Episode Transcript
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Hello world family and welcome to Ripples of Humanity. I'm Rachel Thompson and through
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this podcast I am sharing interesting stories along my travels of people, projects and initiatives
I discover that are contributing to positive ripples throughout humanity. In this episode
again I am taking you back to the South of India to Karnashanti Varanam, called Karnar
for short, which is the world headquarters of the Heartfulness Institute. During my stay
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at Karnar it coincided with the Youth Rising with Kindness conference. So for three days
there were around 5,000 youth between the age of 18 to 35 at Karnar. So it was pretty
cool to be considered a youth given that I'm 35. The conference was filled with a lot of
workshops, wellbeing activities, concerts, social activities, collective meditation sessions
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and on the final night I had a really wholesome kindness carnival. In this episode I'll be
sharing two conversations. Firstly with Akshay, a 20 year old man who was born in India but
has since lived in many countries around the world. He was here visiting his family who
live at Karnar and he'll be sharing his experiences participating in the conference and also what
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it's like growing up in a family involved in the heartfulness community. And secondly
I'll share a conversation with my good friend Anant. He was volunteering at the conference
so we'll chat about his experience volunteering and he also shares how the heartfulness practice
and the community has impacted his life. Also feel free to check out previous episodes 6
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and 7 if you want to hear more about heartfulness meditation and Karnar Shantivanam where I
speak to Dr Elizabeth Denley and Dr Veronique Nicolay. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for joining
me Akshay. I'm really interested to talk to you today about the Rising with Kindness conference
for the last three days that's been going on here at Karnar Shantivanam. Just wanted
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to ask you firstly what brought you here to the conference? So my grandparents live inside
the ashram here and I've been quite, you know, I've been for one of these conferences in
the past but I didn't really attend it fully. I was just here for about a day and then I
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left back to Hong Kong I think. So I just wanted to experience it once and to be honest
I'm studying for something right now and I just wanted to get away from that for a bit
because I was quite burnt out because I've been studying for the last 20 years of my
life so I just wanted three days off. I was just burnt out to the point where I couldn't
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study properly even for like two hours or even an hour straight. So you know I just
wanted to get some knowledge, maybe improve my concentration, get a few tips on how I
could maybe better improve my self-management and everything because there are quite a few
talks on all aspects of life and yeah it was quite useful. Cool. So the way the conference
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was set up it had different workshops and breakout sessions that you could go to. What
sessions did you attend? So I attended two sessions. On the last day I just ended up
helping them set up things because they needed extra hands to help out so since I'm from
here I just said I'll help out. But the first session I did was on self-management and in
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small steps and that's something I definitely needed because I just couldn't manage myself
over the last like two weeks. I've just been procrastinating a lot to be honest and I've
just been putting everything off, just been going to gym. Before gym I'll be like yeah
I'll study after the gym. After I go to gym I'll come back home and be like yeah I'm tired
I don't want to study and then I'll just hang out with my friends. But yeah this was a useful
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class for me. It just gave me, it put the, like the title suggested, put it into very
small steps which were quite easy to follow and yeah. I've realised one of the main things
which really let's say distracts me nowadays is the mobile phone and very simply they just
put it, switch the phone off and just throw it into another room and study in another
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room. That way you can't, you know, it's like a barrier to leave the room and get the phone.
Otherwise you just, if it's in the room you just take, pick it up and start using it.
So yeah that was one of the small tips and that was the first class I did. The second
one I did was...
Thank you, just to go back on that, have you been implementing that and you've noticed
a shift?
Today was the first day I implemented it and to be honest I did find it quite easy to study
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again today. The main thing was, you know, I'm someone who's quite hyperactive I would
say and there's a lot of reading involved in what I'm trying to study for.
What are you studying?
