Gangaji Podcasts

What does your life stand for? What do you really want? If the answer is freedom then what does that look like? Does the answer you come up with match your life, how you live your life? Is there something you're holding onto that keeps you from truly realizing what it means to be free? These are potent questions. And what happens in this particular exchange with Gangaji is different because it is the beginning and end of all conversations.

With rare exceptions, human beings are innately good. Being in alignment with that goodness feels spacious. We can be greedy, cranky, critical, jealous, but being good? Now that's seems like an infinitely better way to go. The problem is that being good can be a trap unto itself. Does our capacity for a deeper awaking rely on our willingness to cultivate this goodness within us? Or are we inherently good, without doing a thing?

Control might ultimately be an attempt to fend off our deepest fears. It can show up in all sorts of ways in our everyday lives. It can interfere with relationships. It can also be exhausting. Some people are self-described "control freaks". For others, control can show up in more subtle ways. Fessing up to our control issues is a pretty tender thing, but when the source of it is finally met, the possibilities are endless.

When trauma happens, it can change the trajectory of a life. It can color how we see the world around us. We can retreat. We can act out. And we can certainly spend our lives running from it, managing it or even trying to heal it. How do we come to terms with even the deepest of wounds without suffering from the identification as someone who has been hurt or wronged in some way? This episode takes a surprising turn and is one of the most revealing conversations so far.

Gangaji has always said that inquiry isn't theoretical, it's about real life. This episode is a perfect example of that. Gangaji experienced a serious injury recently. She's going to give us an update, but we're also going to take this as an opportunity to continue our conversation on the body. Difficult things happen to people, no matter their level their awareness, so how does that play out with someone like Gangaji? How do we face our fear of losing when unexpected things happen in life? Gangaji addresses all of the above, and more, on this new episode of Gangaji Radio.

In this podcast, we take a look what drives our desire for purpose and consider, what is our deepest purpose. In two powerful exchanges, Gangaji addresses how the deep fear of being nobody, and the search to be a somebody, becomes its own burden.  

"Our magical thinking cannot change the universe.It's really all about trying to change something in ourselves that is waiting to be faced." In this month's episode of Gangaji's new podcast, Being Yourself, Gangaji challenges our deeply held concepts about hope and hopelessness. Sharing a very personal story she illuminates how hope can become an obstacle in our lives. What if giving up hope could show you a deeper freedom? Would you be willing to let it go?         

Being Yourself: Self-Inquiry with Gangaji is the latest addition to Gangaji Podcasts. In this new show, host Barbara Denempont, dives into the treasure trove of Gangaji's recordings to bring you the most relevant, brilliant and meaningful clips from the past 25 years. In this first episode Gangaji explores the very human experience of being separate from God, truth, love, each other and from ourselves.

Stevie Leppard had everything anyone could want on the outside, lots of money, fancy cars, a successful career, but on the inside his own self-hatred felt intolerable.  Suicide seemed like the only way out.  It was grace that would eventually save him, but it was a fierce grace.   How Stevie would go on to meet Gangaji is just part of his amazing story. 

It was the middle of the night. Harriet Watson was driving down a dark, snow covered road alone, barely able to see what was in front of her. Suddenly, she was startled by a loud thud. In the moments that followed, her life would change forever. From the frustration of a life a rigid rules and beliefs to the experience of profound freedom, this story is a testament to the trustworthiness of life.

When you see Kim Rosen on stage performing poetry, she exudes a distinct sense of certainty. But the truth is that for a period of her life she suffered from a particular type of fear that was profoundly painful. Her prayer to be released from it's confines would be answered two different times. And both times that grace came in the form of a poem. In the end, Kim's story wasn't about making her fear go away. It was about meeting it and doing life anyway, in a most extraordinary way.

The next episode of Epiphany features Kim Rosen.  Her story will make you believe in the power of courage.  Coming up on September 20th.

"We have overlooked what was actually innocent and was called stupid. We lost our stupidity and in that we lost our heart. Yet, we are haunted by the fear that we are still actually stupid." We fear being stupid or foolish and try to be brilliant and clever. It is an aspect of our human drive for survival. In this episode of Being Yourself, Gangaji speaks to the unnecessary suffering that can be created through the mind's power to distinguish, delineate, and classify with ever greater subtlety. Without making that power wrong or bad, what if for just one moment, we give up that power and embrace our "stupidity?" What might be discovered?

