Episode 95 | Swami Sugunananda | We’re All God’s Children

Transcript:
(00:01) yeah I think it would be nice to start with a prayer okay [Music] okay oh Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Deva the guru creates the guru preserves the guru dissolves the universe the guru in fact is the absolute salutations to the satguru um the guru is auspiciousness embodiment of Truth knowledge Bliss salutations to the one who is beyond the
(01:07) world's peaceful independent and radiant um [Music] foreign [Music] thank you I want to start by asking you what inspired you to become a Swami and how did you know that this was your calling [Laughter] whatsoever for my partner passed away he was the one that brought me here and introduced me to gurudev he knew him since the early 70s in New York so when I I had come here several times you know before he had passed away he
(02:12) kept sending me up here and Swami sachidanana is your Guru you know so then after he passed away when I came up here and I was in total I had fallen sort of like into a pit emotionally and I couldn't get up out of it um I was in a back room with gurudev which was that room over there was his office you know before he would come out to satsang Hall you know like it would be the Shanti room and we were talking and I was crying and I was holding my head and I was standing up and it was going around in circles
(02:58) literally I was crazy and I said gurudev I said to him all of a sudden can I and he was just watching me I said can I have an initiation and he goes sure you want to come to the ashram and be a Swami and as soon as he said that for the first time in my life anything made sense it's like a light when turned on I didn't have to think it was like somebody said you want a billion dollars you know do you want it like that you know and I was like oh my God you know I thought and this is such a great honor you know I
(03:45) didn't think I deserved it I said yes of course yeah and that was it that then I knew uh uh you know what my life's purpose was basically and this experience that you had was it was it like a very foreign like you previous to it maybe you wouldn't even have imagined that you could have a sense of clarity like this and then all of a sudden you were just experiencing something that just felt so clear and right it was a of a different theme you see what I'm saying on this particular issue growing up I I had lucid dreaming I thought
(04:30) everybody did um I I knew how people felt sometimes I could knew their thoughts I thought everybody was like that intuitive you know so I had Clarity I just didn't know what I was supposed to do after he passed away I did when you lose the one person you love your husband you know then you don't know what your life is for you know what I'm saying yes I love them so I'm like what am I doing here what am I supposed to do so uh yeah does that answer the question yeah I think so but like when you're
(05:13) describing it it just it it I got the sense that it was something new that you hadn't experienced before like for this particular issue you know it was a Clarity that I didn't have before and and pretty much always I had an intuition what I should be doing but I didn't after he passed away you know so you mentioned being in like an emotional pit mm-hmm it is that you know directly related to the loss of your partner well that was it that was the pit the loss yeah it it's like losing a child or something
(05:54) like that you know yeah yeah so that was the love of your life you know so how much does that hurt you know hmm but uh it was his time to go so I could come here that's what the universe decided you know defer a person that's experiencing that emotional pit as a result of loss or whatever it is and they might not have the opportunity right to meet gurudev do you have any insights into some action that a person could take when they're in that state that might bring them out of it no everybody is different you know
(06:41) everybody has a different understanding a different Karma you know uh different Karma different calling they live in everybody's a whole universe to themselves you see so how they deal with stuff is up to them for somebody to say do this you know I I couldn't say that once it's such losing one's partner is such a devastating thing that there's no one answer for how to fix that you know but for you this this was the answer for you oh yeah yeah definitely has there been a particular teaching or a couple
(07:33) particular teachings from this tradition that have been especially important for you the Hindu tradition uh it's an integral yoga integral yoga um Faith because I always thought I'm doing everything by myself I'm very capable and you know smart and found out that there is a power in me that is doing and I'm not doing anything you know most of the time I get in the way basically you know yeah so but faith that um you know that's supreme power is in me and he's taking care of everything yeah I think it's very interesting to me
(08:36) I also feel like I get in my own way and that this teaching of just remembering to open up to the fact that I'm being guided right is there a way in particular that you are able to remove yourself when you get in your own way like like what's what's your process if you can share when you notice yourself getting in your own way to then return to being on the higher level well if I haven't learned a lesson and I get really whacked in the head really hard that's one way but I don't want
(09:13) that to happen anymore so if I'm not clear and it's like I feel like I'm swimming against the current I'll say gurudev help me make it clear what am I supposed to do make it clear I'm not getting it you know I'll ask and he answers every time every time how does he answer she answers either it happens or you know like okay there's different situations like uh years ago I had owned the house down Holly Lane okay and I decided um at at nine o'clock at night I got the big urge to go under the house and do
