Spiritual Strength | Episode 107 with Govind Das

(1) Spiritual Strength | Episode 107 with Govind Das - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmKpr5K9_gk

Transcript:
(00:01) Guru Brahma guru vishu guru [Music] mahesar [Music] J gur J so govern do welcome back to yogaville so nice to have you here such a gift to
(01:06) be here my brother thank you so much I was here at the end of May I think it was Memorial Day weekend and here we are early December mid December and I'm back and I uh flew straight from India to come here and what a wonderful place to land i' been just smiling the whole time India is so in your face and so loud and so many people and I landed here and it's just so quiet and with nature and and and so incredibly peaceful so thank you for welcoming me again yeah thank you for coming uh yeah I wanted to start
(01:47) by asking you about India so you're just in India for a few weeks any Reflections anything to share about this experience yeah yes well you know I believe this is my 21st or 22nd time in India I started going to India in 1999 and I've been almost every year I think I missed once or twice when one of my children were born and then of course a couple years during the pandemic couple times I went twice in a year this year is actually twice in a year and this pull is just for me so strong just to to keep coming back and
(02:31) diving into the the infinite wealth of of bucke and devotion that's so present everywhere you look and this time again it was it was tremendous I I bring a group typically and we do a retreat in a couple different cities one is Rishi Cas up in the foothills of the himas and then we spend a week there and then we go down to vavan which which is a few hours south of Delhi which is the land of of Krishna radhan Krishna Rishi casha said to be the world capital of yoga and vavan is said to be the world capital of Kyan and bakti so they're two
(03:16) very special special holy places and um my cup is filled I just feel so just filled up by the mother ganga and all of the sadus and and this spiritual culture that even though so much of India has changed the spiritual culture is still very much alive you go to the big cities and they're racing to be like the West you know it's it's it's very materialistic but you go to these holy places and you know the central Focus is is self-realization the the central focus is connection with god with the
(04:07) Supreme and you get that you you touch that and to you know many teachers say you don't need to go to India and on some level I I do agree with that um because you can get everything right here from your sodna but to experience this this ancient living culture where the whole of yoga comes from I myself have found it tremendously beneficial in my own personal practice and to be with sadus and saints that have uh devoted and dedicated their whole life to these practices something I think just happens by osmosis just by
(04:59) being a around it and and that we can get a deeper understanding of how to live and walk this path and the food's pretty darn good too what kind of meals do you like to eat there well you know we of course do 100% vegetarian suic vegetarian so most of what we're doing is not too spicy cuz you go to restaurants in India it's so spicy and I'm very sensitive to spicy so you know we have our own chefs preparing food that isn't um too spicy for the Western tummy and you know especially in a town
(05:46) like vavan where the cow is worshiped the cow is sacred you know in America I don't really eat eat much Dairy except ghee but in vavan I feel that the dairy there is like medicine it's it's it's for me I feel it's it's healing tremendously healing so uh I really Relish in in taking in the dairy there and knowing that it's coming from these cows that are treated with such tremendous love I haven't been to India but it it seems that there's um an awareness of the importance of spiritual
(06:30) life even in maybe the more Western aspects that it can still possibly be felt whereas in this country that's not always the case as much like the spirituality just pervades their culture this this is the sense I get you could tell me if it's right it's absolutely true yeah and what I love is is just recognizing and seeing that this is how people live that there is a focus on God always and even the business owners before they start their day and open up their doors to let people in what do you see them doing is they're
(07:13) doing Arty to their deities and doing their Puja and offering incense and flowers and candle light to their deities to remember that all of it is God all of it everything has the sacred within it and that old saying not my will but thy will be done I think is very uh Central within the whole culture is that people really do understand that a lot more than in our culture you know people I think a tendency in our culture and certainly not everyone but people write off spirituality and the presence of God and they believe that we are in control
(08:13) of it all and this is the message is and the conditioning that we've gotten but there I think there's a presiding awareness of God's presence and and that Rah is the doer or God is is doing it at all and we're just instruments may we be instruments of that higher Consciousness wondering is that a foundation of humility is that what that what that is is that taking credit seems to be inappropriate because there's this awareness that even for the businessman who's very successful that uh the
