We naturally value self-reliance and independence, especially in Western culture. Considering our personal survival, the desire to not be dependent on others makes sense, but is it real? In this podcast, Gangaji helps us discover the self we can truly rely on and the self-love that is revealed in that discovery.
“I would like to share with you exactly what I mean when I say self-reliant and how essential it is that you be completely, absolutely, totally self-reliant. First, you have to know what “self” means.”
In this final, bonus podcast of the year, host, Barbara Denempont invites all listeners to an online public meeting with Gangaji on January 3 and shares a short clip from Gangaji on the invitation to fall into yourself.
“Falling into yourself is a surrender to what you don’t know about yourself.”
As the new year approaches, we can shift our focus from what we think we need to fix and give our full attention to what is already whole and perfect. In this podcast, Gangaji speaks of the catalyst for a deeper awakening—the willingness to “unlearn” and open to what is fresh, alive, and who you are.
In The Inherent Effortlessness of Being Who You Are Gangaji makes it clear that true resolution can be discovered when you set aside your cosmologies, theologies, and formulas for that which is much, much closer— the truth of who you are.
This month our conversation on the subject of racism continues. Taking us more deeply to the underlying fear that is the source of racism, Gangaji speaks about the fear of death and the fear of our own and others’ freedom. Recalling her early life in Mississippi, she shares the moment when her racist conditioning was first challenged and how that awakening set her on the path to discovering true freedom.
This month Gangaji sits down for an interview on the subject of racism. Gangaji grew up in Mississippi, raised as a white southern girl in the segregated town of Clarksdale. In this interview, she speaks about how her own racist conditioning first began to be dismantled. She invites us not only to meet the cruelty and wrongs of the past 400 years, but also to meet the internal system of racism within our own minds today.
Part One of this interview covers the human patterns of denial, seeking power for survival, meeting the fear that perpetuates racism, and the possibility of serving true freedom for all beings everywhere.
Reckoning with a Cruel White Legacy: In this historic moment, white people have an opportunity to redress the long, cruel legacy of racism in America. Author Ibram X. Kendi said, “The history of racism is a history of denial.” So that is where we begin with this episode: the resolve to end denial and face hard truths. In this recording from 1998, Gangaji recounts an article about Bishop Desmond Tutu. His commitment to truth and reconciliation in South Africa serves as an inspiration to us all.
“When you are seeking nothing but the truth, and in that seeking, you are willing to see everything, then closure is a by-product. Peace is revealed, harmony is revealed, to be your own self.”
