Courage (Pause for Thought. BBC Radio 2. May 28) Posted in: Broadcasts

I remember back in the sixties when the words ‘take courage’ were the ubiquitous advertising slogan for a beer of the same name. Quite a nifty publicity idea, I suppose, but a few years ago when it was resurrected in a TV campaign it was banned. The censors quite rightly concluded that encouraging us to drink beer to increase our confidence might not be the best example of social responsibility. Courage means standing up for…

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Journeys (Pause For Thought, BBC Radio 2, May 14, 2015) Posted in: Broadcasts

Life today is full of journeys, it seems. Most of us could hardly survive without our cars and think nothing of a fifty or sixty mile trip, a good two day walk in olden days. For many of us, there’s the daily commute which here in London where I live is less of a journey and more of a battle to the near death. Thankfully I only have to go twenty or so miles, but…

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What is Victory (Pause for Thought BBC Radio 2 May 7th) Posted in: Broadcasts

Over the years my idea of victory has changed somewhat. In my younger days, filled with the naïve certainty of youth, I saw myself conquering the world, acquiring vast riches, fame and all that sort of thing. That ambition has been rather tempered by reality, as it tends to be, but thankfully I no longer see world conquest as even a desirable victory. How I see success depends of course on  my values and as…

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How to see God (Pause for Thought BBC Radio 2 April 30th) Posted in: Broadcasts

In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love, as Tennyson so delightfully said. Of course nowadays, bombarded as we are with suggestive images on all sides, it might turn the way of love rather more often than just in spring. Certainly though, spring is the season of reproduction, when nature renews herself and gives forth of her best. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, ‘Amongst seasons I am flower bearing…

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What is Love (Pause for Thought, BBC Radio 2, April 23, 2015) Posted in: Broadcasts

I have mixed feelings about Shakespeare. Memories of my schooldays and the obligatory Hamlet studied from every angle left me with a bit of a jaded view. But since then I have grown a lot fonder of the Bard. His remarkable gifts aside, he made some astute moral and indeed spiritual observations. I am a great fan of his sonnets and particularly like the one, number 146 no less, where he describes love. There he…

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Who am I? Posted in: Broadcasts

Pause for Thought  on BBC Radio 2 My spiritual master Srila Prabhupada was once asked to speak to a group of school children. “Who is the most intelligent student here?” he asked. A sea of modest blank faces stared back but eventually one child was thrust forward by his obliging friends and Prabhupada said to him, “Please point to your head.” The bemused boy, expecting a sterner examination of his intellectual powers, duly complied. His…

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Lessons from Life Posted in: Broadcasts

Pause for Thought, BBC Radio 2, Sun 4th May Recently I took delivery of a new mobile phone. Quite a complex affair, boasting a range of amazing new features. Being a typical male with a stubborn resistance to being told how to do anything, I tossed aside the instruction manual and set about figuring it all out. Soon I had managed to have a conversation with the phone itself, take a close-up photo of my…

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