BONUS MONDAYS: Ancient KEPT SECRET! HUMANITY Needs To HEAR Before the GREAT SHIFT! with Acharya Shunya

Acharya Shunya is a trailblazing spiritual teacher who is breaking new ground in the world of feminist spirituality. She is a truth-teller, mystic teacher, bestselling author, and the first female head of her 2000-year-old Vedic lineage from India. Acharya Shunya is on a mission to empower women everywhere to step into their divine immensity and lead powerful, abundant, and wise lives through her revolutionary revisioning of ancient India's primary goddess archetypes.

Acharya Shunya's openhearted, inclusive, and nondual teachings reinterpret and re-contextualize ancient Hindu teachings and goddess legends for modern times, always honoring her progressive Vedic roots while breaking the shackles of tradition to bring modern-day women an inclusive, feminist spirituality. Her teachings are rooted in the principles of alchemical Ayurveda, yoga, universal Advaita, and the awakening of the inner goddess. Through her work with The Awakened Self Foundation and the Nonprofit Vedika Global, Inc., Acharya Shunya is empowering, educating, and inspiring a worldwide community of students through online courses, workshops, and retreats. She is committed to creating a safe and supportive space where people from all backgrounds and with varied life experiences can come together to learn, grow, and awaken.

Acharya Shunya's latest book, Roar Like a Goddess: Every Woman's Guide to Becoming Unapologetically Powerful, Prosperous, and Peaceful, is a must-read for anyone looking to tap into their inner power and potential. The book is a revolutionary revision of the feminine divine and carries the potential to change the face of modern feminist spirituality. Acharya Shunya's teachings are not just for women; they are for anyone who wants to live a more authentic, empowered, and fulfilling life. Acharya Shunya is a dynamic and engaging speaker who teaches regularly at her foundation in California and at Kripalu, Ram Dass's Be Here Now Foundation, Omega Institute, and more. She regularly addresses the confines of patriarchy, misogyny, and racism and holds space for people from all backgrounds and with varied life experiences.

In conclusion, Acharya Shunya is a trailblazing spiritual teacher who is empowering women everywhere to step into their divine immensity and lead powerful, abundant, and wise lives. Her teachings are rooted in the principles of alchemical Ayurveda, yoga, universal Advaita, and the awakening of the inner goddess. If you are looking to tap into your inner power and potential, I encourage you to check out Acharya Shunya's work and join her worldwide community of students. And if you're feeling inspired by her teachings, don't forget to hit the subscribe button on her YouTube channel to stay updated with her latest offerings.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/next-level-soul-podcast-with-alex-ferrari--4858435/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Next Level Soul podcast, where we ask
the big questions about life. Why are we here? Is
this all?

Speaker 2 (00:09):
There? Is?

Speaker 1 (00:10):
What is my soul's mission? We attempt to answer those
questions and more by bringing you raw and inspiring conversations
with some of the most fascinating and thought provoking guests
on the planet. Today, I am your host, Alex Ferrari. Now,
before we dive into today's conversation, I want to invite
you to experience something truly transformative. Next Level Soul TV

(00:34):
our spiritual streaming platform where seekers from around the world
can awaken, heal, and expand We've curated a powerful collection
of life changing documentaries, deep dive interviews, original series, audiobooks, courses,
master classes, and live events, all focused on conscious personal transformation,
ancient wisdom, and the soul's journey. This isn't just content,

(00:57):
it's a calling. Whether you're exploring your spirit viitual gifts,
seeking answers from the beyond, or just craving something real
in a noisy world, Next Level Soul TV was made
just for you. And here's the best part. It's commercial free,
available around the world, and growing every week with new
soul expanding content. So if you're ready to go deeper,
head over to Next Levelsoul dot tv and start streaming

(01:20):
your awakening. Now let's begin today's episode. Disclaimer. The views
and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the
guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions
of this show, its host, or any of the companies
they represent. Well today, guys, you are in for a treat.
We have spiritual Master Acharia Shunya and she is the

(01:44):
first female spiritual leader in her lineage of over two
thousand years in India. The conversation we had was profound.
I want you to sit back, relax and prepared to
be enlightened. Let's dive in. I'd like to welcome to

(02:08):
the show, Ashariasunya. Did I do okay? How are you doing?
My dear.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Wonderful? And I'm so delighted to be talking to you.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Thank you so much for coming on the show. We're
here to talk about your new book or like a Goddess,
and we're gonna have some I think we're gonna have
a very interesting conversation. So I think you and I
both have similar ideologies in many ways and many looking
at the universe as the background items in my room
and on my second telling you. So my first question

(02:43):
to you, my dear, is how did you start your
spiritual journey?

Speaker 2 (02:49):
I think I was born in a spiritual family, and
but I don't want to say that. Oh, you know,
the universe decided it for me because I remember time
in my life where I didn't want to have anything
to do with spirituality. I was very engrassed in my being,

(03:13):
my body, my material life, and I had a phase
of life where I didn't want to have to do
with deeper thinking. And so it's interesting that I am.
I am a child of doubt and questioning and challenging
the very setup I was born in. But I was
born in a spiritual family. Life, situations, difficulties, obstacles, you know,

(03:38):
the typical stuff makes us turn inward. And I realigned
with the opportunity to study with my grandfather, who was
a great guru, well known in India, and somewhere along
the way, I recognized that this is the only journey
that's really important to me.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
And isn't it interesting that, you know, after I studied
many spiritual masters over the years, all of them had
to go through some form of what you went through.
In other words, you could be born, you could be
born into the life of an organic farmer. But you're like,

(04:20):
I really want to eat meat. I don't want to
be a vegetarian. And you go off and you eat
me for ten years. You're like, you know what, I
really I think I feel better when I just eat vegetarian.
It's kind of like you always have to kind of
go opposite just to kind of understand the difference. There's
a contrast. So I'm assuming that's kind of what happened
to you where you I want nothing to do with

