Buddha at the Gas Pump

Sharon is a gifted intuitive and a spiritual teacher in the lineage of Adyashanti. Sharon has a devotion and great love of the Truth. Adyashanti asked her to teach 2003 and guide those genuinely drawn to the path of Truth. Since then, Sharon continues to deepen into and embody this Truth herself. She invites you to “Come home…” to That which you’ve always been. In her presence you’ll taste a palpable expression of love and intimacy that allows you to feel safe dropping into the deep vulnerability required to know yourself as the All. Sharon offers support for the required shift of identity that is both direct and tailored to each person's journey. Her teachings are based on her deep realization of silence and the way silence expresses itself in form. She notes, “Often there is still a thread that says the ‘me is going to get it; the ‘me’ is going to wake up. And it just isn’t true. It actually wakes up out of the ‘me’. “ So in her teaching, Sharon emphasizes how silence wakes up in the body and how the embodiment process is actualized. She is well qualified in this endeavor by her many years as an intuitive counselor. Since she has the ability to “read” the physical and energetic body, she is uniquely able to help unlock patterns that inhibit realization and the embodiment process that follows. Sharon Landrith offers Silent retreats, intensives in the US and Canada and dokusans over the phone and in person. Please see more info on her website: sharon-landrith.com. There's a chapter on Sharon in Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom: The Feminine Face of Awakening by Rita Robinson. Discussion about this interview is in the forum. Interview recorded 4/2/2014. Her first Interview here. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Robert E. Svoboda is the first white member of Kenya's Pokot tribe, and the first non-Indian ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India, where he lived for more than a decade. During and after his formal Ayurvedic training he was tutored in Ayurveda, Yoga, Jyotish, Tantra and other forms of classical Indian lore by his mentor, the Aghori Vimalananda. For a decade he was involved with thoroughbred horses as Vimalananda's Authorized Racing Agent. The author of more than a dozen books, since 1985 he divides his time between India and other lands. Books: AGHORA, At the Left Hand of God (Aghora) (v. I) AGHORA II: Kundalini (Aghora) (Vol II) Aghora III: The Law of Karma The Greatness of Saturn: A Therapeutic Myth Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution Ayurveda: Life, Health, and Longevity Prakriti Vastu: Breathing Life into Space Ayurveda for Women: A Guide to Vitality and Health Tao and Dharma: Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda Interview recorded 3/29/2014 Discussion on this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

My family moved to Canada from Finland when I was five. I clearly remember an experience that started developing from this time, where I could see an unmoving sphere, or bubble, of comfortable light, or consciousness, that surrounded my body. If I moved my hand outside this safety net it looked somehow darker and I would draw it back to safety. In this space, I always felt that I could do no wrong since I was just flowing along without making any effort. As I grew older this experience expanded and remained abstract for many years. I, of course, thought nothing of it, even though it was obviously a very basic aspect of my existence. When I was about eight or nine years old, I started experiencing what can only be described as a mixture of intense energy and overwhelming happiness. Every day I would have to leave the house and run/walk around the block for several hours until it was manageable again. I would have long, grand insights that I felt completely unable to express out loud, along with apparently extended physical abilities, foresight, and streams of vision that I could not explain. The school I was attending at the time insisted that I demonstrate these physical abilities on stage; no one, including me, could understand how I could jump so high. People felt that I was in the air just a little too long for my own good. I noticed in high school that I never actually fell asleep at night, and that nights and days just blended together uninterruptedly. This went on for years. When I would wake up in the morning I felt like I was falling asleep and when going to sleep at night I would seem to wake up. When I was a young adult I started Transcendental Meditation, and then my personal experience really took off. I started first intuiting—then hearing, and seeing—the subtle fabrics of the quietest levels of my own consciousness: pure abstract knowingness, from within its own nature, revealed its unified, wonderful structure of wholeness. About 30 years ago, I began to hear the hum of existence as layers of knowledge. I could see the divine heavens; I started experiencing the relationships that rendered everything experienced as one unified wholeness of multiplicity. And