the musical No, No, Nanette...
Greetings Reader - Our free monthly series, Community Conversations, continues next week. This month, we're going to explore the concept of upādhi — temporary material identities — in the context of marginalized social experiences. The liberal conception of identity gives names to marginalized groups of people —BIPOC, queer, Trans, neurodivergent, Autistic, disabled, etc. — and encourages marginalized people to find of wholeness and belonging by stepping into such identities. The yogic...
Greetings Reader - There must be something wrong with me. I just looked at a list of the top 50 happiest songs of all time . . . according to science. Yes, researchers have developed a way to analyze how elements of music—tempo, key, composition, lyrics, etc.—come together to produce songs that are scientifically guaranteed to induce the emotional response we call “happiness.” My response when I look at this list? Ugh. Pop songs, Rock songs, Dance, R&B, it doesn’t matter: Each category has...