Chartered financial analyst. It's just the first level. But in terms of implementing,
I just started today and what I did before starting was I took a few bullet point notes
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on my phone during these sessions. I just wrote it down on the front of my notebook
so that every time I start studying those are the things I read. And it was quiet, you
know, it definitely helped compartmentalise how I'm going to try and go about it.
And then what was the other session you did?
The other session I did was about being a heartful leader. So in heartfulness there
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are quite a few different things that just help you improve in terms of being a human
in general. And one of them is being a heartful communicator. I can't tell you in detail about
this unfortunately but I read a few things about it and my grandparents keep telling
me about it. And when I was younger I realised that, you know, I used to talk a lot of rubbish.
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I still do sometimes but not as much as I did before. And one of the main things is,
you know, when you kind of obviously you'll always have your subconscious mind and you
will always analyse what you're doing. It's just natural, isn't it? And one of the things
I realised is, you know, if you just pause when, you know, you just maybe you're overstimulated
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or something and you think about what you're talking about or whatever, it's quite easy
to realise what you can do improvement in terms of those things. That's one of the things
which my grandma told me quite a while back.
In the seminar with the heartful leadership, was there anything that, because if you're
saying you want to be a leader, how do you feel that you could be a heartful leader in
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the future?
I feel like the main difference is just simply caring about everyone and not just about yourself
and the company or whatever. For example, there's this really famous philanthropist
now but he's really famous around India. His name is Ratan Tata and he is someone who's
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donated like I'm pretty, I can't tell you the exact number so don't, but I'm pretty
sure he's donated like about 80 or 90% of his wealth to just good causes around India.
And he's someone I would say is who's quite a good leader because end of the day, even,
you know, he's, he made sure that every single one of his employees was taken care of no
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matter what and he didn't really only care about himself, he cared about growing as a
community and that's what I feel like a leader shouldn't only, you know, care about himself.
End of the day, a leader should try and think what's best for his company as well, but I
feel like a leader can also in terms of, I feel like a leader is someone who breaks barriers,
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right? And I feel like breaking barriers can lead to improvement in society as a whole
and I feel like that's what I took away from the session in general to be honest.
And what was the part about this conference that you enjoyed the most? There's like, there
was thousands, there was about 4,000 people from all over India gathered. What did you
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enjoy the most about it all?
So I'm someone who's not really grown up in India. I've grown up in multiple other countries
but I come to India like once a year and I'm someone who really is looking forward to one
day like exploring around India like you are doing and that for that now I have friends
basically in every corner of India from this conference. So like I've got friends in the
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north, I think one day you should go as well, in the northeast of India. It's known to be,
it's called the seven sisters because there's seven states there which are all like, you
know, it's basically just wilderness and like rainforests, it's like really beautiful. And
I've made like five, six friends from Assam which is quite cool because there's like a
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tiger reserve there and I'm someone who really likes animals so I can't wait to go there
one day. And I've made a few friends in Hyderabad itself which is where we are and it's quite
beautiful to you know, know more people. I'm someone who's quite extroverted. So I just
spoke to so many people.
So yeah, that was my probably my favourite thing.
Yeah, the connection with other people.
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Yeah, it's just nice hearing stories about how, what other people have done in the last
how many years.
Yeah, yeah, that's really nice. So at this kindness conference, there was a carnival,
a kindness carnival. Can you tell me what happened at the kind of kind, what happens
at a kindness carnival?
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To be honest, the first time I experienced it as well and it was quite fun but I mean,
no buts, it was quite fun. Do you remember the World Cafe?
Yeah, yeah, I saw that.
Yeah, I went for that where we talked, where we spoke about world problems and we tried
to just note down ideas on how we can maybe change it or improve it.
I saw that. So there was like different tables set up with like tea and snacks and whatever
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and you could you could go and sit at the table with different people.
Yeah, it was quite random actually. They just made you go to a different table and you got
to interact with new people again.
Yeah, okay. And it had some topics on the table that you could then talk about world
problems.
Exactly.