ultimately how, even daily life, far from being the football field of turbulent change, is nothing but the greatest expression of divine-to-Absolute-self-awareness. And yet here we all are, essentially no different from each other. Nothing much changes. My experience is that all this is true for everybody. The “sphere of consciousness” around me as a child, is still there, but has expanded to include all the different layers of my awareness. http://harriaalto.com Interview recorded 3/22/2014 Discussion about this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Dr. Menas Kafatos is The Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics and Director of Excellence at Chapman University. He received his B.A. in Physics from Cornell University in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. After postdoctoral work at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, he joined George Mason University and was University Professor of Interdisciplinary Sciences there from 1984-2008.  He has authored and co-authored numerous books including The Conscious Universe, The Non-local Universe and Principles of Integrative Science.  He is a recipient of the Rustum Roy Award from the Chopra Foundation, which “honors individuals whose devotion and commitment to their passion for finding answers in their field is matched only by their commitment to humanity” and the IEEE Orange County Chapter - Outstanding Leadership and Professional Service Award.  He has been interviewed numerous times by national and international TV networks, newspapers and radio programs. http://chapman.edu/CS/pcse/faculty/kafatos.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menas_Kafatos Books: The Non-Local Universe: The New Physics and Matters of the Mind The Conscious Universe: Parts and Wholes in Physical Reality Looking In, Seeing Out: Consciousness and Cosmos Interview conducted 3/15/2014 Discussion on this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Jack Petranker is the founder and director of CCI and regularly offers programs and online courses. A student of Buddhism since 1973, he is also the director of the Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages and a faculty member at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute. He served as Dean of the Institute in Berkeley from 1988-1991 and as North American Vice-President of the World Fellowship of Buddhists from 1988-1992. He is the author of When It Rains Does Space Get Wet?: Learning to Live the Time-Space-Knowledge Vision (Perspectives on Tsk) (Dharma Publishing 2006), and has written numerous academic articles in consciousness studies, organizational change, political transformation, and the value of work as a spiritual practice. Jack holds a BA from Stanford in political science, an MA from the University of California at Berkeley in political theory, and a JD from Yale Law School. He has been a member of the California Bar since 1971. Other books: Light of Knowledge: Essays on the Interplay of Knowledge, Time. & Space (Perspectives on Time, Space, and Knowledge) New Way of Being New Kind of Knowledge The Center for Creative Inquiry Interview recorded 3/8/2014 Discussion about this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. )

Nothing I did prior to 1995 makes any difference to me. That is the year of my awakening under my Guru, Robert Adams (1928-1997). Nothing I am now has anything to do with my education, previous writings or worldly attainments. They are irrelevant. What I am now is the present. For those who still wish more information... I have a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Sierra University in 1987 and practiced clinical psychology for over 20 years. Teacher of Advaita and Bhakta-yana, in the dual lines of Robert Adams-Ramana Maharshi, and Jean Dunn/Nisargadatta. Ordained Mahayana Zen and Chogye Zen monk, Zen monk for 12 years. The Chogye Order of Zen Buddhism in Korea (Chogye Sah Temple-headquarters of Chogye Zen in Korea) named Ed the First American World Teacher of Korean Chogye Zen Buddhism, 1999. Taught Zen and psychology at four University of California campuses, 1975-82. I teach Self Realization via methods of Zen, Devotional Advaita, and devotional self-inquiry, January 1987 to present. Author of "Self-Realization and Other Awakenings" on Amazon and elsewhere. Can now be downloaded from my website. Earlier book was “Autobiography of a Jnani,” available on my website, along with two books on psychoanalysis and spirituality, also available on my website. Website: http://www.wearesentience.com Blog Facebook page YouTube channel Kindle My Heart's Flame, (and KindleMyHeartsFlame on Facebook), is a Deeply Devotional Humanitarian Community founded on the theme of Devotional Advaita and dedicated to Awakening the Heart's Flame in all who join in by arousing the Spiritual Guidance of the Ramana Lineage and others, and infusing all who engage in the Community's activities with the Flame of Love, Bliss, Wisdom. Born to Deeya three years after her Awakening, and through the inspiration of Sri Robert Adams, the Community is about humanity's potentiality for Love and our capacity to help each other celebrate the unity in our diversity. A healer for 12 years, Deeya's service with various healthcare organizations takes her all over the world, including to India, where she is the co-founder of a medical charity that provides for the care and welfare of under-privileged children. Deeya shares Healing Transmissions, Devotionals and Satsang through the Community website. More detailed bio. Interview recorded 3/1/2014 Discussion about this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

