WEBVTT - I Spent A Week With A 70-year-old Monk - This Is What I Learned 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.320 While his words were filled with wisdom, it's honestly how 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.320 he lived that taught me the most. Watching him move 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:10.160 through the world was like witnessing someone in constant prayer, 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.880 through presence, through humility, and through joy. You can only 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.120 truly touch someone's heart if you live in full integrity. 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:21.160 And integrity means your thoughts, your words, and your actions 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.079 are all in alignment. I'm Radi Wukiah and on my 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:27.840 podcast A Really Good Cry, we embrace the messy and 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.560 the beautiful, providing a space for raw, unfiltered conversations that 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.080 celebrate vulnerability and allow you to tune in to learn, 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.760 connect and find comfort together. Hey everyone, and welcome back 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.120 to this week's episode of A Really Good Cry. Now, 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.040 this week, I'm going to do something a little bit 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.000 different because for the past two weeks, we have had 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:49.240 our spiritual teacher, his Holiness, rather than Swami, living with us, 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:53.479 and I feel so incredibly blessed and so deeply fortunate 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:55.800 that I got to spend this time with him, and 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.400 so I wanted to share some of the lessons that 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:01.800 I learned from him, his his words, his wisdom, and 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.200 honestly just the reflections that I've had from being in 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.959 his presence, and I feel like sharing these things is 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.840 part of my reciprocation and my way of showing gratitude 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:14.840 to him by sharing his words, his wisdom and everything 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:16.720 that I've learned with other people in hopes that it 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:20.640 helps to connect them to their own spiritual path. And 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:23.080 I really think that the things that I will share 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:25.800 will hopefully help you do that. So let me give 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.120 you a little bit of background about rather Thanaswami, because 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.240 I know I've spoken about him a lot, but if 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:32.679 this is the first time you're hearing about him, he 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.520 has been among for over fifty years. He is a 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:40.520 spiritual teacher, an author, a philanthropist and a humanitarian. He 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.280 has a food distribution initiative called Anamorta that serves a 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:48.200 million meals every single day to people in India. His 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.120 social initiative Godvid and Eco Village. This is actually the 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.920 Ushrom that me and Jay visit every single year. We 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.160 go there to start our new year and it is 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.360 just one of the most beautiful places ever. It's what 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:05.840 I imagine India used to be in like back in 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:07.800 thousands and thousands of years ago. It is in the 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.440 middle of a forest, there is a beautiful ushroom where 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:12.919 you can meditate with monks, where you can learn from them. 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.560 But there's also a beautiful Arababic spa where you can 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.800 get physical treatments done. But on top of that, the 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.720 United Nations have actually recognized the eco village as a 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.320 model of sustainable living. So what they do is they 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:26.880 create all these amazing processes, and they create all these 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.160 systems because a lot of the monks there are actually 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.880 from it, which is the equivalent of MIT in the US. 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.320 So they are so smart, so accomplished, and they use 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.239 all of their skills in service to others. So whether 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:43.160 it's turning sewage water into drinkable water and teaching villages 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.160 around the area how to utilize that, or whether there's 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.640 different sustainable farming systems that farmers in different villages can 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.080 use to make money for their family. They kind of 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.280 use this as the hub of creating that technology and 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.120 creating those systems, which is actually amazing. But honestly, beyond 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.320 all these accolades and all these accomplishments, what makes him 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.440 truly extraordinary is just the way that he lives. He 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:10.079 lives with such deep compassion, radical humility, and unwavering service 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.320 to other people. So rather Than Aswami is also the 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.119 author of A Journey Home, and he tells his story 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.320 about being born Jewish in Chicago during the counterculture and 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.480 deciding to go on a journey of self discovery all 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:27.520 across the world from Chicago, traveling to Europe, through Iran, 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:32.040 through Pakistan. He's been through so many places and all 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.080 the way to India where he was mainly hitchhiking his 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.920 way across and really with the desire to explore and 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.680 dive into different religions and practices and paths, with the 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.600 deep desire to just find himself, to understand the divine, 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.800 to understand what his spiritual connection was, and what his 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.640 purpose in life is. And I won't give too many spoilers, 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.560 but rather Than Aswami and his book have significantly changed 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.560 and impacted my life in a way that nothing or 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.840 nobody else has. It really changed the trajectory of my 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.000 life once I read that book. But while he was 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:07.320 living here, every single night we'd walk together or sometimes 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.640 we'd just sit, sometimes in silence, sometimes in deep conversation 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:14.560 for hours, and while his words were filled with wisdom, 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.279 it's honestly how he lived that taught me the most. 