I really enjoyed the World Cafe but other than that, there was an open mic. It was quite
fun. It's just nice to hear what people had to say.
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And yeah,
I had some, I had some people coming up to me giving me kindness cards. So they were
like kindness cards that the people had written, they were at a station and they'd written
really nice quotes and messages and they were giving it to me. Said like, this is what I
felt you like was right for you and then you need to pass it on to someone else at the
carnival. So that was really sweet.
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That's nice. Yeah, whoever plans these events, they put a lot of thought into it because
it's, you know, it's quite important because to be honest, many of the people who came
for the event have never left their states in India. So I can imagine how limited their
view of whatever the world is must be because end of the day, the reason why I feel like
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I'm quite, you know, open minded and quite friendly and like I talk to everyone is because
I've experienced so many cultures now.
How old are you?
I'm 20.
20. Yeah.
And I've lived in like six, seven countries and been to maybe like 15 as well. So I really
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enjoyed, you know, it's easy for me to speak to everyone, but many of them were like really
scared as well because they've never left their states. And this is the first time,
it's like a vacation for them almost because they've never left their state. I just, you
know, I was quite grateful that, you know, I've lived the life that I've lived so far
to be honest.
So it gave you some reflection time.
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Yeah, definitely. And many of them were just really happy to just speak to someone who's
like lived in like even two, three countries outside India. And I, you know, definitely.
Yeah, I found that too. A lot of people were coming up to me and saying that I was the
first foreigner they'd ever met and just being so interested in what is life like outside
of India. So yeah, it was very interesting.
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That's why I really like, I'm kind of happy the event happened because there are a lot
of people who, you know, they, like I said, they've never experienced it and they don't
even know what, they don't even know what life is like outside their place. And so this
would have been an experience for them. And also many of them don't even, you know, they
don't even think about leaving their place either because that's how they've been brought
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up. But since I went to an international school and all like, and I've met people from all
these different countries, I've like really wanted to just go everywhere now because I
want to experience everything. And yeah, that's why I know Geelong as well. I know that's
why I know many places in Australia. So yeah, it's quite interesting.
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And the event is the event itself was pretty much free. So most people who were here were
sponsored to come here and the event was, had a lot of sponsors and support from the
government and everything to be able to run. So it was good to be able to give people that
opportunity who'd never be able to get the opportunity to come here.
And so talking about here at Karnashanti Vanam, this is the world's largest meditation centre
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and it's the method of meditation is called Heartfulness Meditation. So could you just
share a little bit about your experience with Heartfulness Meditation or just being, you
mentioned that your grandparents and your parents are practitioners of Heartfulness
Meditation. So what's it been like growing up in that environment?
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To be honest, it's been quite good. Not good. Good would be an understatement. I've really
enjoyed it. Without this, I feel like there would be many moments in life till now where
I would have been like quite, you know, I don't think I would have been in a great mental
state to be honest, because any day life goes up and down, up and down all the time. And
this just helps. Like I started meditating when I was 15. And when I was 15, obviously
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I was still not fully developed emotionally and mentally probably as well. And at that
age, I really did not want to start meditating to be honest. But since my grandparents and
parents have been, I just started anyways, but I wasn't really that interested. And slowly
over the last two years, I've really started enjoying it in terms of what it's been working
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out finally for me. And I can finally understand why my parents and grandparents have been
doing it for so long. And yeah, back to growing up with it, it's given me friends all over
the world in terms of wherever we go, we know like 10 heartfulness practitioners at least.
And it's just like a big family at the end of the day. And it's really nice. Growing
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up with this, I feel like I learned a lot of the values that are needed to be a good
human. I feel like the most important thing in life is just happiness. I literally think
nothing else matters. And obviously, you need to earn money at the end of the day to survive.
But genuinely, one of the things he used to say is, the only thing that matters at the
end is happiness. Because you're not going to remember all the money when you go and
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you're only going to remember all the memories because that's what...
