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How Do You Explain Hinduism to Others? · Inspiration and Transformation

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Inspiration and Transformation from the Banks of the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Ganga with Sadhvi Bhagwati Saraswati, an American Sanyasi living at
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, India. Sadhvi is president
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of the Divine Shakti Foundation, a charitable organization bringing education,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: vocational training, upliftment, and empowerment programs to women and children.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Sadhvi is also Secretary General of the Global Interfaith Wash
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Alliance and Director of the world-famous International Yoga Festival. Join
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the musings of an American sannyasi as Sadhvi shares the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: wisdom and teachings of her guru, His Holiness, Pujya Swami
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Chidanand Saraswataji.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome, everyone, to Inspiration and Transformation, from the holy banks
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: of the sacred Ganga River in the land of Rishikesh, India. So,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: this evening on the Ghat in the Aarti, Pujya Swamiji
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: was speaking about oneness and togetherness and the beauty of
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: the teachings from our scriptures that Could be pretty much
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  Speaker 2: summed up. In the line. Respect. Love your own. Worship
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  Speaker 2: your own. But respect all. Worship the divine. However you worship.
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  Speaker 2: Whatever path. Whatever religion. Whatever form. Whatever name. Or no name.
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  Speaker 2: Or no form. Doesn't matter. Worship in your own way.
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  Speaker 2: Whatever that may be. But respect all. Other people's ways.
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  Speaker 2: And so he's asking, how do I do that? And
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  Speaker 2: especially how do I do that with people who don't
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  Speaker 2: respect my way? And is that even necessary? Do we
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  Speaker 2: even need to have that conversation? The idea of worship
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  Speaker 2: your own but respect all could be extended into almost
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  Speaker 2: every area of our lives. If you substituted the word
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  Speaker 2: worship for love or enjoy or live by your own
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  Speaker 2: but respect all, then it could be a teaching about
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  Speaker 2: Not just your religion, it could be a teaching about
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  Speaker 2: how you feel about your own mother or father, right?
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: So everybody loves their mom or their dad. But we
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: respect other people's moms and dads. Everybody lives by their
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: own sexual orientation. But we should respect others. People have
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: their own gender identity, we respect others. People have their
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: own path that they choose in life. Their dharma, you
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: could say, that they walk. But we respect all. So,
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  Speaker 2: the best way to do that really is, interestingly, the
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  Speaker 2: more comfortable you feel with your choices, the more open
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  Speaker 2: you tend to be to other people's choices. You know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: they always say the ex-smokers are the ones who are
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the most ardent and passionate and even obnoxious to those
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: who are still smoking. That if you've never smoked... you
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  Speaker 2: tend not to be that judgmental of those who do.
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  Speaker 2: You may not wanna be near it. You may say,
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  Speaker 2: you know, don't smoke in my house. But you're not
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  Speaker 2: gonna necessarily be that judgmental. But those who are ex-smokers
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  Speaker 2: tend to be the ones who are the most judgmental
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: of those who still smoke. So meaning my own now
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  Speaker 2: not smoking is something I'm not yet so fully comfortable in.
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  Speaker 2: And in order to feel comfortable, I need to point
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  Speaker 2: my finger at others. In order to feel comfortable about
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  Speaker 2: my choice, I judge other people. So one of the
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  Speaker 2: most powerful ways to actually stop judging others and to
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  Speaker 2: start respecting them is to actually feel really deeply comfortable
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  Speaker 2: in yourself. The more comfortable we are in ourselves, the
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  Speaker 2: more we create the space for other people to be
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  Speaker 2: comfortable in themselves. The more peaceful and happy and whole
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  Speaker 2: I feel, the more of a container I create To
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: bring other people peace and joy, comfort. So that's the
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  Speaker 2: first piece. The second piece is an awareness that, especially
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  Speaker 2: when you're talking about religion, that really they're all just
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  Speaker 2: different paths to the same place. We're all going to
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  Speaker 2: the same place. Just in different ways, different names, different forms.
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  Speaker 2: You know, one of the ways that I like to
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  Speaker 2: think about it, because even within Hinduism, there's so many
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  Speaker 2: different ways to worship God. There's so many different names, forms, paths.
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  Speaker 2: And there's even intra-religion conflict between different paths. The way
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  Speaker 2: that I like to think about it is you think, okay, I...
