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Speaker 1: I was addicted to cocaine, previous cocaine. I didn't save myself.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't.

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Speaker 2: He was a rock musician searching for meaning. Then a

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Speaker 2: chance encounter in India set him on a path he

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Speaker 2: never expected.

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Speaker 1: I always felt I was missing something. It was peace

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Speaker 1: missing and I was always looking for that.

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Speaker 2: Somehow Krishna Das found a new kind of stage and

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Speaker 2: a new way to heal himself and the world.

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Speaker 1: Attributed to a miracle and the ability to keep letting

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Speaker 1: go and coming back home. If we let ourselves be

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Speaker 1: destroyed by what's going on in the outside world, what

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Speaker 1: good will read?

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Speaker 3: Anybody?

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Speaker 2: Join host Martin Luther King the Third, Andrea Waters, King,

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Speaker 2: Mark Kilberger, and Craig Kilberger for a conversation about starting over,

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Speaker 2: finding your purpose, and the wisdom learned along the way.

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Speaker 1: You promised me now you would give up cocaine from

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Speaker 1: that moment to this man, and.

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Speaker 4: I was like, welcome to my legacy. Today, we're honored

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Speaker 4: to sit down with an extraordinary guest who has spent

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Speaker 4: most of his adult life sharing the transformational power of

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Speaker 4: chanting with the world. Krishna Das. Now your friends call

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Speaker 4: you KD and your biggest fans call you kt Is

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Speaker 4: it all right if we call you Katie?

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Speaker 3: No problem?

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Speaker 4: Well it was very kind because you've got four fans,

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Speaker 4: and you've got two super fans if I can call

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Speaker 4: him out, especially you got Andrea and you got Mark,

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Speaker 4: who would fly anywhere to hear you perform. Katie is

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Speaker 4: known as the chant Master of American yoga, bringing the

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Speaker 4: ancient practice of Kurtan to global audiences and helping countless

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Speaker 4: people find solace and connection through music. He has recorded

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Speaker 4: seventeen albums, performed on some of the world's biggest stages,

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Speaker 4: and even earned a Grammy nomination for his work. Now,

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Speaker 4: as our listeners and viewers know, what makes conversations on

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Speaker 4: my legacy unexpected and unique is we don't just hear

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Speaker 4: from extraordinary individuals. We also hear from the people people

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Speaker 4: who know them best. Kadie, would you start off please

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Speaker 4: by introducing your guest Nina and sharing what makes her

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Speaker 4: such an important part of your life and your work.

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Speaker 3: For sure?

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Speaker 1: You know, without Nina, I just be home watching TV.

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Speaker 1: You know that's the truth. Nina's she makes it possible

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Speaker 1: me for me to get out there and do what

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Speaker 1: I have to do. We met a long time ago,

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Speaker 1: and then she invited me out to lunch and I said,

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Speaker 1: we're going to spend a lot of time together. We're

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Speaker 1: going to be together for a long time. And since

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Speaker 1: that day it's been full time. Really, she's extraordinary, not

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Speaker 1: only I mean, she sings better than me, and she

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Speaker 1: studies chanting and the real Indian tradition. You know, I'm

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Speaker 1: kind of New York via Long Island Indian tradition. She's

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Speaker 1: got the real stuff. I call her up when I

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Speaker 1: wake up in the morning where am I? And she

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Speaker 1: tells me so literally and figurably literally. I travel so

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Speaker 1: much sometimes I can't even find the bathroom in the

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Speaker 1: hotel room.

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Speaker 5: You know, we understand the hands.

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Speaker 3: Katie.

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Speaker 4: You mentioned a moment ago India via Long Island. That's

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Speaker 4: rather a unique journey. And in my legacy we talk

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Speaker 4: about people's origin, what made them who they are, And

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Speaker 4: so I'm curious, can you reflect back a little bit

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Speaker 4: on your childhood in Long Island and any of the

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Speaker 4: early indications that you would become the extraordinary Krishna Das.

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Speaker 1: First of all, I don't see myself as the extraordinary Chrishnads.

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Speaker 1: There was always something missing in my life In fact,

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Speaker 1: I go out to dinner maybe once a month with

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Speaker 1: some of my old high school friends, and there's a

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Speaker 1: couple of people that usually dominate the conversation, both lawyers,

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Speaker 1: by the way, they weren't there that night. So one

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Speaker 1: of the women said to me, you know, I've known

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Speaker 1: now since you know, nineteen sixties.

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Speaker 3: She said, so, why did you go to India? I said, I.

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Speaker 1: Went, WHOA, somebody's actually asking me a real question here.

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Speaker 1: So I said, well, you know, I always felt I

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Speaker 1: was missing something, there was a piece missing, and I

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Speaker 1: was always looking for that somehow. And she said, oh,

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Speaker 1: I never felt that. And that just broke my heart

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Speaker 1: because I saw that, you know, whatever it was that

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Speaker 1: was pulling me and leading me in my life, and

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Speaker 1: she didn't have that. And what it is is, I

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Speaker 1: think the recognition that there is something to find, something

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Speaker 1: deeper in life than what appears on the outside, in

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Speaker 1: the surface. And some of us have finished the journey

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Speaker 1: and others of us are like on the way. But

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Speaker 1: that's our requirement, is that longing and I always had that.