And how do you get happiness? How do I get happiness? Mostly by just... I
get happiness by the things that most 20 year olds get happiness from. I enjoy just playing
sports. I enjoy watching movies. Now I enjoy interacting. To be honest, I really enjoy
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interacting with my cousins who are like 10 and 11 because I've kind of just realized
that I'm probably not going to be able to get to see them much more anymore because
they're going to get slowly older and going to have to study more. And I have to start
working now as well. And obviously, spending time with my grandparents because again, I
won't be able to come back to India as frequently as I have been. So I'm someone who's slowly
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becoming grateful for everything slowly, which is what the best thing is. So yeah, I'm just
enjoying happiness for me. For me, I get happiness from just interacting with people usually.
So I definitely... Quite simple, isn't it? Yeah, it's quite simple. I don't really need
much else to make me happy. It's just... And probably I need a bit of sun. I don't really
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like when it's gloomy. But not too much sun. We were just talking
about how it can get too hot down there. Yeah. I just studied three years in the UK. So over
there you don't really see the sun much at all. So I love the sun, but here the sun's
a bit too much. So what's next for you in your journey?
What's next? I'll be studying for this and then I'll go see my parents in Hong Kong.
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I've not seen them... I saw them recently, but one of the big Indian festivals I'm sure
you know is Diwali. Yeah. The Festival of Lights.
Lights, yeah. So I've not celebrated Diwali with my family in terms of my dad, mom and
sister for three years now. So I'll go celebrate with them in Hong Kong and then I'll write
my exam there. And then I'll go work in mostly Dubai for a year and then I'll go back to
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the UK and get a job there because my sister's going to go and study there in a year's time.
So that's the plan. Yeah. Cool.
Not much else. Anything else you wanted to share about either
heartfulness or the conference or anything? Any wise words from your 20 year old self?
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Meditation will... I feel like meditation just helps you... I feel like the highs aren't
that high anymore. When you meditate and the lows aren't that low, you have a... It's like...
You know how waves go up and down? It's just nice. It's just a nice tremor.
It's the economists. You're not reaching for the highs. It's not like an up and down. It's
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just like a slow one. That's what... So you'll keep meditating throughout your life?
Definitely. Yeah. Now that I understand and I'm able to experience what you're meant to
experience, I feel like I'm genuinely understanding why it's useful.
Yeah. Thanks so much for your time and all the best in everything you do in the future.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
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I found it so refreshing speaking to Akashay and his wisdom really gives me hope for leaders
of the future. Also, I wish that I started meditating at the age of 15. I'm sure my family
would definitely agree that it was very necessary for me at that age to be meditating. I think
the closest thing I got to meditation at that age was playing dead fish at school or heads
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down thumbs up in the classroom. Also, Akashay mentioned heartful communication
in our chat and I just wanted to add that the highlight of the conference for me was
actually a workshop on heartful communication, which was hosted by Liz Kings North, who's
the global director of heartful communication at Heartfulness. It was a really phenomenal
workshop actually. And it was probably helped by the fact that Liz was one of the most engaging
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presenters I've ever seen in my life. Also the topic of heartful communication, which
I feel could be so beneficial in every person's life toolkit. So basically heartful communication
integrates heartfulness with nonviolent communication, which was developed by Marshall Rosenberg.
The nonviolent communication suggests that everything anyone says or does is an attempt
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to fulfill one or more of our life human needs. Things like respect, acceptance, security,
and contributing to others. And when we learn to focus on and validate the needs that underlie
behaviour, we find a way to connect with a person, even if what they're saying or doing
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we don't agree with. So this actually inspired me to go a lot deeper into learning about
nonviolent communication and heartful communication. And I found it really interesting and beneficial.
And I'll link to a number of resources in the episode notes if you want to explore more.
Now we'll hear the conversation I had with Anant. Thank you so much for joining me, Anant.
