Being Yourself | The Choice to Suffer (or not)

“We have overlooked what was actually innocent and was called stupid. We lost our stupidity and in that we lost our heart. Yet, we are haunted by the fear that we are still actually stupid.” We fear being stupid or foolish and try to be brilliant and clever. It is an aspect of our human drive for survival. In this episode of Being Yourself, Gangaji speaks to the unnecessary suffering that can be created through the mind’s power to distinguish, delineate, and classify with ever greater subtlety. Without making that power wrong or bad, what if for just one moment, we give up that power and embrace our "stupidity?" What might be discovered?

 “You cannot learn the Self, you cannot learn Consciousness, you cannot learn Love, you cannot learn Trust, but you can learn how you deny that.” After an essential experience of self-realization, we can re-identify with the definitions and concepts we hold about ourselves in our mind. How do we resolve the paradox of recognizing oneself as pure consciousness and being human, living an ordinary life? In this lively exchange, Gangaji speaks about the ways we fall back into patterns of egoic identification.    Learn more about Gangaji  Gangaji's Event and Program Schedule About Finding Home and Gangaji's Media Library  

“What deepens is the mind’s surrender because the mind’s whole job has been to never surrender.” Even in the midst of uncertain times, we can recognize that what is always at peace is, in truth, who we are. How is it possible for us to retreat for just a moment from our mental strategies rooted in survival to recognize what we are overlooking—the very spaciousness of being. Can you let go of what you’re trying to get? Can you meet what you’re trying to get rid of?     Learn more about Gangaji, her schedule of events, and monthly online program and media library.  This podcast is funded entirely by donations. You can support this podcast with your contribution here. 

"The way you can discover directly that your story is an illusion is to try it on as if it were real. The magic trick is exposed in that moment."   Rather than address the question “why do we suffer,” Gangaji speaks to “how” we suffer, and how we perpetuate that suffering in our lives and in the world. In this exchange, we see a simple inquiry can lift our mental veils and offer the immediate opportunity to set aside any story of suffering we may cling to unnecessarily.   Learn more about Gangaji's monthly online meetings, forum, and media library. Access all the resources available on Gangaji's website at gangaji.org

"Just as you are right now, present yourself fully, nakedly with all of your imperfections and no hope of cleaning them up. Then see what is, see what welcomes you just as you are." As human beings, we have a natural egoic desire to improve ourselves. It is part of our survival mechanism, but when that desire turns into an endless search for perfection, we overlook what is already whole.  What if for one moment you consciously choose to stop all efforts of self-improvement and simply meet yourself just as you are? What fear arises to be met?  In this recording Gangaji reads a letter that dives into this essential invitation to stop. It is an opportunity to see through the lie that "something is missing” and recognize the true depths of who you truly, already are. Learn more about Finding Home, Gangaji's new six-part audio documentary about her life story, her schedule of online and in-person events, and as well as how you can support this podcast with your donation.    gangaji.org

  “I would never suggest that you get rid of the longing. Meet the longing, fall into the longing, and you are laughing, laughing, laughing.”   Perhaps you have had an experience of longing that won’t go away no matter how you try to satisfy it or get rid of it. That very desire may actually be pointing to a deeper desire—a longing for truth, for freedom, for resolution. In this episode of Being Yourself, Gangaji shares how we can meet the longing directly and in that recognize the longing is actually you calling yourself home.    Learn more about Finding Home, Gangaji's new six-part audio documentary about her life story, her schedule of online and in-person events, and as well as how you can support this podcast with your donation.    gangaji.org  

“I don’t have confidence in my personality, but I do have absolute, total confidence in the Truth of who I am. And that is available for you because it is the same I Am.” Quieting or shutting down the voice of self-hatred running in our minds often brings us to the spiritual search, and in that, it can be an ally. We may fear thoughts or feelings of self-hatred, but if we don’t want that merciless voice to rule our lives, we must question it, challenge it, and ultimately meet it directly. In this episode, Gangaji shares her own meeting with self-hatred and her great discovery.  Just in this episode: Gangaji joins host Barbara Denempont to introduce this potent monologue from the archives. She also announces a new six-part audio documentary, Finding Home, that traces her journey to realizing true freedom. It will be released in the With Gangaji Media Library on May 5.  Learn more about Gangaji, her schedule, and programs including Finding Home at gangaji.org. 

“True inquiry is examining all of those places where you have assigned your identity. One of the spiritual identities is the one who is enlightened now, finally.” For millennia, human beings from all walks of life have sought after what has been referred to as “enlightenment.” In this potent monologue, Gangaji offers a fresh inquiry into the nature of enlightenment, the trap we fall into when we seek it, and the possibility of recognizing what is more essential than any state of enlightenment and unenlightenment. Learn more about Gangaji, her schedule of events, and program at gangaji.org

Papaji said, “It takes one twelfth of a second, and then your life is never the same.” Our spiritual search often begins with a causeless moment of true revelation that stops us in our tracks. In just a split second, what is whole and permanent is immediately recognized.  As the powerful feelings, insights and emotions connected to that sublime moment subside, we often begin our search again hoping for the impossible—to repeat that experience. As this exchange demonstrates, inquiry can show us the way out of that mental maze to discover what doesn’t come and go.    Learn more about Gangaji, her calendar of events, and other programs at gangaji.org. 

“If you are willing to surrender for a moment any definition of yourself that arises however high or low, you will directly discover what lies underneath.” Is there a relationship between our self-definitions and the desire to control? What happens when we set aside our definitions, is it freeing or frightening? In this monologue and exchange, Gangaji encourages us to set aside all definitions in a moment of self-inquiry to discover what is free of all definitions—you. Learn more about Gangaji and her monthly online gatherings and free community video screenings.