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.520 Watching him move through the world was like witnessing someone 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:26.040 in constant prayer, through presence, through humility, and through joy. 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.280 I remember one time in a class years ago, when 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.359 I first started listening to him speak, he said, you 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:35.120 can only truly touch someone's heart if you live in 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:39.440 full integrity, and integrity means your thoughts, your words, and 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.839 your actions are all in alignment. At that time, I 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:46.880 understood that intellectually and theoretically, but it was only when 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.400 I got to observe him that I realized that it 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:52.320 is actually possible, Like it's actually possible to connect your 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:56.240 thoughts to your words and then have actions that represent both. 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:00.120 And sometimes for myself when I reflected on that, many 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.840 times where my actions don't meet my thoughts or the 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.000 thoughts that I'm having, even if I have a deep 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.960 intention to do something, my actions will show something different. 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.880 And actually, when all those three have been in alignment, 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:12.960 you know, in ebbs and flows. In my life, I've 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:16.279 noticed such a shift in energy, so such a shift 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.640 in focus and a shift in the ability to truly 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.400 connect to people. But imagine living with that day in 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.599 day out, having that true integrity every single day. How 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.800 deeply you can live your life, but then also how 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.200 deeply you can impact other people's lives too. And the 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:33.760 one thing that I absolutely love, and I think is 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:37.400 what attracted me to his way of living from the beginning, 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:39.960 was that he's never preached. He doesn't tell people how 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:43.000 to behave He just embodies it, and in doing so, 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.320 he makes you want to be better. He makes you 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:47.120 want to live a better life, to be better to 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.120 other people, not out of guilt or pressure, but from 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:54.400 pure inspiration. And so his entire life has been devoted 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.080 to sharing God and goodness in every single breath and 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.200 every day that he lives, in every moment when he's 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:03.320 interacting with people. And I don't know about you, but 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.960 I've never seen that around me, and so when I 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.120 experienced that, it was like a breath of fresh air, 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.040 but also felt like a glimpse into what the possibilities 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:16.080 are when you truly deeply connect to God, to nature 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.080 and devote yourself to practices that allow for that. And 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.360 so on one of our walks we start talking about 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.640 the true meaning of religion and spirituality and how a 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.800 lot of the time, unfortunately religion ends up separating people 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:33.040 and causing turbulence between people rather than uniting them, and 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.719 sometimes when being part of something like that, you end 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:39.240 up losing sight of what true divinity means. And so 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.880 he said that true religion and true spirituality isn't about 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.800 claiming superiority through your label. It's not I'm Hindu, or 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.479 I'm Christian or I'm Muslim, and therefore I have love 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:53.000 of God. It's about actually striving for that love and 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.440 living a life that makes you worthy of that love, 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.480 not by perfection but through sincere effort. And you know what, 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:01.800 I feel like that makes so much sense because if 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.240 you decide to hang around with a whole bunch of accountants, 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:06.880 it doesn't make you an accountant. You have to do 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:08.880 the work to actually become one. And so in the 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:11.600 same way, when you belong to a religion, it doesn't 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.160 mean that you've arrived spiritually. It doesn't mean that you've 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.440 become enlightened once you join that community. But sometimes our 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.200 spiritual identity can actually distance us from the essence of 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.560 the teachings because we end up confusing group belonging with 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:29.080 personal transformation. And so the question isn't do I belong 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:33.440 to a community? It is this community helping me to transform, 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.360 and that can be applied into a religious community, a 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.520 spiritual community, a friendship group. But I think that's really 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.760 important when it comes to practicing a religion. I think 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.360 if there's a community or group that's constantly telling you 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:50.560 you're better because of this designation, it's not necessarily sharing 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.760 the word of God in that way. Because you know, 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.320 one thing I also really appreciate about rather Naswami is 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.840 he always quotes and shares from different religions, not ever 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:04.640 to criticize them, but in a total sense of adoration 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:09.080 and love and understanding of that practice and actually wanting 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:13.440 to take on those teachings and imbibe them in his life. 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:17.240 And he was sharing about how the number one kind 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.240 of principle of Christianity is to love God and the 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.240 second one is to love your neighbor, and one cannot 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.600 be true without the other. And so if you are 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:30.960 not loving to the people around you, no matter what religion, past, 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.040 or race they are, then how are you able to 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.240 love God? Because through loving your community is the opportunity 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.200 you're being given to actually show your love for God. 