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Speaker 6: You actually were the head of a rock band, right,

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Speaker 6: the Blue Oyster Cult.

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Speaker 1: It was a bunch of high school kids from Stonybrook,

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Speaker 1: where I was at school, and a friend of mine

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Speaker 1: they met a friend who was a little older, and

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Speaker 1: they started, you know, smoking, and they started to want

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Speaker 1: that they wanted to have a band, so they needed

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Speaker 1: a singer. So he invited me to come play with them,

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Speaker 1: and we hung out for a while. But they were

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Speaker 1: too young and too stupid, and I was too old

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Speaker 1: and too stupid, so we went in different directions directions.

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Speaker 1: A few years later, they had become fairly well known

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Speaker 1: as the Soft White Underbelly. It was the sixties, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I had met Ramdas who just lit my life

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Speaker 1: up in a new direction. But I went back to school.

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Speaker 1: On my way up to see him to live with him.

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Speaker 1: We went to a Jimmy Hendricks concert Wow. And after

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Speaker 1: the concert we were hanging around and the manager of

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Speaker 1: the band said, you know, the guy.

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Speaker 3: Who replaced you.

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Speaker 1: We have a whole recording, but the guy who replaced

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Speaker 1: you can't sing. Come back cut the vocal tracks.

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Speaker 3: We have the tour.

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Speaker 1: And this was my dream, you know, this was being

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Speaker 1: handed to me. But I had tripped and fallen in

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Speaker 1: something much deeper, much more fulfilling, And and that was

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Speaker 1: when I met Ramdas.

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Speaker 3: So I just said.

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Speaker 1: Nah, and but look, but look look at now what

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Speaker 1: do I do?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 1: I travel around, I sing to people just so like

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Speaker 1: I always wanted to do it, and I can do

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Speaker 1: it sitting down.

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Speaker 3: I don't have to like work out all the time.

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Speaker 5: And I must say, you are rock star.

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Speaker 4: You're here.

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Speaker 7: Well, Nina, I can't stress how incredible and Christians, how

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Speaker 7: meaningful these conversations for all of us, including me. The

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Speaker 7: first thing we wake up in the morning is listen

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Speaker 7: to your music. In the evening, listen to your music.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 7: I get emotional just thinking of your music because you

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Speaker 7: and your music, and Nina, by definition, you and your

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Speaker 7: entire presence, your music connects me to consciousness. You were

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Speaker 7: talking about relationship with Ramdas and just how amazing that was,

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Speaker 7: how much it had an impact on you. You know Ramdas

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Speaker 7: of Courts For those who don't know, Harvard trained psychologist

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Speaker 7: wrote that seminar book here now, spiritual leader, can you

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Speaker 7: take us back to those days and what was that

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Speaker 7: relationship like and how did you guys become friends and

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Speaker 7: how did he have an impact in your life?

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, when I walked into the room where

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Speaker 1: Ramdas is sitting, I felt this spacious, wide presence like

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Speaker 1: the sky, you know, and from that moment on there

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Speaker 1: was a part of me that was always aware of that.

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Speaker 1: You know, like we walked down the street, we don't

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Speaker 1: even know, we forget this guy's there, but this guy

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Speaker 1: is so vast and everything's inside of that. You know,

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Speaker 1: nothing can be outside of that space. And then when

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Speaker 1: I went to India and actually got to the temple

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Speaker 1: where the Baba lived, it was confusing at first because

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Speaker 1: how did that all fit in there in that body?

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Speaker 1: You know, it was this little guy wrapped in a blanket.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's very hard for us, in our lives,

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Speaker 1: in our relationships, in our interactions with the world and

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Speaker 1: everybody in it, to trust in the goodness of people,

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Speaker 1: even if they don't know it, even if they don't

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Speaker 1: feel it. You know, we all have that place within

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Speaker 1: us that is pure beauty and pure love and pure goodness.

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Speaker 1: And being in India with the Baba, my heart just

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Speaker 1: developed this feeling of trust in that situation and that

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Speaker 1: allowed it to relax and let go of a lot

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Speaker 1: of the programs that are always running, you know, telling

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Speaker 1: us we're not enough if we need this, this one.

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Speaker 1: We want this, we don't want this, we're afraid of this.

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Speaker 1: We like this, you know, the stuff that kind of

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Speaker 1: rules us and limits us. So being in that presence,

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Speaker 1: with that being it was the beginning of braining really

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Speaker 1: to let go. Which, by the way, what happens when

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Speaker 1: we chanted the way I share the chanting is the

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Speaker 1: way I do it. You sing, and then when you

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Speaker 1: notice you're not paying attention, you sing. That's the whole thing.

