Back in 2006, my life was in a mini-turmoil. The successful business I started and helped run for almost a decade was collapsing -- and taking all my life-savings with it. I was living in California on a work visa (since I had moved down from Canada) and knew that since my visa was tied to my business, once it ended, I would have to move back North. 
 
All this turmoil came one year after I had retired my spiritual journey. What began a decade before in a remote Himalayan forest in India, quietly looking for myself at the base of majestic peaks and amidst ice-cold rivers, came to an end. And it was not because I was fulfilled, but because while I found quiet up in those mountains, I never did quite find myself.

For my birthday that year, my brother gave me an Amazon gift card for a spiritual book by one of his favorite authors. That book didn’t resonate with me, so I started poking around and came across a book by an author named Gangaji, The Diamond In Your Pocket. 
 
A few pages into that book and my life was changed.

I started going to retreats. I only had a year before I returned to Canada, so I squeezed in four that first year. Every time I sat comfortably in the back row, listening to Gangaji speak, hearing questioners go up and ask questions already simmering in me, I felt the same peace as in that mountain forest. And I found myself. In the hall. Outside. Everywhere.  

Coming closer to the teaching, for me, also meant volunteering, offering whatever skills I could. I worked on the short-lived but beautiful mobile app for the Foundation, then was asked if I could help with the new website. I happily poured in my time and effort, needing nothing in return. 

In March 2020, I was asked to officially join the Foundation as a developer, and even though I had spent most of my life happily working for myself, it felt right to say yes. 

I came in at a fortuitous time. Covid restrictions increased a couple weeks after and Gangaji had to stop holding in-person meetings. I was tasked with creating an online meeting system. What normally would take me months to create, I had to do in a couple weeks. I felt used, in the absolute best way possible. What I created served a purpose, it served all those beautiful others looking for themselves too. 

A couple years into my job, Barbara Denempont discussed the hope for an Archives Project, a way to preserve all of Gangaji’s teachings for current and future generations. This excited me. Having experienced Gangaji’s offering and uniqueness firsthand for decades, my heart’s wish suddenly became simple: to make sure everyone in the future could partake in this extraordinary gift just as I have. 

A lot of work had been done before I even arrived. Staff were always making recordings and preserving them. Volunteers would come to the office and help transcode older media onto newer to protect precious recordings. Transcripts were always an important part of the work, and there were countless volunteers over the years who poured their time and love into it. 

When I first came to the project, I had to bring my part of it back to basics. How could I take a project that might span years, break it down into its most important parts, adjust it for technologies that didn’t even yet exist – but I hoped one day would – and then begin implementing? 

A big cornerstone of the project is revamping transcripts, making them a much richer source of data beyond the words. Building up a new, internal system to support transcribers, helping them work faster, has been a challenge and joy. Hearing volunteers, saying things such as: 

 
“I feel deeply grateful to be working on this project… This is a gift” – Oksana 
 
“Such a wonderful gift to be able to transcribe and verify” – Joanna 

…fuels me even more. I know, whether aware of it or not, they feel the same as I do. They want to support the teaching, support the Foundation, and support everyone who may come after us seeking this wealth of wisdom.