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.080 And so I thought that was really interesting because a 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:45.080 lot of the time when you look in the world, 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:46.880 a lot of things are done in the name of God, 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:52.600 but sometimes it's because there's been mistranslation of what loving 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.920 God actually looks like, and it's been taken and put 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:00.440 into a sense of superiority rather than connection how to 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.360 actually love everybody around us. And so I think that's 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.199 a really important lesson to learn and something I always 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:11.920 reflect on whether my community is creating connection with people 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.960 or whether it's taking me away from people or creating 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:21.160 anger or aggression or negative emotions towards another group of people. 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:23.640 And if it is, then it's a place for me 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.280 to reflect and think, maybe this is not actually doing 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:27.880 what I want it to be doing, and maybe this 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.760 community isn't the community for me. Maybe the path is, 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:35.079 but maybe the community isn't. And so I think that's 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:39.320 a vital part of when you're trying to find your people, 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.480 or the religion or the spiritual path that you are 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:46.680 going down, or a spiritual teacher. Is this person helping 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:50.440 me to love others more or to dislike other people more? 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.320 And I think that's a really simple way of being 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.520 able to tell whether it's something that is for you 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:56.240 or not for you. I'm that's saying, well, rather than 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.280 Sam started speaking about the word spiritual and that the 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.320 word spiritual is obviously spirit and ritual. And he said 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.520 that these days many people focus only on the spirit, 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:09.000 the intention, and the feeling, and they dismiss ritual. Many 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.720 people are turning away from going to churches, going to 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:16.079 places of worships, doing the process it required to actually 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:21.160 build commitment and love for gods. But both are actually essential. 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.120 Ritual is actually what grounds our spirit and it anchors 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:28.400 us in practice. Without it, intention can just float away. Sometimes. 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.120 You know, you can have the intention for a lot 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:33.520 of things, but how can you take intention and create action. Well, 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:36.840 taking intention and creating action is in the ritual. And 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:38.880 he stopped in front of a set of solar panels 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.360 and he started smiling, and we were just looking out 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:43.760 these solar panels and he says, you see those solar 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:45.920 panels over there, and we all said, yeah, we see them. 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.040 He said, they just sit there, open and exposed to 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.440 the sun. They absorb its energy and then they distribute 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:54.800 it as power in the form of heat or light. 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.760 He said, that's what sadna is. Sadna is our spiritual 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.960 practices or our ritual that we do daily, he goes 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:05.760 these spiritual practices are how we absorb divine energy and 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.760 our character and our service. That is how we distribute it. 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.160 He reminded us that even in the simple act of 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.320 saying a prayer before eating, no matter what tradition your 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.800 part of, it's actually not just a ritual. It's a 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.079 conscious way to set the heart to enter into devotion 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.640 before we receive anything. And I've really gotten into the 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.480 habit of praying or trying to pray, or remembering to 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.839 pray before I receive anything. So whether I'm receiving an 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:34.240 award or whether it's on a daily basis where I'm 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.320 receiving the food that I'm about to eat, or waking 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:39.400 up in the morning and taking a breath and before 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.559 you receive the air that goes into your lungs, remembering 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.120 that it is a gift from nature, from God, from 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.960 the plants around us. If we are present and if 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:49.600 we're able to see it, and we take a moment 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.520 of prayer before receiving anything, we realize how much we're 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:56.080 actually getting in our life. And so this practice of prayer, 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.800 it's not just let me just say it really quickly 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.280 before I eat, because it's something I've been told to do. No, 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:05.679 it's how it sets the consciousness of our heart. It 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.800 sets the intention in our mind to actually receive it 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.360 with gratitude and with devotion and appreciate it in the 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:14.880 right way. One thing that was actually so incredible to 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.600 witness was the way he associated every single thing with God. 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:21.439 In some way. It was a much needed reminder that 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.360 what you surround yourself with becomes you. He has immersed 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:28.800 himself fully, so deeply in service and into the Divine 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.240 that his mind naturally links everything back to God. Whether 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.880 it's a tree, whether it's a solar panel, whether it's 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.960 a song, His heart seems to find meaning, reflection and 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.640 connection to the Divine in some way. It's like when 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.280 you love someone so much, every little thing reminds you 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.960 of them. His love for God is like that. He's 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:48.880 fully immersed and so he's fully in a God conscious 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:52.400 mindset every single moment of the day. So whether it's 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:54.640 relating back to a story that he read in scripture, 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.840 whether it's relating back to a lesson that he's learnt 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.920 through his practices, every single thing, even when we're driving, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.560 there'd be a billboard and somehow what's written on the billboard, 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:09.280 he'd connect back to the scriptures in some way, And 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:11.960 so it made me reflect, what is my consciousness, where 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.280 is my head at most of the time, what is 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:16.839 my mind link things to? What kind of conversations am 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.240 I having? What am I reading? What am I listening to? 