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So this year you were volunteering at the Rising with Kindness conference. Could you
explain a little bit about what you were doing at the conference and what your experience
was like? Sure. Thank you, Rachel, for having me over here. Rising with Kindness, this initiative
for us from back end started about four months back. And this is the second edition which
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we have for the youngsters in the age of 18 to 35. And like when you're organizing something
and you're volunteering for that purpose, you see at the back end there are a lot of
conflicts which we need to trace it out, erase it, change it, and ensure that the end product
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is coming out in a nice way. We're always not sure about whether the participants are
having the best of the experiences or not. But as we are moving forward in this and while
talking to the participants on day two and day three, how's your experience? And what
touched my heart at that time was instantly there were five, six girls who I was talking
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to and they said that it felt like home for us. That's so lovely. Yes. And how many youth
were at the conference? We had about 5,000 plus participants coming across India as well
as outside India internationally. So yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. It was quite an experience.
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And the facility here at Karnashanthi Vanam is the perfect place to host something like
that because it can host so many people here and the energy here is really powerful. Yeah,
that is correct. So we have comfort domes. We had, I think, two comfort domes were used
for this particular event. And usually this place can actually hold more than 30,000 people.
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We are coming up with another event by the name of Bandara, which is going to be Daji's
birthday as well. So yeah. Yeah, that's huge. Yes. It was quite a scene being in the dining
hall at lunchtime and just seeing thousands of people around getting fed. But everything
just moved so seamlessly, it seemed anyway. Yeah. So this is a magical place. We all,
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whenever we come over here, we see how even in the difficult of the situations, we see
how calmly the things flow in the right direction at the right time. So yes. And even the participants
who are coming from outside and they have never experienced say heartfulness or spirituality,
but at the same time, they instantly flow into the system and become and be nice and
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be accepting enough to let us flow in the right direction, calmly, peacefully. And an
event like this at this volume needs a lot of volunteers. So how many were volunteering
behind the scenes or can you not put a number to it? It's just too many. Too many, too many.
I will not honestly have a number, but I can, what I can say is that these youngsters have
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put in their hard work for months now to culminate into what an experience it has been for the
participants. Yeah, that's nice. And what's next for you Anand? So within your involvement
in this place, I think there's something coming up. There's a run running event coming up.
Yeah, that's correct. That's correct. So we had a promo run in the Rising with Kindness
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as well by the name of Green Heartfulness Run. So there was one session called as Kana
mornings and each participant experienced yoga, different activities as well as the
run in the nature. So yes, the main run is going to take place on the 17th November.
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The purpose of this race is to protect and preserve our planet and its ecosystem. So
100% of the proceeds goes towards the plantation activity, which is a Forest by Heartfulness
initiative. Okay, so there's a plantation activity as part of the run which all the
proceeds go to. Yes. And tell us about what happens there. Right, so Forest by Heartfulness
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has a very typical way of planting trees. There is a process to it and apart from the
technical process, the human touch to it is that we prayfully plant it like and you would
see a 95% plus conversion of trees surviving. So there's a prayer as you're planting the
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tree that people undertake here. Yeah, that's correct. So nice. Is there a specific prayer
or? No, whatever your heart. Oh, so whatever your heart, you put your heart into planting
that tree. That's correct. And I did read somewhere that there are almost a million
trees that have been planted here. Absolutely. So that's all been planted with that love.
Yes, with that love and it hasn't been planted by the volunteers themselves. Okay, that's
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so nice. So there's a run. How far is the run? How far? What distance? So we have 21
kilometres, 10 kilometres, 5 kilometres and for the family, one and a half kilometres.