A. Hameed Ali was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the USA to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him more and more into inquiring into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature. Hameed's interest in the truth of human nature and the true nature of reality resulted in the creation and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach®: “The Diamond Approach is a path of wisdom, an approach to the investigation of Reality and work on oneself that leads to human maturity and liberation. Because of our particular vision of Reality it is not completely accurate to think of this approach as spiritual work, for this work does not separate the spiritual from the psychological, neither does it see these two as separate from the physical everyday life and scientific investigation of the content of perception. However, because we live in a society where the prevailing thought is that of the separated facets of Reality, the closest category recognized in this mentality, to our approach, is that of a spiritual path or exploration.” Some of Hameed's many books: The Power of Divine Eros: The Illuminating Force of Love in Everyday Life The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence Brilliancy: The Essence of Intelligence (Diamond Body Series) Essence With the Elixir of Enlightenment: The Diamond Approach to Inner Realization Website: ahalmaas.com Interview recorded 2/22/2014 Discussion about this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Scroll down to view an interview with Kristin, and click here to learn more about her upcoming retreats in Kauai. Kauai is calling! Join a Sacred Site Meditation Retreat in January or February 2015: Jan 20th - 25th, 2015- Camping for 8 Feb 8th - 15th/17th, 2015- Luxurious Home for 12 Video description Retreat details on Kristin's website. Kristin Kirk experienced an initial awakening in 2003 which revealed healing gifts, subtle workings of consciousness and radically transformed her experience of reality. Since then, Kristin has supported self-realization, embodied awakening and multidimensional functioning for individuals and groups through classes, healing sessions, meditation retreats and awakening journeys. Kristin is available in person, by phone and live video stream and travels by invitation. Interview recorded 2/16/2014 http://kristinkirk.com Discussion about this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, where he chaired the Department of Religious Studies for nine years and helped create the GEM Program, a doctoral concentration in the study of Gnosticism, Esotericism, and Mysticism that is the largest program of its kind in the world. Jeff is the author of seven books, including Comparing Religions: Coming to Terms, Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal, and Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred. He specializes in the comparative study and analysis of extreme religious states from the ancient world to today. His full body of work can be seen at http://kripal.rice.edu/. Dana Sawyer is a professor of religion and philosophy at the Maine College of Art, and a lecturer on world religions for the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine.  His expertise is in Hindu and Buddhist systems of philosophy, and he has a professional interest in exploring the appeal of Asian religions on the Western mind.  In that regard, he has written a critically acclaimed biography of Aldous Huxley and has just finished writing the authorized biography of Huston Smith, the renowned scholar of world religions. Previous BatGap interview with Dana Interview recorded 2/9/2014 Discussion for this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Jan Esmann, born 1960, is an enlightened kundalinī shaktipāt master living in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he teaches, transmits and gives shaktipāt. The highest teachings are transmitted in silence during meditation or afterwards. Jan is not part of any tradition or represents a lineage. He has been giving shaktipāt since the mid 1980’s but did not fully emerge as a teacher until after 2006. He has a MA in History of Modern Culture from Copenhagen University, and a B.Sc in Art-restoration from the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen. He earns his living as an artist, a writer and a software developer. Books: Lovebliss: The Essence of Self-Realization Enlightenment 101: From Ignorance to Grace