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.520 Who am I spending time with? And weighing that up 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.319 the positives and the negative influences on me. And that 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:28.480 was the other thing. Every morning when he would wake up, 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:30.560 we would hear as soon as he woke up, he'd 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:32.680 be listening to a class on scripture while he was 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.480 in the shower, while he was getting ready, setting his 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.920 intention for the day, absorbing himself in scripture and practice 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.959 throughout the day, being so mindful about how much he eats, 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.600 what he's eating to fuel his body, eating for fuel, 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.520 not for a desire or sense of gratification, and not 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:49.760 because he has to, not because he feels like he's 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.960 forced to, but because that is how he wants to live. 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:55.240 And it was incredible to be able to see someone 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.840 who isn't doing the meditation practice or reading or doing 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:01.120 all the things that I'm trying to do because I 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.760 know it's good for me. But watching someone do it 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:07.000 because they've got this full taste, this full excitement and 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.600 joy for doing it. And obviously that comes from consistency, 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:12.800 It comes from showing up every single day, It comes 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:16.520 from making all the conscious choices every single day towards 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.240 living that life's choosing the things that support that practice, 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.880 support that ritual, supports that way of living, versus going 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:28.400 against it. But honestly, just seeing that joy in practice 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.560 is possible and that it doesn't just always feel like 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:36.200 this slug against something, this resistance, that it doesn't just 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:38.880 feel like a ritual, but it becomes a joyous part 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.160 of your day that is actually desired. Was everything. I 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:45.480 feel like sometimes we need to see what's possible and 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.040 see someone at the end of the tunnel or the 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.720 light at the end of the tunnel to help encourage 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:52.840 us to keep doing that. And we all need role 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:55.200 models in different parts of our life, whether it's in work, 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:59.440 whether it's in family, whether it's in spirituality. Finding somebody 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.600 who bodies those qualities but also who gives us that 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:05.280 glimpse of what's possible by doing what we're doing, doing 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.360 the practices and rituals that we're doing, and you know, 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:08.920 if you're saying there thinking I don't know any monks, 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:10.840 I don't know any Swamis, I don't know anybody who's 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.640 religious or spiritual like that. I don't have any connection 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:15.880 to somebody like that. Or if you're trying to increase 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.560 your association with people like that, people who have an 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:21.560 elevated mindset, it really doesn't have to be a physical connection. 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.560 I think that's where sometimes we go wrong. I can't 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:26.800 access this person, so how will I learn from them? 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.400 But association doesn't have to be physical. If you think 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.760 about how much you might adore a singer that you've 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.640 been listening to. All you've done is hear their words, 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:39.160 hear their songs in your car at home, you've just 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.760 been listening to them. Or if there's a book that 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:43.880 you've read, if you're a huge fan of let's say 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:47.120 Harry Potter, you've read all the Harry Potter books. You've 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.000 had created a connection to Harry Potter or the author 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:53.600 just by reading, and so association doesn't have to be physical. 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.960 That is such a myth. You really can learn from 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.920 people just by hearing their words, listening to classes, reading 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.040 their books, and creates such a deep connection with them, 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.040 I remember rather Notaswami was telling a story about his 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.880 spiritual teacher, Shilaproapad, and he said that he only really 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.520 interacted with his spiritual teacher in person a couple of times, 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.080 but he stayed connected purely through listening to his classes 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.960 and reading his books. So even watching someone online, you 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.640 can start off by watching classes, listen to their words, 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:26.280 reflect on them, journal about them. It can influence you 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:28.720 so deeply. And that's when I see how I stay 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.840 connected to him even when he's not here physically. I 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.960 feel like I get even a deeper connection to him 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.120 when I'm listening to him every single day online or 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.680 when he's having classes in different places, because he travels 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:42.600 a lot as part of being a monk. He's a 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.560 traveling monk, so on top of everything that he does, 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.400 