DONATE

A Conversation with Gangaji

The God Voice
September 17, 2014,
Episode 24

In our everyday lives, we have ideas about what we like and what we dislike. We notice moments when we've made a mistake. But there's another voice that whispers in our ear. It's the voice of the critic. It's the judge. Gangaji refers to it as the super ego. It's the task master who speaks with the authority of God. It tells us we should be better, smarter, happier. It's like a club that we not only beat ourselves with, we also inflict this voice on others, whether it be outwardly or in our own heads. The question is, how do we put down the stick of the super ego, this God voice, and live our lives in peace?

More Episodes of Being Yourself

Gangaji speaks about the role spiritual practice plays in our lives and invites us to discover what we are practicing when we “get off our cushion and the chanting stops.” What do our spiritual practices give us? What do we hope they will give us? What can they never give us?
Gangaji speaks about the role spiritual practice plays in our lives and invites us to discover what...

“It’s a lie that any thing gives you fulfilling, true, deep joy. Joy is your nature.”


We can feel deeply conflicted when following our hearts doesn’t line up with what we or others think we should be doing. When we reach the proverbial and often frightening “fork in the road,” we have a choice to be true to ourselves. Gangaji begins this meeting speaking about the difference between being normal and being natural, and then shares one of the key “fork in the road” moments she experienced in her life.


“It’s a lie that any thing gives you fulfilling, true, deep joy. Joy is your nature.” We can...
“Universal, absolute awareness is who you are.”

How is it possible to be “certain” of who we are? In the wake of an essential and undeniable experience of our true nature as pure consciousness, doubt usually arises—“Did that really happen? Is it real?” Then, we often look to our thoughts for the answer. In this powerful dialogue, Gangaji helps us see past the efforts of the rational, conditioned mind to grasp to the doubtless recognition of what is always here.
“Universal, absolute awareness is who you are.” How is it possible to be “certain” of who...

“The error is that you are not what can be thought, or perceived, or felt. You are that which all thoughts, all perceptions, all feelings, appear in.”


In countless ways, we search for a “better” identity to replace who we think we are. This month, Gangaji speaks to the trap of misidentification. How is it possible to see your true face? Where are you looking for yourself?

“The error is that you are not what can be thought, or perceived, or felt. You are that which all...
“This is not psychotherapy. This is not anti-psychotherapy. This has nothing to do with fixing you. This has to do with discovering fully and completely what is always here and was always here in the worst moments, in the best moments.”

In this monologue recorded during a recent retreat at Fallen Leaf Lake, Gangaji delineates the crucial difference between psychotherapy and self-inquiry and the distinct purposes they serve in our lives.
“This is not psychotherapy. This is not anti-psychotherapy. This has nothing to do with fixing...
“This is an invitation to stop. To not create who you are. To simply be yourself with no idea or memory of who or what that is. Just to be. Then to see, how vast this just is.”

Our lived experience in a human body gives rise to a wide range of phenomena that include thoughts, feelings, and images of ourselves. Thoughts, feelings, sensations, or memories are not a problem unless that is how we define or identify who we are. In this potent inquiry, Gangaji points to the complex subtleties of ego that perpetuate human suffering. She invites us to stop overlooking the source of all phenomena to discover our true face and “the absolute simplicity of peace.”

Show notes: https://gangaji.org/prison-program-campaign-2023
“This is an invitation to stop. To not create who you are. To simply be yourself with no idea or...
“When you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are this stillness, that you are this awareness, then it doesn’t matter what is on the surface.”

Human beings have a profound desire to realize a lasting peace. The question is where are we looking, and what desire are we actually chasing? In this very relatable exchange, we see how recurring desires to avoid pain, end confusion, or gain clarity are simply the play of the mind. True and lasting peace remains undisturbed by any phenomena, and we can discover that in our willingness to simply meet what is arising.
“When you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are this stillness, that you are this...



“To be nothing, to be nobody, is to realize who you are.”

This month on Being Yourself, we share one the first meetings Gangaji held in Byron Bay, Australia. This is the land of the Arakwal Bumberlin people, who have lived in the coastal landscape around the Byron Bay area for at least 22,000 years. Gangaji begins by acknowledging how the ancient Aboriginal peoples have blessed our lives. Then she invites us to end our search for spiritual superiority to simply be who we truly are—no “thing” at all.


“To be nothing, to be nobody, is to realize who you are.” This month on Being Yourself, we...


Discovering the truth of who you are doesn’t require a certificate of realization. You don’t need to understand Sanskrit or Advaita to know the truth of who you are. The only requirement is the willingness to investigate the thought of who you are. This month on Being Yourself, Gangaji shares what she calls a “sutra from the streets”—a teaching story about the power of inquiry and what is possible for all.


Discovering the truth of who you are doesn’t require a certificate of realization. You don’t...


This month on Being Yourself, we return to the summer of 1993 in Boulder, Colorado. Gangaji speaks about the opportunity to break the trance of fear by directly experiencing fear itself.


“This is a kind of contraction against life. Direct experience is the medicine, the remedy. When you really experience fear, fear is not fear.”





This month on Being Yourself, we return to the summer of 1993 in Boulder, Colorado. Gangaji...
“For our purpose, which is the purpose of discovering the truth of who one is, let us forget why one is and discover who.”

We often are seeking answers to our questions of “why” and “how.” Gangaji invites us to turn our attention to the most important question we can ask ourselves on the spiritual path, the question that can lead to self-recognition and the endless discovery of the depths of who one truly is.
“For our purpose, which is the purpose of discovering the truth of who one is, let us...


“If your attention is on the story of how you do not deserve what is being offered, this is the continuation of self-denial.  There is an open door in this jail, in this prison.”


