“When you’re willing to be still…to stop this forward thrust of accumulation, of a lifestyle, you can give your life, the attention of your life, to discovering what is life.” When we begin a search for peace or happiness, we may simply be looking for better circumstances, or wanting to feel less lonely, or hoping to release feelings of guilt or sorrow. As we walk that path we may fall into just another lifestyle or we may discover a much deeper truth—the truth of who we are, consciousness...

On this Being Yourself Podcast Extra you are invited to "look inward." Take just a few minutes to drop into a brief selection taken from The Sacred Fire of Death: Reflections on the Katha Upanishad. It is the newest installment in the Sacred Text Series with Gangaji and Chris Mohr. Along with their conversation about the Katha Upanishad itself, there are also readings from what is one of the most beloved and sacred texts of India.  The complete 82-minute audio download of The Sacred Fire of...

“There is a possibility of meeting the Satguru which is death – the final great teacher of us all. Not as an escape from life, just an opening to what is inevitable, to what is here.” Genetically, human beings are designed to survive, to avoid death. The fear of death is natural. But when we are willing to consciously meet death, to investigate its depths and reality, we have a life-changing opportunity to shift our attention from our relative existence to the eternal nature of being....

“Regardless of those people who depend on you, it is possible for you to be true to who you are. Compassionately, ruthlessly true to who you are. . . true to the open heart.” The most common question Gangaji receives at the end of a retreat is, “How can I trust myself to be true to the truth of who I am while living my daily life?” How do we raise children, pay the bills, go to work, or sustain a marriage and be true to who we are? Is it really a question of trust? In this episode, Gangaji...

“The mistake is overlooking what is effortlessly, choicelessly, always here.” How is it that we actually overlook the truth of ourselves? When we pursue sublime states of mind to attain “unity” on our spiritual path, we can go down a path that instead delivers an experience of separation. Gangaji invites us to simply be, and in that, discover what cannot be “done” and who you truly are.   Learn more about Gangaji, her schedule of events, and program for the incarcerated at gangaji.org.    

“The secret of freedom is giving up the choice to escape yourself.” A prison inmate’s letter inspires this month’s podcast. In one of the most loved monologues in the archives, Gangaji speaks of the essential choice to face what has been feared or run from for most of our lives. When we give up any idea of healing and directly experience the woundedness,  we discover a deeper truth—the truth of who we are.   Learn more about Gangaji and the Gangaji Foundation Prison Program. 

At some point in our lives, we will experience a loss of innocence. Whether that disillusionment is with ourselves, our family, or with life itself, there is a choice that arises in the midst of loss. Will we fall into cynicism and self-betrayal? Or do we meet the pain of that loss directly and in that, discover the innocence that was never lost.    Visit the website to learn more about Gangaji and the Gangaji Foundation Prison Program. 

“You are free to discover yourself as Truth. You are free to rest in that Truth. You are free to be happy, regardless of your body, your thoughts, emotions, or circumstances.”   In this month’s podcast, Gangaji begins with a clear exposition on how it is absolutely possible to discover yourself as Truth, no matter your past history. Then in the lively exchange that follows, she speaks to how we deny the truth of ourselves and instead, cling to an identify rooted in our thoughts, emotions,...

“There is no problem with pain. There is pain. If you are seeking something to avoid pain, that’s the suffering. That’s the search that must be called off.” It takes effort to avoid our emotional pain. We can try to avoid it, but ultimately the common strategies of withdrawing, protecting, and dissociating from feelings of hurt actually turn emotional pain into unnecessary suffering. This lively exchange taken from the Gangaji archives offers a clear demonstration of how we can recognize...

“If you stop thinking about how to get out of the body that may be painful or how to keep the body that is pain free, you get to experience the truth.” Physical pain is an essential aspect of life that serves the survival and well-being of the body, but we can easily turn that necessary pain that alerts us to injury and illness into unnecessary suffering. What is the difference between pain and suffering? What can physical pain reveal to us when we meet it directly?   To learn more about...

Where is the life you want? As much as we can fear death, we can also fear living a full and vibrant life. In this exchange, Gangaji helps a woman get to the root of what keeps her fear of vibrancy running. This conversation demonstrates how each of us has the capacity to discover how to live a true and full life.      Learn more about Gangaji at gangaji.org    

“The strategies and avoidance around the experience of “not being” or death are what keep you from the experience of eternal life.” As a young boy of 16, Ramana chose to stop running from what he feared and turned to face death directly. In that moment of inquiry, he opened his mind asking, “Who dies?”  All of us share that same opportunity to stop running and inquire into what we fear most—the end of “me.” In the willingness to investigate death itself, we can discover what cannot die, we...

