Guru Swami-G was born March 24, 1950, and started the search to find God and Truth at a young age. Her journey began in earnest when at the age of 18 while within an esoteric order Kundalini was awakened during the evening prayers blessings. The ongoing journey took numerous twists and turns through everything from new age philosophies - scientology - deep bible study - through a very eclectic scenic unfolding. Life brought visiting Navaho medicine men for ceremonial undertakings to being one of...
Aug 27, 2010•1 hr 51 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Richard Quentin 'Rick' Laird was a jazz musician, born on 5 February 1941 and died on July 4, 2021. He was a bass player best known for his place in The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Laird was born in Dublin, Ireland. He played music from a young age and enrolled for guitar and piano lessons. He started playing jazz after moving to New Zealand at the age of 16 with his father. He played guitar in jam bands in New Zealand before buying an upright bass. After extensive touring in New Zealand he moved to S...
Aug 19, 2010•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Gary Crowley was born in 1965 and was raised in Massachusetts as a practical-minded New Englander. He graduated from Stanford University in 1987 with degrees in Economics and Political Science. At a young age, he was attracted to Eastern philosophy and spiritual writings that seemed to offer a glimpse of something greater than the life he had known growing up. However, by 2001, Gary finally gave up on all forms of spiritual seeking after decades on the path. He surrendered under the weight of th...
Aug 12, 2010•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Until I was nine, I lived in one of New York City's "melting pot" neighborhoods, where a wonderful mix of freely mingling cultures, languages and races welcomed me into life on Earth. God, or my conception of God, was always at the center of my life and I conversed freely with the being I had inwardly invented to right wrongs, heal whatever hurt and generally keep the world just and flowing. Facing East I attended college on the West Coast (Portland and San Francisco) in the late sixties, where ...
Aug 07, 2010•1 hr 31 min•Season 1Ep. 31
The moment for me was instantaneous. The old me died literally, the new “me” emerged. More accurately stated, awakening took over the life of Doc Roberts as if this worldly life was stamped onto the infinite. Absolutely everything changed from that moment, yet all strangely remained just the same as it was. I’ve been a seeker since the age of 5. I knew a profound truth existed just beneath the surface of the everyday, though somehow ever illusive. Thanks to my capital “D”, Dark Night of the Soul...
Aug 07, 2010•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Chuck Hillig is a modern spiritual teacher, author and licensed psychotherapist whose clarity of expression has earned him the admiration and praise of many notable writers and lecturers in this area. Chuck writes personally and directly about the essence of non-dual spirituality and presents its astonishing truths to the average reader in ways that are totally unique, completely accessible and absolutely life-changing. Using his studies in both eastern philosophy and western psychology, Chuck’s...
Jul 22, 2010•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 30
This “insubstantial figure in the dream, pointing to the Divine Dreamer,” has lived and studied the nondual essence of our sacred traditions for 40 years since an utterly life-changing, spontaneous awakening to God or Reality in his 16th year in the hills of Southern California. Fortunately, Timothy met many enlightened masters, especially in Advaita Vedanta (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Annamalai Swami, and others among Sri Ramana Maharshi’s immediate followers, Amma Amritanandamayi, Anandama...
Jul 15, 2010•1 hr 52 min•Season 1Ep. 27
In my youth, I was not prone to easy laughter or the common jokes that circulated among human beings. I lived in a world all by myself, thinking, feeling and being led innocently toward a life of relentless spiritual evolution. It would be many years before my spiritual sadhana, or spiritual practices, would reveal the memory of my inherent oneness with the Divine. My parents did not hesitate to inform me that my destiny was to attend “college,” a word they spoke with joy and enthusiasm, emotion...
Jun 29, 2010•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Rahasya is a mystic, physician, spiritual teacher and author who has been working with people for more than 33 years. Meeting his master in 1980 revolutionized his life and led to a deep understanding of his being. Rahasya's teaching is simple, profound and deeply transformative. http://www.livingunity.com/ Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 6/23/10. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Rahasya 00:02:34 - A Life of Travel and Freedom 00:05:35 - A Journey to India: From...
Jun 25, 2010•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 26
As a child, I had many experiences of the limitless side of my Being, but perhaps nothing extraordinary. I think most people have such experiences quite naturally. As I grew older, I felt increasingly overwhelmed by my own wounds and by all the separation and denial I felt inside and out. By the time I left grammar school, I was confused and repressed. But I was telling myself and the world I was fine and everything was OK. By the time I’d reached my teens, I was in crisis and I found myself rea...