(10:02) something to the pipes to the water pipes it had to be done right now something changed I had bought a part and as I was walking to work to go to the basement I had a gut feeling a force said not now not now not something was holding me back and I'm like I gotta I gotta do this now you know have you ever done that yeah you got a clear message and you're like no no no this is crazy I gotta do this now and I proceeded downstairs and busted the pipes and there was water running everywhere and we had to call people at nine o'clock at
(10:41) night I don't know I can't even remember it's been 20 some years to come and save save me before the house floated away you know so things like that you know and then there's other ways too there's there's messages like I grew up with this dream you know um I had this recurring dream of gurudev when I was in Greece you know Suburban Athens when I was three four five six you same dream I was walking with him so I knew that I'm supposed to go find this man when I grow up I've been searching for him everywhere
(11:25) you know so um sometimes you have dreams sometimes you have intuitions sometimes you hear something in your ear you and it's coming from inside the voice is coming from inside you know and so you know boy I'm I'm not me I I'm you know a bundle of uh energies that God is using hmm yeah I kind of had this experience the other day it's great that you're bringing it up where I think I was I was driving and I remember what I drove past but I drove past something and then it was gone and I I thought to myself I didn't really
(12:09) see that clearly and something said to me you know stop turn around and go see it and then another part of me and it's hard to kind of decipher you know what aspects Within Myself are talking the other aspect said like you can't just stop all day long you know you won't be able to follow a path if I'm just you know oh I gotta go look at this thing I gotta go do this thing there was another part of me that just said you know you can't do that stay focused on where you're going and where you need to be
(12:47) but I I acknowledged that there was there was another aspect that that seemed to say no you should halt whatever your plan is and like what you're saying and go did you go back and do this I didn't yeah okay you never know what you would have found yeah and I see it feels like art to me like sometimes I know I make the decision to like oh like I will follow my intuition to it it's almost like the intuition in the mind maybe that are they're interacting with each other something like that yeah there's always
(13:17) the fight inside of us right there's two people in there fighting for control control of the heart you know that's it so one person is anger you know and the other person is uh contentment peace and joy I guess I wish I could see it so clearly as that yes you can you can when you feel anger and and when you feel that that's that's not you that's not you that's somebody there's somebody in your living room that broke into your house so sit down you say come here you have a problem let's sit down
(13:55) you meditate with the anger hold it hold the anger meditate on it what do you want you will turn it into your light um yeah if it's something like maybe the opposite of love something that doesn't feel like love to me then then it's clear you know if I'm feeling you know anger towards another person or or something like that but sometimes it's it's not so clear like there doesn't seem to be um you know more love or compassion in a certain action one action or the other but I still have to decide one way but
(14:32) both choices seem to be okay if I do this or if I do that either one is okay this time I'm gonna go this way and that time I'm gonna go that way so yeah okay you end up feeling after that depending on the choice I make you mean you don't address it every choice is different I think the most important thing for me is the acceptance of the choice that I make that it's okay that I made the choice yeah and in some situations I say well I accept the choice I made but next time I'm gonna do a different I'm
(15:16) going to make another choice and that's how we learn right um I wanted to ask you about um just you know having a guru and it seems that having a guru is something that some for some people it's very natural and other people it feels it doesn't feel natural they can't understand it why do you think that people react so differently to the idea of having a guru even though We're All God's Children okay you have some kids that are you know younger you have a six month old baby and then you have a four-year-old
(16:04) and a 16 year old and they have different understandings they're content to do play over here with this and they're content to do this and the 16 year old wants to go to college he wants to be a doctor one day it doesn't make the four-year-old less important than the 16 year old you see what I'm saying yeah so everybody's in a different they're growing we're all growing up you know like Karen another said to me you're like six years old you know you know that was our joke so everybody's in a different stage of
(16:44) development um and if you're over here playing with your toys why would you want to go do something else so if I'm understanding you though it you're saying though that to have a relationship with a guru in your opinion is a is a mature state to be in okay when Stephen sent me here to meet gurudev he kept saying he was a Vedic astrologer he kept saying to me go see Swami Sajid Ananda he's your Guru and I was like I don't need a guru I am the guru so all I'm saying is that was my understanding at the time