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Speaker 1: Nothing else is required. And because when we let go

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Speaker 1: of the stuff that pulls us out of ourselves, we

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Speaker 1: fall into that deeper place of goodness and love and

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Speaker 1: kindness and compassion and all that.

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Speaker 7: Your Guru used to say, let everyone serve everyone, and

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Speaker 7: remember God, how do you do that every day?

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Speaker 1: Well, I wish I listened to me more. There's a

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Speaker 1: funny story. So one day he was very angry and

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Speaker 1: he came to the temple and when he walked in,

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Speaker 1: the guy who he hated the most handed him a

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Speaker 1: plate of food because we're being fed across the courtyard

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Speaker 1: with maharajis sitting there watching the seat, and he took

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Speaker 1: the food and he threw in the guy's face right

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Speaker 1: in front of Maharadi, mahar goes something wrong, come here,

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Speaker 1: Rumdas goes and sits down my heart. He says, what's wrong?

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Speaker 1: And Ramda says, I can't stand impurity and myself or

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Speaker 1: in others right, so my heart. He looks round us

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Speaker 1: up and down a few times and he says, I

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Speaker 1: don't see the impurity, and Rhymers just broke out crying.

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Speaker 1: Right my heart. He says, round us, love everyone and

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Speaker 1: tell the truth. So Ramda said, the truth is I

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Speaker 1: don't love everyone. My heard you lean in a little

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Speaker 1: closer and said, Rumdas, love everyone and tell the truth.

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Speaker 1: And that became his the star that he followed his

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Speaker 1: whole life. And you know, he had a catastrophic stroke

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Speaker 1: and he lived for over twenty years in a wheelchair.

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Speaker 1: But he used to say to me, the stroke saved

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Speaker 1: my life. Why was that because he had there was

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Speaker 1: stuff that he couldn't get to inside that was driving him,

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Speaker 1: making him unhappy, causing suffering, and he just wasn't able

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Speaker 1: to get to it. But once the stroke happened, he

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Speaker 1: had no option. He had to be with it and

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Speaker 1: he had to surrender to it. He couldn't change what

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Speaker 1: was happening, so he had to find a way to

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Speaker 1: live with the situation and not let it destroy him.

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Speaker 1: And that idea of loving everyone and telling the truth.

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Speaker 1: When those two things finally came together for him, when

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Speaker 1: you were with him, all you felt was their love

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Speaker 1: and everyone was in it, and which is so unusual

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Speaker 1: for a Westerner. We don't think, we don't in a sense,

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Speaker 1: you could say he became like a saint.

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Speaker 8: You know, Oh, Nina, your grandfather, I believe or you

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Speaker 8: or introduced you to chant it. Can you talk about

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Speaker 8: him and how that experience occurred.

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Speaker 9: So we grew up outside of India a lot. My

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Speaker 9: father traveled for his work and we would go back

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Speaker 9: to visit my grandfather in a small village on the

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Speaker 9: coast of India where he was retired. But in his

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Speaker 9: home was a harmonium and he started singing this prayer

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Speaker 9: to Ganesha, who's one of our deities that I worshiped

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Speaker 9: in India. And it was done in the most natural,

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Speaker 9: beautiful way. He said, I'm going to sing this line

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Speaker 9: and you repeat. That was it, and it felt natural.

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Speaker 9: Everybody came. Later that evening, people in the village came

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Speaker 9: and sang in what we call satsang where everybody comes

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Speaker 9: together in community and does practice. But the way it's

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Speaker 9: done in India is it's not really an event. It's

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Speaker 9: just something that happens on a regular basis in people's

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Speaker 9: homes in temples. And that's how I was first introduced

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Speaker 9: to it and really stayed with me because I didn't

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Speaker 9: do it much after that. My father, my grandfather passed

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Speaker 9: away until I met Krishnadas without knowing and I had

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Speaker 9: no idea who he was. I didn't know what was

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Speaker 9: going to happen. I actually thought I was going to

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Speaker 9: leave the yoga retreat because I saw somebody and I thought,

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Speaker 9: oh my gosh, this is going to be a westerner

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Speaker 9: or a failed Indian musician. I don't I think it's

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Speaker 9: going to be terrible.

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Speaker 5: I really read all this.

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Speaker 3: She knew me right away.

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Speaker 9: And I had never seen him before. And when he

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Speaker 9: walked in, you know, I thought this is worse than

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Speaker 9: a failed Indian musician. But as soon as he sat

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Speaker 9: down and he started home, I moved from the back

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Speaker 9: of the room to the front of the room, not

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Speaker 9: knowing how, and you know, three hours later, there I was,

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Speaker 9: and in some ways I never left. That was my connection,

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Speaker 9: and I said, it was just the most amazing thing

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Speaker 9: this retreat. And they said, you know, he sings every

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Speaker 9: week at this Yuga studio And I said really, And

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Speaker 9: they gave me the tape and I put it in

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Speaker 9: my car and I didn't stop listening to it until

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Speaker 9: basically the tape broke wow, and I found out that

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Speaker 9: he was singing at the yoga studio every Monday. And

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Speaker 9: we connected, we became friends, and he would pick me up,

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Speaker 9: remember going down FDR Drive and those daisy cheese and

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Speaker 9: so we would go and get nachos. I just felt

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Speaker 9: I wanted to support him in whatever way. There was

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Speaker 9: no business to manage in those days.