Okay, that's so nice. Yeah. So that's on the 17th of November, you're coming back here
to help organize that. Yes, I'm so looking forward to it. So this is the only run which
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will be conducted not only in Karnas, Shantiwanam, Hyderabad, but at 90 locations on the same
date and also having international locations like Canada, USA, Australia. So it's actually
being conducted all over the world. Absolutely. All over India. Yes. How many locations in
India? We have about 85 locations in India. 85 locations this run is being done. Yes,
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on the same date. And what's it called, the name of it? The Green Heartfulness Run. The
Green Heartfulness Run. So it's a run that's being spread. Yes, spread across the globe.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Wow, that's a lot to coordinate. Yes, and we are expecting about one lakh people
participating in it. Okay. Yeah, across the world. That's 1000. No, 100,000. 100,000 people.
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Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll keep an eye out for that. So it's the same date all over the
world. Yes, same date is what we are focusing on. One run for the planet. Yes, I like that.
Amazing. And is everyone planting trees as part of it? Absolutely. Is that? Yes, yes.
That's powerful. And how, so let's shift a little bit to heartfulness, the heartfulness
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way and heartfulness meditation. How long have you been involved in heartfulness meditation?
So first time I had experienced heartfulness meditation in 2019 in Kolkata Ashram. And
after that I was not a part or I did not follow heartfulness meditation for good, I think
four years. 2023 January is the time when I was in Karnashanti Anand Hyderabad and I
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was here for 10-15 days. And that is the time where I started regularly practicing meditation.
And instantly I found the transformation slowly but taking place in me and I felt that I should
be continuing with this process. So yeah, I can say that from January 23 is the time
when I started meditating regularly. Yes. Yes. And what kind of change have you felt
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inside you? First is like understanding people, listening to people. So that is one difference
I feel in myself. Since I am into business and my business requires, there is a lot of
stress in it. So this 30 minutes of calmness just aligns things in me. Before you started
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this heartfulness meditation, do you follow a religion? Did you have any other practices
that you had in your life? So I am a Jain and my family again follows this religion.
However, I am fortunate that again my family has never imposed the religion on us and they
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would ask us to again experience it. If you like it, you do it. If you do not like it,
it is okay. So that has been the core. But of course there are core values which I associate
myself with the religion and I continue with that practice as well. However, this aspect
of spirituality had only made us understand religion in a far more better way than only
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the surface level of the religion, how it is found and why it is used. So it has deepened
your experience with the religion that you have followed, the heartfulness method. Yes.
Tell me about your experience here in Karnashanthi Vanam. It is a meditation centre in Hyderabad
in the south of India. What does this place mean to you and could you just explain what
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happens here? For me also when I had first come down to Karnashanthi Vanam after 15 days,
this place meant home to me. The reason is the people over here have been so welcoming
and the kindness which we speak about is actually you experience that kindness in each soul
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who is present at Karnashanthi Vanam. So yes, it is very close to our hearts. Yes, it is
a very special place and that is also what I like about this method is it is about meditation
but it is also about how you then show up outside of your meditation. I think I heard
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written somewhere or heard someone say it was like 5% meditation and 95% how you are
acting in your day to day life is what is important and what heartfulness is. That is
correct. So again, Daji you always mentioned that while we are meditating we are in that
state but can we continue that state, the same state for the rest of our day? That is
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what is more important. That is what meditation is teaching us. That is what heartfulness
wants us to understand, learn and practice. So each one of us, we are not only meditative
for the 30 minutes, we strive to be meditative for the rest of our day as well. Consciously
now I am trying to be in that state. So yes, I feel during few events which probably is
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creating a lot of stress or tension in you and I just remind myself about the meditative
state and I am able to react to that situation in a much better way. Yes, that is nice. What
is the thing you enjoy most about when you come to this place, Kana? First is the environment
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over here, the ecosystem which we have. It is a green land. It is magical to think that
it was barren say 10 years back and now to what it is hosting so many species, ecosystem,
people around have been so welcoming. So these are the things which probably pulls me back
again to come over here as much as possible and not to leave this place but of course
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we need to go back and take as much as possible from this place and try to spread that same
vibration when you are in your daily work as well. I like that. I like that because