(17:27) you know so I'm the same person you know a few decades later but that was my understanding at the time I was different I was that's where I was you know so and this is where I am now does that answer it yeah thanks in the right time okay yeah when the time is right and you're more and more awakened you know that's how you feel um and how about you know many people living in Sangha together all having a different relationship being in a different place you know what's what's essential to you in order to keep the
(18:13) Sangha you know peaceful and loving within such a various very degree of perspectives um what is essential to keep everybody happy real happy or just to keep it a healthy Sangha when you have people that that are so different within the Sangha how can we all coexist with each other the only reason we co-exist is because of Swami sachidananda okay this this is not a physical place on a map it's not a town it's not a village this is a Loca it's a vibration so when we come from outside we come to a Heavenly realm it's in The Vedas where
(18:57) the guru lives where his ashram is is where the heavens is you know so that's you know as long as you have a few people here that that have faith in in God and Guru that energy stays around and we can all coexist he that energy is responsible for making us all work it out that energy is responsible for you know stirring the pot for and why Enlightenment so that we all awaken I know it doesn't make sense perhaps what I'm saying but that's what it is you know yeah and do you think that's happening not only in you know
(19:38) our community but in the the global community of the planet as well I don't know about other places um but I think yeah and even if we have to lose the planet that's also part of Enlightenment you know the years ago uh you know Carlos that lives across the street sure yeah okay he said years ago he went to see the Dalai Lama uh in Washington DC when he had come he also came here years ago we saw him in Charlottesville were you here at the time we saw him all day we went to all the talks and um the dolly and somebody
(20:22) asked him the question they said what happens you know if if nobody's getting along and we're ready to blow up the planet and you know and we've been doing all these practices and what's going to happen to the yogis and all us and he goes oh don't worry he said and even if we lose the planet I will get you another planet that's what he said greenev told us the same thing right he said somebody asked and they said but why are we you know they might blow us up they have nuclear weapons and we have
(20:59) nuclear he said I will get you another planet you know so it's a different energy our our limited Minds are living in a box and we can't see the real of what's happening and why but there's a plan and no matter what happens it was all decided long ago and it will be okay I don't know if this answer is your question yeah yeah I think so too well Faith again back back to the faith faith the whole Cree Universe Creed was created by faith without that we have nothing there's nothing so it seems like like faith and
(21:43) humility are kind of closely related yes but the ego doesn't like humility [Laughter] digo wants to know right to be and to be sure that's right what about me yeah I'm so sure about this I want to be right so but it's hard sometimes because right we feel sure and we feel like I know for you if that comes up where you like you think you know something about a person or a thing or whatever it is do you have a practice of kind of seeing that and then bringing yourself back to a space of humility of of not
(22:22) knowing well you always have a gut feeling your gut is God you know your intuition is God that's what God is your intuition so you don't you have it yeah but I don't see I don't okay I grew up with a mother that talked about this all the time my gut my intuition like she was a very strong proponent of it right but I'll give you an example I was with her actually last week and uh my sister is uh is pregnant and we're asking do you think it's a boy or a girl and my mom was so sure that it was a boy
(23:07) oh it's a boy it's a boy so this is a person that totally trusts her intuition it's the most important thing for her she said we ended up doing a reveal and all finding out together it's a girl okay and I've had lots of experiences that with well that doesn't disqualify her intuition I'm not saying it disqualifies I'm just saying that it's not always correct either that I've learned sometimes we say what we really want what we wish you see that's my point is that it's kind of
(23:37) it's hard it's hard to um interpret right into it what is intuition and what is mind it seems like these things are like kind of all mixed up together yeah yeah right no you you know it intuition is it's it's a gut feeling and you do we do have to get out of our way sometimes you know and [Music] um and be humble and go meditate if we meditate then we'll get clear if if we think we want this then the mind will say it's this you know so um but I feel meditation when I'm not clear I feel meditating uh clears me up a lot
(24:26) do you meditate on a certain topic like if you're not feeling clear on a certain topic or something going on in your life that you'll meditate on that or you'll just go in and meditate and then Clarity will arise on whatever the thing is only meditate on Mantra only nothing else not the breath not the light not my body not a chakra nothing nothing nothing only the Mantra exists only meditate on the Mantra and then intuition pops out you know how about prayer I mean we say prayers all the time but