Kundalini Tantra: Song of Liberation Website: lovebliss.eu First BatGap interview with Jan. Interview recorded 2/1/2014 Discussion on this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris is an internationally known evolution biologist and futurist living in Spain. Her post-doctoral degree was at at the American Museum of Natural History, she taught at MIT and the University of Massachusetts, contributed to the NOVA-Horizon TV series, is a fellow of the World Business Academy with an honorary Chair in Living Economies, and an advisor to Ethical Markets. She convened international symposia on Foundations of Science in Hokkaido and Kuala Lumpur. Her books include  EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution and her website is www.sahtouris.com. Interview recorded 1/25/2014 Discussion for this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

David Alsobrook has been on a long and varied journey for several decades. His father was a Nazarene pastor and David received a “new birth experience” at age 15. He devoured the Bible from cover to cover and went much deeper into exhaustive, detailed studies of Scriptures for years after that. He devoted the first 3 hours of the day in private prayer as well, hungering and seeking for more of God in his life. He began traveling and speaking in a wide assortment of churches and special events, ministering in more than 2000 speaking events in 49 states and 5 provinces in North America and in other countries. He wrote more than 40 books of varied sizes which were translated in more than 30 languages and distributed in no fewer than 50 nations. Thousands of people from all walks of life and different nationalities and cultures have written him over the decades. More than a million copies of his books have been printed in Africa alone. In 2005 David experienced a crushing life blow and put aside everything for a season of seeking God more intimately, desperate for healing from his own brokenness. In July 2008 his prayers were answered when he was sitting on a large rock in a nature preserve. Time stopped, mind stopped, while everything around him shone with Light and Life. His sense of “personhood” dissolved as he experienced himself as Being. Since then his life has been largely one of almost uninterrupted peace, bliss, and serenity as a result of what he now calls a “transformation”. Books: You Can Be Free from Your Self: The Grace of Soul Transformation Learning to love Website: davidalsobrook.com Interview recorded 1/18/2014 Discussion for this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

John Hagelin, Ph.D., is a world-renowned quantum physicist, educator, author, and leading proponent of peace. Dr. Hagelin has conducted pioneering research at CERN (the European Center for Particle Physics) and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. He is responsible for the development of a highly successful grand unified field theory based on the superstring—a theory that was featured in a cover story of Discover magazine. In addition, Dr. Hagelin has spent much of the past quarter century leading a scientific investigation into the foundations of human consciousness. He is one of the world’s pre-eminent researchers on the effects of meditation on brain development, and the use of collective meditation to defuse societal stress and to reduce crime and social violence. In recognition of his outstanding achievements, Dr. Hagelin was named winner of the prestigious Kilby Award, which recognizes scientists who have made “major contributions to society through their applied research in the fields of science and technology.” The award recognized Dr. Hagelin as “a scientist in the tradition of Einstein, Jeans, Bohr and Eddington.” Dr. Hagelin was featured in the hit movies What the Bleep Do We Know!? and The Secret for his cutting-edge research in physics, higher states of consciousness; and the peace-promoting effects of large meditation groups. Dr. Hagelin has appeared many times on ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN’s Larry King Live! and Inside Politics, CNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, and others. He has also been regularly featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and other major metropolitan newspapers. Dr. Hagelin received his A.B. summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1975 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1981. He is currently director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, Professor of physics at Maharishi University of Management, President of the Global Union of Scientists for Peace, President of the David Lynch Foundation, and Director of the Maharishi Foundation USA, which overseas the teaching of Transcendental Meditation in the United States. Book: Manual for a Perfect Government: How to Harness the Laws of Nature to Bring Maximum Success to Governmental Administration Interview recorded 1/12/2014 Discussion on this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Lama Surya Das, whom the Dalai Lama affectionately