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Speaker 3: There was no business.

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Speaker 9: There was no business, but he did need a drummer,

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Speaker 9: and I learned one beat.

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Speaker 6: So can you explain what is unique about the type

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Speaker 6: of chanting that you do, Kirton, and how can it

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Speaker 6: speak to our hearts?

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, as Westerners, we have a hard time

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Speaker 1: believing there's anything beyond Mickey Mouse, you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: because I was living a culture that doesn't really support

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Speaker 1: that so much. So even though I've kind of absorbed

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Speaker 1: all this from India, when I'm also Western, when I sing,

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Speaker 1: I don't ask myself to try to make anything happen.

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Speaker 1: I simply keep coming back to the sound of the mantra,

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Speaker 1: these are the names of God. And I find that

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Speaker 1: this practice brains me to let go of the stuff

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Speaker 1: that holds me down, that weighs me down, you know,

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Speaker 1: the shadows in our own hearts, and the ability to

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Speaker 1: keep letting go and coming back home for a second,

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Speaker 1: letting go, coming back. This is a brings the inner

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Speaker 1: strength that actually helps you overcome just about anything. It's

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Speaker 1: an inner strength that you get from these practices. And

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Speaker 1: if we want to love everyone, serve everyone, and remember,

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Speaker 1: if we want to do that, we need some strength

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Speaker 1: to do that because this world, especially these days, doesn't

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Speaker 1: support that kind of thing easily. So each one of

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Speaker 1: us has to be find a way to connect to

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Speaker 1: that deeper place.

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Speaker 6: And it's interesting because for me, for many years I

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Speaker 6: worked monitoring hate groups and hate crimes such as the

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Speaker 6: klu klutz Klan and neo Nazis and skinheads, and one

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Speaker 6: of the things that I had in my office was

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Speaker 6: that we must never become like that which we're fighting against,

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Speaker 6: which is a quote by Belle Hooks. It was my

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Speaker 6: north star, and so it's one thing to have that,

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Speaker 6: you know, on your wall, but I also had to

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Speaker 6: find a way of looking at such topics, and we

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Speaker 6: also would monitor hate crimes, and so I had to

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Speaker 6: find a way to continually to make sure that I

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Speaker 6: would not become like that which we were standing against. Sure,

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Speaker 6: and one way.

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Speaker 5: That I did that was through your music.

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Speaker 6: So at night, you know, after kind of being in

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Speaker 6: that world all day, I would come and put the

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Speaker 6: CD on and you know, find a way I would

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Speaker 6: begin my day and also end my day as a

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Speaker 6: way to clear out the energy and radiate, you know,

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Speaker 6: to be for something rather than against. And so for

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Speaker 6: all of those years of that, I thank you.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: What It's true, that's that's what the power of chanting is,

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Speaker 1: and it comes from an ancient spiritual tradition, and it

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Speaker 1: connects us with that place within us that's deeper than

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Speaker 1: all that other stuff. Gives us a chance to take

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Speaker 1: a breath in a deeper place and be able to

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Speaker 1: let go of all the reactions and the stuff we

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Speaker 1: have to deal with every day, all the inside and

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Speaker 1: outside of us.

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Speaker 6: You know, are there any other types of music that

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Speaker 6: both of you tend to listen to and enjoy. That

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Speaker 6: also brings like for me, obviously, I love your music.

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Speaker 6: I love gospel music. It brings me to that same place.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, you know when I'm really messed up, I

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Speaker 1: have to listen to it. Charles, especially America the Beautiful

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Speaker 1: Boy if you want to, you know, how can you

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Speaker 1: bear that?

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Speaker 3: It's so beautiful?

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Speaker 9: That's a good song for now.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, just.

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Speaker 1: Growing up in the sixties with rock and roll, it's

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Speaker 1: still a place where I go back to a lot.

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Speaker 1: And the weirdest thing is now on Facebook because of

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Speaker 1: the way I my likes, you know, I'm getting to

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Speaker 1: see I just saw The Stones, you know, from nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixty five, you know, well, a black and white video

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Speaker 1: of the Stones. This is the music that changed my

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Speaker 1: life at that time.

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Speaker 4: If you were creating your playlist, besides Criton, who would

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Speaker 4: be on Ray Charleston.

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Speaker 1: Richarles, well, you know Ray, Charles, Van Morrison, Steely Dan

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Speaker 1: what they were friends of mine. Tibetan chanting is I

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Speaker 1: really listened to a lot of Tibetan. There's an incredible

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Speaker 1: lama who lives in Paris, actually teaches in French at

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Speaker 1: Tibetan actually it's Bhutanese and they made a CD which

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Speaker 1: really was I listened to it for years nothing else

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Speaker 1: than that for years on the Lama's Chant.