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: I love Karen, who's sitting right here. And I love
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  Speaker 2: her so much. And I tend to be someone who's
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  Speaker 2: an eyes person. And so when I write about her,
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  Speaker 2: maybe I write poems, maybe I write songs, maybe I'm
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  Speaker 2: a sculptor. I'm going to write poems and songs about
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  Speaker 2: how beautiful her eyes are. and how I can see
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  Speaker 2: my soul in her eyes, and I'm going to paint
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  Speaker 2: pictures of her eyes. But Preeti sitting next to her
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  Speaker 2: also loves her. And maybe Preeti likes to have a
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  Speaker 2: hand to hold on her journey through life. And so
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  Speaker 2: she's going to write poems and songs about Karen's hands. Strong,
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  Speaker 2: firm hands. but also soft, smooth, always there. She's going
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  Speaker 2: to draw pictures and make sculptures of hands. And maybe
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  Speaker 2: someone else also loves her very much, but they're at
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  Speaker 2: a time in their life when they need a shoulder
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  Speaker 2: to cry on. And so they're going to write poetry
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  Speaker 2: and songs and whatnot about how wonderful her shoulder is.
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  Speaker 2: Just broad enough for their head to be there, but soft,
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  Speaker 2: not bony. Right? And they're going to do pictures and
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  Speaker 2: sculptures of shoulders. Now, we all understand we're loving the
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  Speaker 2: same woman. No problem. The problem becomes in our descendants.
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  Speaker 2: Now you fast forward thousands of years. My descendants think
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: that Karen is eyes. Preeti's descendants think Karen is a hand.
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  Speaker 2: Someone else's descendants think Karen is shoulder. And now we
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: fight and we kill each other. We hate each other.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Because we've lost the perspective that we're talking about the
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  Speaker 2: same divine energy. I mean, one of the things every
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  Speaker 2: religion agrees on is God is infinite. I don't know
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  Speaker 2: of any religion that says God only exists in this
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  Speaker 2: box over here. That's not God. If God lives in
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  Speaker 2: a box, it's not God. God is infinite. So if
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: God is infinite by nature, it means that God can
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: be known in infinite ways. that God has manifested. Whether
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  Speaker 2: we believe in a form or not in a form,
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  Speaker 2: in multiple forms, in one form, whatever it may be.
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  Speaker 2: But that that energy has an infinite number of possibilities.
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  Speaker 2: And so we love, we worship the way that we
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  Speaker 2: connect to God. I'm an eye worshiper. Preeti's a hand worshiper.
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  Speaker 2: No problem. As long as we don't limit ourselves to
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  Speaker 2: thinking that that's all God is. And so for you,
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  Speaker 2: I would say, try to think about God like that. That, okay, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: this is my way in. I mean, think about Ganga here.
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  Speaker 2: The point is to get in Ganga. Whether you go
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  Speaker 2: down our steps at Parmarth Nikatan, or you go downriver
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  Speaker 2: a bit and you go in from Gita Bhavan's Ghat
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  Speaker 2: or Vanprastha Ashram's Ghat, or you go upriver and you
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  Speaker 2: go in from the sandy beach at Ramjula, or you
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  Speaker 2: jump in from a rock up at Lakshmanjula. Doesn't matter.
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  Speaker 2: What matters is that you get in. Ganga's not giving
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  Speaker 2: extra blessings to people who get in one way versus
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  Speaker 2: the other way. She's not saying, oh, you're the one
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  Speaker 2: who did the triple flip off the rock, okay, you get,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the best blessings. It doesn't matter how you
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  Speaker 2: get in. So worship your own, love it, use your path.
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  Speaker 2: It's perfect for you. But recognize other people get in
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  Speaker 2: different ways. And that's also okay. And when you're with
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  Speaker 2: people who don't respect you, you know, it really depends.
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  Speaker 2: It depends how important the relationship is to you. whether
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  Speaker 2: it's really worth getting into it about. I mean, look,
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  Speaker 2: there's no way that everybody is gonna like you. There's
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: no way everyone's gonna respect you. It's just part of
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  Speaker 2: the package deal of a life in which you actually
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  Speaker 2: know a lot of people. Inevitably, there will be people
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  Speaker 2: who don't respect you, whether it's your religion, whether it's
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  Speaker 2: what you look like, whether it's what you do. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: we've got an innumerable number of reasons not to like
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  Speaker 2: someone if we don't want to. But don't let that
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  Speaker 2: determine your life. Somebody likes you, doesn't like you, respects you,
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  Speaker 2: doesn't respect you. That doesn't need to determine how you feel.