(25:04) no not during meditation you mean like what yeah what's the relationship between prayer and meditation for you right like if you're having a something happening in your life and you want to pray about it would that happen during meditation or would it happen outside of meditation well this is my prayer okay gurudev you know what I want so if it pleases you please give me this that's my prayer if it pleases you to give it to me if it's good for me would you please give it to me right that's the highest prayer
(25:41) with the humility again saying like you know what you know what's best for me well I've heard him say you know that's the highest prayer right I don't know what's best for me you know what's best for me yeah please continue to guide me right but sometimes I'm like and if you do like this then I'm not gonna do that I negotiate with him I do how does that work I want this well then it's is it sincere then if you're saying I want if you're saying I want this yeah then that's kind of
(26:13) that's right that's he plays with me you know what I want you know so give it to me and if I don't get it okay you win how can I win I'm like a gnat and he's like the whole universe the ocean so what what am I gonna do about it not take my wants so seriously maybe exactly we don't even we're here go here go but it's all God you know everything's God God is there there there all around yeah I get like a sense of lightness hearing you talk about that and is that is that the real
(26:54) the real juice from these practices these teachings all of it is is a feeling of of not being so like heavy or taking this whole experience that we're having so seriously yes because nothing is real not not even if they blow up the planet tomorrow it's not real you know none of it is real none of it it's like a mandala the Buddhists make on the floor and then they wipe it down how many times does that happen countless of times and for yourself can you see a certain progression that's happened for you or maybe in in your past you did
(27:31) feel more heaviness or took things more seriously and now you feel lighter and Freer yeah every time I say I want this you know this is right I am justified I am right you know I should get this you know everybody even if you talk to other people they'll say yes you're right you know and then I do it and I break my face all over the place and then you know that's how we know is when we break our face and then we know oops and so I learned now like oh can I have this you know so that's do you find that it's getting
(28:17) maybe a little easier more comfortable for you to um use the times as you say like when you break your face to redirect you back it's more comfortable say that again is it becoming like is it becoming oh it's time yeah yeah oh yeah each time you get more and more enlightened absolutely and you know you know every time you get stronger and stronger because you realize that that's all that's going to happen it's like I'm a two-year-old running out to the street and my mom coming to get me back come back come
(28:56) back come back and he he never runs out of patience with me you know he's always saving me from running out of the street I'm do it try to do it less and less nowadays but you feel Justified to run out to the street maybe to save somebody else and then you could get hit by a truck or something that almost happened one time but it's also that feeling I think that comes when when you're brought back right if the mother is bringing you back or the guru is bringing you yeah you know that feeling of of really maybe
(29:36) it's safety uh maybe it's beyond a word to even put it but that feeling of rightness then says oh yes like thank you and the more that I experience that the more comfortable the more um trust I have in maybe helping myself return yeah yeah absolutely and your faith grows stronger every time and you get more and more clear and more and more enlightened each time so really maybe to just look at it like what am I doing all the time I'm practicing yeah that's all we're doing it's like meditation we think I'm going
(30:18) to meditation nobody's going to meditation we're all trying to concentrate it's like a battle with the mind so all you can do is say the scriptures say if you're sitting there and you're trying to concentrate for years and years and years finally God will come in and he'll you feel shh something came picked you up and meditated you and you're for a little bit like you're on a Starship and there's no thoughts okay this is totally is God's grace his energy he's done with you he moves away then
(30:56) you're back with a Minds mind slowly comes back again it comes back it was back here it's coming back again okay so all that's that's all Grace so all we're doing is is uh we're not meditating we're concentrating and and while you're trying to concentrate the mind will tell you oh you're just wasting your time because look at me I can mess you up I can make you feel like this and that you know say okay fine I'm not going anywhere I'm here in the hall meditating with my
(31:29) Sangha and I'm you do whatever you want jump and run I'm gonna repeat my Mantra you can go ahead and mess it up what you want you know you don't want to talk to the mind too much but that's what we're all doing some something that I've started to do lately is I I'm I'm trying to be like teammates with my mind a little bit is not yeah look at it as you know there's anything wrong like just what you said even that it's all okay you want to run jump whatever you want to do is okay
(32:04) um but also I think I've gotten better at convincing my mind that taking a break is actually better for it yes and it seems to my mind seems to accept that and be on board with that yes absolutely yeah absolutely that's that's where you want to be because your mind can become your best friend our minds become our best friends then they try to help us toward Enlightenment instead of trying to block it because they're afraid they're going to lose control you know yeah and it seems to me like that the the case of
