Santa Barbara Vedanta Temple: Sunday Talks
Sep 21, 2026 · 1 hr 26 min · 12 segments
Swami Chidbrahmananda gave this talk on Sunday, September 20, 2026, in the Santa Barbara Temple. * * * Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
And so here in the Srimad Bhagavatam, we've got a conversation going on between Devahuti and Kapila.
Kapila is the sage, and Devahuti is asking, "Tell me more about this religion of love, for it is not possible to practice the yoga of meditation without love for God." And so Kapila begins off, he says love is divine.
You know, the Christians say it in their book of 1 John, and, uh, the scriptures point at it all the time, that this love that you feel.
You know, go around just expressing love, taking care of people, showing concern for people, being willing to say hi to strangers even though it makes your ego horribly uncomfortable to be vulnerable like that, to take a chance.
You know, if your life is boring, if it's routine, take $5 and go walking.
Go for a walk and make a prayer.
Say, "Ma, I'm out here with $5 you gave me.
I want to go and give it to who needs it or make a difference with it.
Please let me see the person that could use it the most." And then you just make yourself available.
You walk, you take that walk and open up your heart, and you look around and you notice hunger, you notice need, you notice lonely people, you notice, you know, the people who's sitting there hesitating at the grocery store, and Mother uses you.
She plugs you in and says, "Hey, there's a $5 opportunity right there for you.
Go and give that money." Right? And keep your eyes open.
Life becomes beautiful when you look for opportunities to love, when you look for opportunities to care, when you look for opportunities to challenge your ego defensiveness about yourself, your aloofness to life, right? To take a chance to sit down to that, uh, next to that houseless person.
You know, yes, they might ask more than what you can give.
That's not a reason to say no before you've talked to them.
Even if you can give them nothing at all, you know, I found out I, I, I did a practice for a while in, in, uh, in, uh, Hollywood, walking Hollywood Boulevard.
You don't have to walk far on Hollywood Bou- Boulevard to fi- [laughs] to find some need of some kind or other.
And I did that for a while when I was, uh, posted down there, and I tell you, it became a joy.
It became a fun.
You know, I remember one Christmas Eve, I just bought a pizza and just asked Ma, "Show me who needs this pizza." As I was walking down the street on Christmas Eve, and there was this gang of five hoodlums, really five teenage folks that were, you know, they had all the classic anarchist gear on and were sitting sort of in a sma- an alley that smelled like urine, and, you know, I'm a standard, you know, a Wonder Bread white boy.
[laughs] And so I go walking in there with a pizza and, and sat down and asked and said, "Hey, you guys want any pizza?" And we sat in a circle and just had pizza together, and they were s- they were just so excited and so happy and just so welcoming.
And so here in the Srimad Bhagavatam, we've got a conversation going on between Devahuti and Kapila.
Kapila is the sage, and Devahuti is asking, "Tell me more about this religion of love, for it is not possible to practice the yoga of meditation without love for God." And so Kapila begins off, he says love is divine.
You know, the Christians say it in their book of 1 John, and, uh, the scriptures point at it all the time, that this love that you feel.
You know, go around just expressing love, taking care of people, showing concern for people, being willing to say hi to strangers even though it makes your ego horribly uncomfortable to be vulnerable like that, to take a chance.
You know, if your life is boring, if it's routine, take $5 and go walking.
Go for a walk and make a prayer.
Say, "Ma, I'm out here with $5 you gave me.
I want to go and give it to who needs it or make a difference with it.
Please let me see the person that could use it the most." And then you just make yourself available.
You walk, you take that walk and open up your heart, and you look around and you notice hunger, you notice need, you notice lonely people, you notice, you know, the people who's sitting there hesitating at the grocery store, and Mother uses you.
She plugs you in and says, "Hey, there's a $5 opportunity right there for you.
Go and give that money." Right? And keep your eyes open.
Life becomes beautiful when you look for opportunities to love, when you look for opportunities to care, when you look for opportunities to challenge your ego defensiveness about yourself, your aloofness to life, right? To take a chance to sit down to that, uh, next to that houseless person.
You know, yes, they might ask more than what you can give.
That's not a reason to say no before you've talked to them.
Even if you can give them nothing at all, you know, I found out I, I, I did a practice for a while in, in, uh, in, uh, Hollywood, walking Hollywood Boulevard.
You don't have to walk far on Hollywood Bou- Boulevard to fi- [laughs] to find some need of some kind or other.
And I did that for a while when I was, uh, posted down there, and I tell you, it became a joy.
It became a fun.
You know, I remember one Christmas Eve, I just bought a pizza and just asked Ma, "Show me who needs this pizza." As I was walking down the street on Christmas Eve, and there was this gang of five hoodlums, really five teenage folks that were, you know, they had all the classic anarchist gear on and were sitting sort of in a sma- an alley that smelled like urine, and, you know, I'm a standard, you know, a Wonder Bread white boy.
[laughs] And so I go walking in there with a pizza and, and sat down and asked and said, "Hey, you guys want any pizza?" And we sat in a circle and just had pizza together, and they were s- they were just so excited and so happy and just so welcoming.
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