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  Speaker 2: So in general, you may not necessarily want to waste
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  Speaker 2: all of your time trying to get everyone to respect you.
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  Speaker 2: But if there are people you're close with and you
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  Speaker 2: feel that there might actually be an educational possibility, a
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  Speaker 2: possibility of opening, then why don't you share with them?
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  Speaker 2: Share with them the idea that, you know, you love
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  Speaker 2: God And they love God. And maybe you all could
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  Speaker 2: just agree to love God in different ways. But if
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  Speaker 2: they can't, don't blame them. You know, my really good friend,
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: my first year at Stanford, she lived down my dorm hall.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: She was a devout Christian. I come from a Jewish family,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: but I was not religious. She was very religious. And
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  Speaker 2: she used to try to convert me, to get me
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  Speaker 2: to come to Bible study and whatnot. Now, we were 18, 19.
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  Speaker 2: Religion was the farthest thing from my mind. It was
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  Speaker 2: my first year at college, right? I mean, it was
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  Speaker 2: all about work and school and parties and boys and whatnot.
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  Speaker 2: The last thing I was thinking about was Bible study
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  Speaker 2: or my religion or anybody else's religion. And I remember
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  Speaker 2: saying to her, Laura, just drop it. Let's just be friends.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I won't talk to you about religion. You
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  Speaker 2: don't talk to me about religion. And she said to
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  Speaker 2: me something that has stuck with me since then. She said,
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  Speaker 2: I talk to you about it because I love you.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: She said, if you were dying of cancer and I
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  Speaker 2: were convinced that I had the cure to cancer, what
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  Speaker 2: kind of a friend would I be if I didn't
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  Speaker 2: try to force you to take the cure? And it
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  Speaker 2: stuck with me all these years because you realize, okay, well,
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  Speaker 2: they may not necessarily be trying to change you or
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  Speaker 2: not respecting you, because they're awful or horrible people or
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  Speaker 2: narrow-minded people. But it may actually be something as simple
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  Speaker 2: as what my friend said to me. In her religion,
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  Speaker 2: they are taught, bring other people in. She was doing
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  Speaker 2: what she was told was the right thing to do.
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  Speaker 2: And so maybe you can just find it in your
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  Speaker 2: heart to have compassion And love and even respect for
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  Speaker 2: other people's love of their own religion. Even if they
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  Speaker 2: don't necessarily respect you. And hopefully, hopefully your respect of
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  Speaker 2: them will make them respect you. When we get treated
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  Speaker 2: with respect, we tend to respond with respect. So see
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  Speaker 2: whether you can be the one to open that up
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  Speaker 2: for them. and create a container of love and respect.
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  Speaker 2: And it's important to talk about because in our world,
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  Speaker 2: there's way too much violence around religion. And if we
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  Speaker 2: don't become active in our acceptance and our embrace of others,
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  Speaker 2: then we become silent contributors to conflict and violence. So
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  Speaker 2: whatever your way may be, just make sure that you
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  Speaker 2: are living openness and respect and acceptance.
• 16:54
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  Speaker 2: Welcome back to Inspiration and Transformation. I'm so glad to
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: have you all back here with me. It's difficult to
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: implement because of this thing called maya. This illusion that
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: keeps pulling us out of our truth. We know the
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: path to real happiness is spirituality. But you walk out
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: into the world and everything is shining and blinking and
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: calling you. Come here, buy this, do this, you'll be happy.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: And so we get swept up. It's very bright. It's
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: very loud. It's very compelling. And so we get swept
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: up by it. But don't worry. Don't get upset with yourself.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: It's like meditation. We get distracted. We come back. You
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: get distracted, just come back. But use also your power
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: of introspection to remind yourself every day. At the end
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: of the day, check in. When you were living spiritually,
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: when you were offering to God, how did it feel?
