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Podcasts · Religion & Spirituality

Wisdom of the Sages

Raghunath Cappo & Kaustubha Das

300 episodes

Truths about life from the timeless wisdom of the Bhakti-yoga tradition - fun, relevant, and deep. Learn about dharma, yoga, bhakti, and how it relates to all the basic questions of life. This show is about how to live your best life, let go of the external distractions, and uncover the spiritual happiness that lies within the heart as the true nature of the soul.

More about the show

Raghunath and Kaustubha's connection goes back to their teens in the New York Hardcore Punk Scene of the early 80s, through serving together as Bhakti-yogi monks in the 90's, to sharing their experiences in the world of yoga in the 21st century.

Episodes page 3 of 6

  1. 1737: Physically Loose, Mentally Tight: A Yogi's Secret

    · 50 min · Episode 1737

    Most people don't suffer because life is chaotic — they suffer because their mind is. As the stormy monsoon season gives way to autumn's still waters and clear skies, the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam reveals a profound teaching…

  2. 1736: Fish in a Drying Puddle: The Silent Ways We Waste Our Lives

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 1736

    Time fades quietly, while we stay absorbed in routines that feel permanent. A sharp insight from Seneca meets a striking image from ancient yoga wisdom: a fish swimming in a puddle that is slowly drying up, unaware…

  3. 1735: When Rivers Overflow and Yogis Remain Still

    · 59 min · Episode 1735

    Monsoon season turns Vṛndāvana into a living poem — and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam uses that poem to deliver precision teaching on the inner life: how uncontrolled senses flood the mind, how devotional service makes a person…

  4. 1734: Do Bodily Considerations Override Bhakti Qualifications? Female Initiating Gurus & Guru-Tattva

    · 1 h 15 min · Episode 1734

    Raghunath and Kaustubha reflect on the concern many devotees are feeling after the recent GBC meetings in Māyāpur, where the question of women serving as initiating gurus was met with an indefinite moratorium and a…

  5. 1733: How Krishna Bhakti Went Global (No Money, No Plan, Just Faith)

    · 56 min · Episode 1733

    Krishna bhakti went global not through wealth, planning, or infrastructure, but through faith — the kind of faith that sends teenagers across oceans with no money, no guarantees, and no backup plan. In this episode,…

  6. 1732: Take Back Your Mind: Yoga & Bhakti in the Age of Noise Bad Bunny, Kid Rock & Misplaced Attention

    · 54 min · Episode 1732

    In a world engineered for distraction, yoga becomes the deliberate practice of training the mind to place its attention where meaning, clarity, and love actually grow. Raghunath and Kaustubha explore attention as the…

  7. 1731: How Karma Trains the Heart

    · 50 min · Episode 1731

    Karma isn't about guilt—it's about growth. Drawing from a quote by Keanu Reeves and the timeless wisdom of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, this episode explores how understanding karma restores agency, dissolves victimhood, and…

  8. 1730: When "I Already Know" Blocks Spiritual Growth

    · 57 min · Episode 1730

    This episode begins with the idea that pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you—and uses it as a doorway into bhakti: not just emptying the mind, but making room for something sacred to actually live…

  9. 1729: Are We Seeking Transformation, or Just Validation?

    · 55 min · Episode 1729

    The meaning we find in scripture often reveals more about our motive than the text itself. This episode explores the uncomfortable truth: that we don't just read scripture—we often recruit it. Nearly any philosophy can…

  10. 1728: Confront. Process. Transcend. (Real Bhakti Isn't Bypassing)

    · 1 h 02 min · Episode 1728

    This episode is a deep dive into death, vulnerability, and the strange grace that appears when we stop running and start facing reality with the holy name on our lips. A near-death moment in Māyāpur cracks open one of…

  11. 1727: Trusting God Without Knowing the Outcome

    · 1 h 02 min · Episode 1727

    A striking model of surrender emerges in this episode: accepting both mercy and correction as meaningful, purposeful, and transformative. Spoken live from Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, this conversation unfolds around a simple…