 "You cannot learn the Self, you cannot learn Consciousness, you cannot learn Love, you cannot learn Trust, but you can learn how you deny that." After an essential experience of self-realization, we can re-identify with the definitions and concepts we hold about ourselves in our mind. How do we resolve the paradox of recognizing oneself as pure consciousness and being human, living an ordinary life? In this lively exchange, Gangaji speaks about the ways we fall back into patterns of egoic identification.    Learn more about Gangaji  Gangaji's Event and Program Schedule About Finding Home and Gangaji's Media Library  

"What deepens is the mind's surrender because the mind's whole job has been to never surrender." Even in the midst of uncertain times, we can recognize that what is always at peace is, in truth, who we are. How is it possible for us to retreat for just a moment from our mental strategies rooted in survival to recognize what we are overlooking—the very spaciousness of being. Can you let go of what you're trying to get? Can you meet what you're trying to get rid of?     Learn more about Gangaji, her schedule of events, and monthly online program and media library.  This podcast is funded entirely by donations. You can support this podcast with your contribution here. 

"The way you can discover directly that your story is an illusion is to try it on as if it were real. The magic trick is exposed in that moment."   Rather than address the question "why do we suffer," Gangaji speaks to "how" we suffer, and how we perpetuate that suffering in our lives and in the world. In this exchange, we see a simple inquiry can lift our mental veils and offer the immediate opportunity to set aside any story of suffering we may cling to unnecessarily.   Learn more about Gangaji's monthly online meetings, forum, and media library. Access all the resources available on Gangaji's website at gangaji.org

"Just as you are right now, present yourself fully, nakedly with all of your imperfections and no hope of cleaning them up. Then see what is, see what welcomes you just as you are." As human beings, we have a natural egoic desire to improve ourselves. It is part of our survival mechanism, but when that desire turns into an endless search for perfection, we overlook what is already whole.  What if for one moment you consciously choose to stop all efforts of self-improvement and simply meet yourself just as you are? What fear arises to be met?  In this recording Gangaji reads a letter that dives into this essential invitation to stop. It is an opportunity to see through the lie that "something is missing" and recognize the true depths of who you truly, already are. Learn more about Finding Home, Gangaji's new six-part audio documentary about her life story, her schedule of online and in-person events, and as well as how you can support this podcast with your donation.    gangaji.org

  "I would never suggest that you get rid of the longing. Meet the longing, fall into the longing, and you are laughing, laughing, laughing."   Perhaps you have had an experience of longing that won't go away no matter how you try to satisfy it or get rid of it. That very desire may actually be pointing to a deeper desire—a longing for truth, for freedom, for resolution. In this episode of Being Yourself, Gangaji shares how we can meet the longing directly and in that recognize the longing is actually you calling yourself home.    Learn more about Finding Home, Gangaji's new six-part audio documentary about her life story, her schedule of online and in-person events, and as well as how you can support this podcast with your donation.    gangaji.org  

"I don't have confidence in my personality, but I do have absolute, total confidence in the Truth of who I am. And that is available for you because it is the same I Am." Quieting or shutting down the voice of self-hatred running in our minds often brings us to the spiritual search, and in that, it can be an ally. We may fear thoughts or feelings of self-hatred, but if we don't want that merciless voice to rule our lives, we must question it, challenge it, and ultimately meet it directly. In this episode, Gangaji shares her own meeting with self-hatred and her great discovery.  Just in this episode: Gangaji joins host Barbara Denempont to introduce this potent monologue from the archives. She also announces a new six-part audio documentary, Finding Home, that traces her journey to realizing true freedom. It will be released in the With Gangaji Media Library on May 5.  Learn more about Gangaji, her schedule, and programs including Finding Home at gangaji.org. 

"True inquiry is examining all of those places where you have assigned your identity. One of the spiritual identities is the one who is enlightened now, finally." For millennia, human beings from all walks of life have sought after what has been referred to as "enlightenment." In this potent monologue, Gangaji offers a fresh inquiry into the nature of enlightenment, the trap we fall into when we seek it, and the possibility of recognizing what is more essential than any state of enlightenment and unenlightenment. Learn more about Gangaji, her schedule of events, and program at gangaji.org