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: And when you were not, how did it feel? and
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: just ask yourself look back over the day and really
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: allow your conscious mind to become really clear that actually
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: you are happier You are actually more at peace. You
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: are actually enjoying your life more. It's not a burden.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: It's not a drudgery. It's not like studying in school
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: a subject that you hate because, you know, you want
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: to get into college and so you've got to get
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: an A in this class. It's actually something that when
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: we do it, the rewards are immediate. We feel happier.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: We feel more at peace. If you ask people to
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: list the 10 best moments of their life, I mean,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: just think about it in your own mind, the best
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: moments of your life. They're all going to be moments
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: that are rooted in connection. Connection to the divine. Connection
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: to yourself. Your true self. connection to others on a very,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: very deep level of a soul to soul connection. Nobody's
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: best moment in life was when they got a new car.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Nobody's best moment in life was when they got a
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: raise or the interest rates went up or stock market
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: went up and so now they've got some more money
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: in the bank. These are not the best moments of
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: our life. So Use your own power of contemplation, of introspection.
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  Speaker 2: So it's not just you're doing it because you came
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: to satsang and I said you should or because you
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: read a beautiful scripture and the scripture said you should.
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  Speaker 2: Think about it purely in a selfish way. It's actually
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: what's bringing you the greatest joy. And so naturally, we
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  Speaker 2: all want more of the real joy. So run after
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  Speaker 2: those moments. Create those moments. Make that your priority. Once
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  Speaker 2: you become really clear that this is not where your
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: happiness comes from, It's going to be hard to convince
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: yourself to run after it more and more. But you
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: just have to keep remembering, keep remembering. And slowly you'll
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: find that you're making those right choices.
• 22:54
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  Speaker 2: 757-622-PETA Welcome back. This is Sadhvi Bhagavati Saraswati with inspiration
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: and transformation. Mental health management requires a lot of different things.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: It's like saying, what's the best way to manage my
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: physical health? Now, assuming that you're healthy to begin with,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: we could come up with four, five, six Great ways
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: of staying healthy. Get enough sleep. Eat the right foods
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: at the right times of day, at the right times
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: of year. Get some good exercise. Drink enough water.
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's not rocket science. You just have to
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: go to Google or listen to anybody these days, and
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: there's lots and lots and lots of methods to maintain health,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: assuming that you're healthy to begin with. But if someone
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: comes to you with heart disease or cancer or some
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: other illness and says to you, what's the best way
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: to maintain my health? Well, these people four or five
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: things I've just mentioned certainly would be helpful to them.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: But they also need a lot more. They need some
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: more very specific guided treatment. And it may fall in
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: those categories. It may come under the right food. But
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: it's not going to be just a matter of get
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: enough fruits and vegetables and grains and stay away from
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: meat and sugar. There's going to be something more specific.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: more tailored based on what your ailment is. And you
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: may need something even beyond that. There may be medicine
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: you need, whether it's allopathic medicine, whether it's Ayurvedic medicine,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: homeopathic medicine, naturopathic medicine. But there may be additional things required.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: And the same thing is true with mental health. So
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: we can say if you are Very mentally healthy to
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: begin with. Well, to maintain it, to stay healthy, some
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: of the similar things, get enough sleep. Actually, lack of
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: sleep has a huge impact on our mental functioning, on
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: our mood. So does our food. So does our diet.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: So does proper hydration, amazingly. So does exercise. And we
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: would add, do yoga, meditate, have a spiritual connection. A
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: spiritual connection is one of the most powerful predictors of
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: mental health. Have deep connection. Deep connection. Ideally, a deep
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: spiritual connection. But also deep connections in your life. Serve.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Use your life to serve others. Do something meaningful so
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: that at the end of the day when you go
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: to sleep, it mattered to someone that you got out
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: of bed that day. Because to get up every day
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: and not have any kind of a ripple impact upon
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: the planet or anyone's life It's depressing. The fact that
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: the planet would be no different whether you got up
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: or didn't get up, that's a very depressing thought, even
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: if I'm not depressed to begin with. So assuming that
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: you've got robust mental health to begin with, maintaining your
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: physical health, bringing in a spiritual component through meditation, through prayer,
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Through devotion, yoga, great for the body, great for the mind,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: great for the heart. Service connects us to others, makes
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: us realize how much divine flows through us. But if
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: you're dealing with a situation where you've already got mental distress, well,
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: you may need a lot more than that. It may
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: take components of that, but you may need more. If
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: you've been traumatized in some way, if you've got anxiety,
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: if you've got depression, if you've got any one of
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: innumerable illnesses, if you're suffering from addictions, from eating disorders,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: from so much that we struggle with in so many ways, well,
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: some additional assistance is of great benefit. Therapy. Again, there's
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: a whole variety of different types. But some way in
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: which you are working directly with what you're suffering from.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: And medication. You know, in some cases, for some people,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: for some certain periods of time, it's really helpful. I'm
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: not anti-medication at all. As long as it's not used
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: instead of doing the work. So if I'm suffering from depression,
