Buddha at the Gas Pump

Andrew B. Newberg, M.D. is a leading neurotheologist at Thomas Jefferson University, exploring the intersection of brain function and spirituality. He discusses how neuroscience can illuminate our understanding of mystical experiences. The conversation delves into the brain's creation of perception, the philosophical implications of enlightenment, and the complex mind-body relationship. They also tackle the limitations of brain imaging, the dynamics of free will, and the essential role of personal experiences in understanding consciousness and reality.

Lama Tsomo is an American lama, author, and co-founder of the Namchak Foundation. She followed a path of spiritual inquiry and study that ultimately led to her ordination as one of the few American lamas in Tibetan Buddhism. Lama Tsomo learned Tibetan to study with her teacher Tulku Sangak Rinpoche, and now shares the teachings of the Namchak lineage in the US and abroad. Lama Tsomo holds an M.A. in Counseling Psychology and is the author of the award winning Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? An Introduction and Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Practice. She is passionate about reaching young people and supporting those working for positive social change. Website: namchak.org Books: Ancient Wisdom for Our Times Tibetan Buddhist Practice Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling?: A Westerner's Introduction and Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Practice The Lotus & the Rose: A Conversation Between Tibetan Buddhism & Mystical Christianity Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript and summary of this interview Interview recorded March 25, 2018 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:03:53 - Becoming a Lama and the Responsibilities 00:08:24 - A Journey in Spiritual Exploration 00:13:06 - The Insubstantiality of Matter 00:17:29 - Conversations on Reincarnation and Mindstream 00:22:00 - The Three Bodies in Tibetan Buddhist Practice 00:26:37 - Parallels in Different Traditions and the Holographic Quality of the Universe 00:31:18 - Joining with the Whole Ocean 00:36:23 - The difference between anger and acting violently 00:40:14 - The Five Afflictive Emotions and Enlightenment 00:44:47 - Total Awareness Beyond the Nervous System 00:49:38 - The Subtle Body and Enlightenment in Buddhism 00:54:01 - The Antidote to the Three Poisons 00:59:03 - Different Branches of Buddhism 01:02:55 - Finding What Works and the Power of Sangha 01:07:29 - The Power of Connection and Community 01:11:21 - Starting Learning Circles and Traveling for Teachings 01:15:11 - The Importance of Live Instruction in Meditation 01:19:30 - Visualization and Familiarity 01:23:44 - The Mud Pit and Cleaning the Windshield 01:27:12 - The Importance of Guru Yoga 01:31:35 - The Purpose of Birth and Evolution 01:35:40 - Major Shifts in Spiritual Development 01:40:29 - Mother Nature's Wrath 01:43:58 - Exploring Self-Realization and the Use of Drugs 01:47:38 - Gamma Waves and Enlightenment 01:52:11 - Enlightenment and the Afterlife 01:56:12 - The complexity of the universe's intelligence 02:00:25 - The Two Truths in Buddhism 02:04:50 - Accessible Meditations and Additional Resources 02:08:43 - Conclusion and Farewell

Swami Sarvapriyananda has been  Minister and Spiritual Leader of the Vedanta Society of New York since January 6, 2017. Prior to this, he served as assistant minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California for 13 months, beginning on December 3, 2015. Swami joined the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in 1994 and received Sannyas in 2004. Before being posted to the VSSC’s Hollywood Temple, Swami served as an acharya (teacher) of the monastic probationers’ training center at Belur Math. He has served the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in various capacities including being the Vice Principal of the Deoghar Vidyapith Higher Secondary School, Principal of the Shikshana Mandira Teacher Education College at Belur Math, and the first Registrar of the Vivekananda University at Belur Math. Website: vedantany.org Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcripts of this interview: English Chinese Finnish Swami Sarvapriyananda on the Ethical Foundations of Nondual Spirituality Interview recorded March 3, 2018. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:03:51 - Upanishads and Vedanta 00:07:54 - The Philosophy of Non-Duality 00:12:07 - The Expression of Ultimate Truth in Hinduism 00:16:27 - The Duality of Bliss and Reality 00:20:21 - The Comparison between Vedanta and Particle Physics 00:24:43 - Panentheism and the Nature of Reality 00:28:51 - Advaita Vedanta as Maximally Supporting Religion 00:33:04 - Two distinct approaches to religion 00:37:34 - Overcoming Limitations with Advaita Philosophy 00:41:09 - The Cyclical Nature of Knowledge 00:44:39 - The Value of Sharing Between Science and Religion 00:48:36 - The Conflict Between Science and Religion 00:52:49 - Contributions of Advaita and Madhyamaka Buddhism 00:57:07 - The Complexity of Standardizing Instrumental Procedures 01:01:24 - Path to Enlightenment through Different Religions 01:04:55 - The Realization of Pure Essential Nature 01:08:56 - Serving Society in Vedantic Philosophy 01:12:37 - The Perspectives of Enlightened Beings 01:16:44 - The Three Stages of Spiritual Awakening 01:20:38 - The Importance of Practices and Ethical Life in Advaita Vedanta 01:25:08 - The Importance of Bhakti Yoga and Meditation 01:28:45 - The Bliss Amidst Suffering 01:32:52 - The Conduits of Spiritual Wisdom 01:36:45 - The Truth about Enlightenment and Past Karma 01:40:42 - The Three Tiers of Reality 01:44:33 - Experiencing World and Brahman Together 01:48:07 - The Differences between Kashmir Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta 01:52:24 - The Beauty and Intricacy of the World 01:56:21 - Divine Presence in You 01:59:46 - Farewell

Kimberly Braun, Minister, M.A., CSP and Meditation Coach has been impelled from and within her contemplative experiences from the age of 5, with over ten of her years spent as a Carmelite monastic nun. Her Masters in theology was completed in 2001 in Washington D.C., and is concentrated upon the adult spiritual journey. As a CSP, keynote presentations are a primary tool in her personal mission to inspire others to live from the power and wisdom within them. Her style is playful, deeply inquiring, and intelligent in the synthesis of not only how to access this part of ourselves, but how to live from that place more consistently. She is a retreat and workshop facilitator, TEDx speaker, meditation faculty at the renowned Omega Institute, and fellow seeker on the path to living freely. She has three CDs and a book now available about her time as a nun, Love Calls: Insights of a Former Carmelite Nun. She is just launching into the online world with her World Meditation for Happiness project, new online courses, and a FREE online spiritual community. Kimberly is now available for private sessions, keynotes, and retreats. Stay in touch by visiting: www.kimberlybraun.com. Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded Feb. 24, 2018 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction with Rick and Kimberly 00:02:56 - Early Spiritual Experiences 00:06:13 - The Path to Enlightenment and Life After Death 00:10:07 - The Unknown Leading to Atheism 00:14:10 - Embracing the Unknown in our Spiritual Journey 00:18:11 - From Passion to Confusion 00:22:34 - Surrendering to Spiritual Experiences 00:26:34 - A Mysterious Encounter 00:29:47 - Rising Energetic Constructs and Consciousness 00:33:21 - Expanding into Universal Essence and Non-dual Tantra 00:37:29 - Living Life Fully 00:42:04 - The Dancing Shiva and Free Will 00:45:48 - The Perception of Separation and the Nature of God 00:50:11 - Deepening our understanding of God 00:54:19 - Achieving a Connection with Spirit 00:58:23 - The Observer in Meditation 01:02:29 - The Power of Observing and Allowing 01:06:45 - Living in a Monastery 01:10:11 - The Honeymoon Years 01:13:34 - A Journey of Transformation and Service 01:17:37 - Leaving the Monastery and Grieving 01:20:48 - A Container for the Ineffable 01:25:07 - A Magical Autumn Experience 01:28:41 - The Journey of Healing and Growth 01:32:16 - Tasting the Brilliance Within 01:35:53 - Exploring Higher Realms 01:39:58 - The Never-Ending Mystic Adventure 01:43:55 - The Irrelevance of Having an End Point 01:48:13 - The Mayavadins and the Vaishnavites 01:51:43 - Continuing the Journey with Kimberly Bronn 01:54:42 - Farewell and Gratitude