he goes where he's needed and he supports the community there, 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.920 and so he'll give classes there or share words of 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.320 wisdom there and they record them and we're able to 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:57.600 listen to them online. When Ratheransami described meeting his spiritual 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.600 teacher for the first time, he actually says, I'm just 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.440 going to read this because it's so beautiful and it 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:05.760 really represents how I felt when I met him, which 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.800 is a lovely affirmation, or it really affirmed the way 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.359 that I connected to him and that he was the 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.840 right person to connect to. He said, when I first 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:17.440 saw schilaproa Pad, he was sitting on a simple cushion, 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:21.000 speaking so humbly, yet his words pierced through all my 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:23.960 doubts and fears. It was the first time I saw 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:28.320 someone live what they preach with such purity. I wept 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:33.240 without knowing why. He described, feeling overwhelmed by Schulerpropad's humility, clarity, 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.480 and love, qualities that he hadn't seen in any other 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:40.399 spiritual figure. And that is honestly how I felt with 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.119 rather than Asami when I met him. It really, really 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.760 deeply affirmed how I felt about him and showed me 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:47.800 that I was on the right path. You know, one 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.159 thing I've struggled with quite a bit has been this 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:53.480 ability to be truly present with people in the moment. 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.000 It's something that I've really been working on. But I 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:57.880 can be in a place really trying to look into 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.240 someone's eyes, trying to deeply connect and listen to what 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.120 they're saying, but sometimes my mind just finds it really 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:06.399 hard to stay focused and be attentive. It can just 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.800 be all over the place physically here, but mentally somewhere 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:14.280 completely different. But when anyone, any single person, meets rather Naswami, 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.680 it's like he is looking deep into your soul, so 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:21.280 intensely present in the moment with whoever he interacts with, 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:23.760 And each person that I've spoken to has had the 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:27.320 same feeling from the moment they meet him. He doesn't 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:31.320 rush to fill silences. He's not uncomfortable with stillness, and 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.000 that in itself taught me something that silence is a 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.520 form of trust. You can only be quiet with someone 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.600 you're truly comfortable with. And for him, he is so 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:44.119 deeply comfortable in himself but also comfortable in the connection 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:46.800 of soul to soul, heart to heart, not with all 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.400 the layers that cover us up. But he's not meeting 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.040 you as a human or as a physical body, where 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.919 there's so many things that create invisible barriers between us 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.000 before we even speak words. He just sees the soul 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.199 to soul connection, and so I feel like he's just 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:04.840 so comfortable because he sees God in the other person 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:07.000 and the God in him, and the God and the 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:11.120 other person are connecting. He also wastes no words, and somehow, 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:14.960 in that quiet, whether he says words or doesn't, his 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.119 presence says more than most people say in hours. And 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.159 on the day before he left, we actually gathered a 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:23.280 group of friends to meet him, and I remember reflecting 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:27.280 on how different everyone received his words. He spoke, you know, 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.280 for about half an hour, and it was amazing because 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.880 when I spoke to everybody afterwards, the same sentence landed 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.760 differently for each person, depending on their heart, depending on 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:39.639 what they were going through, how much work they had 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:43.399 done previously internally, how much therapy they'd been in, and 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:45.760 what they were ready to actually hear. And I think 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.960 it's because spiritual truth doesn't scream, It just meets you 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:51.879 gently where you're at. And that's really what the whole 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.320 situation showed me. When I heard everybody's different reflections on 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.000 the same class that they heard, the same words that 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:00.560 they were all hearing, the amount of people that came 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:02.720 to me and said, you have no idea, how much 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.119 I needed that, how much clarity I got, or I 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:08.679 really felt like he was speaking to me after everything 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.240 that I've been through, And I was like, Wow, every 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:13.520 person's experience has been so different. Not one person has 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:16.240 been through the same thing, but they feel like he 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:20.080 is talking directly to them, that it's literally affected their 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:23.280 hearts so deeply. And that's so magical, isn't it. I 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:27.359 just I loved hearing that. It just it was really special. Actually, So, 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:28.920 if we really had to summ up what I've learned 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.120 from being around him in one short phrase, it would 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:36.120 be this, when you're deeply connected to the divine, to love, 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:41.679 to patience, and to the right energy, you overflow. You 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:46.040 are overflowing with the capacity the ability to just give 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:49.040 to others. And there's never a point in time where 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.159 he says he's tired of being around people helping people. 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:54.399 You know, usually you go to a social environment and 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:56.879