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Speaker 3: Actually it's fantastic.

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Speaker 4: Hell for all of our social followers, they're going to

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Speaker 4: be putting out the Rolling Stones Van Morrison and the

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Speaker 4: Tibetan Chance.

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Speaker 5: I just love that combination.

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Speaker 10: If you're looking for stories that move you, insights that

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Speaker 10: shift you, in conversations that stay deeply within you, do

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Speaker 10: us a favor and do yourself a favor and hit

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Speaker 10: the subscribe button right now is the best way to

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Speaker 10: support this podcast and support your journey. New episodes drop

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Speaker 10: every week.

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Speaker 5: Now back to my legacy.

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Speaker 7: Now, Prist, you have gone through this path, but equally

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Speaker 7: you've had some struggles along the way, especially upon the

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Speaker 7: passing of your Guru, and how challenging that was for you,

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Speaker 7: and if I'm not mistaken, having to even numb yourself

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Speaker 7: with drugs at some points during that process. How did

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Speaker 7: you overcome that? And what advice do you have for

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Speaker 7: people who are in that depth of challenge to find

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Speaker 7: a sense of purpose and hope in such challenging times.

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Speaker 1: People ask me a lot I get a lot of

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Speaker 1: questions about addiction. Because I was addicted to cocaine, freebase

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Speaker 1: cocaine for two years. I don't know what to tell you.

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Speaker 1: I was saved. I didn't save myself. I couldn't. I

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Speaker 1: was out of here.

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Speaker 7: What do you mean by I was saved?

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Speaker 3: I couldn't save myself.

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Speaker 1: Well, for instance, I had, I had become addicted to cocaine.

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Speaker 1: And my Indian father, with whose family I lived many

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Speaker 1: for a long time in India, came to America to visit

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Speaker 1: the Westerners. Actually it was in Canada first, so I

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Speaker 1: flew from California, the state of my father's apartment. I

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Speaker 1: was up all night smoking freebase. Next morning, I get

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Speaker 1: on the plane and I fly to Montreal. I get

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Speaker 1: a car. I drive out to the country where he

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Speaker 1: was staying. I walked into the house and they say, oh,

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Speaker 1: he's sitting he's upstairs. So I walked up the stairs

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Speaker 1: and I saw him sitting in a room talking to somebody,

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Speaker 1: his backwards to the door. As I got towards the door,

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Speaker 1: I stopped and I started to back away. I don't

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Speaker 1: know what I was feeling, but I I didn't want

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Speaker 1: to go in that room. And at that point, he

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Speaker 1: literally he had his back to the door. He turned

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Speaker 1: and he pointed to me and goes, you promise me, now,

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Speaker 1: you would give up cocaine? Promise me now.

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Speaker 3: I just looked at him.

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Speaker 1: I said, okay, I couldn't say no to him.

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't. I couldn't.

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Speaker 1: It was too much a low man. I just said, okay,

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Speaker 1: from that moment to this moment, not even the thought

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Speaker 1: about it. And you know what that's like, I mean,

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Speaker 1: addicting his addiction. And I wouldn't have been able to

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Speaker 1: do it myself.

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Speaker 7: Well, what do you attribute that to his love?

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Speaker 3: I would attribute to.

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Speaker 1: A miracle? Andy, What else can you say? I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be here. My mother was an alcoholic, although she was

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Speaker 1: cleaned the last twenty years. But I didn't have it.

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Speaker 1: I didn't have the wiring to live this long, and they,

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Speaker 1: for whatever reason, it was like, okay, let the kid live.

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Speaker 1: You know, I don't know why, but here I am.

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Speaker 7: Well, thank you for sharing that.

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Speaker 3: I wish I could give you some advice, but I can't.

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Speaker 7: So, Nita, I'm fascinated you've said that you're todd or

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Speaker 7: chanting is a way to clean the mirror of your heart.

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Speaker 7: What do you mean by that and how have you

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Speaker 7: been able to do that.

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Speaker 1: Through your work.

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Speaker 9: One of the main practices that actually learned from Krishna Das,

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Speaker 9: even though it's something that's been going on in India for

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Speaker 9: a long time, is a chant called the Hanuman Chaalisa.

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Speaker 9: And there's something in the power of the mantra, the

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Speaker 9: chant itself. The word mantra comes from Man and tra

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Speaker 9: mone means mind, but it's the heart mind. It's not

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Speaker 9: necessarily the is where thoughts are, but it's a place

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Speaker 9: where understanding takes place, where we in our heart and

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Speaker 9: our brain come together. Thra is a tool or an

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Speaker 9: instrument of or for the mind. It's a way in

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Speaker 9: which to also create new thought patterns in our mind.

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Speaker 9: They call it navashabda samskaras. So we're born with thought

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Speaker 9: patterns and I don't know where they come from, but

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Speaker 9: they come and go. But how do we not get

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Speaker 9: pulled away by that? So it's almost a purifying process

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Speaker 9: in the hearing and the repetition of these words and names.

