This the last episode of Sea Change, our mini-series on the experiences that have changed us. Ryan shares his profound experience of getting to know God, sharing his journey from recovery to a life of service as an ER physician. If you or someone you love is at risk of harming themselves, or needs some help with mental health, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255 or just dial ‘988.’ For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a communit...
Oct 15, 2024•45 min
Sea Change is our mini-series on the experiences that have changed us. One seeker shares her experience, over voicemail, about finding grace through divorce. Interested in joining Efforts for HERstory ? We have lots planned for this upcoming month! For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live workshops, courses, and more! Chinmaya Miss...
Oct 14, 2024•13 min
Sea Change is our mini-series on the experiences that have changed us. Many of us know the story of immigrating to the United States... but what about deciding to move back to India? In this episode, we're talking to Praveen about caregiving through challenges and keeping the faith that our context is custom-designed for our content. For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Fa...
Sep 22, 2024•31 min
Sea Change is our mini-series on the experiences that have changed us. How do love ourselves when we are alone? In this episode, we're talking to Prem about how a period with the least external movement -- the COVID-19 pandemic -- offered the deepest internal transformation. Want to join one of our 2024-25 weekly courses for self-development? Join our free open home on Sep 16 to connect with our Guides and learn more. For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provide...
Sep 12, 2024•31 min
We're exploring your stories of transition through the lens of Vedanta. Welcome to Sea Change, a mini-series on the experiences that have changed us. In this episode, we're talking to Shri Sumanji about discovering purpose during a time of deep transformation and deep loss. Want to join one of our 2024-25 weekly courses for self-development? Join one of our free open homes on Sep 7 or Sep 16 to connect with our Guides and learn more. For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission...
Sep 05, 2024•37 min
We're exploring your stories of transition through the lens of Vedanta. Welcome to Sea Change, a mini-series on the experiences that have transformed us. In this episode, we're talking to Sudarshan about embracing independence and grounding into purpose during college. Want to join one of our 2024-25 weekly courses for self-development? Join one of our free open homes on Aug 29, Sep 7, or Sep 16 to connect with our Guides and learn more. Want to reflect on a transition in your life through the l...
Aug 29, 2024•28 min
We're exploring your stories of transition through the lens of Vedanta. Welcome to Sea Change, a mini-series on the experiences that have transformed us. In this episode, we're talking to Juhi about staying true to herself in college. Want to join one of our 2024-25 weekly courses for self-development? Join one of our free open homes to connect with our Guides and learn more. Want to reflect on a transition in your life through the lens of Vedanta? Leave us a voice message at https://speakpipe.c...
Aug 24, 2024•29 min
Before we begin our next season, we're exploring your stories of transition through the lens of Vedanta. Welcome to Sea Change, a mini-series on the experiences that have transformed us. In this first episode, we're talking to Lavanya about a moment in her life that demanded taking a pause. Want to reflect on a transition in your life through the lens of Vedanta? Leave us a voice message at https://speakpipe.com/livevedanta . For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara...
Aug 14, 2024•23 min
We're producing a short series on transitions of all kinds... and we need your help! Share your story of a meaningful transition in your life through the lens of Vedanta at https://www.speakpipe.com/livevedanta . Stories can be anonymous, if needed, and shared over one or two voice messages. For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more updates about upcoming live...
Aug 08, 2024•2 min
In this Freedom Talk, originally published in 2022, we ask the questions: What does Sanatana Dharma tell us about women’s rights? What do you do if your parents do not accept or agree with your dreams and aspirations? FREEDOM TALKS are our bite-sized episodes with Vivekji featuring questions from seekers across the world. Want to join Meaningful Mornings? Learn more. For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contempl...
Jul 30, 2024•8 min
FREEDOM TALKS are our bite-sized episodes with Vivekji featuring questions from seekers across the world. In today's episode, we ask the questions: How to deal with expectations from close ones? How to balance time, resources, and effort between serving while focusing on self-development? What is the significance of eclipses, especially during pregnancy? For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, and contemplate. This pod...