(09:00) I didn't create myself you know and there were so many factors outside of my control that led me to this place so I'm wondering is that is that what exists the foundation of humility yes I do believe that I believe in whatever you would want to call it God realization that we remember how we're just a speck of dust and yet we have tremendous amount of empowerment as well too to live a a certain way that we want to live but I do believe when we recognize the presence of God is everywhere and is everything naturally a
(09:45) symptom of that is becoming humble absolutely and I think you see that in people and it's as simple as if you get a tktk ride from here to there and you pay the tuktuk driver 100 rupees which is a20 the first thing he does is he takes the money and he puts it to his heart or if somebody uh at a hotel carries one of the workers carries your bags from your room down and you say you know thank you so much the first thing they do is they put their hands on their heart and this is common all over the country we don't experience that here so
(10:38) much some people live in that way but it's very rare there the majority of people are living in that way I even think about how common it is for athletes to thank God when you know they're giving their victory speech or whatever it is right and I wonder the power that's behind that um did that lead them to the place that they that they got sucess to their success right and just this this practice this way of life of seeing God and everything you know once you you taste it you know it's it's like the difference
(11:23) between living fully and maybe not living fully right is that how you exper how can you turn your back from it once you've tasted that and you know that taste comes in so many different ways for different people whether that's um you know through doing meditation or spiritual practices or that comes from being very ill and sick or from a breakup or from a divorce you know something some massive uh difficulty in your life people have big spiritual Awakenings from these types of things once you've tasted
(12:08) that presence of spirit of love of God of synchronicity of of Consciousness your life will never be the same after that and interesting enough you know in India like and again not everywhere but many many places on every single corner there's temples everywhere big temples small temples temples out at trees you see these mores you know temples whether it's a temple for Shiva or Durga or Hanuman or Krishna or k or ganes I mean everywhere you look is an image of God and that helps us to remember the business owners you know
(13:01) maybe it's called shiram tailor or um you know uh dur mayi grocery store or you know the the these the names and forms of God are everywhere and we don't have that we have actually made our country so that isn't present because now you know America is a Melting Pot and everyone is welcome here in that sense um not saying people aren't welcome in India as well too but the presiding Consciousness is is a Hindu um religion and in many areas of course Muslim as well too so but it's very different here we
(13:57) don't have the the images of God and it's it's almost even frowned upon it seems as though in our our country because people don't like to see other people's images of God you know I mean even look at what's happening in the world right now so for someone who lives in Western culture is thinking well I want to live with God more yeah I want to experience this in this culture where maybe it's not as supported what might you you say to direct them to experiencing this connection with God more often well I I
(14:50) think one thing that can help is turn your home into a temple you know keep an altar a Puja or many altars in different parts of your home keep your home very clean and recognize take your shoes off before you come into your home every morning when you wake up do your Arty and puas in front of your deities light your incense and and and on one level these are all just rituals yeah and you can certainly get lost in the rituals but if you're using these rituals in the right way these rituals help you to wake up to that presence of
(15:34) love and that presence of God and how can we experience it in the world I mean you know my my Guru nimi Baba is he says very simple love everyone because love is that God and love are the same thing is my belief love everyone serve serve everyone and remember that God is everywhere and everything omnipresent treat people with kindness and respect because in everyone's heart lives that light temper our own Tendencies towards judging everyone and everything and being critical of everyone and everything and allow ourselves
(16:25) to love and serve each other we've gotten so lost in our our judgmentalness and our criticalness of of others that are different than us feels like a way of life almost it's a way of life and and our complaining about everything and we've we've gotten so lost in it that you like you said it's just become our our natural way of life but it doesn't have to be you know spiritual work is about you know recognizing that this monkey mind doesn't have to guide our lives that we can be guided from a deeper place with them and