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Speaker 1: And the idea is that when we look out at

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Speaker 1: the world, what do we see? We see our likes

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Speaker 1: and dislikes, our preferences. We see what we're afraid of,

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Speaker 1: we see what we want, We see all these things.

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Speaker 1: It's colored. It's a subjective view, which everybody has their

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Speaker 1: own subjective view. These practices, and what that is. You're

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Speaker 1: looking in a mirror that's covered in dust. What you

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Speaker 1: see is the dust. So when we look out there,

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Speaker 1: what we're seeing is the dust, which is our stuff.

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Speaker 1: So through these practices, that dust is polished off the mirror,

440
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,520
Speaker 1: and then when you look in the mirror, you see

441
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,800
Speaker 1: what's true. And then what's true, of course, is that

442
00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,320
Speaker 1: oneness of all of us, and even the people we

443
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,800
Speaker 1: don't like are just as much divine as we are,

444
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 1: but we don't see that because we're stuck in our reactions.

445
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,159
Speaker 1: So these practices and letting go, like coming back when

446
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 1: you're chanting, just letting go, coming back, letting go, coming back,

447
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:37,960
Speaker 1: that is cleaning the mirror of our hearts so that

448
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,480
Speaker 1: we experience directly real love, real love that doesn't come

449
00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:45,080
Speaker 1: and go, that you don't get from somewhere, that you

450
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 1: don't fall in or fall out of. But that's our

451
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,880
Speaker 1: true nature. And then when you see that in yourself,

452
00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 1: you see it everywhere, and then we you know, are

453
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,399
Speaker 1: you going to be bad to your foot? Everybody's a

454
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 1: part of the one body, you know, so why would

455
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,760
Speaker 1: you do anything to hurt anyone? If you've seen that,

456
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 1: That's when India is really you know, Eastern spirituality is

457
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:16,399
Speaker 1: much more about that oneness, love everyone and tell the truth.

458
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 11: I think we as humans all hopefully derive inspiration from somewhere,

459
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 11: and I can often look to my dad and the

460
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:29,160
Speaker 11: prophetic messages that he had that even to this day,

461
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,439
Speaker 11: even though they met, delivered over fifty years ago, they

462
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 11: are still relevant to this moment. Where do you derive

463
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:42,400
Speaker 11: your inspiration for the work that you're consistently doing throughout

464
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 11: our planet?

465
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,639
Speaker 1: For me, it's the Guru, you know, It's nothing was

466
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 1: real in my life until I met him, and then

467
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,440
Speaker 1: being in the presence of these incredible beings in India,

468
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:56,800
Speaker 1: His devote, these his families, how they lived with such

469
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:03,560
Speaker 1: devotion to truth, devotion to to treating everyone as family,

470
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 1: you know, and the way we were accepted. And we

471
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:08,919
Speaker 1: were a bunch of idiots, you know, we didn't know

472
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:11,919
Speaker 1: how to how to get down the street, you know,

473
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,200
Speaker 1: and they were so kind to us and so loving

474
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 1: and so supportive. I saw him treat everyone with love

475
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 1: and affection. Miracles that fell off of him, you know,

476
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,679
Speaker 1: just like rainwater off. It was amazing just to watch that,

477
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:31,720
Speaker 1: but it was all in the service of helping people.

478
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:33,000
Speaker 1: And we're leaving stuff.

479
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,000
Speaker 4: Man, Scrolling won't change your life, but subscribing just might

480
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 4: tap that button and stay connected to conversations that count.

481
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 4: Now back to my legacy, Chris Us.

482
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:48,560
Speaker 7: I was wondering, how were you bestowed that name Krishnanadas

483
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,159
Speaker 7: servants of Krishna and what was that experience like for you?

484
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,919
Speaker 1: Well, I told you about rummed Us. Rummed Us had

485
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: a Volkswagen bus in India and we were driving and around.

486
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: We drive to the temple every day from the town

487
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:05,159
Speaker 1: with maybe sixteen seventeen eighteen people in this litt Volkswagen

488
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,720
Speaker 1: bus hanging off the top, on the roof, off the back,

489
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,920
Speaker 1: and it was making such a scene that I think

490
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:15,639
Speaker 1: Mahaji snapped his fingers and the bus broke down. But

491
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:20,160
Speaker 1: before that he says, Ramdas you're a saint, you shouldn't drive.

492
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:22,439
Speaker 1: Give him the keys. So I got the keys to

493
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,879
Speaker 1: the bus and I got my first name, which was driver.

494
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 1: For about a year I was driver, right, So I thought,

495
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:33,320
Speaker 1: I wrote in my diary. One night, I said, well,

496
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 1: everybody else, is you know this or that? Colleague? Does

497
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 1: you know Ramdas? This dos Baga Vanda you know? And

498
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:44,200
Speaker 1: I guess I'll be driver. Not so bad. The next

499
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:45,920
Speaker 1: day I get to the temple and I get called

500
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:47,800
Speaker 1: into my Horji's room and he looks me. He says

501
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 1: Argin Nick Krishna, Nick Krishna Das. And I said, Krishna Das, I'm.