“It was a fire. It was really a fire because it was a razor’s edge. All of sudden there are these huge groups. And if I identified even the slightest negatively or positively…I am sliced on this razor I am living on. It was really a necessary fire. I had to be quiet. I had to be still.” This month we share the soundtrack to a special 30th anniversary video honoring the community of volunteers and donors. The video begins with Gangaji’s first meeting with Papaji in 1990. After Gangaji speaks...

Gangaji speaks about the role spiritual practice plays in our lives and invites us to discover what we are practicing when we “get off our cushion and the chanting stops.” What do our spiritual practices give us? What do we hope they will give us? What can they never give us?     Learn more about Gangaji at gangaji.org  

“It’s a lie that any thing gives you fulfilling, true, deep joy. Joy is your nature.” We can feel deeply conflicted when following our hearts doesn’t line up with what we or others think we should be doing. When we reach the proverbial and often frightening “fork in the road,” we have a choice to be true to ourselves. Gangaji begins this meeting speaking about the difference between being normal and being natural, and then shares one of the key “fork in the road” moments she experienced...

“Universal, absolute awareness is who you are." How is it possible to be “certain” of who we are? In the wake of an essential and undeniable experience of our true nature as pure consciousness, doubt usually arises—“Did that really happen? Is it real?” Then, we often look to our thoughts for the answer. In this powerful dialogue, Gangaji helps us see past the efforts of the rational, conditioned mind to grasp to the doubtless recognition of what is always here.     Learn more about...

“The error is that you are not what can be thought, or perceived, or felt.  You are that in which all thoughts, all perceptions, all feelings, appear in.” In countless ways, we search for a “better” identity to replace who we think we are. This month, Gangaji speaks to the trap of misidentification. How is it possible to see your true face? Where are you looking for yourself?   Learn more about Gangaji at gangaji.org

“Incarcerated for life in a maximum security prison in Alabama and not using that as an excuse, refusing to use that as an excuse.  In fact, using that as a vehicle.” Gangaji reads a powerful letter of realization from a prisoner serving life without parole in an Alabama prison. Learn more about Gangaji at gangaji.org Support/Learn more about the Gangaji Foundation Prison Program here  

“This is not psychotherapy. This is not anti-psychotherapy. This has nothing to do with fixing you. This has to do with discovering fully and completely what is always here and was always here in the worst moments, in the best moments.” In this monologue recorded during a recent retreat at Fallen Leaf Lake, Gangaji delineates the crucial difference between psychotherapy and self-inquiry and the distinct purposes they play in our lives.    Learn more about Gangaji, her programs, and...

“This is an invitation to stop. To not create who you are. To simply be yourself with no idea or memory of who or what that is. Just to be. Then to see, how vast this just is.” Our lived experience in a human body gives rise to a wide range of phenomena that include thoughts, feelings, and images of ourselves. Thoughts, feelings, sensations, or memories are not a problem unless that is how we define or identify who we are. In this potent inquiry, Gangaji points to the complex subtleties of...

“When you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are this stillness, that you are this awareness, then it doesn’t matter what is on the surface.”   Human beings have a profound desire to realize a lasting peace. The question is where are we looking, and what desire are we actually chasing? In this very relatable exchange, we see how recurring desires to avoid pain, end confusion, or gain clarity are simply the play of the mind. True and lasting peace remains undisturbed by any...

“To be nothing, to be nobody, is to realize who you are.” This month on Being Yourself, we share one the first meetings Gangaji held in Byron Bay, Australia. This is the land of the Arakwal Bumberlin people, who have lived in the coastal landscape around the Byron Bay area for at least 22,000 years. Gangaji begins by acknowledging how the ancient Aboriginal peoples have blessed our lives. Then she invites us to end our search for spiritual superiority to simply be who we truly are—no “thing”...

Discovering the truth of who you are doesn’t require a certificate of realization. You don’t need to understand Sanskrit or Advaita to know the truth of who you are. The only requirement is the willingness to investigate the thought of who you are. This month on Being Yourself, Gangaji shares what she calls a “sutra from the streets”— a teaching story about the power of inquiry and what is possible for all.     PROGRAM NOTES Learn more about Gangaji and her programs and events...

This month on Being Yourself, we return to the summer of 1993 in Boulder, Colorado. Gangaji speaks about the opportunity to break the trance of fear by directly experiencing fear itself. “This is a kind of contraction against life. Direct experience is the medicine, the remedy. You really experience fear, and fear is not fear.”