(17:21) that's a that's a lifetime of spiritual work and training ourselves and that's that's what what yoga is all about uh you're reminding me the other day in an experience I was uh leading a short meditation and one of the things that I almost always say is that you know for the next few minutes you don't need to have an opinion about anything and after the meditation uh one of one of the people said that really impacted me to to just have permission to not have an opinion she's like thank you and
(18:03) I just felt how something within her was just you know and H yeah I don't know the practice of that is so powerful for me as I get caught in my judgments and my opinions of things and it's it's like this body jumping into a body of fresh water or something just reminding myself that you don't need too yeah there's a lot of freedom in that because our own opinions are you know and just our ego and judgments this is this is our it's a prison even this is what Krishna talks about in the bhavat
(18:43) Gita the the prison of the ego if that's where we live if that's where we reside we live in such a limited way where everything we see is clouded and colored by our our our perceptions are clouded and and and colored by our our judgments but if we can drop into that deeper place of love and wisdom within ourselves and live from that place we can begin to I believe get outside of that gel cell and really experience that what you said that that presence of God in our everyday life and this is this is the greatest treasure this is the greatest
(19:35) wealth this you know wealth is not a big bank account and fancy cars this is the greatest wealth that we can experience in a human be as a human being the feeling of love that feeling of love and that recognition of God there's a maybe a doubt that it can pervade more often you know or even all the time maybe it's common to have you know very specific experiences of Love uh in a person's life and they in a way maybe they feel so special these experiences that to open up to experiencing it more of the time or all
(20:26) of the time feels the maybe it's in it's insulting to those special Precious Moments and special precious people you know we've been taught and this there's a beautiful Albert Einstein quote about this is that we need to expand our Circle of Love Beyond just our families and begin to welcome all beings into our circle of love and compassion that's the essence of the quote it's doesn't go exactly like that's not word for word what I just said but I think that's a that's the
(21:03) practice that's the spiritual practice and to live in a more selfless way and you know is it possible to live like that all the time no I I certainly don't live like that but my that's a practice and when we practice we we if we really practice we get a little bit better and there's more of those moments and more people that we can just recognize their beauty as a soul I think I've heard you say you know the essence of spiritual practice can be summed up in two words let go yeah and I'm feeling that in this conversation
(21:54) that we're that we're having if that is that is the way in a way the the trigger to connect with God connect with love this remance of let go but what is that what does let go even mean what are we letting go of yeah that's the key we need to get really clear what are we letting go of what I see we're letting go of attachment to our stories of how we think things should be who we think we are as a body as you know our thoughts our emotions each moment our agendas let go of all these things and just allow meet life as it is in each
(22:47) moment without our judgments our opinions and be with life just just as it is in each moment and whatever shows up massage it with love and compassion serve it be a beneficial presence for it be a beneficial presence for whatever is here ever's here now be a beneficial presence for whoever you're with face to face in that moment or whatever you're working on in that moment in the same way I see you I saw you with your kids last night we were
(23:50) sharing dinner and and you were such a beautiful presence for your children just that love for your children now why do we cut that off towards [Music] others and not only cut it off but so typically hate others and judge others well because people are different than us I think this is the this is for me I think the one of the the most important teachings is how can we love other people and serve other people and be a beneficial presence for other people when they're really different than us when they believe different things
(24:34) there's so much division in this world right now what comes to mind for me immediately is by recognizing that this is what my soul really wants yeah this is the natural state of the Soul there's so much division whether it's political division or Rel religious division or you know and we we can get so easily lost in that and that's like the climate of America right now is this division are we going to be a part of that are we going to be a part of the solution and I believe the solution is is to love everyone yeah even just