(04:40):
the spirituality. I literally have all the spirituality in the world.
I've been blessed with my grandfather and my family, but
I don't want it right now. I'm going to go
to materialism. And then you came back. But you needed
to go through that that journey, right yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
And I think and I mean, and I'm so bored
with the story reason I'm born with a spiritual spoon
in my mouth, you know. And then I was meditating
when I was eight, and then I was celibate when
I was twenty. And I don't want to believe all
of that anymore. I want to say that each one

(05:17):
of us has to go through some degree of darkness,
and we can't really see what's in front of us,
and life is very seductive in the beginning. But yeah,
we each have to own our story. And I'm so
glad I wasn't conditioned into being spiritual, but it's my choice.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
And what was it like learning from a guru like
your grandfather, who you know? I mean, that must have
been a blessing in many ways, but I'm assuming that
a burden as well.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
It was. It was a blessing mostly, but it was
a burden, especially when I was asked to step into
his feet and I was the first female to be
ordained in a two thousand year old lineage, and I
was surrounded by a sea of skeptic eyes, questioning my

(06:12):
Guru's choice and questioning me, my presence, my existence to
begin with. And that began an unfolding of looking at
am I truly worthy? And that took some working. But
but then the unworthness of my gender in general. I couldn't.

(06:36):
I couldn't. I couldn't explain away why I was chosen.
But my barber knew that I have what it takes
to be a leader in this century. And he was truly.
He was truly a great light in my life and
has prepared me to be the person I am today.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
And you are a unique unicorn in the the zeitgeist
of gurus and Yogi's throughout the history of of that tradition,
because there aren't many female you know, practitioners or leaders
in in their in their lineages. I mean, the only
one that comes to mind is, Oh God, her name

(07:21):
is May used to call her Ma. I forgot her name.
She's on the she's on my painting in the back.
But there's not many of them. Why do you think
that is? Is that just culturally? You know that they like
you said, and a sea of ies are like, oh God,
she is she worth? It is she? She can't make
it happen. It's it's a woman. Oh my god, God forbid.

(07:42):
By the way, I've been surrounded by women in my
entire life. I have no testosterone in my life at all.
So I completely understand.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
I think it's really it's an important question you ask,
and I want to give it the consideration because I
want to say that the veny Hindu tradition itself is
deeply appreciative of all genders. Not just a feminine gender,
but also trans and mixed gender. We have gods whose

(08:13):
different genders come together. So it's not a purely masculine
androgenous tradition, but the society itself in India, especially as
it was plagued by invasions by different cultures and religions
which are more patriarchal. Gradually the seed of patriarchy seeped

(08:38):
into India too. And while we still see the upholding
of the divine feminine boldly and openly, the average woman's
loot is not that easy. And gradually a class of male, exclusive,
male priests which took over the tradition and started erupting

(09:01):
the knowledge, putting barriers between women studying it and women
interpreting it. When the original holy books, the Vedas were themselves,
they have contributions from female seers. So once upon a time,
the way they came the tradition was celebrating every gender

(09:22):
and its expression. But gradually the society became warped and
a shadow of its original self. And I was born
in the nineteen sixties of India when women were were
asked to be more domestic and you know, shadows of

(09:44):
their men, and there were these exceptions, Like we had
the prime minister in the Ragandhi, but she was another unicorn. Well,
it was my fate to be one. And I'm not
only a woman, I'm not only married, also divorced, acharia
or a leader. I'm very right when ready for this

(10:06):
century without.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
Without question, you're not married divorce I mean, I mean
you're just you're checking all the boxes off, just checking
them all.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
I'm working on at it.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
So you mentioned the Vedas. Uh, A lot of people
don't know what the Vedas are, the Upanishads are. Can
you explain what they are and how did you discover
the wisdom within them. We'll be right back after a
word from our sponsor, and now back to the show.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
The Vedas are wholly spoken transmissions, and they are not
wholly in terms of a single religion, because the whole
the Vedas precede all religions that come from India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jahism.
They pre the original eternal books of holistic wisdom. So

(11:04):
you find holistic teachings for the body, mind, soul, society
to be a more conscious for the conscious evolution of humankind.
And so we find beautiful sacred teachings, mantras, chance and
directions for conscious and empowered and humane living. Really, and

(11:28):
they gave birth to religions gradually. And the Vedas were
once only spoken orally transmitted from our master to a disciple,
and gradually they became written and published in every language
known in the world, and now they can be found
on Amazon dot com. But the Vedas come from the

(11:48):
root word with vid which in Sanski means to be aware,
to know and will no longer be in a trance
of any kind, but to truly be conscious and mindful
of our opportunity in this human avatar. And my family

(12:10):
has been teaching, studying, and imparting the knowledge of the
Vedas for counters centuries in India, right up to my grandfather,
my father, and now I'm its first female leader so
to say, of this lineage.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
And over the years, it's been said that that the Veda,
the Vedas of the Veda texts are five thousand and
six thousand years or even older. Some say.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, there is anthropomological and linguistic research and evidence to
support them to go back five to six to even
eight thousand years ago. In India, we also have archaeological
surveys done and they were there's evidence of civilization, advanced

(13:06):
civilizations with swimming pools and roads and highways in India
way before there was light in the Western world, the
light of the modern science of the Western world. So
clearly the world goes back way longer than a Eurocentric
historical timeline, and in cultures like India, Egypt, China goes

(13:32):
way back and vedas are the are the offerings, the
beautiful offerings of that civilization. And they say beautiful things
like acams pradati, which is a science good saying which
says there's only one truth, which different faiths may know

(13:57):
by different names. Or they say, you know that the
world is one family. This is a teaching. They talk
about planetary unity, and they talk about the equality of
all genders and that the great Supreme Reality does not

(14:17):
make a distinction of male, female or the other, but
becomes one with whatever form it exists. And so there's
deep non duality and unity consciousness that the Way does
bring forward. They've a way advanced even for today's world.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
And let me ask you, why is it that India
specifically is the center of consciousness in many ways in
our current society that we know of, in the history
that we know of, where the West is taken so
long to catch up, I mean great great Yogi's like
Yogananda came over and spread the word and has and