Jul 23, 2024•10 min
Welcome to the last episode of Season 6! We feel restricted by life, tangled and wrapped up in the cobwebs of circumstances outside, and the chaos of mental noise inside. But do we realize that we can unlearn our limits by simply disidentifying from what we’re not? Are we prioritizing what’s external and ephemeral, or what’s closest, our own Spirit (atman)? Are we tuning into what’s small and not that important, or what’s biggest, Infinity (brahman)? And finally, have we realized that Freedom (m...
Jul 16, 2024•25 min•Season 6Ep. 30
Our minds have normalized a level of turbulence, of juggling all of life’s uncomfortable circumstances without ever really understanding them. But what are we focusing all our energy on: the changing, or the Changeless? Are we tuned into the noise in our lives, or the Silence that supports (om) them all? Are we stuck in the quicksand of worrying about our experiences, or are we living intentionally enough to feel the Existence (sat) and Awareness (cit) behind them? Are we endlessly trying to cre...
Jul 09, 2024•13 min•Season 6Ep. 29
It's so easy to get wrapped up in the external battle of life. The expectations we have can rob us from becoming fearless (abhaya). We want to control life as much as we can because we think it will make us happy, when really being an observer (saksi) would really help us take control of our internal self. This internal feeling of joy can only come when one can surrender (saranagati). On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity , we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our...
Jul 02, 2024•37 min•Season 6Ep. 28
All of us want to be happy and we do whatever it takes to feel joyous. The problem is we think we can create happiness so we end up going on an emotional roller coaster. This roller coaster can slow down when we increase our inquiry (vichara) and decrease projection. The more we inquire the more we realize the relative is not the absolute which cultivates oneness (advaita) and leads to meditation (dhyana), realization (samadhi), and finally renunciation (sannyasa). On this season of Live Vedanta...
Jun 25, 2024•35 min•Season 6Ep. 27
Most of us are following life’s default script -- wake, eat, work, sleep, repeat. But is this working? We receive lots of advice (upadesha) from those we respect on how to be great, but are we actually following? The greatest revelations (mahavakya) of visionaries are accessible to us, but do we trust in them? There are so many opportunities for receiving inspiration (shravana), for reflection (manana) to have faith in those teachings, and for contemplation (nidhidhyasana) to allow those ideas t...
Jun 18, 2024•35 min•Season 6Ep. 26
Life is a trek through a dark forest. It takes lots of endurance (titiksha) to keep up the energy despite all the discomforts and pinpricks. It takes loads of faith (shraddha) to hold onto what you know is ahead, but can’t yet see. It takes boatloads of absorption (samadhana) to stay focused on the path without succumbing to imaginary fears. And it takes tons of desire, need, yearning (mumukshutva), to pull out the will needed to finish the journey. Only when we have these, and the ability to re...
Jun 13, 2024•30 min•Season 6Ep. 25
We're revisiting another Freedom Talk, one of our bite-sized episodes with Vivekji featuring questions from seekers across the world. In this episode, we ask the questions: What is the difference in reflection and inquiry? What is the difference between contemplation and inquiry? How should a seeker transition from one keystone to the next in their journey of self-development? For those on the journey of self-development, Chinmaya Mission Niagara provides a community forum to listen, reflect, an...
May 21, 2024•9 min
In this next mini episode from our series of Freedom Talks, we ask the questions: How should we handle people who always misinterpret our actions in a negative connotation even though we have good intentions? What to do when we are taken advantage of by others? Can we align our goals with our guide? And if yes, how? How can an introvert handle the expectations of family and friends? Is bhakti a path to become one with the Supreme Self? How do we apply shreyas when we need to make life decisions?...
May 15, 2024•16 min
Many of us probably have probably at some point felt we have/had a reactive personality, we felt distracted, or dull. How can one develop a calmness of body (dama), quietude of mind (sama), and understanding (uparama) so that one can have a more balanced inner world? On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity , we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the be...
Apr 30, 2024•31 min•Season 6Ep. 24
We all feel we can create joy but that only leads to disappointment. When we have guidance in our lives we realize that joy cannot be created. How can one go from acting (karma), to depending (bhakti), to having insight (jnana), to prioritizing (viveka) to independence (vairagya)? How does one step lead to the next on this journey to joy? On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity , we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these...