(25:24) switching from the Wii to the I yeah am I going to be a part of that yeah yeah it occurs to me that belief is really important like what do I believe because I think about the the family and the love that I can uh show Express to my family to My Tribe and then maybe see someone outside who is different as you know uh anti- against this love couldn't possibly extend my love to them too wherever the borders are and so it's like that's a belief I think around my capacity yeah you know and I think about Romas and neim C
(26:22) Baba with this and Romas shares that when he was ready to go back to America you know and I think he asked Nam curly Baba what should I do and he said you know love everyone and tell the truth and romdas right away had um a a reaction where tell the truth okay maybe I'm pretty good at that and I can keep going with that but loving everyone he saw my judging mind it's so powerful this tendency to just to judge and and I think he said you know I can't I can't and Ne Cy Baba responded Ras love everyone and tell the
(27:17) truth and so in that he he he expanded there was expansion there right yeah and that's where his teaching came from years later when he really was able to sift through this teaching that from up here I can't love everyone because if I'm living in my ego I'm attached to all of my stories judgments I can't love everyone because what is the ego ego do it judges everyone competes with everyone it divides es but when I come to hear which he started to call the soul or loving awareness from here when I'm identified
(28:14) with that place in me that I am love from here I can it's a real possibility I can love everyone because that's the natural state of here that that's the natural state of the Soul that's the natural state of loving aware of loving awareness so that's the work of a lifetime is to take that leap of faith from here to here and when we notice we're living from here governed by here that's what the letting go is all about and as we begin to let go we can slide back down to here for me I think it's also really
(29:01) important to remember that loving everyone does not mean being nice all the time yeah that's true it's an important distinction to me loving everyone is Is embodying This Love as often as possible and doing what feels right trusting in that love and sometimes that's saying no you know sometimes that's having very strong boundaries yeah look at parenting I know your kids are young but as they get old older you know my kids are eight and 13 we have to create very strong boundaries because if we say yes all the
(29:41) time we are feeding habits and tendencies that may not be beneficial for them and we say no as an act of Love which they can't understand and they're going to fight and scream and you know get extremely upset and cry about but it's an act of love so yes it's not always being nice it's not always saying yes to everything and everyone and that love can have very strong boundaries within it as well too yeah I think that's good news in a way because it allows for it's a greater bandwidth for this practice right
(30:26) there's it's not limited to my definition of love from the past or something like that yes it's not just all sugar right right I want to go back to you're touching on Free Will I think and I'm just curious your your take on this or at this the Indian culture this uh not my not my will but thy will God right this is this is all you and I think this is a place where maybe there's a good deal of confusion around this um and and I think it really is tricky you know I try to sort this out myself sometimes and I'm
(31:06) wondering where you stand on this I don't know in all of my meditation but I heard a quote once from a rabbi that has guided my life in relation to this and the quote is pray as if everything depends on God but live as if everything depends on you I'll say it again pray as if everything depends on God and live as if everything depends on you and that's you know there's something so much bigger there's the Supreme force and controlling energy of the universe that's called God or Krishna or Rah or
(31:55) what again Shiva whatever name you want to call it and yet we have the ability to make choices in moments are we just complete puppets and that we think we're making choices but in every moment spirit is is guiding us even this the littlest things or are we really making choices well live as if everything depends on you okay I'm going to make the most conscious choices and optimal choices that I can my relationships in my diet in my work in my spiritual practices because I understand this thing called karma this law of cause and effect that
(32:47) my choices there's an effect that comes with each choice and action that I take in my mind mind and even on a subtler level in my thoughts but I have to take care of the mind as well too on the subtler level yet as I'm doing this in each moment I'm just surrendering to the Lotus feet of my Guru I'm not my will but thy will be done I'm surrendering to God through it all and so I experience it as a balancing act between the two do you have a deeper sense though on this idea of of being a puppet whether