Jun 19, 2010•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 24
(Photo taken in front of the American Gothic House in Iowa and is jokingly meant to emulate the famous painting American Gothic. We don't usually dress like that! Or hold pitchforks!) Richard Miller hosts a interview show called Never Not Here. Somehow we connected and he asked to interview me, not necessarily as an awakened being or teacher, but as a fellow spiritual aspirant. In the summer of 1967, when I was 17 years old, I was driving through Westport, CT with three friends in the car. One o...
Jun 11, 2010•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 23
After thirty years of seeking liberation, James Braha had nearly given up on finding fulfillment. His mind began to change, however, when he encountered the Hindu/Vedic philosophy of non-duality. Upon reading “Sailor” Bob Adamson’s book What’s Wrong with Right Now Unless You Think About It, James immediately invited Bob to come from Australia to share his knowledge with Americans. For five glorious weeks in the summer of 2004, Bob and his wife stayed with the Braha family at their home in Florid...
May 21, 2010•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Am a Zoroastrian by birth but a theosophist by inclination; was educated in South India as a civil engineer and worked in Pakistan from 1950. I learned TM in 1974 from an American teacher who introduced it for the first time in the country. Realizing its great value, I traveled to Switzerland in early 1975 and graduated as a teacher of TM under the guidance of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who had popularized its practice in the West. As the only teacher in Pakistan initially, I organized the TM Movemen...
Apr 29, 2010•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Igal Moria was infected with the spiritual bug in his teens has no plans of recovering. He joined Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at 19 (in 1973) and was involved with the TM movement for 25 years, working with Maharishi on developing courses and course materials on Maharishi Vedic Science and world religions. He was a member of Andrew Cohen’s core body of students. Summary and transcript of this interview Interview recorded 4/21/2010 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction: Buddha at the Gas Pump...
Apr 24, 2010•1 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Summary and Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 4/7/2010. Interview with George and Mary Foster YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:06:09 - The Power of Hearing in Consciousness 00:09:44 - The Realization of Being Stuck in the Body 00:13:53 - The Ultimate Connection with All of Existence 00:18:00 - The Experience of "I" in Consciousness 00:21:09 - Awareness of the Self and the World 00:23:20 - The Natural State of Man is Seeking More 00:25:56 ...
Apr 08, 2010•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 17
John Speer is a spiritual teacher and psychotherapist whose awakening journey is grounded in authenticity, acceptance, and integration. John candidly shares how his deep transformation unfolded—not through seeking exotic states or escaping daily life, but by embracing his full humanity. 🌟 Topics explored include: The nature of spiritual awakening and nonduality How trauma and shadow work support real awakening The danger of spiritual bypassing The value of ordinary experiences on the path The r...
Apr 01, 2010•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 16
I remember having the thought at age 26, “what am I going to do, I will never make it through the second year of graduate school”? Having just completed my first year in training as a psychiatric social worker it was obvious that I felt more like a patient, who needed intense help, than the person charged with helping others. At that moment, I became a seeker. The subsequent initiation into Transcendental Meditation forever set the direction of my life in ways I could not have imagined and it wa...
Mar 18, 2010•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 15
A lifelong seeker of spiritual awakening, Sandra has deeply applied and correlated many teachings, methods, disciplines, healings, experiments, adventures, and views of every kind to forge a comprehensive understanding of human identity. She attended the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, an interdisciplinary program, experientially based, and purposed toward personal transformation. Her investigations led her to become a devotee of Adi Da Samraj between 1986 and 1996. She then began studyin...
Mar 07, 2010•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 13
bax (or baxishta if he’s feeling uppity) does not consider himself fully awakened, but knows for sure that he’s recognized glimpses of the self. He says this puts him in an awkward position and insists on starting off with this apology, if what i’ve seen is true then i’m a hypocrite every time i speak about it no better than the man who having awoken briefly from his dream rushes back to tell his friends what he saw “you’re all in my mind” he informs them and they laugh at him twice once for bei...