(14:56):
now it's these these kinds of conversations that you and
I are having unheard of when you were born like this,
This would have never happened in the fifties or sixties,
or even even in the eighties or nineties. These conversations
were a lot more on the edge. Why is that India?
Is Is it because of the Vedas? Is it because
that's where humanity kind of became? Which was always curious

(15:18):
about that, because the West, European and the US is
so behind in the spiritual consciousness as opposed to India.
Like like what like yogan Ona said, it's like I
have to I have to kind of beg them to
understand where in India. Everyone just got it pretty quickly,
understood the concepts he was trying to teach.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Well, there are two kinds of quests, the outer and
the inner. And while the West took on the burden
of the outer quest and they took us to the
moon pretty quickly. When you compare it to the East.
It was it was left the burden of exploring the
last us within was left to the East. We see

(16:03):
it all over the Eastern cultures. But for some reason
India became the pulse center for that inquiry, for that quest.
And I think the Vidas and its open nature where
it where it allows for every expression and every inquiry

(16:26):
was free and open. There were no galileos that were
killed for the sake of religion, where scientists and seers
would coexist and come upon those same findings. I think
in that labyrinth or that cultural spaciousness that the Vedas

(16:49):
allowed for makes India unique until today. In an average
Indian person who's making chai and you know, and selling
chi in teacups on the pavement, or the operators of
buses and vehicles, or just carpenters and electricians, even they

(17:12):
if you look, if you sit down with them for
ten minutes, they would carry a very inwardly well developed worldview. Outwardly,
they may be poor, they may not have the means
to get about in the world, they may not have
been eaten a full meal, but inwardly they would be satisfied, happy, peaceful.

(17:36):
They would have philosophies from the Vedas that are percolating
down to them, like the law of Karma, the law
of Dharma, the teachings of yoga, just a part of
their DNA to support them through difficult times. And as
a result, there is less depression, less suicide, less alcoholism,

(17:58):
less loneliness in a country like India, because spirituality is
the everyday toolbox for the people there, and there are
as many houses, and they are as many temples and
monasteries and places of meditation, and the vary world view says,
you cannot, you cannot. You cannot minimize God or limit

(18:27):
God or God consciousness to one one being or one
object alone. God is therefore omnipotent, all pervading. And so
they found average Indians find reverse to be vehicles of
God consciousness and rocks and pebbles. And if you're living

(18:47):
in a sacred universe, then if difficulties come your way,
even if cancer is eating your body alive, and average
Indian with the VDIC world you would say, well, this
is what God wants. So it's not necessarily fatalism, but
it's also working with a greater intelligence. Whereas in the West,

(19:10):
because we were out to conquer the world with our
science and tools. Our ego tends to think that we
can conquer everything and that death is only one bill away,
and somehow we will secure ourselves against the you know,
the blows of life doesn't happen that way, And I

(19:35):
guess that is why India remains at the center of
all conversations that that that have to do with spirituality.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
It's it's a fantastic answer, by the way, to that question.
It's it's you took me on a journey as we
As we were speaking about that, you spoke about the
avatar that we're in is a concept that's very well
known in the Vedic and the Yogic philosophies. But for

(20:07):
many people, the need to control the outer world, which
is part of this avatar, is the cause of so
much pain and suffering. Where you just said something that
was so profound, they're like, well, if there's a you know,
an Indian who has a cancer, they just go, this

(20:30):
is God's It's almost more of a letting go and
understanding a greater picture as opposed to just and seeing
a wider view of reality. Will be right back after
a word from our sponsor, and now back to the
show as opposed to the West's view is very this way.

(20:54):
I'm like, I need to control this, I need to
control that. And when things aren't what we want them
to be our expectations, that's we're pain, suffering, and all
these other things that we deal with on a daily
basis happen. So what advice do you have about letting
go of control a bit around life and letting life,

(21:14):
the universe, God, your higher self, whatever you want to
call it, kind of control the journey that you're walking.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
A very important distinction is to what extent can we
exercise our will? We are not will less people exercise
our will? And where must we align with a greater will?
And this is a constant discernment. It is not an
algorithm that you and I can apply. And I'm always

(21:50):
checking and groping the contours of my reality to know
when am I being passive or fatalistic, which is not
the vasic way I'm not by being controlling and morbid
and crazy and becoming the source of my own disease,
because then I have to let go. I'm actually talking
to you at a stage in my life where a

(22:12):
lot's happening wonderfully, and yet I'm kind of really still
inside me because I'm waiting, because I'm now having fun
with But what does the larger will want? What does
the greater will want? And so I'm playing with it.
This knowledge is unique where we do have will, where

(22:35):
we do have power, and we also have a greater
power that is ultimately benign and wants something from us.
What the Western mind often lacks and the Western education
reinforces is this morbid sense of control of the ego

(22:55):
and if our life is failing, means we are failing,
which is not true, because sometimes life could be failing
and you could be willing. I had a huge Facebook following,
a huge amount of numbers, and it got hated and

(23:17):
suddenly it's down to zero, and so you would think
it's a failing And I was rejoicing because I was like, hey,
I'm free. You know, we're done.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
I'm back to Facebook.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah, like booo, we're done. I'm done. I'm done. And
and so, but if I had a Western mindset, I
would think this is a failure. Now I'm a nobody.
I have to start again. Who am I without my
following that I built over these many years blah blah
blah blah blah, and so the mind goes. And so

(23:53):
my teaching constantly through the Vedas is tough. My Vedic
wisdom and the knowledge that I bring forth is that
you're not alone. You are playing along with a greater
part of you that's invisible. That greater part of you
is where the greater strength comes from. But it's an

(24:14):
invisible will, as it's an invisible actions called destiny, a
vacuum that will take place. And then there is you
cause and effect, and you have to bring both into play.
So when destiny chows that my Facebook following be reduced
to zero, then my small will has to understand that