Apr 23, 2024•34 min•Season 6Ep. 23
Our mind is like a river -- sometimes it’s dashing and splashing with a never-ending flow of uncontrollable tides, and other times it’s calm and serene, slowly passing by like a lazy river. How do we tame this mind, so that we can use it for our own Higher purpose, rather than be controlled by its instinctive, impulsive, lightning-fast strikes? How can we best use the teachings (mantra) of the Scriptures, so that we have a chance of practicing them in daily life? And before that, how do we even ...
Apr 16, 2024•33 min•Season 6Ep. 22
In life we have many ups and downs. Why do we feel moments of happiness and other times moments of sadness or anger? What can we do to always have this feeling of completeness no matter the situation? In this episode Vivekji talks about how our sense of individuality (jiva) leads to attachment or incompleteness and how this cycle continues because of our relationship with the multiverse (jagat) and creator (Ishwara). On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity , we'll be explor...
Apr 09, 2024•32 min•Season 6Ep. 21
Everything and everyone around us are made up of matter (prakriti) but do we depend on these things or people to make us feel complete (purusha)? When we know all is changing and existence is the only constant, then why do we ever feel anything but joy? On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity , we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or lis...
Apr 02, 2024•30 min•Season 6Ep. 20
We often find ourselves feeling weighed down by changing circumstances and unending responsibilities -- but are our ropes really external, or internal? When we look inwards at our own temperament (guna), do we find ourselves tired and complaining in laziness (tamas), anxious about results in selfishness (rajas), or living with vision and inner harmony (sattva)? Only when we analyze our self-made bonds can we untie them, to feel true Freedom. On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to S...
Mar 25, 2024•38 min•Season 6Ep. 19
Like Neo in The Matrix , has something always felt wrong about the world? Why is everyone looking for a permanent happiness in impermanent places, and then after it doesn’t last, wondering what they’re still missing? Why do we project (vikshepa) happiness onto every new food, vacation, and position, rather than remember where happiness always was? Why do we give into the illusion (maya) that an Infinite Reality could have become a finite, incomplete individual? On this season of Live Vedanta, en...
Feb 20, 2024•33 min•Season 6Ep. 18
Why does it feel like there is so much separation in the world? Is it because we are always competing with each other? What is deeper than our form (rupa) and personalities (varna)? How are we all so different, yet the exact same? On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity , we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words, the more we can live by them. Want to catch up? Start from the beginning or listen to the last episode...
Feb 13, 2024•34 min•Season 6Ep. 17
We may sometimes wonder why we are the way we are. Why do we do the things we do? Our actions are caused by our thoughts (vrtti) and those thoughts come from our print (vasanas), which is who we are because of our past actions. But how can we change the core of who we are? What tools (upadhi) can we use to reach our higher purpose? On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairway to Serenity , we'll be exploring 100 words at the heart of our self-development. The more we understand these words,...
Feb 06, 2024•24 min•Season 6Ep. 16
Like weary travelers endlessly stumbling after illusions of water in the burning desert, we spend most of our lives running after one inner demand after another. When does the chase end? Are we carrying boulders of emotional baggage in our memory (chitta), or are we learning from the past to move on? Do we allow the leech that is the Ego (ahankara) to drain us with endless agitations, or do we observe it to dismantle it? Are we allowing the senses (indriya) to control us through urges to indulge...
Jan 23, 2024•36 min•Season 6Ep. 15
When using our gadgets in our daily lives, there’s one thing we never forget to do: plug them in. Well, what are we plugged into? Do we feel drained, and out of battery? Are we investing in a more efficient input (prana), to live deeper than it? Are we allowing the mind (manah) to interpret the world, or are we directing it within? Do we find the intellect (buddhi) constantly instructing and planning, or are we inquiring into what’s most important? On this season of Live Vedanta, entitled Stairw...
Jan 16, 2024•32 min•Season 6Ep. 14