Mar 07, 2010•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Pam Keene currently resides in Fairfield, Iowa with her husband Brad. A conscious seeker since the age of nineteen, she has been influenced by a variety of spiritual teachers. However, her sacred marriage of ten years has provided her with the most profound education so far. And she is still learning. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 2/10/2010. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Buddha at the Gas Pump Introduction 00:04:32 - Pam and Brad's Awakening Journey 00:08:54 - Letting go o...
Mar 07, 2010•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Based on this 2010 interview for Buddha at the Gas Pump, Christopher Roberts is a spiritual seeker who experienced a profound awakening around that time. Growing up in Peoria, Illinois, Christopher explored a wide array of religious and spiritual traditions, from paganism and Gnosticism to Zen Buddhism and “A Course in Miracles.” This diverse background shaped a complex belief system focused on enlightenment and spiritual progress. Christopher’s pivotal shift came after reading an interview with...
Mar 07, 2010•55 min•Season 1Ep. 10
I had been a seeker for most of my life. I began to meditate in 1973 and followed that path for the next 28 years. In 1983 I had a very intense Near Death Experience that left me with a very unattached view on the seriousness of everything. A separation and subsequent divorce in 1991 left me without a reason to continue doing what I had been doing. After visiting Fairfield, Iowa twice a year from 1989, my new wife Cindy and I moved here in 1999, as it was the next obvious thing to do. Our old li...
Mar 06, 2010•1 hr 36 min
Sue Berkey is a multi-talented artist, spiritual practitioner, and teacher based in Fairfield, Iowa, where she has lived for over 25 years. Sue is recognized for her deep contentment with life in Fairfield, preferring her peaceful and fulfilling routine to travel or seeking excitement elsewhere. Artistic Career: Sue holds an MFA in filmmaking and sculpture, expressing herself primarily through sculpture—her first artistic love—but also through film, painting, and drawing. Locally, she is known f...
Mar 06, 2010•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Rev. Winn’s experience is that the Kingdom of Heaven is a state of higher consciousness. He focuses on understanding and experiencing the Christian mystical tradition in terms of the clearly defined states of consciousness found in the Vedic tradition. He was the senior pastor of Unity Church of Fairfield IA for 12 years and for six years has been the senior pastor of the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. He has worked extensively on the subtle process of overcoming the Three Temptations of Jesus C...
Mar 06, 2010•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Fax and Sharon Gilbert met on a Transcendental Meditation teachers' course in 1972 in Santa Barbara California and have been teaching together ever since. They’ve administered meditation centers and retreat facilities and inspired and taught thousands of people to meditate throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. They became involved in the Waking Down work in 2002. Several awakenings and dark nights of the soul later they became mentors and then teachers of this work in 20...
Mar 06, 2010•1 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 5
We feel like we live a pretty ordinary life, yet in our 54-year marriage and in our working lives (Steve's a retired electrical contractor and Winifred is an artist and poet) grace, challenge and transformation play themselves out in endless variety. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 12/9/2009. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Definition of Spiritual Awakening 00:05:21 - Commissioned Paintings and Intuitive Portraits 00:09:56 - The Awakening Experience 00:15:16 -...
Mar 06, 2010•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Stan Kendz (Sta) is a popular experiential, motivational, and business coach/mentor who has been guiding advanced personal-achievement seminars at the corporate and individual levels for more than 35 years. He is a published author of numerous audiobooks that enliven intuitive self-development, professional success, and personal fulfillment. In 1994, after a timeless and transformative experience of pure ‘Being’, which he refers to as “our true immortal Nature”, he co-authored a book on consciou...
Mar 06, 2010•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 3
I was born in Germany in 1940 and have lived in France, Greece, India, China, and seven states within the U.S. When I was fifteen, I taught my first class of ESL and, eight years later, began to develop my own approach. I’ve taught Literature, Writing, Creative Writing (publishing a couple of chapbooks of poetry) and have teaching experience at every level of instruction from pre-school to grad school. I’ve also taught History, Linguistics, German, French, and Russian. Two Ph.D.s—one in English,...
Mar 06, 2010•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 2
When I recorded this first interview, my intention was to produce a radio show, so this is the pilot for that. I started this interview by reading a prepared introduction to the series, which at the time I was calling "Awakenings". George Foster: George Foster is a retired book cover designer who spent much of his life in Fairfield, Iowa, both immersed in the local spiritual community and professionally designing covers for authors. Deeply committed to spiritual practice, George experienced a la...
Feb 22, 2010•53 min•Season 1Ep. 1