(24:41):
there is some hidden door here that I have to open,
beyond the public persona, beyond the outer What is that
in a private quiet serenade that I'm being called to sing?
And so I don't know if I'm giving you an
exact answer, but definitely people like me and these conversations

(25:05):
that you and I are having allow for people to
be okay with what's not okay while not being passive
and trying to do what they need to do.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
It is it is a very fine line because by
the way that happened to me as well. I had
a quarter of a million followers on my filmmaking Facebook
page and Facebook decided, oh you violated something, bye bye,
and it was gone like that, and I just said, oh,
this is where I was at the time. I was like, hmmm,

(25:41):
I guess this is not where I need to be.
Maybe I should focus on this other show that I'm doing.
And that's basically where I've become because it was just
it was a very easy sign that they said, oh,
this this is the path you need to watch. It
was a gentle push by the universe going stop focusing
energy here, this is where you need to be. But

(26:03):
the issue that I always have with this concept of
letting go having faith in how you're being guided by
the universe or whatever you like to call it, is
your own desire. Because you have a desire, you have
an ability to action. But where is the balance between
doing action that you want to control something or just

(26:25):
doing the action? So I use this show as an example.
I wanted and many times during the course of building
the show, I wanted to control the numbers. I wanted
to control the downloads, I wanted to control the views.
I'm like, what can I do? How can I make
it happen? And I started to realize that. I'm like,
let all you need to do is do the work.

(26:45):
So there's that, but then you need to at that point,
you got to hand it off and let it go.
And that's exactly what I did. In the moment I
started doing that, the audience grew at an astounding rate
that I can't even comprehend to this point yet. But
it was that letting go. But there is that balance
between action. You have to do something. You can't just
sit eating bond bonds and watching Netflix expect things to happen.

(27:09):
You have to do action. So where is that balance
and how do you navigate that line?

Speaker 2 (27:16):
And this is where knowledge you're learning comes in in
the West, and we seem to be like having this
conversation about the East versus the West. But I guess
it's important because when I say the West, I guess
I'm talking about the West lives in India too. There

(27:37):
is a segment of people who only believe in what
the senses are seeing, what is physical, what is material,
what is demonstrable, what is evidence based? And when I'm
speaking about the East, I'm talking about the mystical, the unknown,
and so I guess we're just using the words east
and west for more like our consciousness and whether it's

(28:00):
more closed and more functional or is it more open
and more mystical. That's the question here just for our.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
Listeners clarification for clarification, Yeah, for clarification.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
And I think it's a fine line. And a knowledge
helps for example, this piece of knowledge may help our listeners,
which the veders give us. And the way that's saying
that there is a part of our mind which is
totally under our control. And I will decide when I
lift this cup or when I will put it down.

(28:35):
And it's like it's a very individual action and the
law of karma or causation and other mystical things do
not operate between this decision of mind, my brain, my hands,
my nervous system, et cetera, et cetera, and this tiny
individual it's not tiny. It can be major like I
can decide to, you know, jump off a wall and

(28:58):
kill myself or grant somebody something. So this can be
major impact actions. They're up to me and my mind.
And this is known as VSHD or the individual individual
empowerment through the mind But the way that's say that
what we forget is that this is interconnected, non dual universe,

(29:23):
and so we are part of the connected mind. We
are all connected to each other, and that is known
as the samashti, or the collective mind. So when I
do something at an individual level, the collective mind notes that,
it notes that. And there are aspects of our mind

(29:47):
that we know. There are aspects of our minds that
we don't know but others know. And there is the
aspects of our mind that nobody knows. Even the greatest
psychologists cannot know. But only that collective mind can know.

(30:07):
And it's observing us, and there's no fooling it. Like
you and I and other people who are podcasters or
teachers or artists or for what or soccer players, we
cannot control numbers. We really have to get into the
zone of doing, being and giving.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
Whether it's an artistic expression or story of writing it.
We really have to become one with that collective mind,
and then the collective mind will see that flow within
us and then return that flow back to us. We

(31:00):
have that little bit of ignorance that my individual mind
will do it all. And we don't open any doors,
we don't even candle lit for the collective mind to
come in and help us out. Then we're still in
the ego. We're still in the shadow. And I've been

(31:21):
there too. This is my third book, and it's doing really,
really well because I don't care anymore because I wrote it,
and I wrote it from my blood and from my
raw courage and from my shock my power, and I've

(31:45):
never controlled my books as such. I don't think you
and I are the hyper controlling, breathless people trying to
be successful. But we're just human, and so we're looking
at numbers, you know, or our publishers want us to
look at numbers, but with this book, or like a goddess,
I said, you know what, goddess, there will I didn't

(32:07):
write this alone. You co wrote this with me. You
know what, collective universe. You co wrote this with me.
So I'm doing my part by podcasting, by blogging, by
telling people about the book. But you do your part.
And if you want this book to tank, there's a
greater reason for it. And if you want this book

(32:30):
to reach other people, there's a greater reason for it.
And so there is an invitation that I'm bringing in
that fine line of not becoming passive and leaving it
completely to fate, leaving it completely to the gods that
has learned over time. And I know so many Indians

(32:53):
who use spirituality to be passive, to be fatalistic. They
give philosophy.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Right, they give away all of their power. And that's
but there is a balance. You just can't sit in
the cave and expect so many things to happen to you.
You have there has to be a balance between action
and will. But at a certain point there is a handoff.
Like you said, I need to write this book, but
at a certain point the book is now written, I

(33:23):
must release it into the universe. So my part was
to write the book, and I will continue to do
my other things, which are doing interviews, talking about it,
blogging about it, do anything that's within my power. But
at a certain point, you can't go out there, put
a gun to people's head and go buy the book.
It's not something you can do now.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
And and it's a game at some point too. Yeah,
it is the smaller me and the greater me. It's
a game, and I gotta I gotta play back and
stay here, back to you. I'm not going to just
hold the ball and just like it is.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
And you know what, And from my experience, it's exhausting
to try to do all of it yourself, and to
try to believe that you have control over everything is
very exhausting and stressful and just wearing on you. The
moment I started to let go at that handoff point,