When we seek freedom on the spiritual path, it is often freedom from our mind or mental activity. In this podcast, we focus how we can lock ourselves up inside a mental prison, not recognizing the door that is always open.




“If your attention is on the story of how you do not deserve what is being offered, this is the...
ALL EPISODES >>

Featured Episodes from A Conversation with Gangaji

When a strong emotion like anger or fear or sadness pops up there seems to be an automatic impulse to get rid of it, or at least to try and manage it. It's as if these feelings of ours are something dangerous, something that might overwhelm us, or at the very least, something that interferes with our lives. Is there a way to transcend these emotions of ours? What if we choose not to do anything with them? Is giving up the habit of trying to escape them a doorway to liberation?
When a strong emotion like anger or fear or sadness pops up there seems to be an automatic impulse...
Our question this month is: What do we do when we are faced with the unthinkable? Perhaps it comes in the form of a difficult diagnosis, the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, or just witnessing man's inhumanity to man. How do we find a sense of love and peace when what we are experiencing feels like struggle? How do we know when to hang on and when to let go? And do people who have had profound spiritual awakenings experience difficulty differently than others? Gangaji's answer to that question is both surprising and humbling.
Our question this month is: What do we do when we are faced with the unthinkable? Perhaps it comes...
It goes without saying that great value can be found in therapy and other forms of self-inspection. There is huge relief in facing our dark sides, healing our deeper wounds and finally feeling emotions we have been running from. But is there a way that we can work on ourselves and still miss the deeper freedom that we are actually in search of? Our conversation this month is, where does therapy end and and self-realization begin?
It goes without saying that great value can be found in therapy and other forms of self-inspection....
Some people might experience it as insecurity and for others it might feel like outright self-hatred. The desire to protect ourselves from this feeling of unworthiness shows up in different ways. There are those who try to outrun it by building themselves up in the hope that no one will see their flaws, while others tear themselves down as proof of this not-enoughness. Either can be seen as an avoidance of actually experiencing the core of what we perhaps fear ourselves to be. What would a happen if we gave up on trying to be "enough"?
Some people might experience it as insecurity and for others it might feel like outright...
ALL EPISODES >>

Featured Episodes from Epiphany

Episode #7
The Fierce Fire of Grace
Stevie Leppard had everything anyone could want on the outside, lots of money, fancy cars, a successful career, but on the inside his own self-hatred felt intolerable. Suicide seemed like the only way out. It was grace that would eventually save him, but it was a fierce grace.  How Stevie would go on to meet Gangaji is just part of his amazing story.
Stevie Leppard had everything anyone could want on the outside, lots of money, fancy cars, a...
Episode #5
Saved by a Poem
When you see Kim Rosen on stage performing poetry, she exudes a distinct sense of certainty. But the truth is that for a period of her life she suffered from a particular type of fear that was profoundly painful. Her prayer to be released from it's confines would be answered two different times. And both times that grace came in the form of a poem. In the end, Kim’s story wasn’t about making her fear go away. It was about meeting it and doing life anyway, in a most extraordinary way.
When you see Kim Rosen on stage performing poetry, she exudes a distinct sense of certainty. But the...
Episode #4
The Last Hustle: From Impossible Darkness to Unthinkable Light
Kenny Johnson was trapped in a life that seemed impossible to escape. You could call it a kind of hell. More than twenty years in prison, sometimes just fighting for his life. What he wanted was just to be free. What happened to him was beyond his wildest imagination. This month's epiphany story is about amazing grace. It's about discovering light in the darkest of places.
Kenny Johnson was trapped in a life that seemed impossible to escape. You could call it a kind of...
Episode #3
The Bridge Between Love and Hate
In October of 1998, a talented musician named Craig Johnson, along with millions around the world, was rocked to his core by the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard. It was a hate crime, a hate crime against gays. In the years that followed Matthew Shepard's death, although they never met, he and Craig would become brothers in the deepest sense.  At the core of Craig's story is the question, is love present in the midst of the unthinkable?
In October of 1998, a talented musician named Craig Johnson, along with millions around the world,...
Episode #2
The Medicine Woman
Mica Carew comes from a long lineage of medicine women. Her grandmother taught her that if you quiet the mind you can hear another person's body.  And from the age of nine, that's the medicine she practiced.  In her twenties, she turned her back on her native medicine.  It was a sincere and desperate prayer for help that took her on a journey she never could have imagined.
Mica Carew comes from a long lineage of medicine women. Her grandmother taught her that if you quiet...
Episode #1
Teachings From Grief
Trained as a hospice nurse, Carole Downing held the act of tending to people as they died as an honor and a privilege.   In her early forties, the mother of a young son, the unexpected death of her husband forced Carole to face death in a way she had never done before.  What she learned in the midst of her grief is a lesson for us all.
Trained as a hospice nurse, Carole Downing held the act of tending to people as they died as an...
ALL EPISODES >>
MEDIA LIbrary

For access to all podcast series, all episodes join the With Gangaji Media Library. Plus videos, blogs, courses and more. Learn More

Free Episodes of Being Yourself

Free Episodes of Epiphany

Free Episodes of A Conversation with Gangaji

Community Video Screening
Sunday, January 21st 11:00 AM PST
This is a block of text. Double-click this text to edit it.
Theme: Community Video
Join us for a monthly community video screening hosted by Gangaji staff members. More...
with gangaji
A sacred space to tell the deepest truth

Join Gangaji and the global community in this intimate and potent online environment for self-discovery. True support for living heartfully and authentically. Learn More

“I am here for you. We are here for each other. We are all in this together.”
file-emptydownloadexit-up