  12. 1726: Compassion Is the Measure

    · 54 min · Episode 1726

    A quiet morning of kirtan in Mayapur opens into a deeper reflection on what spiritual maturity actually looks like—not as an idea, but as a lived quality of the heart. Using Confucius' insight on wisdom, compassion,…

  13. 1725: Pilgrimage, Mercy & This Fragile Moment in History / Bhakti as a Living, Unfolding Movement

    · 55 min · Episode 1725

    As global uncertainty hums in the background, this moment in history feels both fragile and purposeful. Moving between history, theology, and lived experience, Raghunath and Kaustubha reflect on pilgrimage, mercy, and…

  14. 1724: Stop Hugging the Cactus: Why the Soul Is Still Hungry

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 1724

    Live from Govardhan Eco-Village in India, this episode unfolds as a grounded, unscripted exploration of why material life grows stale—and why spiritual sound never does. With Kaustubha away, Raghunath is joined by…

  15. 1723: I Love Crying: Finding Faith in Life's Heaviest Moments / Q&A Vol. 293

    · 1 h 04 min · Episode 1723

    Some people avoid pain with distractions. In this episode, the Wisdom of the Sages community does something far rarer: they learn how to move through emotional heaviness with faith—without rushing, bypassing, or…

  16. 1722: Redirected by Grace: Part 2

    · 52 min · Episode 1722

    Krishna's "coincidences" didn't calm down—they escalated. Part Two of Meet the Pilgrims picks up right where the last episode left off: real people, real spiritual detours, and that unmistakable moment when you stop…

  17. 1721: Redirected by Grace: How People Find Their Way to Bhakti

    · 59 min · Episode 1721

    This one is all about spiritual journeys—the stories that bring people onto the Wisdom of the Sages pilgrimage: unlikely beginnings, messy detours, and those moments where a single step toward bhakti turns into a…

  18. 1720: People Over Profits: Inside Radhanath Swami's Bhaktivedanta Hospital

    · 44 min · Episode 1720

    Magic happens in the last place you'd expect it: a Mumbai hospital where patients don't want to be discharged and staff don't want to go home. Recorded live from Govardhan Eco Village, Raghunath welcomes author Radha…

  19. 1719: A Reflected Rose Has No Aroma — Why the Bhagavad-gītā Calls This World a Reflection

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 1719

    A Bhagavad-gītā-level reality check: the world we experience isn't "illusion" in the lazy, dismissive sense—it's illusion like a reflection. Consistent. Coherent. Convincing. And still untouchable. Like an upside-down…

  20. 1718: 3 Ferraris, Zero Peace: The Higher Taste Effect (Bhakti & Spiritual Psychology)

    · 57 min · Episode 1718

    A higher spiritual taste doesn't negotiate with desire—it demotes it. From Govardhan Ecovillage in Maharashtra, Raghunath and Kaustubha riff on William James (father of modern psychology), the bhakti renaissance in…

  21. 1717: Where Ego Breaks and Bhakti Begins

    · 56 min · Episode 1717

    A modern seeker walks away from a high-pressure career and an ancient Sanskrit text tells a story about giving up one's egoistic false strength. Recorded live from Govardhan Eco-Village, this episode brings together…

  22. 1716: Bhakti Changed My Life: The 6-Year Anniversary Show

    · 1 h 02 min · Episode 1716

    Six years ago we hit "record" with shaky internet and big dreams—then a lucky break, and a global lockdown helped turn Wisdom of the Sages into a daily lifeline for thousands of listeners. In this special 6-Year…

  23. 1715: Is Self-Care Making Us Less Happy?

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 1715

    Self-care culture tells us to treat ourselves, embrace our flaws, and obsess over our inner world—but the research on happiness points in the opposite direction. In this episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore how…

  24. 1714: Karma Doesn't Chase You—It Waits

    · 58 min · Episode 1714

    A French poet once observed that we often meet our destiny on the very road we take to avoid it—and history seems to agree. Using Napoleon's failed attempt to conquer Russia as a striking example, Raghunath and…

  25. 1713: Can the Angels Lift Raghunath's Spirits on Christmas Eve?