(34:21):
in certain places, I became so much stronger, so much lighter,
so much more aware, more conscious, more empathetic because I
didn't have my mind like it's if I fail, it failed.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
I was.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
I was had that same Western ideas like if everything
around me is failing, I must be failing. Until I
finally let go of that, and that when that's when
my life changed, and it's been it's it's not. It's
an everyday process. This is not like a once and
done thing. You have to deal with it constantly because
when you put so much energy into something. Look, I

(34:56):
spent twenty five years chasing a dream to be a
huge movie maker, and I got so close so many times,
and I kept saying, why, why why did this happen?
Like I'm talking to the biggest movie star in the world,
and yet it doesn't go through. And I do this

(35:19):
again and again, and it kept happening and happening. I'm like,
what is the purpose of this? Even then, I was
asking these questions, like why would God give me this
desire for this only to just continuously beat me up
for a course of decades. So I finally got to
the point where I'm speaking to you right now, and
I go, oh, I understand now, I understand why I

(35:39):
went through that. But that's only in hindsight. While you're
going through it, it's hell.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
And this is where the vatic knowledge is helpful, because
it helps us classify our desires, look through them, and
then also not necessarily, like at some point the desire remained,
but it changed within you to a journey inwards. Yes,

(36:12):
like the outward journey changed your journey inwards. And so yes,
in hindsight, we can say that all that was to
just come back home. Do you already were?

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Isn't that amazing? And I never thought of it that way,
But you're very eloquent in the way you placed it.
It's like, and you did the same thing in your
life where you went outward because you wanted to reject
the inward, which is the spirituality aspect of your family
and your place in it. And then same for me,
I went out to this outside journey. I think only
in time you realize, like once you understand that this

(36:47):
is all Maya, the illusion, and you're like, now let
me go back inward, that's when you start finding peace
and also strength and resilience that you never thought you
would have because you let go. It's such a weird
place to be, especially if someone's listening and they're in
the throes of the other side. How would I heard

(37:08):
this in the middle of my journey. I would have
been like, these people are crazy.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
But this conversation that we're having, which is so raw,
so honest, and the conversation of people who were not afraid,
that's important because some sorrow the world is like Lego
Lego land and moving all the Lego pieces, but it's

(37:34):
still lego. It's still Lego. It's not real people, it's
not it's not true. And so you could build a marble,
but it's still lego. And to the whole purpose of
of some saraw or the worldly success or worldly striving,

(37:59):
whether success of failure, other striving is that we realize
that we can strive for a little bit like a distraction,
but we shouldn't put like a lot of merit into it.
And the real merit is in the experience we have
between our own breaths, in watching a sunrise and just

(38:21):
being alive and letting it all flow through us. Success
and failure, fame, dispame, friendship and betrayal. These are all
phases of life when they come and go, and a
greater presence, which is within us then begins to become anchored.
And so what you may have experience through trying to

(38:45):
put that, you know, trying to put the legos in
a certain way and not having it work is was
good because if it had happened that way, we would
have lost you for four more decades, a couple of
more lifetimes. Pursuit and such. Because in my work as
a spiritual teacher, I have also been with people from

(39:08):
Hollywood and Bollywood, and I've experienced their pain and their
brokenness and their disillusionment. Though they may come to me
in a Ferrari versus a Honda or something, but it's
just the same person broken and then they begin their
journey home so I always say that darkness, failure, pain, disillusionment, disappointment,

(39:35):
social media accounts being hacked, all that's good news on
planet Earth because that's like a quicker way than the
slippery slide of success. And I'm not saying this because
the grapes are sour, because from an outwardly perspective, my
work and career is successful. I'm speaking more from a

(39:59):
perspective off really, I mean, what is the parameter of
success then? And if I compare it to many, it
is successful. If I compare it to others, it is
less successful. That it never ends. You're never until you've
questioning that all paradigm.

Speaker 1 (40:21):
Oh yeah, and me coming from Hollywood, as you can imagine,
I've worked with and met so many different personalities that
you see them. They outwardly have they seem to have everything,
but inwardly there there's shells. They're they're hurting and and
it's it's difficult. We'll be right back after a word

(40:42):
from our sponsor, and now back to the show. Not everyone.
There are some who have a balance and understand their
place in the world with fame and fortune, but many
don't know how to handle it. And you're absolutely right.
If I would have gotten when I was twenty six,

(41:03):
those the big movie roles and the big roles, but
big movie projects that I was up for, I would
have destructed. I would have been self destructed completely, and
I would have believed that that was the way, and
nothing you would have told me would have brought me back.
And you're right. It could have been a couple of
lifetimes before I discovered, oh, I need to come back.
I love the concept that you're saying, is you go

(41:26):
through all of this externally to go to find your
way back inwardly to go home as such a powerful
statement to say, because people need to understand that they
get caught up in the drama, They get caught up
in the players the video game that we're playing, this
avatar that we're walking around, and they don't understand that

(41:47):
they have to come back to the inward to understand
the truth, the one truth that we are one, we
are all connected, and to come back home such a powerful,
powerful idea. Now, as far as the illusion of ego,

(42:07):
and how can we look through that illusion of the
ego which is controlling every aspect of our lives in
many many ways if you allow it to and embrace
the true spiritual self, which with what we've been talking about, the.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Ego is meant to be our friend. It's meant to
keep per safe and secure. And when it's our true friend,
it even takes us to the right books, the right teachers,
the right podcast and really guides us. It's like our guy.
You know, it's our friend. But if you're beginning to

(42:44):
feel anxious, a lot, distressed, a lot, filling out our
control a lot, if you're needing substances to make your
ego feel secure, then probably our ego is on an overdrive.
What is the ego? Ego is nothing but an I
thought around which a lot of strings of thoughts are

(43:04):
wound up, like my my, my laptop, my mine, and mind,
those people are mine, and that thing is mine, and
I am this person, me my mind, and it's all I.
But if you if you undo those thoughts, and if
you just go in an anti clockwise way, then gradually

(43:26):
you realize that you've borrowed everything. You've borrowed this body
from the Sperman egg of your parents and the food
they eat, and the food comes from the earth by
a water space eater that has entered the universe. The
air you breathe is not yours. It's borrowed from the universe.
Every thought you think has already been thought on the universe.

