1724: Stop Hugging the Cactus: Why the Soul Is Still Hungry

Live from Govardhan Eco-Village in India, this episode unfolds as a grounded, unscripted exploration of why material life grows stale—and why spiritual sound never does. With Kaustubha away, Raghunath is joined by Pranapriya and a circle of pilgrims whose stories naturally reveal how bhakti works in real life: not as blind belief, but as lived, repeatable realization. Drawing from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Raghunath reflects on the "shadow world" of material attachment, the restless mind that can't be satisfied by consumption, and the Bhagavatam's promise that devotion becomes an irrevocable fact through regular hearing and service. Along the way, themes of recovery, responsibility, pilgrimage, and purposeful work weave together into a clear message: happiness doesn't come from feeding the shadow—it comes from feeding the soul. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Some people avoid pain with distractions. In this episode, the Wisdom of the Sages community does something far rarer: they learn how to move through emotional heaviness with faith—without rushing, bypassing, or pretending everything is fine. From inner churning and grief to confusion about work, purpose, and spiritual," Raghunath and Kaustubha offer a grounded bhakti lens for processing the darker, harder seasons of life and letting them deepen—not derail—your practice. Recorded live during retreat time at Govardhan Eco Village, this Q&A is a reminder that spiritual life isn't about having a perfectly curated mind. It's about learning where to place your shelter when the mind gets loud, when the heart feels tender, and when life forces you to face what you'd rather avoid. Key Highlights: * How to move through emotional heaviness with faith—without trying to fix yourself or rush the process * Why difficult seasons can strengthen faith in Kṛṣṇa and loosen false faith in the material world * Practical guidance for handling spiritual "shoulds" (cultural expectations, opinions, mixed messages) without losing the main thing * What "surrender" looks like in real time: Kṛṣṇa as protector, provider, and the steady center when everything else shakes * Meaningful work vs. paying the bills: how to stay devotional in an imperfect workplace—and keep your integrity intact * The role of community when life gets hard: why you're not meant to process heavy things alone 🌟 Subscribe for daily Bhakti Yoga wisdom, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam insights, and real-life spiritual practice. 🎧 Tune in now! #ILoveCrying #BhaktiYoga #WisdomOfTheSages #SrimadBhagavatam #EmotionalHealing #SpiritualGrowth #Surrender #Kirtan #KrishnaConsciousness #FaithThroughHardTimes #DevotionalService #GovardhanEcoVillage ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Krishna's "coincidences" didn't calm down—they escalated. Part Two of Meet the Pilgrims picks up right where the last episode left off: real people, real spiritual detours, and that unmistakable moment when you stop chasing "success" and start getting redirected by grace. Live from Govardhan Eco Village, this continuation brings even kirtanf the Wisdom of the Sages pilgrimage into view—hardcore kids from the punk scene, yoga teachers, musicians, academics, kirtan leaders, and seekers who thought they were just "improving themselves"… until bhakti started improving them.     And sometimes it's a former corporate success story singing kirtan, wandering musicians Googling "kirtan near me" and ending up singing for Radhanath Swami, and a PhD student realizing the ladder of achievement was leaning against the wrong wall. And it's not just about "how I got here." It's about what happens after you arrive—when humility opens the channel, association does its work, and spiritual life stops being theory and becomes transformation. Sometimes the miracle is a "secret temple." Sometimes it's a new marriage that begins with a second-date kirtan. And sometimes it's a former corporate success story singing kirtan on the streets of Mumbai because he finally meant it when he said, "Teach me how to be a devotee." ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