    · 1 h 00 min · Episode 1713

    Christmas Eve hits different when life feels fractured: broken family emotions, grief, longing, and that uneasy feeling that the world keeps taking what we hoped would stay. Raghunath and Kaustubha let it get real. can…

  26. 1712: The Look of Love: Seeing Reality Through Bhakti

    · 59 min · Episode 1712

    Bhakti-yoga doesn't ask us to escape the world—it shows us how to set it right by placing love at the center. This episode begins with a "zoomed-out" perspective on human conflict and confusion, then pivots to a vision…

  27. 1711: Why Vrindavan Bhakti Feels So Alive / Discussing Love & Lineage

    · 56 min · Episode 1711

    In this episode, Kaustubha shares deeply moving stories from his recent Vaishnava Scholars' retreat in Vṛndāvana—revealing why Vrindavan bhakti feels so alive and unmistakably different. Through encounters with…

  28. 1710: Amazon Prime Spirituality

    · 57 min · Episode 1710

    When devotion becomes a transaction, spiritual life starts to thin out. In this episode of Wisdom of the Sages, Raghunath and special co-host Pranapriya Devi Dasi explore how bhakti deepens not through bigger offerings…

  29. 1709: Knowing the Price, Missing the Point

    · 58 min · Episode 1709

    Netflix has a price, but what's the cost of what it does to you? Raghunath and Kaustubha riff on Oscar Wilde's brutal truth—people know the price of everything and the value of nothing—and trace how modern consumption…

  30. 1708: When Vedānta Becomes Poetry: Kṛṣṇa's Footprints in Vṛndāvana

    · 55 min · Episode 1708

    Bhakti moves like a river between union and separation, carrying the devotee through remembrance, longing, and love. In this episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore spiritual experience as it naturally unfolds in…

  31. 1707: Is a Monk Really Deeper Than You?

    · 1 h 00 min · Episode 1707

    Is a monk living in a temple necessarily deeper than someone living an ordinary life in the world—or could it be the other way around? In this episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore that question through Brother…

  32. 1706: Einstein, Bhakti-Yoga & the Delusion of Consciousness

    · 59 min · Episode 1706

    Einstein called it an "optical delusion of consciousness." The yogis call it forgetfulness of the Self. In this episode, the illusion of separateness gets dismantled—from modern physics to the sacred Bhakti…

  33. 1705: Inferiority & the Comparison Trap / Q&A Vol. 292

    · 1 h 04 min · Episode 1705

    In this deeply personal Q&A Volume 292, Raghunath and Kaustubha respond to a listener struggling with inferiority, comparison, trauma, and the fear of being left behind in love and life—unpacking how bhakti can reframe…

  34. 1704: Doing the Inner Work vs Doing Shrooms

    · 56 min · Episode 1704

    Psychedelics can shoot you to the summit, but they can't make you a mountain climber. You may get a glimpse of the view, but the glimpse doesn't change you — you didn't build the muscles, you didn't shed the weight,…

  35. 1703: Real Evil Is Boring, Real Good Is Wild | Why Darkness Fails and Bhakti Thrives

    · 57 min · Episode 1703

    Simone Weil's razor-sharp insight cracks open this episode: we glamorize imaginary evil and underestimate how powerful real goodness actually is. Raghunath and Kaustubha reflect on goth culture, mob movies, Nagababas,…

  36. 1702: Living in a World That's Pulsing With Magic

    · 54 min · Episode 1702

    Wonders flood our lives every moment, yet we sleepwalk past them—missing the hints pointing us toward their Source. In this episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore GK Chesterton's insight on wonder and unravel how…

  37. 1701: A Cosmic Reality Check: The Truth Behind Our Illusion of Control

    · 1 h 00 min · Episode 1701

    Carl Sagan's apple-pie insight becomes a launchpad for a sweeping journey from kitchens to cosmos, as Raghunath and Kaustubha explore why nothing we "create" is truly from scratch, why everything we touch is on loan,…