(33:41) or not it's true well I'm a baka which is a a bakti yogi a devote of the Lord so that's my focus is surrender ing surrendering surrendering surrendering but the difference is it's is it me surrendering or is it an acknowledgment that it's already surrendered I don't know that's I think you could go either way am I actually surrendering or is God playing through me and that surrendering is happening from a higher level but I think I'm doing it it does feel like this this is Meaningful right in some in some way
(34:46) and I I don't know if this is right but you know why like why all of this yeah why this probably probably the best answer that comes to me is that it's some sort of experiment yeah you know I was in Rishi Cas meditating on the gunga River where pilgrims have come for thousands of years to sit on her banks with the intention of self-realization and as I was sitting and looking out in a moment I looked out and I said this all just looks like a movie set to me the physical reality in this moment this material world this this
(35:49) Maya that underlying it all is that absolute presence and it's just bubbling up into this material world of [Music] form I mean Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita over and over and over again the scriptures they talk about it all that difference between what's real and what's unreal capital r versus lower R this world of form is the lower rreal that which is constantly changing and influx what's capital r real is that Supreme presence underneath it the underlying beingness through it all don't get too attached to what's
(36:45) just relatively real keep your focus always on what's absolutely real and that's the path to freedom and joy but as you just said and and especially having kids and being in relationship with a family and children and wife and partnership and we have to engage in it on some level fully with all our hearts and yet at the same time recognize this is just the play of Consciousness yeah to me that's where the Gratitude and the appreciation comes in because you it is possible it is what what's happening and we can
(37:45) flow back and forth from the small R to the Big R yeah and it's fine yeah and there's no problem and we must let ourselves experience all of it you know the the the material world life that everything that comes with the dualities within it the happiness the sadness the you know on and on that The Duality and what comes from that is suffering a lot of suffering and pain I know myself I mean I don't know if you've experienced yet but especially as my kids have gotten older there's a tremendous amount of pain and
(38:38) parenting when they stop listening to you or stop um allowing you to give them affection or or want as now you know I have a son that's 13 years old and teenager years like they look at you like you're some an alien or something what like what what are you doing and what do you know about anything and the pain that comes with that is so deep yet we need to just let that stuff work on us you know I I guess what I'm saying is we need to let go of our attachment to that it's going to be all bliss all the
(39:24) time and that we're going to be able to live in this God Consciousness all the time and ramdas was given this message and teaching I'm not sure who actually said it but they said ramas you're so good at living in that God Consciousness try being human yeah and I think that's what we all loved about round us so much was his Humanity so I guess we need to let life just work on us and and let the [Music] pain let ourselves experience the pain of Being Human as well too take the curriculum yeah be in the curriculum of
(40:11) of life and this is how we move through our Karma and I I and that your karma becomes your Dharma and your Dharma becomes your karma that whatever is here the this is the curriculum and my Dharma is that I'm going to just work with it the best that I can but the karma of it is that it's going to we're going to feel a lot and it's not always going to be pretty so it seems that uh big aspect of your Dharma is is bakti Kon you're getting ready to host this Workshop this weekend why why why do you choose to do
(41:17) this you know the first time I ever heard Kon it was actually in 1995 a doc ayurvedic doctor's office and he was reading my poll and I heard Kiron being played in the background and something happened I just heard this music as a prayer and I said whatever this is I want more of this I just felt like it the sounds of it connected me to such a just deep ancient Place Within Myself now cut back 25 years when I was a kid born in the 70s to a Jewish Family didn't really
(42:22) want so much Judaism in my life I just wanted to be a soccer athlete I didn't grow up in a really Jewish area and really pushed it away for the good majority of my life but when we would go to synagogue for the high holy days and the caner would start singing I remember as a young boy six seven eight years old I would cry and feel God's presence in those moments feel something tremendously sacred is happening right now so those were like the seeds that were planted the original Seeds of Love for Sacred