This one is all about spiritual journeys—the stories that bring people onto the Wisdom of the Sages pilgrimage: unlikely beginnings, messy detours, and those moments where a single step toward bhakti turns into a full-on sprint from the universe. This episode is a rapid-fire parade of the spiritual plot twists of real humans with real backstories… getting quietly (and sometimes loudly) redirected by grace.  You'll meet the community behind the podcast—teachers, therapists, travelers, skeptics, seekers, punks, adult entertainers—each one carrying a different "how I got here," and somehow arriving at the same place: kirtan, sādhana, and a new definition of what it means to come home. If you love pilgrimage stories, spiritual synchronicities, and the kind of bhakti that sneaks up on you like a monk with a stack of books—this one's for you. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Magic happens in the last place you'd expect it: a Mumbai hospital where patients don't want to be discharged and staff don't want to go home. Recorded live from Govardhan Eco Village, Raghunath welcomes author Radha Bhakti to unpack the astonishing culture of Bhaktivedanta Hospital on Mira Road—an all-faith, all-heart care facility built on a radical idea: treat the body, mind, and soul… and put people over profits. What started with four idealistic medical students serving Mumbai's slums has grown into a 300-bed integrative hospital where kirtan can be heard in the stairwells, spiritual care teams befriend patients as their "job," and even end-of-life care includes the kind of emotional closure most of us don't realize we're missing until it's too late. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 ********************************************************************* Find Radha Bhakti's book here: India: https://tulsibooks.com/product/magic-on-mira-road-stories-from-the-bhaktivedanta-hospital/ Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Mira-Road-Bhaktivedanta-Hospital/dp/1880404621/ Also Bookwrights Press in the US: https://www.bookwrightspress.com/wp1/product/magic-on-mira-road-stories-from-the-bhaktivedanta-hospital/ Canada: https://a.co/d/fz5AlIW Worldwide: AMAZON

A Bhagavad-gītā-level reality check: the world we experience isn't "illusion" in the lazy, dismissive sense—it's illusion like a reflection. Consistent. Coherent. Convincing. And still untouchable. Like an upside-down tree mirrored in water, it looks real enough to reach for… but you can't taste its fruit. A reflected rose has no aroma. And a reflected life, no matter how intensely we chase it, can't deliver the ananda we're actually built for. But the reflection does point to a reality worth pursuing. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

A higher spiritual taste doesn't negotiate with desire—it demotes it. From Govardhan Ecovillage in Maharashtra, Raghunath and Kaustubha riff on William James (father of modern psychology), the bhakti renaissance in India, and the strange way spiritual culture can make renunciation feel effortless: not by suppression, but by a new attraction taking the center of the heart. Along the way: kirtan "clubbing," deep-rooted devotion that suddenly shoots up like bamboo, and a reminder from the Bhāgavatam that when Krishna's touches the soul, even heaven, power, siddhis, and liberation start to look like broken glass next to the real thing. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

A modern seeker walks away from a high-pressure career and an ancient Sanskrit text tells a story about giving up one's egoistic false strength. Recorded live from Govardhan Eco-Village, this episode brings together Grace's journey from corporate life to devotional service and Krishna's confrontation with the serpent Kāliya—revealing how inner clarity often arrives when our usual strategies fail. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Six years ago we hit "record" with shaky internet and big dreams—then a lucky break, and a global lockdown helped turn Wisdom of the Sages into a daily lifeline for thousands of listeners.   In this special 6-Year Anniversary episode—recorded live from Govardhan Ecovillage, India—listeners step up to share how daily Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, bhakti-yoga, kirtan, and satsang pulled them out of anxiety, addiction, trauma, and spiritual confusion—and into something steady, practical, and strangely joyful. From Berlin to Manhattan to Asheville, you'll hear how the "sages in the pages" become real when the teachings move from information to transformation. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Self-care culture tells us to treat ourselves, embrace our flaws, and obsess over our inner world—but the research on happiness points in the opposite direction. In this episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha explore how bhakti-yoga reframes humility and self-esteem, and why real relief comes from realizing you are not the body, the mind, or the story you've been defending. With humor, psychology, and ancient wisdom, they reveal how service, purpose, and spiritual identity dissolve anxiety and comparison—and then pivot into the to Srimad Bhagavatam's Kāliya-līlā, where the residents of Vṛndāvana become so absorbed in Kṛṣṇa that fear, grief, and love explode beyond anything ordinary psychology can measure. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************