Shakti Caterina Maggi has been sharing a message of awakening to our true nature as One Consciousness since 2003, with workshops and meetings held in Italy, Europe, and around the world. Although in the vein of the Advaita and non dual tantric tradition, Shakti shares a very contemporary approach to self-realization and reveals the real possibility of seeing what we are and embodying it in our everyday life with clarity, wisdom and humor. The first glimpses and non-definitive openings to the Self and the true nature of reality began to occur for her at a very early age. At around 27, these temporary windows of our true nature brought her to a state of great inner openness, without having the cognition that what was happening was called “awakening” or “enlightenment” in other cultures. In January 2003, while working as a financial reporter in Milan, she had the first experience of kundalini awakening. “Everything vibrated from its infinite nature: my body, the room, the bed I was on were all a unique vibration of love that expanded and dissolved itself in a space without borders. I was myself and at the same time I was no longer me, Existence itself was my nature. After about two hours everything disappeared into nothingness and I was surprised to wake up in the morning still alive. Honestly, I was certain I was going to die that night. Now there was something vast and completely silent that looked at a funny little me, acting like a cartoon character, moving but also loving. “ For the first time, she realized she needed a spiritual guide. Knowing that all this had occurred without her conscious desire or intentional action, she simply waited for life itself to deliver someone able to clarify what was unfolding. Four months later, she met Bodhi Avasa in a satsang in Milan, and after only five days she encountered a definitive experience of self-recognition. “I suddenly realized that Caterina had never existed. It was just a thought of My Mind, and that My Mind was the Divine Mind. No separate identity existed, but only a single Self, empty and aware, from which Existence itself was born as in a dream. “ It took a few months for this quantum leap to stabilize, as mind and body were traversed by profound and transformational understandings. Encouraged by Avasa, she soon thereafter started to share her experience, although it was only in 2011 that she began to hold true satsang. The process of integration of the awakening, and purification from what Ramana Maharshi referred to as vāsanas (latent tendencies), required several years, allowing her to develop a deep understanding of the path that takes place after awakening and its integration into daily life. Website: Website Facebook YouTube Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded February 15, 2018. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Background of Shakti Katarina Maggi 00:04:25 - The Power of Synchronicity 00:08:46 - Early Experiences and Love for God 00:13:39 - Insights Before Sleep 00:18:07 - Meeting the Teacher 00:22:41 - Dissolving Identification and Conditioning 00:27:38 - The Delightfulness of Being Human 00:31:54 - Acting without Attachment to Results 00:36:15 - Awakening to Truth 00:40:11 - Appreciating the Glory of Life 00:44:58 - Life's Unexpected Paths 00:48:57 - Embracing the Darkness and Discovering the Beauty 00:53:03 - Love and Relationships in Awakening 00:57:46 - Awakening in the Heart 01:02:52 - The Illusion of Separation and Duality 01:05:53 - The Experience of Teaching from the Heart Level 01:09:55 - Meeting Darkness and Light in Neutrality 01:15:22 - The Attitude of a Beginner 01:19:56 - Embodying Awakening 01:24:51 - Living Life in Awareness 01:29:02 - Integrating Words and Consciousness 01:33:00 - Life as the Guru 01:37:06 - The Appearance of Beingness 01:41:05 - The Experience of Life 01:44:57 - The Individual Expression of Being 01:48:48 - Contradictions and Paradoxes in Oneness 01:53:46 - The Joy of Seeing the Perfection of it 01:58:05 - Spiritual Connection with Whales and Consciousness 02:02:39 - The experience of Kundalini and its significance 02:06:45 - A Delightful Conversation 02:10:00 - Radiating Information for Registration