502
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 3: A rum kind of guy. I'm a Hanuman guy. What Krishna?

503
00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 1: And he laughed, He said this, okay, it's okay. Honeyman

504
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:05,359
Speaker 1: with a monkey. God is Honeyman the perfect servant of love?

505
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,320
Speaker 1: Is that Honaman served Christian too? It's okay, okay.

506
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,720
Speaker 6: It's interesting because it feels that you both have talked

507
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 6: about how an Indian particular spirituality is infused into everything,

508
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 6: and I find that certainly throughout the East as well.

509
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 6: You know, it is different than in the West, and

510
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:28,440
Speaker 6: so also the chanting and kretan it also Mark said,

511
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:32,080
Speaker 6: it connects him with consciousness. It connects me with sacred

512
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 6: to remember the sacredness which we you know, So it's

513
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 6: that reconnecting with that part of us that we don't

514
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:44,239
Speaker 6: get as much of in this in this part of

515
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:44,960
Speaker 6: the world.

516
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:47,600
Speaker 1: It's the mother of the world really, I mean, it's

517
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 1: so many of the traditions come from that earth in India,

518
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 1: you know. And they actually say that the earth itself,

519
00:28:55,200 --> 00:29:02,040
Speaker 1: the ground, supports spiritual awareness. It's just something in the

520
00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,160
Speaker 1: magnets ism or the vibration of the earth there that

521
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,360
Speaker 1: makes it easier for saints to live there. Wow, it's

522
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 1: just the holy place. I mean, not just because there's

523
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 1: been thousands and thousands and thousands of years of seekers

524
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 1: wandering around looking for that that love all the time,

525
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 1: you know, so it has an effect on the place.

526
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 6: One of the things that I'm struck by this conversation

527
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 6: is the remembrance of the connection between India and the

528
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,479
Speaker 6: civil rights movement. I was thinking about ram Das and

529
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:37,720
Speaker 6: it hit his girl. When you think about the fact

530
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:45,160
Speaker 6: that Martin Luther King Junior found such inspiration in Mahatma's

531
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:51,479
Speaker 6: Gandhi and utilize that technology in order to transform our

532
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,960
Speaker 6: nation and world, To utilize that, as Gandhi calls Raha,

533
00:29:56,040 --> 00:30:00,240
Speaker 6: that soul force and that that torch was all so

534
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 6: passed and utilized to change our nation here as well.

535
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 6: So even from a political sense, we have so much

536
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 6: a debt of gratitude to to India, I will say,

537
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,400
Speaker 6: as it relates to India. I also was just thinking

538
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 6: about Martin's fathers quote that to other countries he comes

539
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,240
Speaker 6: as a tourist, but to India he came as a pilgrim.

540
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 7: Lovely, So, Christian, can I just ask you, I mean,

541
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 7: there's so much chaos in the world right now, really yes,

542
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:38,400
Speaker 7: no idea? Really well, you keep on chanting because it's

543
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 7: got you in a good space. So with the chaos

544
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:47,080
Speaker 7: that we are seeing politically, culturally, personally, you know what

545
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 7: and how do people find peace and all of this?

546
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 1: That's what I do all the time. What do you

547
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,000
Speaker 1: mean if we let ourselves be destroyed by what's going

548
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:57,320
Speaker 1: on in the outside world?

549
00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:58,640
Speaker 3: What good are we to anybody?

550
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:01,800
Speaker 1: Job is to find a way to live in the

551
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,680
Speaker 1: world in a good way and to be engaged in

552
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 1: with the world, but not to be destroyed by it.

553
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 1: You know, we can't let ourselves because then we just

554
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 1: suffer and everybody else suffers, and there's no benefit for anybody. Absolutely,

555
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:20,560
Speaker 1: So these practices are not just for ourselves, there for

556
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:24,520
Speaker 1: everybody we meet, everybody we see, everybody we've ever met

557
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 1: or ever will see. Every time you bring a drop

558
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,479
Speaker 1: of water into the world, it adds to the to

559
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 1: the to the relieving of thirst. So every drop of love,

560
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 1: every drop of caring, every drop of compassion, of thinking

561
00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 1: about others. The main teaching in the East is don't

562
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 1: think about yourself. When I was having a nervous breakdown,

563
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,760
Speaker 1: and I mean I was hallucinating, I was being pulled

564
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 1: into this black hole in the ground, I mean I

565
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,760
Speaker 1: was out of here. My ERGI called for me and

566
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 1: I ran and I said, Bobo, what's going Just don't

567
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,160
Speaker 1: think about yourself? How do you not think about yourself?

568
00:31:59,240 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 3: Right?

569
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 1: Because that planet of need is what all our thoughts

570
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: orbittering on. So it's only through some time to practice,

571
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:13,560
Speaker 1: whether it's devotional practice or meditation or it doesn't matter,

572
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:18,720
Speaker 1: that trains us to release that stuff again and again

573
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 1: and again, and we all come back ultimately to the

574
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 1: same place because it's the same.