(43:49):
You don't you don't own anything. You're just we just
claim the eyes, just claiming territory and believing that it's
this persona. And then I has to be educated through
conversations like this, through books such as the kind that
are out there, which help us align with the true

(44:12):
self and not just with this false self. I don't
want to malign the false self because it takes us
down crazy corridors of life. But at some point we
begin we don't want to give it, like the complete
control of our life, because if I gave my ego

(44:35):
the complete control of my life, my ego is meant
to make me secure and safe. But sometimes that's all
it can think about. But my true self can also
think about sacrifice. I can think about duty, I can
think about a commitment. I can think about, you know,

(44:56):
a hard course of yogic discipline. Those are things my
soul can choose that might be uncomfortable in the moment,
but they are what lead me towards the light. And
my ego is you know, always looking out for me,
and I let it do that part. But at some point,

(45:19):
I think, Alex, you may agree that maturing means becoming
the adults. The soul becomes the adult, and we let
the ego just be the infant that it is. It's
okay to begin with the ego. But like I'm sitting
in this podcast with you from the sole place, not

(45:41):
from my ego a place, because if I was speaking
from an ego a place, I'd want the last word in.
I maybe want to like flash something about my book,
you know, somewhere insecurity, unsafety, the need to be reassured,
all those things would jump in, or even private fears

(46:05):
around am I being spiritual enough? Am I being holy enough?
Am I letting you you know, I'm celibate? What am
I doing here? You know? But for your soul becomes
the master? And this is what the way that say
that there's a confusion. It's a cognitive confusion of letting

(46:29):
the shadow be the master and the true master is
kind of in a trance and of Maya or of
universal cognitive spell of nnaissance and waking up the true
self to be the master. Then when I'm sitting in
this podcast, I can be vulnerable, I can be truthful.

(46:54):
I can share trivia and tidbits about my life which
may or may not look great on the resume of
a spiritual teacher of a lineait. But those things an
ego driven person cares for, not a soul driven person.
I can see that your soul is present when you
talk about your own disappointments and disillusionments or your own trands.

(47:18):
And once the ego is a bit retired, we can
have more real, authentic, truly vulnerable, but satisfying conversations and
relationships in life.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
Without question, my dear, without question. Now, one of the
things that I get asked a lot about is pain
and the suffering and the trauma that so many of
us have to go through. From your point of view
and the Vadic's point of view or the Vada's point
of view, why do we have to go through pain, suffering,

(47:58):
trauma in our lives? Because it seems to my understanding
that everyone, everyone who is incarnated in this life, goes
through some sort of pain, some sort of suffering at
different magnitudes, even some sort of trauma in one way,
shape or form. It might be less or maybe more.
But what is the purpose of it, because there's so

(48:20):
many people listening right now who are in pain, who
are suffering, who have trauma, and they want to make
sense of it.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
We have to understand that the landscape that we have
taken our avatar too. On Earth, there's half light, half dark.
There's morning and night, there's birth and death, there's youth
and old age, so it's half and half. The polarities coexist.
So at any given in any life, in any person's life,

(48:49):
happiness will only be fifty percent. That's it's just, it's
part of the package. It's where we are. This is
where we have chosen to taken up manifests ourselves. Secondly,
there are two kinds of sorrow. One is self generated

(49:10):
due to our own ego, foolishners, false expectations, delusions, refusing
to let go, and the other is existential due to
aging or decay or the death of a loved one.
We should strive to not create more and more self
created sorrow by coming into more and more wisdom, by

(49:33):
seeking the company of vice people, wise books, and vice traditions. Learning,
and it takes the ego a couple of tries to
really learn, not pretend that it has learned, but learn learn,
And as for the existential sorrow, we must look at
the larger cycle of life to see that depth always

(49:58):
leads to rebirth. Autumn and fall are necessary for spring.
So bring in a greater philosophical understanding of aging, decay, death,
to see life not just as a linear journey, but
a circular journey of wholeness. I think we should reduce

(50:24):
our attachments so that we can allow for this drama
of life, with all its colors of sexual youth and
scary aging.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
All played out in the same theater take place while
we simply observe and see how interesting interesting being so
caught up with every change that it tears at our
being and rips our ripped cage and bleeds our hearts.

(51:09):
We should be a little bit more detached into what
is known as saks shibaba, a witnessing consciousness. Just like
we witness changes in our dream and we wake up
from it because we know it's a dream, we should
try and witness life, death, pain, decay. You don't hurt

(51:32):
us that much. I think some philosophy must have supported
you and me surely when we heard of our last
following collapsing on social media, and I was in India
at that time, and relatives said, you're really cool, you're
enjoying a cup of tai. We're not hearing you complain,

(51:55):
And I was like, what is to complain? When things
rise come to a fall at some point, that's okay.
That situation, you know, as it has burthered a new
situation where I will bur the new me now. So

(52:17):
our greater philosophical understanding is like a state of yoga.
The whole problem with humanity is we're too fused and
we are so controlling, and it's the ego that wants
happiness and more of it and only a certain way,
and that's not coming anytime.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
So yes, avoid pain and enjoy pleasure. We don't want
any pain whatsoever. We just want the pleasure all the time,
in the way that we want.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
It and the way we want it.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
Absolutely. On top of it all, one of the things
that we have such a problem with as well in
this journey is fear. Fear. Fear is one of the
biggest driving forces, which is connected to pain obviously, but
the fear of everything, of everything, even manufactured things in

(53:10):
your head that have no understanding. It's kind of like
when you're young and you don't call your mother when
you get home from school, and then she starts to worry,
and sooner or later, if she doesn't hear from you
in an hour or two, you're dead in a ditch.
That's how far her mind went. And that was the
fear that justo and just went. It wasn't a rational thing,

(53:31):
but that's fear, but just fear of moving forward, fear
of things. Is there any advice you have for dealing
with everyday fears in our life?