it is not all about coming to an ashram or a place to stay forever which some people
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may do but it is about coming and experiencing it, maybe readjusting, regrounding and then
taking it back into your community, your environment like what you have learnt. Bring that energy
there and spread that hopefully. That is true. Again as Dati says that in order to fly you
need two wings and for us two wings is one is the spiritual wing and one is the materialistic
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wing. Materialistic wing. Yes. So spiritual wing and materialistic wing. Yeah that is
correct. So you have to live in this world and you have your own materialistic requirements
to live properly in this world so you cannot just follow one path and be happy. So that
is another thought process which this organization has which I relate to. Yeah that makes sense
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because it is that balance. That is correct. So it is not only about how are you advancing
spiritually but this process also helps you in advancing in your materialistic life and
putting in day to day activity whatever you are doing it is just a thought you put how
would you put your thought in spiritual way doing that activity just transforms the way
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you are going to handle the materialistic life. Yeah I love that. Did you have anything
else that you wanted to share about the heartfulness way or anything about your experience with
the conference or anything? This conference again like while I will be talking I am actually
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getting goosebumps so there are whole lot of volunteers. What is the take away for them
is the whole lot of learning we get through engaging with so many participants plus the
guests internationally coming out and there is no professional organizing event company
over here who is going to do that. It is all through the volunteers work and it is done
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with so much heart even the guests who are coming in if there has been any delay or anything
which did not go as per the schedule I have seen that how willingly they accepted how
happily they are accepting that state also and they are also trying to find a way out
to you know best to give the best outcome for the purpose they are yours. So that is
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a wonderful because in our daily day to day life if things are not going right and the
person would probably not you know give you that opportunity to make it right. Yeah that
is true lot of acceptance and tolerance which is embodying what this is all about and what
we need to bring into more of our lives. And also thank you for introducing me into this
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place Karnashanti Varnam. So I met you eight years ago in Kolkata and I recently went back
to Kolkata to visit and you mentioned that you were doing this heartfulness meditation
and that this place even existed and I was blown away by this place that I knew I had
to see it for myself. So thank you for introducing me to it because it has been really special
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to be here. It is a pleasure and I would like to ask you how was your experience since you
have just started understanding and experiencing heartfulness meditation. Yeah so it had just
been two months ago that we saw each other in Kolkata and I started practicing a little
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bit of heartfulness meditation. I got introduced and thought oh this is nice I really like
meditation and I already had quite a strong meditation practice and I just started weaving
it into my practice a little bit and I noticed that there was something different a feeling
by connecting with the divine within and the heart center and through doing that I just
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felt a little shift and I wasn't sure if this would be like something that's really because
I really appreciate in meditation when it's shifting something at a deeper level. So I
was wondering whether this was just making me feel good in the moment or is it making
me really something really deep shifting. I know that there's something special to this
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method and so that's why coming here I wanted to immerse myself in it and truly understand
what practice was, read more about it, talk to more people about it and experience more
about it. And what I also love about it is the community, the community of heartfulness
and people actually practicing what they're meditating. I'm really sensing that here and
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the energy here is just so powerful sitting with thousands of people in that meditation
hall and everyone feeling into their heart is you can really feel that uplifting energy.
We are all connected as well. Exactly we are all connected. Yes. Yeah. Cool. Thank you
so much for your time Anant, I appreciate it. Thank you so much Rachel for having us.
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No problem. Thank you. So I hope you enjoyed hearing me chat with these two lovely men
Akshay and Anant. Being involved with the Rising with Kindness conference and seeing
so many people contributing and participating really made me feel so uplifted for the future
of humanity. I think the most prominent feeling I won't forget is sitting in the meditation
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hall with thousands of other people during the conference practicing heartful meditation.
There's just something so powerful about the silence and the connection of the energy between
everyone that was there. So thank you for taking the time to listen. Please feel free
to rate the podcast and share with any friends who this may interest. Send me love my fellow
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humans wherever you are.