by Gnyana Sangha | Aug 25, 2020 | Attachment, Awareness, Awareness, Bondage, buddha, Buddha, Concepts, Craving, Desire, Equanimous, Freedom, Ignorance, Just Be, Knowledge, Let go, Meditation, Mind, Misery, No-Mind, Pleasure/Pain, Present Moment, Sakshi Bhav/Witness, Samadhi, Samsara, Satipathana, Seeking, Sensations, Silence, Suffering, Temporary, Thoughts, Wisdom
What is taught in a Buddha retreat? Question: Please would you explain what is taught in the Buddha retreats? I have statues of Buddha at home but am totally unaware of his teachings. Please enlighten me about what is Vipassana, Samatha, Jhanas, etc. Answer: Here is a...
by Gnyana Sangha | Aug 20, 2020 | Awareness, Body, Bondage, Causation, Craving, Death, Fear, Fear, Freedom, General Spiritual, I, Maya, Purushartha, Raaga/Dvesha, Raaga/Dvesha, Reaction, Relationship, Samsara, Seeking, Seeking, Self-Effort, Self-Effort, Senses, Vedic
Birthday Message! Question: JGD didi, many happy returns of the day. Please could you give us a message on your birthday about how to celebrate a birthday. Answer: Life is a school. We all are here to learn some lessons. There are several classrooms:...
by Gnyana Sangha | Jul 21, 2020 | Advaita, Bondage, Enlightenment, Fear, Fear, Freedom, Guru, Guru/Disciple, Independent Spirituality, Liberation, Paths, Ramana Maharshi, Suffering
Fear being used as a weapon on the spiritual path Question: Fear is being used to keep me bound to my current spiritual teacher. I keep getting emotionally manipulated by others in this community with the fearful stories of losing spiritual grace if I leave. But my...
by Gnyana Sangha | Jul 4, 2020 | Bhakti, Bondage, Commitment, Courage, Devotion, Dispassion, Doership, Ego, Faith, Freedom, Guru/Disciple, I, Independent Spirituality, Liberation, Mind, Moksha, Non-Doership, Prayer, Raaga/Dvesha, Samadhi, Self- Realization, Self-Effort, Self-Effort, Surrender, Surrender, Vairagya, Wisdom
Mind retaliates to your answer on craving for Guru! Question:Ektaji, My bhakti kicked in and did a little revolt against the answer – https://ektabathija.wordpress.com/2016/07/04/craving-for-guru/Divine craving (for the physical guru or the tattva) is in my faith a...
by Gnyana Sangha | Apr 19, 2020 | Ashtavakra Gita, Bhakti, Bondage, Devotion, Divine, Duality, Enlightenment, Faith, Form, Formless, Gnyana, Gnyani, God, Guru, Guru, I, Ignorance, Karma, Knowledge, Krishna, Liberation, Love, Meditation, Self, Soul, Truth, Vedic, You
I and You Question: With every episode, this knowledge is going in circles. Everything feeds off of the other. Ego dissolves in Love, now Ashtavakra says move from love to knowledge and then drop knowledge to move to love in which you dissolve. The example, that...
by Gnyana Sangha | Mar 20, 2020 | Awareness, Bondage, Buddha, Freedom, Relationship, Self- Realization
Drop holding onto external supports in life! Question: If everything is changing then how do I live? What am I supposed to hold onto to go through this life? Answer: Beautiful question dear! Very few people even realize that they are holding on to something or...
by Gnyana Sangha | Mar 19, 2020 | Birth, Bondage, Commitment, Death, Dhyana, Dispassion, General Spiritual, Gnyani, Guru, Life, Maaya, Meditation, Purushartha, Self-Effort, Truth
Mourn Birth & Celebrate Death! Question: Didi, we usually cry when a close one dies. There is a high possibility that he/she has finished his/her karma bag and will not take birth again. Instead of crying we should be happy for them. We cry for our own selfish...