(32:39) what I what I noticed both with myself and and around is is really the the case of an exhausted mind more more than anything else is that when the mind is exhausted and overly stimulated it's not going to be able to work with us and help us as much so through meditation and other practices we can learn to rest the mind and therefore when it is the time to use it appropriately it's well rested and able to focus on whatever we want it to focus on yep that's right rested or or become sharper and more
(33:21) peaceful I don't mean sharper isn't to harm but sharper you know clearer like that so in terms of the the future for yourself like do you is do you notice for yourself just my my intention is just to let go as much as possible and I don't really have any intentions for the future um or there also is a place for setting an attention having a goal for something to come to be I mean what type of a goal you're talking about my goal is to be more and more peaceful more and more useful and more and more you know clear
(34:06) so I don't have any other you know so is it kind of just like a waiting to see what's going to happen yeah I'm not worried about you know I want to be this or I want to get that I want to do my job around here you know that's my goal so that's definitely you know what they tell me to do so and and do it the best of my ability you know but no personal I don't have a personal agenda for anything no how about gratitude for you is that something that you practice or can you speak about your relationship with
(34:44) gratitude it's yeah it's all gratitude yeah that's all I I cry with gratitude every day when I talk to gurudeva specifically for him yes for him because without him I would be dead he saved my soul not even my life my soul if you know where I came from I came from a family of politicians in Greece and business people you know and my grandma who was The Matriarch was very spiritual he would go around her her house and burn incense and they were all because she was burning incense and chanting the Christian Mantra you know
(35:34) so and I was like wow look at her what is this you know so so that was in me a lot now it's less in me but that's where I came from so I have a lot of gratitude for who I am today being alive today and who I am because I came along he brought me a long way yeah hmm do you think it's possible for someone to have that type of relationship with gurudev even though he's no longer in the body like like you just anyone yes you know even even though that like you share the experience that you had with him and and
(36:27) what happened there while he was in the body do you think it's possible for someone to have a similar experience of course everybody can have that okay does it seem like it's a little more challenging maybe without the body no he's more powerful now you know when gurda was in the body when I came here I was not a Karma Yogi 25 years ago I was not a Karma Yogi I couldn't understand what these people are doing here you know because to me intellectually uh if you want a a result you you want a reward and you want
(37:06) Moksha which is such a big thing why is this Karma Yoga you know you're getting the highest pay so I I I was more of a bhakti I was just chanting and meditating and singing to God all the time it was what he sent me to work in distribution you know that right I was working there for 15 years so um why did I start to tell you this now what was the question the the question was if someone can have a similar experience or relationship so when he left the body I I still I I was not a Karma Yogi I would do only a few things
(37:48) you know that I wanted to do and then I didn't want to do anything else you know what I'm talking about and then I thought I have a problem that you know I'm a bhakta they're all Karma yogis none of them they're not like you know so I went downstairs in the guja every day you know in chidambra and I walked around with a prayer for years and I said please make me into a Karma Yogi please and I would walk around for a long time every day please make me into Karma Yogi and it happened [Laughter]
(38:29) you know uh and now I find such joy and I don't intellectualize it or you know uh you know anything I don't judge you know what I'm doing I just do it they tell me go do this I do it unless I physically can't do it I'll say I can't lift this you know it's going to put out my back and I'll have to go to the chiropractor or something like that you know so yeah it's possible for anyone all they have to do is ask Greta have helped me I want to be like this and and they'll help good but they need to ask
(39:03) for help you know this is a very powerful Guru he's not just anybody you know we have enlightened people on this planet lots of them but there's different okay Masters you know the Dalai Lama gurudev Dada vaswani those are giants you know there's not too many of them so he was the Incarnation of Vishnu when he was in the body when the gurus in the body he's the Incarnation of Lord Vishnu the preserver of the universe when he leaves the body he becomes Lord Shiva he clears up our you know problems
(39:45) you mentioned before God and Guru what is the the distinction there between God and Guru There's no distinction okay God and Guru and one and the same being There's no distinction yeah would you mind thank you so much would you mind uh leading Us in another prayer yeah thank you gurudev for letting us communicate in such a beautiful way guiding Our Lives we're so grateful to you and our beloved Sangha all together and thank you for being with us and enlightening us and holding our hand and saving us foreign
(40:41) [Music] [Music] thanks so much yes thank you that was fun thanks for listening if you've enjoyed this content and think others might as well please feel free to share and subscribe