Paul Selig is considered to be one of the foremost spiritual channels working today. In his breakthrough works of channeled literature author and medium Paul Selig has recorded an extraordinary program for personal and planetary evolution as humankind awakens to its own divine nature. Paul was born in New York City and received his master’s degree from Yale. A spiritual experience in 1987 left him clairvoyant. As a way to gain a context for what he was beginning to experience he studied a form of energy healing and began to “hear” for his clients. Described as “a medium for the living,” Paul’s unique abilities have been featured on ABC News Nightline, Fox News, the Biography Channel series The UneXplained, Gaiam TV’s Beyond Belief and the documentary film Paul & The Word. Paul offers channeled workshops internationally. He serves on the faculty of The Omega Institute, The Kripalu Center and the Esalen Institute. Also a noted playwright and educator, he served on the faculty of NYU for over 25 years. He directed the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Goddard College for many years, and he now serves on the college’s Board of Trustees. He lives in New York City where he maintains a private practice as an intuitive and conducts frequent livestream seminars. Books: I Am the Word: A Guide to the Consciousness of Man's Self in a Transitioning Time The Book of Love and Creation: A Channeled Text -  Audio version The Book of Knowing and Worth: A Channeled Text The Book of Mastery: The Mastery Trilogy: Book I The Book of Truth: The Mastery Trilogy: Book II Website: paulselig.com Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript and summary of this interview Interview recorded February 9, 2018 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:03:53 - The Process of Channeling and Receiving Messages 00:07:24 - A Soul Awakening Experience 00:10:43 - The Beginning of a Journey 00:14:16 - Developing Quietly 00:17:42 - A Life-Changing Moment 00:21:01 - Childhood Experiences and Divine Orchestration 00:24:19 - Beings in Subtler Realms 00:27:41 - Accountability and Consciousness 00:30:53 - Realization of the Divine in Form 00:34:20 - The Incredible Intelligence of the Human Body 00:36:58 - The Story Behind the Book 00:39:29 - The Effects of Channeling Sessions 00:42:06 - The Exhilaration of Channeling 00:45:05 - Over-identification and interruptions 00:47:44 - The Agenda of Realization 00:50:24 - The Cost of Re-identifying Who We Are 00:53:00 - Alignment and Vibrational Accord 00:55:28 - The Power of Human Consciousness 00:57:59 - The Existence of the Universe 01:00:40 - The Language of Science and Truth 01:03:23 - Curiosity about Other Beings 01:07:07 - Channelling Archangel Gabriel 01:11:55 - The Experience of Channeling 01:16:34 - The Experience of Channeling 01:20:45 - The Gift of Qualifications in Channeling 01:25:14 - Dealing with Sensitivity to the Energy of Others 01:30:52 - The Energetic Sensitivity 01:36:04 - The Book of Truth and the Surfacing of Hidden Things 01:40:53 - Paving the Way for the Future 01:46:04 - Closing Remarks

Sadhviji was raised in an American family in Hollywood, California and graduated from Stanford University. She was completing her Ph.D. when she left America in 1996 to come and live permanently at Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, India. She has been living there for the last twenty-one years, engaged in spiritual practice and dedicated service.She was officially initiated into the order of Sanyas (monastic renunciation) in the year 2000, by her Guru, His Holiness Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji. Sadhviji is a renowned speaker who gives keynote addresses at large forums, on a wide variety of topics ranging from conscious business to science and spirituality to sustainable development to the keys of happiness and peace in life to all aspects of yoga. She has also been a featured speaker at the United Nations, Parliament of World Religions and many international conferences and summits. Her talks blend the knowledge and logic of the West with the insights, spirituality and wisdom of the East, and she is renowned as a spiritual bridge between the two cultures. At Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh, where Sadhviji lives most of the year, she gives daily spiritual discourses and satsang, teaches meditation, provides counseling and oversees myriad charitable and humanitarian projects and activities. Sadhviji is: Secretary-General of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, an international interfaithorganization dedicated to bringing clean water, sanitation & hygiene to the children of theworld. President of Divine Shakti Foundation, a foundation dedicated to bringing education and empowerment to women and children which runs free schools, vocational training programs and empowerment programs. Director of the annual world-famous International Yoga Festival at Parmarth which has been covered in Time Magazine, CNN, New York Times, Le Monde and other prestigious publications. Sadhviji