by Gnyana Sangha | Mar 18, 2020 | Awareness, Bondage, Boss/Colleague, Death, Emotions, Existence, Fear, Fear, Form, Illusion, Maaya, Physical, Prakriti, Relationship, Samsara, Self, Self- Realization, Soul, Temporary, Vedic, Viveka, Wisdom
Death Question: Dearest Ektaji, My first boss and mentor who became a very good friend just died this morning. I have known him since 1985. Part of me feels ignorant/lost and part of me feels thirsty. I feel Lost because I do not have good knowledge about death and...
by Gnyana Sangha | Feb 25, 2020 | Aagami, Ashtavakra Gita, Desire, Freedom, Happiness, Misery, Pleasure/Pain, Present Moment, Vedic
How to handle joy? Question: Ektaji, at present, I am on the verge of going through a big change in life. Whatever I have known till now is suddenly being metamorphosed into something larger. All three aspects of people, situation and things are in transition. From a...
by Gnyana Sangha | Dec 14, 2019 | Bondage, Dispassion, Freedom, General Spiritual, Guru, Knowledge, Meditation, Meditation, Mind, No-Mind, Samadhi, Samsara, Scriptures, Self- Realization, Self-Effort, Silence, Truth, Vairagya, Wisdom
Longer retreats for advanced meditators! Question: Please would you provide some insight into the need for longer retreats and how they help a spiritual seeker? Answer: In the longer retreats, a sincere spiritual seeker receives individual meditation instructions....
by Gnyana Sangha | Mar 1, 2019 | Aagami, Awareness, Bondage, Emotions, Guilt, Impressions, Karma, Memory, Mind, Misery, Raaga/Dvesha, Reaction, Thoughts, Types of Karma, Vedic
Guilt is a safety valve! Question:What is guilt? Why is our conscience so strong (in some cases), for example, if one lies, but later on he feels guilt. He knows he lied for the best, otherwise it would cause hurt to the other’s mind.Answer:Guilt is nothing...
by Gnyana Sangha | Mar 1, 2019 | Awareness, Devas, Divine, Doership, Ego, Energy, Existence, Freedom, I, Intellect, Karma, Let go, Mind, No-Mind, Prayer, Present Moment, Sakshi Bhav/Witness, Spontaneous, Suffering, Surrender, Vedic, Wisdom
Surrender Question:I am trying to understand why we have to surrender our impulses/attachments to the Devas. We talked about asking forgiveness of the Devas and asking them to guide us, free us and help us so that we don’t get tripped by the obstacles they throw...
by Gnyana Sangha | Feb 28, 2019 | Attachment, Bondage, Commitment, Consciousness, Courage, Craving, Desire, Doership, Ego, Enlightenment, Feverishness, Freedom, Illusion, Independent Spirituality, Liberation, Life, Maya, Moksha, Non-Doership, Problem/Struggle/Calamity, Purushartha, Raaga/Dvesha, Samsara, Self, Self- Realization, Self-Effort, Soul, Tapas, Temporary, Truth, Vedic, Viveka, Wisdom
The life of ‘maximum relief’ Question: My friend somewhere read that the life before liberation is the toughest, is there any truth to this? Answer: I don’t think that the last life before liberation is the toughest. It is just that in that life, you will...
by Gnyana Sangha | Feb 28, 2019 | Aagami, Causation, Destiny, Drama, Freedom, Freewill, Karma, Karmaphalam, Life, Maaya, Maya, Niyati, Prarabdha, Problem/Struggle/Calamity, Raaga/Dvesha, Samsara, Sanchita, Types of Karma, Vedic
Karma and Suffering Question:If everything is decided by Karma flow then what possibly could be an explanation of 3 years or even 3 months old girls getting physically abused? Is the one who is getting sexually abused experiencing the result of Sanchita karma? If yes...