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Yeah, we tend to catast defies and we're all doing it.
Humanity is doing it. And I think it's because we're
going to come back to the ego again, and this
time I'm going to say the opposite. I'm going to
say we have to love our ego some more. It's
almost like we have ego like a little child that's

(54:03):
like running crazy and as no adult in the house.
And I have taught countless people and they've become free
of this fear is by simply soothing yourself when those
fears come up. There's a part of you that's observing
the fear rise, and the observer is your true self,

(54:24):
and that part should just literally vocally say now, now
that's not real. You're safe all as well, and then
use your imagination to imagine yourself in a safe place.
Like we use our imagination to go into an unsafe space,
let's use our imagination to come back into your safe space.

(54:47):
It's all about the game. Play it. Play the brain.
Don't be a victim of it. The brain is a
silly puppy. Just couldjole it back into being soothed. Otherwise
it's gonna go and it's just gonna go crazy. So

(55:07):
talk to yourself, soothe yourself. Develop some music that you choose,
a selection of music, cultivate that certain images, certain words,
and even touching yourself. These are ways to calm your
nervous system, which is connected to our ego. And I

(55:29):
think the fear is escalating because humanity as a whole,
our ego problem has worsened. We are more and more unsafe.
We with technology, we are a new and new terrain.
It's uncharted terrain. Our personas are getting caught up in

(55:50):
that technological trance. We don't know who we are. We
don't know our limits. We don't know what we should
do or not do when to let go or let go,
and as a result, we're really scared. We did this
to ourselves. Where we can soothe ourselves back down to
a basic breath, drinking hot water. Sometimes I see things

(56:12):
like this to myself. Now, now I understand you're fearful,
but you're just going to have this cup of tea,
you and me. So I have two people, self and
the egal you and me right here. I'm there for you.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
I'm there.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
We can parent our inner being back into safety. Because
this fear is irrational. There is no rational approach to it.
Only love and comfort and repetitive presence of your own
being towards it can sort it, they say, the way

(56:51):
it does, and it works. I used to have a
lot of fear for a while, and then I applied
my own teachings and I don't have irrational fear. I
have rational fear of hey, I'm going to poke my
hand in this fire. It's going to burn me. But
I don't catastrophize myself to death every day, which is

(57:12):
what most of us do on a daily basis.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
Without question. That's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
We paralyze ourselves. We fight flight or freeze, and we be.
We do all kinds of obnoxious things because of that fear.
And it hurts. All it needed was your presence, your love.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Yeah, And it hurts our body. It makes us get sick.
We can turn immune system. It does so much damage
to us. It's it's it's remarks.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
Causes chronic pain, causes chronic pain, inflammation, immunological disturbances. All
of that. Calm down when you start you the self, you,
the soul, you, the conscious one, start looking after the unconscious.
Maya trans filled person inside you, thease love you?

Speaker 1 (58:02):
Yes, yes, one of the issue I had a long time.
I didn't have this issue myself. So many people do,
as far as finding your purpose, your innate purpose in life,
why we're here. And many of my listeners are getting
to midlife or getting a little bit past midlife, and

(58:24):
they're even questioning the purpose that they've been here for,
even though they might have had a career of thirty
years somewhere else. Like myself, who was a filmmaker and
still am to a certain extent, but my day to
day living is not now being a filmmaker. It's being
a podcaster, which I always laugh when I say that,
because it sounds insane. But we're doing what we're doing,

(58:44):
and the idea of being able to find what we're
really here to do. Do you have any advice on
how you could do that, either at the beginning of
your life or even midlife or later, that you might
want to change a lane, you might want to find
that thing that you're truly here to do.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
So I'm so glad you asked me that question. I
don't know when you will release this episode, but we're
kind of having this dialogue at the beginning of twenty
twenty three, and a New Year's January is typically a
month where people think a lot about their purpose, their
mini purpose for that year, and their general life purpose.

(59:25):
And I have some wisdom to share from the Vedas,
which is so liberating. So we walk around with this
big burden of what's my great purpose? What's my great purpose?
And the Vedas say that here are these four points

(59:47):
of experience, and if every day you can experience some
of this, you're meeting your life purpose. And so it's
so relaxing and relieving. So the first one is known
as Dharma dhr Dhar. You may know about it. But
for our readers, for our listeners, I want to say,

(01:00:08):
dharma is that is that conscious part of you. So
dharma means to lead a life of purpose, to be
a purposeful person, try and be a more conscious person
every day. And to be a conscious person, you also
have to be a consentious person, a sensitive person, an

(01:00:32):
empathetic person, a sympathetic person.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
And it also means you are a fourth writer and
authentic person, because you cannot be a conscious person if
you're not an authentic person. So every day, in every moment,
whether you're writing a book I do, or your podcasting,
or you are baking cookies for a living, or you're
being a taking care of your children, whatever you do,

(01:01:08):
make sure you do it in an authentic way. And
when you're authentic, when we're truly authentic, when we truly
honor ourselves, you cannot dishonor another. When you truly are
tuned in with our pain, we cannot be insensitive to
another pain. So dharma is what makes us humane, The

(01:01:33):
haharmah is what makes us sensitive and compassionate and awair.
Dharma is many, many things. But I would say the
dharmah is what Shakespeare would say, the milk of human kindness.
But you flow it towards yourself too, So in anything
you do, make sure it's authentic and conscious. That's one thing.