has a Ph.D in Psychology and was the Managing Editor for the monumental project of the 11-volume Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Websites: Sadhviji.org (personal site) Sadhviji's TED talk @SadhviBhagawatiSaraswati (Sadhviji's Facebook page with announcements of events, videos, etc.) @ParmarthNiketan (Parmarth's Facebook page where they stream Sadhviji's satsangs live daily when she is in town.) Youtube channel with all of the videos of Sadhviji's lectures (and also a lot of other good stuff... Book: Vegetarianism: For Our Bodies, Our Minds, Our Souls & Our Planet Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded February 6, 2018. Second BatGap interview with Sadhvi. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:04:22 - A Trip to India for Vegetarian Food 00:08:12 - A Shift in Beliefs  00:12:17 - A Swinging Footbridge and a Vision of Truth 00:16:37 - A Profound Spiritual Awakening on the Banks of the Ganga River 00:20:51 - A Call to Stay in the Ashram 00:24:49 - The Inner Voice and Following Your Vow 00:28:26 - Seeking Permission to Stay at the Ashram 00:32:11 - The Phantom Higher Authority 00:36:18 - The Presence of Divinity 00:40:39 - A Mysterious Phenomenon 00:44:42 - A Confusing Journey in the Ashram 00:48:57 - The Importance of the Guru-Disciple Relationship 00:53:07 - Ego Development and Self-Identification 00:57:39 - The Ego's Desire for Spiritual Superiority 01:01:49 - The Role of a Guru and Discernment in Choosing a Genuine Guru 01:05:44 - The Nature of Guru's Offerings 01:09:47 - How to Identify a Genuine Guru 01:13:44 - Feeling the Presence of the Guru 01:17:42 - The Power of a Guru's Presence  01:21:24 - Providing Medical Care and Sanitation in India 01:25:23 - Service as Spiritual Practice 01:29:29 - Seva: Serving Your Way to Enlightenment 01:33:15 - The Importance of Sadhana in Spiritual Practice 01:36:43 - Falling in Love with Spirituality 01:40:17 - Witnessing Hatha Yoga as a Path to Divinity 01:43:43 - The Feminine Energy of Creation 01:48:19 - Objectification and Self-Worth 01:52:13 - The Unity of all Beings and the Divine Nature 01:56:28 - Parmarth Niketan's Facebook Livestream 01:59:21 - End of Conversation

One night in 1997 Richard Schoeller thought he was dying because he found himself surrounded by both sets of deceased grandparents. They reassured him that it wasn’t his time to join them in the afterlife and that their visit was to help him understand that he could now "see them." Who could ignore a visit like that? Richard had to learn more about what had just happened, so he began taking classes and researching the ability to communicate with those who have passed into spirit. Richard is now an ordained Spiritualist minister, Certified Medium, Commissioned Spiritualist Healer. Aside from being a member of the Lily Dale Assembly, he served on the Board of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) for six years, and he is currently the Vice President of the International Spiritualist Federation and a Director and Teacher with the Inner Spiritual Center in Wayne, New Jersey. Richard has taught classes and demonstrated mediumship in England, Holland, Scotland, Austria, Switzerland and Germany as well as served a number of Spiritualist churches and centers throughout the United States. It gives him great pleasure to be of service and to provide information to his clients that help them to come to and understanding that life and love continue after the change known as death. Website: sacredmessages.com Discussion of this interview in the Batgap Community Facebook Group Transcript of this interview Interview conducted February 4, 2018. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Conversations with Spiritually Awakening People 00:03:47 - Helping Others Find Understanding 00:07:09 - A Family Secret Revealed 00:10:25 - A Visit from the Spirit Realm 00:13:37 - The Awakening of Psychic Abilities 00:16:33 - Communication with the Other Side 00:20:27 - Healing and Reconciliation in Relationships 00:23:15 - Our True Nature and Evolution of Being 00:26:51 - Exploring Reincarnation 00:29:41 - A Funeral Director's Experience 00:32:31 - Emotional Connections at Funerals 00:35:49 - Communicating with Departed Loved Ones 00:38:46 - The Higher Rate of Vibration in the Spiritual Realm 00:42:03 - Reasons for the absence of communication from deceased loved ones 00:45:09 - Reincarnation and the Soul 00:48:35 - Gaining a Wider Perspective in the Spiritual