by Gnyana Sangha | Feb 28, 2019 | Aagami, Anger, Ashtavakra Gita, Bondage, Doership, Emotions, Fear, Flow with Life, Freewill, Guilt, Jealousy, Karma, Karmaphalam, Knowledge, Let go, Life, Love/Hate, Mind, Niyati, Prarabdha, Raaga/Dvesha, Sakshi Bhav/Witness, Sanchita, Scriptures, Types of Karma, Vedic
Life is a flow of events on account of Karma Question:If life is a flow of events, where everything that is happening has to and we have nothing to do with it, then how does the karma theory play in with the above statement, where we alone are responsible for our...
by Gnyana Sangha | Feb 28, 2019 | Aagami, Body, Bondage, Destiny, Doership, Enlightenment, Freewill, Guru, I, Karma, Karmaphalam, Maaya, Mind, Niyati, Purushartha, Raaga/Dvesha, Samsara, Sankalpa/Intention, Siddha, Soul, Temporary, Time-past/present/Future, Vedic
If everything is a play of Destiny, then what is Freewill? Question:I am still not clear on how Destiny and Freewill play a part in our lives. When do we have a freewill when it is all our destiny or a result of our past karma. If I am not the Doer, where is free will...
by Gnyana Sangha | Feb 27, 2019 | Aagami, Bondage, Karma, Maya, Mind, Raaga/Dvesha, Self-Effort, Self-Effort, Vedic
Be a Lotus! Question: “The soul sticks on to the body until the karma is exhausted.” This means that you will keep getting a body by the laws of Niyati as long as you have karma. What happens to the soul after it is exhausted with all the Karmas–no more Karmas left,...
by Gnyana Sangha | Feb 16, 2019 | Awareness, Awareness, Bondage, Food, Freedom, Games/Play/Fun, General Spiritual, Knowledge, Love/Hate, Maya, Purushartha, Raaga/Dvesha, Raaga/Dvesha, Sakshi Bhav/Witness, Samsara, Senses, Sex/Passion/Celibacy
From scenery to seer! Question:Ektaji, what is the scenery and what does it mean ‘not to get lost’ in the scenery? Who is the seer?Answer:Scenery: Everything around you is the scenery. The people, situations and things around you are all scenerySeer: You are the seer....
by Gnyana Sangha | Feb 7, 2019 | Aagami, Attraction, Aversion, Awareness, Awareness, Body, Causation, Commitment, Compassion, Craving, Destiny, Elements, Equanimous, Freedom, General Spiritual, Happiness, I, Impressions, Jealousy, Karma, Karmaphalam, Knowledge, Life, Love/Hate, Patanjali Yogs Sutra, Pleasure/Pain, Prarabdha, Purushartha, Purushartha, Raaga/Dvesha, Raaga/Dvesha, Relationship, Sakshi Bhav/Witness, Samsara, Sanchita, Self-Effort, Self-Effort, Tapas
Dealing with Possessiveness Question:What if it is not me who is possessive, but someone else is possessive of me , rather obsessive almost to the sick levels of possessing me, what is that I should or should not do.Answer:Recognize that it is just a play of the...
by Gnyana Sangha | Feb 7, 2019 | Choice, Choicelessness, Flow with Life, Freedom, Independent Spirituality, Mind, Viveka
Choices – what is right and wrong? Question:Is applying viveka, a kind of seeking? Because choosing/deciding right from wrong is so relative to this mind?Answer:Actually Viveka is deeper than just plain discrimination between right and wrong. Viveka is the...
by Gnyana Sangha | Jan 17, 2019 | Ashtavakra Gita, Bondage, Drama, Feverishness, Flow with Life, Just Be, Karma, Maaya, Maya, Niyati, Seeking, Vedic, Wonder
When will I progress spiritually? Question: I have been attending all sessions of Ashtavakra, at times I feel I have all the “theoretical” knowledge but wonder why it is not sinking in deeper! Lately, my mind is just jumping from one thing to another…I have not even...