  38. 1700: Measuring the Universe, Missing the Immeasurable

    · 55 min · Episode 1700

    The limits of material analysis end long before the limits of the Absolute. In this landmark episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore Lord Brahma's profound realization in the Tenth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—where…

  39. 1699: Gratitude: A Full-On Rebellion Against Illusion

    · 59 min · Episode 1699

    Gratitude isn't feel-good fluff—it's a full-on rebellion against illusion. In this episode, Raghunath and Mara weave together Charles Dickens, modern cognitive science, and Brahmā's prayers to Krishna to show how…

  40. 1698: When the Universe Pops Your Ego Bubble

    · 56 min · Episode 1698

    Life has a way of popping our ego bubble exactly when we need it most. In this episode, Raghunath and Mera explore the mercy hidden inside humiliation, using stories from pilgrimage, personal experience, and the…

  41. 1697: Love They Can't Pay Back: Bhakti, Service & Real Freedom

    · 55 min · Episode 1697

    Real spirituality begins the moment you do something for someone who can never repay you. In this solo episode, Raghunath and co-host Prana Priya take John Bunyan's famous line—"You have not lived today until you have…

  42. 1696: Racism, Rage and a Spiritual Way Forward / Q&A Vol. 291

    · 1 h 00 min · Episode 1696

    Rage at a racist, a double middle-finger "protest," and a bhakti yogi wondering, "Did I actually help… or just lose it?" From there, this episode dives into how good ethics—when cut loose from wisdom traditions—can…

  43. 1695: Grand Theft Butter: Reincarnation, Gillian Anderson & the Gita

    · 58 min · Episode 1695

    Depth and play intertwine as Raghunath and Kaustubha riff on Gillian Anderson's reincarnation quote, Krishna's "Grand Theft Butter" pastims in vrindavan, and the modern obsession with empiric evidence. From debates…

  44. 1694: Stunned by the Infinite: When the Ego Meets Its Match

    · 1 h 03 min · Episode 1694

    Nature, humility, and spiritual vision can still the spinning of the mind and burn away the karmic illusion that we're the center of it all. From redwood awe to the Annapurna skyline, this episode explores how moments…

  45. 1693: Bhakti for Beginners: Doing It Right & Keeping It Real / Q&A Vol. 290

    · 49 min · Episode 1693

    Recorded live in Jaipur, this Q&A episode dives into real beginner questions on the path of bhakti—with Raghunath and Kaustubha responding with both insight and humor. What exactly is bhakti? How do you know if you're…

  46. 1692: The Next Step in Bhakti: Finding Your Teacher / Q&A Vol. 289

    · 1 h 04 min · Episode 1692

    From the sacred city of Jaipur, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore what it means to take the next step in Bhakti—moving from faith to steady practice and learning under a teacher. They discuss how one can deepen Bhakti…

  47. 1691: Soft Heart, Steady Mind: Bhakti Yoga Wisdom / Q&A Vol. 288

    · 58 min · Episode 1691

    From the banks of the Ganga in Rishikesh, this pilgrim Q&A with Raghunath and Kaustubha explores how to respond to visible suffering without emotional collapse, how being "more tolerant than a tree" coexists with…

  48. 1690: Carrying the Holy Place in Your Heart / Q&A Vol. 287

    · 57 min · Episode 1690

    Live from Devprayag, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore how to perceive Paramātmā—the Supersoul within—and how Bhakti transforms the mind's shadows of resentment, fear, and greed into clarity and love. Drawing from the…

  49. 1689: A Living Universe, Not a Machine: The Cost of Denying Personhood

    · 1 h 03 min · Episode 1689

    Much of modern science, as well as impersonalist Vedānta, drains the universe of relationship—one by reducing consciousness to brain chemistry, the other by dissolving all individuality into a single awareness that…

  50. 1688: Einstein Meets the Bhagavad Gītā: Yogic Perception Beyond the Intellect

    · 51 min · Episode 1688

    When cramming facts hits a ceiling, yogic practice opens the window. In this conversation, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore how Einstein's relativity and Vedic ideas of time echo a truth from the Bhagavad Gītā—that…

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