Realm 00:51:47 - Souls hanging around the cemetery 00:55:27 - Relating to automatic functions and serving a useful purpose 00:58:37 - Children's Sensitivity to the Spiritual Realm 01:01:56 - Awakening Children's Abilities 01:05:15 - Everyone's Ability to Connect with Spirit 01:08:50 - Communicating with Departed Loved Ones 01:12:08 - Dying experiences based on belief and circumstance 01:15:32 - Conscious Dying and the Departure from Life 01:18:57 - Meeting the Beatles 01:22:07.000 - Personal Work and Mediumistic Growth 01:25:05 - Channeling and Spiritual Teachers 01:28:48 - Physical Mediumship Phenomena 01:32:14 - Communication from the Spiritual Realm 01:35:10 - Psychic Readings and Testimonials 01:37:53 - Interruption and Technical Difficulties

When I was 11 years old our school took a bus trip to the local library. While most of the children were off exploring the mysteries of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, for some reason I found myself in the row of books called Philosophy and Religion. I recall pulling a hardbound book off the shelf and directly opening it to an old black and white photograph of the Portola Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. At that moment, it was as if all my breath was sucked out of me and my mind went totally quiet. Somewhere in the depth of my being, I knew I was looking at a very familiar place, one that I may once have called home. I stood there for a very long time just staring at that photograph. That book changed my life. At the time, I took the descriptions of a world rarely seen to be real mysticism. With great determination and passion, I began reading everything I could get my hands on about Tibet, its culture, and spiritual teachings. Thus, began a lifelong pursuit for of spiritual insight and knowledge mystical experience. In my youthful naivety, I also began what I deduced as a meditation practice from stories in the book. This practice was quite complex and involved sitting quietly in the lotus posture with my spine perfectly straight while emptying my mind of everything. Then, with eyes closed, the idea was to develop a specific color spot in my field of vision at, what one might imagine to be, an arm’s length away, and then start spinning it into other colors, all while keeping all thoughts at bay. As you might imagine it was a difficult exercise, however, for short periods of time, I began to experience gaps in my thought pattern. Then it happened. After about four years of practicing my meditation, one day I was sitting quietly and deep into it, when the bottom dropped out. No mind, no thought—just a great expanse. When the experience ended, I felt the most amazing deep sense of happiness bliss. This bliss we might describe as “the peace which passeth understanding”. The problem was my meditation practice was extremely difficult and required great effort and time to achieve the effortless state. I began to search for something easier. My best friend had gone off college and suggested that I leave my job with the Forest Service and continue my education. When I arrived on campus to find Maharishi Mahesh Yogi teaching a course about meditation and training young men and woman like me how to teach Transcendental Meditation, a mantra-based meditation practice. I went to ask Maharishi if he would personally teach me. Maharishi was rarely on time anywhere and I waited outside his door a long time for him to emerge. When he finally came out the door there were a number of people waiting like me, some to ask a question, some pay their respects. With about a dozen people ahead of me in the line I waited for my turn, but then I had the thought that I shouldn’t take his time, that I should instead dedicate myself to freeing his time so he could bring this knowledge of meditation and its philosophy to as many as possible, that I should work to serve him selflessly without regard to my own needs and desires. In that moment, I took the Bodhisattva vow and walked away to learn Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation from one of his teachers. I knew I had found what I was looking for in my first meditation. Upon learning I experienced quite easily that state of mindlessness I had been struggling so hard for. I knew for certain that TM worked for me when I was walking down the street feeling the perfect bliss within yet realizing that nothing what so ever had happened in my life save for meditation to make it so. After many years of practice, I had a classical awakening into higher consciousness. Now living in non-duality or as Maharishi described it "living 200%, the fullness of the absolute and the relative lived completely and utterly together". Website: michael-lovelightlaughter.org Discussion of this interview in the Batgap Community Facebook Group Transcript of this interview Interview recorded January 27, 2018. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:05:25 - Discovering Meditation as a Child 00:10:08 - A Chance Encounter with Franklin Merrill Wolfe in the Sierras 00:15:14 - A Powerful Experience in the Mountains 00:20:14 - Taking the Bodhisattva Vow 00:25:49 - Different Experiences of Awakening 00:30:39 - Surrendering and Shift in Perception 00:35:00 - The Awakening and Infinite Growth 00:38:50 - Understanding the Bhagavad Gita and Knowledge 00:42:34 - The Compatibility of Absolute and Relative Realities 00:46:01 - Cultural Conditioning and Beliefs 00:49:44 - Shared Understanding of Religious Figures 00:53:17 - Thoughts and Awareness 00:56:57 - The Mechanism of Witnessing 01:00:39 - Perception of Subtle Phenomena 01:04:22 - The Unusual Marriage Story 01:07:48 - Unexpected Intuitions 01:11:22 - The Power of Higher State of Consciousness 01:14:53 - Healing Stories 01:18:17 - The Journey to Amma's Ashram 01:22:14 - The Precise Vedic Ceremony, The Mysterious Pundit, and a Spitting Image 01:26:22 - Personal EKG Machine and Atrial Fibrillation 01:30:15 - Overwhelming Experience with Arjuna 01:34:12 - Beings of Light and Future Possibilities 01:38:19 - The Immortality of the Soul 01:42:20 - Exploring the Concept of a Free Agent 01:46:04 - Buddha's Enlightenment and Spiritual Consulting 01:49:44 - Awakening and Holding up the Stick 01:53:25 - The Power of the Collective Consciousness 01:57:15 - The Holiness of Sacred Places 02:00:36 - Farewell

Kavitha Chinnaiyan, MD, is a cardiologist, meditation teacher and tantrika. She became drawn to the Direct Path through the teachings of Greg Goode and Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon, and has studied yoga, Sri Vidya Sadhana, Vedanta and Tantra through the teachings of Chinmaya Mission, Sri Premananda, Sally Kempton, Paul Muller-Ortega and Sri Chaitanyananda Natha Saraswati. She blends her expertise in cardiology with her knowledge of Ayurveda, yoga, Vedanta, Tantra, and the Direct Path in her approach to healing, enabling patients to discover bliss amid chronic illness. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in Rochester, MI. She is the author of Shakti Rising: Embracing Shadow and Light on the Goddess Path to Wholeness (2017) and The Heart of Wellness: Bridging Western and Eastern Medicine to Transform Your Relationship with Habits, Lifestyle, and Health (2018). Website: kavithamd.com Discussion of this interview in the Batgap Community Facebook Group Transcript of this interview Interview recorded January 20, 2018 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:04:34 - The Direct Path vs Progressive Path 00:08:27 - The Direct Path and Neo-Vedanta 00:12:05 - Witnessing in Tantra 00:16:25 - Discovering the Unobservable through Spiritual Path 00:21:18 - Redefining Gender Roles and the Divine Feminine 00:26:15 - The Mahavidyas: Goddesses of Darkness and Light 00:30:14 - Reconciling Ahimsa with the Reality of the Universe 00:33:55 - The Intelligent Universe and the Mahavidyas 00:38:26 - Shiva and Shakti: The Creative Power 00:42:53 - The Misunderstanding of Kali 00:47:42 - The Black Goddess Kali and the I-Self 00:51:36 - Refinement of the Sense of Self in Tantra 00:55:19 - Tantric Philosophy and Rewiring the Body-Mind 00:58:52 - The Role of Nadis in Kundalini Awakening 01:02:50 - Differences between Vedanta and Tantra 01:07:14 - Sri Yantra and Sri Vidya 01:11:33 - The Power of Bija Mantras in Consciousness 01:15:00 - The Use of Aum Mantra 01:18:36 - Tara's Shadow and Light Aspects 01:22:54 - Chinnamasta: The Concealing and Revealing Power of the Divine 01:27:05 - Stories of Delusion and Awakening in Hinduism 01:31:38 - The Ashrama System and the Four Stages of Life 01:36:08 - Elements of the Path of the Mahavidyas 01:39:20 - The Ethics of Tantra 01:43:54 - The Path of Tantra and Work in Progress 01:48:26 - Cultivating Discernment and Discrimination 01:52:39 - The Divine Feminine and the Shadow Side 01:57:37 - Surrendering in Softness and Sweetness 02:01:11 - Exploring Wellness through Ayurveda and Yoga 02:04:10 - Music Introduction