calls the “American lama”, has spent over forty years studying with the great spiritual masters of Asia. He is an authorized lama in the Tibetan Buddhist order, and the founder of the Dzogchen Center. Surya Das is the author of the international bestseller Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World and twelve other books, including his latest release, Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now. His blog “Ask the Lama” can be found at askthelama.com. To see Surya's lecture and retreat schedule please visit surya.org. Other Books: Buddha Is as Buddha Does: The Ten Original Practices for Enlightened Living Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be: Lessons on Change, Loss, and Spiritual Transformation Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life The Snow Lion's Turquoise Mane Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection Natural Meditation: A Tibetan Buddhist Practice for Clearing the Mind and Opening to Effortless Awarness The Big Questions: How to Find Your Own Answers to Life's Essential Mysteries Interview recorded 1/5/2013 Discussion on this interview is in the forum. Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

With Chris Bache, Ph.D; Jeffrey and Cielle Backstrom; Talat Jonathan Phillips; and Rak Razam Chris Bache, Ph.D., is professor emeritus in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for over 30 years in psychology of religion, transpersonal studies, Buddhism, and world religions. He is also adjunct professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and for two years was the Director of Transformative Learning at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, CA. An award-winning teacher and international speaker, his work explores the philosophical implications of deep non-ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states.  He has written a pioneering book in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness, Dark Night, Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind. In addition, he has written Lifecycles: Reincarnation and the Web of Life, a comprehensive study of reincarnation and karma in light of new information emerging in contemporary consciousness research.  In his book The Living Classroom: Teaching and Collective Consciousness, Chris presents his revolutionary ideas concerning the transpersonal dimensions of teaching.  In addition to working with sacred medicines, Chris has been a Buddhist practitioner for many years. Christopher Bache at SkyBlue Symposia - Pt 1 of 2 Christopher Bache at SkyBlue Symposia - Pt 2 of 2 Jeffrey and Cielle Backstrom call their work "Stepping Into Freedom", explaining that "with each step we release or transcend old, limiting patterns of being-seeing-acting... and open to the beings our souls are calling us here to become." They offer shamanic healing work and deep practices to facilitate embodied awakening and opening to the soul's calling. In the past several years, Jeffrey and Cielle have studied with indigenous medicine workers and teachers in the Andes and the Amazon basin, who represent ancient traditions grounded in the Sacred Feminine and Mother Earth. Since 2009 they've been welcoming their students to accompany them to experience these connections for themselves. These traditional practices include the use of sacred plants in healing, divination, and spiritual transformation. Websites: www.ciellebackstrom.com www.steppingintofreedom.com. Talat Jonathan Phillips is a co-founder of the cutting edge web-magazine Reality Sandwich and The Evolver Network, is a well-regarded life coach and Bioenergetic healer who has been practicing for over a decade. His memoir, The Electric Jesus: The Healing Journey of a Contemporary Gnostic, has become one of the must-read books of the new consciousness movement for its honest portrayal of life on the emerging edge of the transformational culture. He is creator of The Ayahuasca Monologues: Tales of the Spirit Vine, a religion blogger for the Huffington Post, a Reiki Master and Bioenergetic Healer who does Skype sessions for clients around the world and in his San Francisco office. www.TalatHealing.com Rak Razam is the author of two books: Aya: a Shamanic Odyssey, a travel-memoir of his time with shamans in the Peruvian Amazon. His film AYA: Awakenings is a documentary journey into the world and visions of Amazonian shamanism adopted from this book. The Ayahuasca Sessions: Conversations with Amazonian Curanderos and Western Shamans, published by Icaro. In 2006 he visited Peru on a feature magazine assignment to see what the almost mythical archetype of the shaman was really like in the 21st century. Excerpts from AYA, A Shamanic Odyssey have been published in Australian Penthouse (Sept 2006); High Times (Aug 2007); and Filmmaker magazine online (Oct 2007). He was also interviewed and appears in the CBC’s 2007 audio documentary In Search of the Divine Vegetal talking about his Ayahuasca experiences, which has been broadcast twice due to special demand to millions of people throughout North America.