(43:12) Music and then I heard Kiron 20 plus years later and it just it felt so right but in 1995 there was no Spotify there was no apple music there was no YouTube you couldn't just type in Kone so it wasn't read readily available then cut to a few years later when I was introduced to ramdas which then led me to bhagavan das Krishna Das Jal and I remember being at jivamukti Yoga Center in New York City they were playing a Krishna do cassette cassette and not CD um in the yoga class and I asked the yoga teacher what what is this and she
(44:11) so this is Krishna do we have the tape in our bookstore and that was when it really when I was introduced to really Krishna Bas J I said this is the way I want to spend this Incarnation I want to completely immerse myself in this form that in this spiritual practice absolutely I was like this is what I want to do this is how I want to spend my life then that's what's inspired so many trips to India is really going and just sitting in the temples and chanting with these Kon Wallas that have were born into this and understand really what is this
(45:13) all about and where I am right now in my understanding of what is this Kon all about it's a couple things one it's celebrating what we keep talking about it's celebrating the presence of God it's the celebrating the joy and love for the Supreme one and two it's a call out for mercy M it's a call out for mercy and Grace and help and a yearning a deep deep yearning so on one level it just seems
(46:22) like music but it's very different you know my kids listen to pop music you know and in the car we play a game where anytime we drive everybody gets to choose one song so I listen to a lot of hip-hop for my son and a lot of pop music from my daughter and Kiron is very different as a matter of fact I don't even really cons even though it's music it's not music it's a prayer it's a prayer that uses music as its form and every culture uses music as prayer just something about this call and response form of it the the
(47:17) instruments that are being used it just agrees with me so deeply it just feel Feels So Right it feels like that big yes so that's the path I've been walking are you looking forward to this weekend oh I'm so excited yeah yeah so we're doing a Kon training where I'm going to be um sharing the tools and techniques of harmonium along with you know the mantras and the gods and goddesses but most of our time will be on the harmonium and the beauty of this I believe is the Simplicity that you don't have to be a
(48:18) musician a lot of people come to these Kon trainings which I've been leading around the country different yoga studios that yeah to be this great musician but in a weekend someone that has never put their hands on an instrument before they're going to walk out we start on Friday we finish Sunday they're going to walk out on Sunday with four or five chance that they're going to be able to play Kon can be incredibly incredibly simple and Incredibly incredibly complicated as well too depending on
(48:53) where you are with it as in your own musical Evolution but I think that the key of the essence of it is that you can start to bring Kon into your own spiritual practice meaning you do your Puja you sit in meditation you do some AAS and you get on your harmonium and chant as a part of your daily sna and something about Kon it's it's there's a there's a nectarous quality there's a juice to it there's a a liquid feeling to it it's music music does something to human beings so to add that into your daily
(49:53) sodna my feeling it's that's a really a beautiful thing and and and it's a prayer sometimes we forget it's buy it's devotion it's that celebrating God it's that asking for help so to add that prayer into spiritual practice especially for westerners I think is very valuable it seems that there's this this voice that is yearning to be released and expressed and this is a way yeah to do that yeah this voice this voice of love this voice of prayer this voice of gratitude this voice of oh Lord show me the way I can't do this
(51:00) myself I've tried every time I try I mess it up I I need your assistance I need your guidance I'm your child just in the way that your children need you at less than a year and four years they need you they can't do it themselves that mistaken belief that we think we can do it ourselves every time I try boy do I mess things up so I oh Lord show me the way I need your help it seems that there's this this balance between tuning into my strength and totally falling to your
(52:06) knees as I think you're you're talking about but yeah you know I wonder about this especially I think for maybe men in our culture you know the being strong is such a uh big part of our identity so it's almost scary going to this place I think it is scary going to this place of of of almost complete helplessness yeah you know but it doesn't feel appropriate to me to totally dismiss the that strength that's also given from somewhere else it's also a gift but the strength is beautiful that
(52:51) I can be a rock in this raging River you know there's something beautiful about the strength but there's also a time for allowing it to fall away and I see that but I find that it's challenging sometimes and crying I think is the best expression of that to think about that like you can feel like it's like right there like right ahead of you that that experience of crying but there's some walls there that need to be broken down and it's very scary to break down those walls and cry yeah yeah I