575
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:26,120
Speaker 3: Now.

576
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 1: You said consciousness and you said sacredness, they're not different.

577
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 1: Consciousness isn't just like something kind of cold awareness. The

578
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: qualities of being is consciousness, awareness, love, and happiness. They're

579
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:46,400
Speaker 1: all one thing, and that's what we are inside, and

580
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 1: that's what these names are, the names of that place

581
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: inside that we chant them onto us.

582
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:53,960
Speaker 6: One of the things that we are working on collectively

583
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:59,440
Speaker 6: is a project called Realize the Dream, and our goal

584
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 6: is to have one hundred million hours of service by

585
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:08,000
Speaker 6: the one hundredth birthday of Martin Luther King Junior, in

586
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 6: order for us to remember that place of connection and

587
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 6: community and love and peace as a way of us

588
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,920
Speaker 6: to come together and work together and stand together. And

589
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,440
Speaker 6: I know, Nina, you've done so much in conservation and

590
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 6: community building, and I think we all would like to

591
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 6: know how you see the connection between spirituality and service.

592
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,320
Speaker 9: Well, it takes us back to what Maharaji said, right

593
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:40,200
Speaker 9: and what he said to Ramdas also love everyone, serve everyone,

594
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 9: and remember God. I don't see them as different. One

595
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,920
Speaker 9: is a pathway to the other, one sets the intention

596
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 9: for the other, and the practice is the remembering of God.

597
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 9: And the way that you were saying what keeps you

598
00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 9: grounded is like finding a way to bring that into

599
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 9: serving others in whichever smallest way, one on one. It

600
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,200
Speaker 9: doesn't have to be a big organization of any kind.

601
00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,040
Speaker 9: It's just try to help people who are in front

602
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:14,040
Speaker 9: of you. And you know, for me, my connection with

603
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 9: the environment and the natures is a big part of

604
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:20,320
Speaker 9: where I feel grounded.

605
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 4: Katie Nan, as i've listened to you, what's overcoming is

606
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 4: this sense of peace. Because when Mark asked his question

607
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:32,799
Speaker 4: a few moments ago, preambled the chaos in the world,

608
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,680
Speaker 4: and Katie, you jokingly said, really, I thought, you know,

609
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:37,600
Speaker 4: I thought there was a gentle tease, which of course

610
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,840
Speaker 4: it partially was. But more than that, you talked about

611
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,440
Speaker 4: there isn't always the chaos in the world because we

612
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 4: can find the piece. And just listening to the two

613
00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:54,880
Speaker 4: of you has been beautiful to remind our listeners and

614
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,799
Speaker 4: our viewers of the idea that it's simple things we

615
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:03,400
Speaker 4: do from our our gift of a chance, the simple

616
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,840
Speaker 4: acts of service, how we create this positive impact in

617
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 4: the world. We've had some extraordinary people in this conversation,

618
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:15,200
Speaker 4: but only the two of you have ever brought such

619
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:17,640
Speaker 4: emotion and such devotion to Mark to bring them to tears,

620
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,239
Speaker 4: And so I want to invite Mark to close with

621
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 4: his words.

622
00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:23,600
Speaker 7: Yeah, just on behalf of all of us is thank you, guys,

623
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:27,319
Speaker 7: for all of us and all the listeners. I'd really

624
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 7: encourage our listeners not just to listen to this conversation,

625
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,960
Speaker 7: but to listen, to deeply listen to this conversation because

626
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 7: your words are so profound, so loving, so important. And

627
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:39,879
Speaker 7: what you guys do every single day is you help

628
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:44,279
Speaker 7: to reconnect. You help to reconnect people to themselves. You

629
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,640
Speaker 7: help to reconnect people to others, and you help to

630
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 7: reconnect people to our world, including our natural world. So

631
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 7: thank you so much for what you do. Thank you

632
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 7: for helping to bring consciousness back is such a powerful way.

633
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:01,880
Speaker 7: Thank you for introducing people like me and my family

634
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:05,439
Speaker 7: to consciousness. So thank you, thank you, thank you both.

635
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:06,120
Speaker 3: It's wonderful.

636
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:06,880
Speaker 4: Thank you.

637
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:09,600
Speaker 5: Thank you for joining us.

638
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,799
Speaker 2: If you enjoy today's conversation, subscribe, share, and follow us

639
00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:16,439
Speaker 2: on at my Legacy movement on social.

640
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 5: Media and YouTube.

641
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,280
Speaker 2: New episodes drop every Tuesday, with bonus content every Thursday

642
00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,799
Speaker 2: at its core. This podcast honors doctor King's vision of

643
00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,600
Speaker 2: the beloved community and the power of connection.

644
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 5: A Legacy Plus Studio.

645
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:36,400
Speaker 2: Production distributed by iHeartMedia creator and executive producer Suzanne Hayward

646
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:40,520
Speaker 2: co executive producer Lisa Lyle. Listen on the iHeartRadio app

647
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts,