At the very foundation of what the Bhagavad Gita calls “karma yoga” is understanding the grossest level of karmic management: don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, etc. We must become masters of morality; we can’t practice more advanced forms of a spiritual life until we are firmly grounded in the basics. We must “yogify our karma”: restrain ourselves from hurting other beings and cleanse the bad karma we have already committed. This videocast is taken from a course taught for Diamond Mountain University in Tucson, Arizona, in the fall of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

Because things are “empty” of self-nature, both the perception of ourselves and that of the world around us are infinitely perfectible. Our sense of ourselves (that little inner voice we are forced to listen to) and of the world around us are both filtered through our subjectivity. What’s crucial is to learn what causes us to interpret our reality the way we do so that we can change it for the better. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in January, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

What qualities should you look for in a spiritual teacher? Lama Marut reviews the list: You should have a strong attraction to them and they should be happy (since that’s what you want them to teach you!). They should be ethical, good at meditation, and intellectually know the nature of reality. Their spiritual qualities should exceed yours, they should be happily working hard to teach you, and they should know the spiritual texts that they are teaching. They should have a deep realization of ultimate reality, be a master instructor, teach because they love you, and not get discouraged and give up on you. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on the Bhagavad Gita taught in Tucson, Arizona, in the winter of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

We cannot be happy while carrying grudges and resentments about what others have done to us in the past. We must forgive them – unilaterally and pre-emptively. In order to do this, we have to understand what forgiveness is and isn’t. It isn’t just forgetting, it isn’t about whether the offender deserves it or has apologized, it isn’t an act of weakness or capitulation, and it isn’t for their sake. Forgiveness is for us; it is in our own self-interest, for without it we’ll never be happy. This videocast is taken from a public talk given at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles in December of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

Many people in the Western world seem to have forgotten that true goal of every spiritual tradition is the highest happiness – bliss or ecstasy. Every authentic spiritual path leads to this goal, and on the way to that goal the practitioner should be getting happier and happier. Non-spiritual paths like consumer capitalism do not bring happiness, and the proof of that is that we all got everything the materialistic worldview promised. Instead of happiness, our prosperity just brought more depression. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in January of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

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