(53:38) think you know I I lead a lot of men's circles these sort of baky men's circles where we gather together as men and and talk about these types of things exactly what you're talking about and I think the greatest strength strength comes through surrender it's like Hanuman where does honuman find his strength to lift mountains and jump over oceans it's from Ram it's he's moved out of his own way so I think it's the recognition that as you said it's a gift it's not his it's not ours it is but
(54:34) it's not it comes from that opening the portal to that Divine strength and that's how we can really be strong but but there's something about men and and you said and that men we have become doers but we've lost the archetype of the male Mystic and that's what Lord Shiva represents the archetype of the Supreme male figure and what's Lord Shiva doing he's sitting up in meditation with his high eyes half closed turned into himself shivoham shivoham I am Shiva I am that pure Consciousness itself it
(55:38) exists within me as my true nature why are most yoga classes filled with women in the West men in the west we've we've what is it wimpy or to to live in a spiritual compassionate heart- centered way because we're in a we live in a football culture where that's the most important thing and and but again in India I think it's very different men are very much connected to prayer Pua the seeing of the bigger the mystical vision and I think it's a great wake up for us men to begin to live in that way
(56:47) to go deeper into our soda into our meditation practice to become more compassionate less judgmental more soft-hearted in our love for each other more connected to God and that's where we can find a deeper quality of strength right where we can you know do tremendous tremendous things because we become that channel through which great spirit can begin to live and act and work through us I'm wondering if real strength and courage is an acknowledgement that there's always more yeah that's when we think it's us it's a
(57:46) limited strength when we know it's not us that's where I believe in Unlimited strength The Impossible can become possible that's what Hanuman represents what can't be done can be done when we become the servant of God instead of trying to become God when we Leck of thinking that we're the best or the master or in control and let God let Shri Ram be the master and I'm just serving see that's why back to what we spoke about earlier for me I'll say in my experience what's very important what
(58:39) allows me to do this more powerfully more effectively is for me it's acknowledging that this is already how it is so it's actually like yes either one if I am surrendering or it's already surrendered for me there's way more strength and Effectiveness on acknowledging that it is already surrendered because then I'm just I'm tuning into what is yeah that is already the case this that's my truth and I I love that and and yet at the same time I think we need to practice surrendering you know before I start a
(59:21) program I close my eyes and I visualize myself at my Guru feet laying with flowers offering that I Surrender you take over you work through me you speak through me you sing through me none of this I take credit for not even a drop of it right it's both and I think what you're saying is maybe I'd put it as make a ritual out of the remembrance yeah we need these rituals we need these rituals we need these forms we need these practices because they give us something for lack of better words solid to connect
(1:00:17) to otherwise we just we're just constantly living in this and we're not a culture that has rituals yeah and I think it's fun spiritual ritual it's fun of course it's fun it's really fun to start to like make a game out of your life like you know these are the practices that I'm going to do daily um and each of us have the freedom to choose that and start to mold that I think this this idea of having a daily sodna is like the most important thing a daily spiritual practice Yeah whether
(1:00:49) you do 11 sun salutations or you do a daily Puja or you get on your your harmonium and it's something you do every day and yes certainly your sodna can change through time I know mine has start you start with one thing that you know you want to do every day but that becomes your doorway that becomes your window that becomes your portal through which the tears can come that's for me when the tears come is that deep remembrance oh otherwise the mind is so dominant and so strong that's hard to really pray it's
(1:01:34) hard to really remember because we're at the Bay of this swirling energy of thought who has see kind of the structure helps me practice when there is no structure yeah daily sodna daily s yeah thank you so much brother ah what a beautiful conversation talking about things that I love to talk about thank you it's wonderful wonderful to be here thanks for listening if you've enjoyed this content and think others might as well please feel free to share and
(1:02:38) subscribe