617. Lynne Twist

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Rick Archer

Lynne Twist is the founder of the Soul of Money Institute and author of the best-selling, award-winning book “The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life.”

Over the past 40 years, Lynne has worked with over 100,000 people in 50 countries in the arenas of fundraising with integrity, conscious philanthropy, strategic visioning, and having a healthy relationship with money. Her clients include Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, the International Unity Church, Charles Schwab, United Way, The National Black Theater of Harlem, Harvard University, and others.

A sought-after speaker, she has presented for the United Nations Beijing Women’s Conference, State of the World Forum, Synthesis Dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the Governor’s Conference on California Women, among others.
A recognized global visionary, Ms. Twist has been an advisor to the Desmond Tutu Foundation, and The Nobel Women’s Initiative. Lynne is the recipient of numerous prestigious honors, including the “Woman of Distinction” award from the United Nations.
Lynne is a co-founder of The Pachamama Alliance — a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest to preserve their lands and culture. In addition, Lynne serves on a number of nonprofit boards including the Fetzer Institute, The Institute of Noetic Sciences, Bioneers, Conscious Capitalism, and Women’s Earth Alliance.

From working with Mother Teresa in Calcutta to the refugee camps in Ethiopia and the threatened rainforests of the Amazon, Lynne’s on-the-ground work has brought her a deep understanding of the social tapestry of the world and the historical landscape of the times we are living in.

Websites:

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Interview recorded September 28, 2021.

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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608. Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, 2nd Interview

Posted on July 30, 2021 by Rick Archer

This interview centered around Sadhvi’s new book, Hollywood to the Himalayas: A Journey of Healing and Transformation. Her website dedicated to the book is hollywoodtothehimalayas.com.

Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, Ph.D. is a renowned spiritual leader, author, and motivational speaker based in Rishikesh, India. Originally from Los Angeles and a graduate of Stanford University, Sadhviji has been ordained into the sacred order of Sanyas by her guru HH Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji and has been living at Parmarth Niketan Ashram for the past twenty-five years. She is the Secretary-General of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, an international interfaith organization dedicated to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; president of Divine Shakti Foundation, a foundation that runs free schools, vocational training programs, and empowerment programs; and director of the world-famous International Yoga Festival at Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh—which has been covered in Time, CNN, the New York Times and other prestigious publications and has been addressed by both the Prime Minister and Vice President of India. She serves on the United Nations Advisory Council on Religion and on the steering committees of the International Partnership for Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD) and the Moral Imperative to End Extreme Poverty, a campaign by the United Nations and World Bank. She was also the Managing Editor for the monumental project of the 11-volume Encyclopedia of Hinduism. She oversees a variety of humanitarian projects, teaches meditation, lectures, writes, counsels individuals and families, and serves as a unique female voice of spiritual leadership throughout India and the world.

Some of the topics discussed in this interview:

How Sadhvi’s journey has bridged spirituality and humanness.
Grace doesn’t discriminate. Spirituality is available for everyone!
The ecstatic story of Sadhvi’s awakening on the banks of the Ganga and the healing and transformation that followed.
The lifelong process of integration and embodiment of spiritual awakening experiences.
How we can see the Divine in all beings and how that increases our spiritual experience.
The role of the guru: the guru shines the light that enables us to see our own light, thus dispelling our darkness of ignorance.
How Sadhviji’s guru Pujya Swamiji inspires her to dedicate herself to awareness of that which is eternal rather than things that quickly fade.
Becoming a vessel for the flow of grace.
Everyone enters the world with their own karmic packages, and awareness of our own and others’ packages is key.
Mindfulness teaches us how to stay conscious and present.
In order to experience grace, sometimes there’s a lot of work to be done!
Sadhviji’s childhood trauma and how she was taught to forgive and let go so she could be free.
Forgiveness: regardless of what others have done we deserve to be free. Freedom is our birthright, our highest dharma, purpose, and calling.

Websites:

Sadhviji.org (personal site)
Sadhviji’s TED talk
@SadhviBhagawatiSaraswati (Sadhviji’s Facebook page with announcements of events, videos, etc.)
@ParmarthNiketan (Parmarth’s Facebook page where they stream Sadhviji’s satsangs live daily when she is in town.)
Youtube channel with all of the videos of Sadhviji’s lectures (and also a lot of other good stuff…)
Twitter: @SadhviBhagawati

Book: Vegetarianism: For Our Bodies, Our Minds, Our Souls & Our Planet

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

First BatGap interview with Sadhvi.

Interview recorded July 25, 2021.

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

543. Cynthia Jurs

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Rick Archer

Cynthia Jurs is a Tibetan Buddhist lama and a Dharmacharya in the Order of Interbeing of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh whose source of refuge and spiritual inspiration is Mother Earth; Gaia. In 1990, she made a life-changing pilgrimage to meet the hermit and meditation master, Kushok Mangden Charok Rinpoche, a 106-year-old lama living in a remote cave in Nepal from whom she received the practice of the Earth Treasure Vases when she asked him, “What can we do to bring healing and protection to the Earth?”

For thirty years, Cynthia has been building a global community committed to planetary healing and collective awakening in partnership with elders and activists around the world. Cynthia teaches an innovative blend of engaged Buddhism and sacred activism through the Earth Treasure Vase Global Healing Project, the Open Way Sangha in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the international Gaia Mandala Community. Through her nonprofit, Alliance for the Earth, Cynthia has worked with former combatants and the women who stopped a war in Liberia, West Africa, to build peace, teaching mindfulness and co-founding the Peace Hut Alliance for Conflict Transformation. Cynthia’s book, Summoned by the Earth, is forthcoming.

Website: EarthTreasureVase.org – learn more and subscribe to the monthly Earth Treasure Vase Full Moon Newsletter which is the best way to stay in touch
New website – GaiaMandala.net – coming soon. Will be the home for our global healing community with many practices, calls, courses and more ways to get involved in our work of global healing and collective awakening.
Join the monthly Full Moon Earth Treasure Vase Global Healing Meditation here. This is a free call via Zoom. A recording is automatically sent out to registered participants.
Gaia Calling: Being a Holy Vessel for Global Healing & Collective Awakening — a 7-week course co-taught by Cynthia Jurs and David Nicol via Zoom April 20—June 10, 2020. Join our free introductory call on April 11th to learn more.
Tara Gaia Teachings; a Vajrayana-style deity practice inspired by Tara with a visualization of Gaia and a recitation of her mantra. Cynthia will be giving the transmission and teaching of this practice during two-weekend retreats via Zoom — July 25-26 and November 7-8, 2020. Having received the teachings, one can join a monthly practice group. Let us know you are interested here.
Monday Mindfulness Meditation, a weekly gathering via Zoom at 4 pm Pacific // 5 pm Mountain // 7 pm Eastern. As we shelter at home, we can meet this moment of collective crisis and opportunity with calm and clarity by cultivating a practice of calm abiding in mindfulness. In this weekly 1.5-hour practice group, we will sit, walk and sit again—entering into the quiet space within and stopping to catch our breath, to center ourselves, to let go of worry and fear and reconnect with our true source of Being. At the end of our practice, there will be an opportunity for mindful sharing around the circle. Click here if you are interested in participating.

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Interview recorded March 28, 2020

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download