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: let's say, and I'm so depressed that I cannot drag
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: myself out of bed. I cannot get out of bed
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: in the morning. And I'm suicidal. I want to kill myself.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: And medication can help me Get out of bed? Keep
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: myself from killing myself? Well, that's fantastic. But then I
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: need to use the fact that I've gotten out of
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: bed and I'm still alive to actually do my work
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: to overcome my depression. It's not just, oh, now I
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: take these pills and I feel better. The pills are
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: that which are used to help us be balanced enough,
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: have the energy enough to stay alive, to get out
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: of bed, to do our work, to show up at
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: therapy or counseling or yoga or wherever we go so
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: that we actually can heal. So I would definitely not
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: say they're a magic bullet by any means because we're
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: not just chemical beings. To say that Medicine itself was
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: the cure-all implies that mental illness is simply a chemical problem.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: And it isn't. Yes, there's chemical components. But it's a
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: problem rooted in issues of our society, issues of the
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: way that we run our systems, our communities. It has
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: to do with our individual experiences, that which we've been through.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: There's so much that leads to mental illness that's not
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: just about a chemical imbalance. So medicine is not the
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: cure all, but it is fantastically helpful, fantastically beneficial. For
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: some people with some illnesses for some period of time.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: And I'm all in favor of that. It's like if
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: you've got diabetes and you're going to die from diabetes
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: long before you can get your exercise program working, long
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: before your lifestyle changes and eating habits changes can bring
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: down your blood sugar. By all means, take whatever you
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: need to take to keep your blood sugar low enough
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: that you don't die. While you bring about lifestyle changes
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: so that ultimately you can take less and less of
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: the medicine and even ideally at some point be able
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: maybe to go off it. So I think of psychological
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: medicines in the same way. They're things that we use,
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: ideally temporarily, to help us through a period of time
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: to be able to do the work that we need
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: to actually heal. Now, there are some illnesses, psychotic illnesses mostly,
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: in which people will be medicated for most of their lives.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: People with schizophrenia, for example, will be medicated for most
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: of their lives. People with some forms of bipolar disorder
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: will be medicated for most of their lives because there
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: is a huge chemical component that doesn't respond nearly so
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: well at all to non-chemical forms of treatment. But what's
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: most important is to realize there's nothing wrong with that.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: It doesn't make you weak. Any more than needing medicine
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: for diabetes makes you weak. The point of our life
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: is to use all tools that we have to live
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: a life that is meaningful, fulfilling, deep, connected, in love,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: in peace, in awareness, in joy, And if a medication
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: can help me find that when I'm unable to find
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: it for a period of time as I learn the
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: way to find it myself, there's nothing to be ashamed
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: of there. Lastly, then, in terms of the yoga and
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: meditation just help us manage the anxiety or become free,
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: We can become free. It's one of the greatest truths
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: of the world, and it's an interesting thing to talk
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: about because just today exactly is the day that Jaico,
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: which is a big Indian publisher, has released today the
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: Indian edition of my memoir called Hollywood to the Himalayas.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: And it was published last summer in America, but the
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: Indian edition taken up by Jaico has literally just come
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: out today. And I mention that here because my journey
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: was a journey of healing and transformation, as the subheading
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: of the book is. I struggled a lot. I suffered
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: a lot. I found... Through spirituality, through yoga, through meditation,
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: through surrender, through devotional practices, through inquiry and gyan and study,
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: actual freedom from it. I used to think before I
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: came to India that the best you could do was
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: manage your life. I was 25, and to me that
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: was the highest goal. I had learned personally to manage
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: my life. There had been times of my life when
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: I wasn't managing it nearly so well. But by the
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: time I was 25, I had gotten to a point
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: where I felt like I was managing. I was managing
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: my pain. I was managing my anger. I was managing
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: my struggles. I was managing my relationships. I was managing
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: my school. I was in the midst of getting my
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: PhD in child neuropsychology. Because that's an interesting thing about
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: mental health and mental illness is remarkably a lot of us,
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: even as we suffer, are amazingly highly efficient and effective.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: And you would have no idea from the outside in
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: how much we're suffering. So you can't, and it's an
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: important point to mention on Mental Health Awareness Day, people
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: struggling with anxiety, with depression, with addiction, with all of
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: that we struggle with, do not necessarily look different. They
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: don't necessarily writhe around on the floor in pain and
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: anguish for everyone to kind of walk around them like
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: this is a person in trouble. We don't all stand
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: on soap boxes on a corner and people cross the
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: street because we look really crazy. A huge percentage of
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: people who are suffering are highly proficient in so many ways.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: But it wasn't until I came to India that I
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: actually discovered I could be free, not just manage. That
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: it wasn't about management. It was about freedom. So, as
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: we start to get.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: Get the beautiful blessings of Akash Ganga, the Ganga from
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: the sky, yes, you can be free. Yoga, meditation, spirituality,
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: doing your own work, You've got to do the work
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: to let go of that which is creating the anxiety,
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: of those patterns. And then, yes, you actually can become free,
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: not just manage it.
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: This is OTRFM, part of the IOM Radio Network.
• 40:08
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  Speaker 2: 757-622-PETA Welcome back. This is Sadhvi Bhagavati Saraswati with inspiration
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: and transformation. Can you offer some spiritual advice to someone
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: who has just started their spiritual journey? Like what kind
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: of meditation should I be doing? Thank you so much.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: What kind of meditation you do is much less important
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: than actually doing it. I always say there's no wrong
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: way to meditate other than hitting the snooze button and
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: going back to sleep. That's the only wrong way to meditate. Otherwise,
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: there's so many different lineages, schools, teachings, I don't think
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: there is one that's better than another. I think in general,
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: if you look back throughout history, our sages, our saints,
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: our rishis, the yogis, they weren't all doing one form
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: of meditation. They hadn't all gone to one guru or
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: one ashram or one course. They were in solitude and
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: silence in caves in the Himalayas, in some cases under
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: the tutelage of a specific guru, in some cases just
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: on their own. And then if you look out at
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: other religions as well, and you look at mystics and
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: masters of different religions as well, They all had some
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: practice of meditation, of contemplation, of divine connection. And it
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: worked for them. And there's enlightened masters, mystics, what we
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: would call yogis, they may use a different word, in
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: so many of the different religious traditions, if not all
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: of them. So there's not one way that's better, unless,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: of course, I'm planning to charge you a whole lot
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: of money to use my way, at which point I
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: would be sure to convince you that it was not
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: only the best way, but it was the only way.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: But if you go back to the days prior to
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: people having to pay large sums of money to learn
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: a specific technique, there really was no emphasis at all
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: it must be this way or that way, this school
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: or that school, this guru or that guru. What matters
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: most is just do it. So I would say the
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: type of meditation you should be doing is the type
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: that works for you. It doesn't hurt to try three,
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: four different types before you settle on a, specific technique.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: Give each of them, you know, a week, two weeks.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: You're not going to necessarily become an expert that quickly,
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: but you'll certainly get an idea of whether you're making
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: any progress. Is your mind quieting? Are you able to
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: bring awareness, consciousness, love, presence into each moment? Are you
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: feeling the impact of that meditation in the rest of
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: your day? Or does it go away the moment you
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: open your eyes and stand up off the cushion? And
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: just give yourself a little bit of time. And if
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: you want to give more time, you can give more time.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: Give a month. Give two months to a handful of
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: different practices, unless you discover with the first one that
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: this really works. Then stay with it. If it works,
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: that's your path. Otherwise, feel free, try a few different
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: things and figure out which one quiets your mind the quickest,
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: allows your mind to be quiet for the longest period
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: of time, opens your heart the most, has the most
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: lasting fragrance, Right? If you walked into a department store
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: and you paid a huge bunch of money for a perfume,
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: and you spray it on yourself in the store, but
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: by the time you walk out of the store, 15
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: minutes later, it's gone. The fragrance is gone. You'd think, well,
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: this is not a very good perfume. If it's a
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: good quality perfume or essential oil, it should last. It
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: should stay with you for at least a few hours.
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: if not the whole day. So meditation should be like
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: a fragrance. It should stay with you for as long
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: as possible. It should ripple out into the rest of
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: your day. So choose whichever one works. These days you
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: don't even have to necessarily go anywhere. It used to
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: be you had to go for a meditation retreat. These
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: days you can actually just create a retreat at home.
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: Go to YouTube. Listen to meditation videos. I mean, if
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: you can, take some time out. Come to an ashram.
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: Spend some time. Nothing like it. It's a highly charged atmosphere.
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: But if not, don't worry. Don't feel like you've got
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: to wait till you can come in order to start
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: a meditation practice. Start it wherever you are. Whenever you are,
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: whenever it occurs to you, just start. And then just
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: make sure that you keep doing it. That you actually
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: get up and do it. If you find that when
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: you set an alarm for four or five, every single
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: time you hit the snooze button and go back to sleep,
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: set it for six. Set it for a time when
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: you actually can get up. Because you're not achieving anything
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: by setting an alarm for Brahma Morth if you don't
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: actually ever get out of bed. You're much better off
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: setting an alarm for a time when you can reasonably
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: get out of bed and then meditate. So as you
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: start your spiritual journey, yes, meditation is critical. It's the foundation.
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: It's the energy. But recognize also as you start your
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: path that our spiritual path is not just that which
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: we do on the mat or on the cushion. So
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: while it's very important to have a good meditation practice,
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: a good yoga, practice, ultimately your spiritual journey is that
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: which happens when you walk off the mat, when you
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: stand up off the cushion. And so as you start
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: the journey, see how many times during the day you
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: can remind yourself that you're on the journey. Otherwise, you'll
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: remember in the morning for your meditation. Then you get
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: to work or you get to school or you get
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: where you're going and you completely forget. You're swept up.
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: And it's not till at night you're about to go
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: to sleep and you realize, oh my God, I'm supposed
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: to be on a spiritual journey. I forgot all day.
• 50:03
  Speaker 5: So make.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Opportunities all day long to just remind the self. Some
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: of the easiest ones are before you eat anything. Just
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: before you eat, take a few moments, close your eyes, reconnect.
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: If you've got a mantra you like to chant, chant it.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: Say grace, be grateful to God. Or simply just take
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: a few breaths. and sink into the core of who
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: you are before you drink water. And I choose these
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: because they're things that all of us do every day,
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: many times. And so it's this constant opportunity to just
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: reconnect and remember, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Because
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: life is full of distractions. You could set a reminder
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: on your phone every half an hour. Just a little bing.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: Let it be the only notification that actually goes off.
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: Just to remind you. Maybe instead of a bing, you
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: can program it to say, whatever you want to do.
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: Get creative. Use that which you're already doing in your day.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: to help remind you that you're on a spiritual journey.
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: And choose love and choose peace as much as you can.
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: For me, those are really the cornerstone of a spiritual journey.
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: As I move through the day, there's so many opportunities
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: to be upset, to be stressed, to be frustrated, to
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: be critical, to be judgmental, to be negative. Maybe it's
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: just things of your mind. You notice something that makes
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: you angry or you notice something that makes you upset.
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's somebody actually provoking you. Maybe it's actually somebody
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: in your face not choosing love, not choosing peace. Either way.
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: Whether it comes just from the depths of you inside
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: or it comes directly from outside, there's all these opportunities
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: to not be in peace, to not be anchored in love.
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: But we have the option. Every single time, regardless of
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: what the provocation may be, To choose love. To choose peace.
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: And I think that that's perhaps one of the most
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: critical pieces. For me, it's core to my practice. Every minute,
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: every moment. Am I choosing peace in this moment? Am
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: I choosing love in this moment? And if not, why?
• 53:34
  Speaker 5: Why?
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: Why would I voluntarily hand over my peace? Why would
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: I voluntarily pollute myself with hatred, with judgment, with negativity?
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: Love feels so good. It's why we love being in love.
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: It's why we love romance movies. It's why we love
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: romance books. I mean, whether it's us being in love
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: or someone else being in love, we love it. Why
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: would you choose not to love? Because, of course, love
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: is so much bigger than romance. I mean, ask any
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: of us who have chosen a path of celibacy. There's
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: so much love in the world, so many opportunities to love.
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: It doesn't require romance. Why would you choose anything else?
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: Why would you choose anything other than peace? Peace feels good.
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: It's why everyone wants to be in peace. So remember
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: that you should always remind yourself that you have this Possibility,
• 55:02
  Speaker 2: this choice, this opportunity to be in peace, to be
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: in love every moment. And that should stay with you
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: as you begin your spiritual journey and as you walk it.
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: This brings to a close this hour of inspiration and transformation.
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining me. I'm so glad
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: to be together with you all each week. And I
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: look forward to being together again next Thursday, same time,
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: on OM Times Radio.
• 56:28
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you.