(01:01:55):
Then they say, make sure that it makes you feel
emotional and financially safe. Don't do things that don't make
you safe, they make you safe, they make you unsafe.
Don't do those things, and don't relate unnecessarily with people

(01:02:16):
or do things that are making you emotionally unsafe. So
if by podcasting you are feeling more safe, more anchored,
more you know, and you're connected with your dharma, you're
you're already having a purposeful flow of life. So the
second part of safety and security is called Arthur and

(01:02:39):
the way they say it's important. So maybe when you
are podcasting, or somebody's painting, or somebody is making cookies,
we want to make sure we're earning a living too,
because that's going to make us safe. Where we want
to make sure that people are saying thank yous to
us and we are receiving those thank you That makes
us feel more secure. That's part of art that don't

(01:03:01):
just do it one way. Don't just give, give give
also received to be safe and secure. The third point
of this continuum is karma, which means pleasure. When you're
baking the cookies, writing the books, podcasting, banking, or being
a clown in the circus, don't let it. Don't let

(01:03:24):
your joy be cut off from it. Make sure you
do just enough to have fun, to play, to have
some recreation. Comma also includes sexuality, It includes play and
entertainment theater, but it also includes the joy that we

(01:03:45):
experience while doing what we're doing. For example, you and
I are experiencing a joy in this conversation. Yes, and
so this is a greatly purposeful conversation for us because
it's filling us up with one, you're authentic, Barama. Two
we are both talking about safety security, We becoming more

(01:04:06):
safe and secure and making others most safe and secure too.
That's artha. So it is karma. There's pleasure. It's not
a burden. But if you were doing this every day,
then it's a burden. If you were doing this for
four hours, it's a burden. So what's your limit to
when you can be playful and enjoyable? And finally, the

(01:04:27):
fourth one is important. It's called moksha. Moksha means freedom.
Do everything in such a way that if it were
taken away from you, or if it fell apart, or
it ended, or it came to a natural end, you

(01:04:47):
would still be who you are. You would be free
of that. Do it in a detached way. So you
are not a podcaster and I'm not a teacher. We
are free from these roles. These roles were only given
helping us be more authentic, be more safe and secure,

(01:05:08):
be more playful. But they are not our ultimate reality.
So do what you do in life to access your
inner freedom. Always know that you're separate and instead of
developing a great life purpose, whatever you do, because life

(01:05:28):
is bringing you these different opportunities. It is not that
just you and I chose for our social media to
fall apart. It's not like you alone chose that I'll
make six hundred films or I'll not make a film.
You know, there's a greater will that was working through you.

(01:05:51):
It's not that I was chosen to do this or
not do. A greater will was working through me. But
can we in each moment make sure that we have
the herma consciousness and authenticity we have our safety and security,
and unapologetically we ask for our payment or our fee
or whatever makes us secure. We get our pleasure, and

(01:06:15):
we don't do things to the point where they become unpleasurable.
And finally, through doing those very things, we recognize our
inner truth, which is forever free of the things we do.
Isn't that fascinating?

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
It is a wonderful, wonderful answer to that question. Honestly,
I've asked that question so many times on the show,
and it's probably one of the best answers I've ever heard,
because it is it takes this pressure off of this
grand I have to change the world vibe, and you
just do those four things and you're living a purposeful life.

(01:06:54):
And that includes in the grand scheme of things, this
grand purpose that you're doing without having to worry. The
ego doesn't have to worry about this grand purpose. And
the fourth one, by the way, is very important in
the sense of from my experience is I used to,
when I was younger, associate myself as just a film

(01:07:15):
director and and my my identity was wrapped in that.
So when I failed as a film director, I was destroyed.
I was I had nowhere to go because I was like, well,
if I'm not making it here, I have no value.
I no, And that was such a dangerous place to be.
Where now it's like, I'm multiple things, and I am

(01:07:39):
And that's the bit I am. Regardless of the roles father, podcaster, writer, filmmaker,
whatever other things you're thrown on top, I am. I'm
still who I am, regardless of these roles. These are
all roles I play in my in my play of life.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
You are a posted for my teachings.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
I appreciate. I appreciate that very much. That's very very
kind of you. Now I'm going to ask you a
few questions that I ask all my guests. What is
your definition of living a good.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
Life, a life where I am free in? What is.

Speaker 1 (01:08:23):
What is your definition of God?

Speaker 2 (01:08:28):
A reality that transcends form and name and is everywhere
inside me too?

Speaker 1 (01:08:36):
And what is the ultimate purpose of life.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
To recognize that God within me? When once I was
pursuing God outside me, I discovered that right here in
this polluted, crazy, tainted, aging body God.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
And where can people will find out more about your
new book role like a Goddess and the work that you're.

Speaker 2 (01:09:03):
Doing A Charishunia Dot com is my website by my name,
a we can self dot com is my foundation. You
can also look up Roar like a Goddess dot com.
You'll find me. Just put my name somewhere, you'll find me.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
And do you have any final words for my audience?

Speaker 2 (01:09:30):
I loved being on your show. You're an amazing listener
and you are doing great work. It's so rare to
meet such deep, deep souls. You have not failed at all.

(01:09:50):
You have achieved a light for all of us. Thank
you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
Oh, that's so kind of you. Thank you so much
for that. I appreciate you and the work that you're
doing for the world. My dear, I appreciate you. Thank you.
I want to thank you Sharia so much for coming
on the show and sharing her knowledge and wisdom with
all of us. If you want to get links to
anything we spoke about in this episode, including how to
get her amazing books, head over to the show notes
at next levelsoul dot com Forward slash two one four. Now.

(01:10:21):
If this conversation stirred something in you, there's more waiting.
You can listen to this episode completely commercial free on
Next Level Soul TV's app where Soul meets streaming, Watch
and listen on Appleios, Android, Apple TV, Ruku, Android TV, Fire,
tv LG, and Samsung apps anytime, anywhere. Begin your awakening

(01:10:44):
at Next Levelsoul dot TV. Thank you so much for listening.
As I always say, trust the journey. It's there to
teach you. I'll see you next time.