John J. Prendergast, Ph.D., is the author of

• The Deep Heart: Our Portal to Presence and
• In Touch: How to Tune in to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself.

He is a retired adjunct professor of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies and a licensed psychotherapist.

He studied for many years with the European Advaita master, Jean Klein, as well as with Adyashanti. He was invited to share the dharma by Dorothy Hunt.

He offers retreats in the U.S. and Europe, as well as online.

Website: ListeningFromSilence.com

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview

First BatGap Interview with John

Interview recorded November 23, 2019

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction and Background
• 00:03:49 – Following the Subtle Impulses
• 00:07:19 – Mysterious Encounters with Wise Teachers
• 00:11:02 – The Wisdom of Not Knowing
• 00:14:24 – Crossing the Barrier of Fear
• 00:18:08 – The Head, Heart, Gut Structure
• 00:21:46 – The complexity of human nature and awakening
• 00:25:45 – The Polarity of Change and Fixing
• 00:29:35 – Balancing Act and Spiritual Maturity
• 00:33:24 – Trusting the Process of Balance
• 00:37:29 – The Seeker and the Sought, a Paradoxical Teaching
• 00:40:40 – Finding Your Dharma
• 00:44:11 – The Shift and the Capacity for Empathy
• 00:47:52 – The Capacity of the Heart to Bear Collective Suffering
• 00:51:44 – Moving with Love and Being of Service
• 00:55:19 – Living in Deep Integrity with our Heart
• 00:59:04 – The Influence of Teachers
• 01:02:07 – The Importance of Teachers in Spiritual Awakening
• 01:05:03 – Discovering Inner Resonance
• 01:09:09 – Opening Communication with the Body
• 01:12:46 – Non-phenomenal completion and the refinement of the instrument
• 01:16:29 – Leaning into Deep Sadness
• 01:20:28 – The Heart’s Upwelling and Sharing the Love
• 01:24:15 – The Wisdom of the Body
• 01:27:52 – The Power of Beliefs in Creating Noise
• 01:31:29 – Identifying Core Subconscious Beliefs
• 01:34:49 – The Tendency for Darkness in Human Nature
• 01:38:28 – Acting without being married to the principle of fairness
• 01:42:04 – The Power of Self-Acceptance and Transformation
• 01:49:20 – Interviews with Regular Joes

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Paul Muller-Ortega, Ph.D., the founder of Blue Throat Yoga, is an internationally recognized meditation teacher, and one of the world’s most highly respected academic scholars in the field of Indian Religion and Hindu Tantra.

Paul is passionate and devoted to teaching students how to access their truest Self, and to offer the knowledge base to understand and support that experience. He has led hundreds of meditation retreats, offered a vast array of study courses, translated and provided commentary on many of the most inspired sacred texts of the Śaiva-Śākta tradition, and has personally trained over 40 Ācāryas as Authorized Teachers of Neelakantha Meditation.

Paul is uniquely qualified to offer these potent teachings, drawing upon the synergy of his long career as an academic scholar, his particular capacity to translate complex ideas and concepts into easily accessible and comprehensible understanding, and a personal history of deep meditation and extensive practice in the Śaiva-Śākta Tantra tradition.

Paul Muller-Ortega is the author of the highly acclaimed book, The Triadic Heart of Siva: Kaula Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the Non-Dual Shaivism of Kashmir (Suny Series, Shaiva Traditions of Kashmir), in which he examines the “Heart” as the mystical core of Consciousness. He is also one of the co-authors of “Meditation Revolution”, as well as numerous scholarly articles on aspects of Tantric Studies.

Website: bluethroatyoga.com

Another book:

• The Philosophy of Sadhana (SUNY Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded September 16, 2017

2nd BatGap interview with Paul.

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump
• 00:04:45 – Symbolic forms of goddesses
• 00:08:59 – The Origins and Influences of Nilakanta Meditation
• 00:13:22 – The Meaning of Mantra
• 00:17:25 – The Chalice of the Mantra
• 00:21:53 – Vibratory Frequencies and Higher Consciousness
• 00:26:18 – The Power of Mantra in Meditation
• 00:36:03 – The Shaiva Tradition and the Malas
• 00:40:35 – The Appearance and Relative Reality in the Shaiva Shakta Tradition
• 00:44:53 – The Purpose of Creation and the Value of Evolution
• 00:49:59 – Different Mantras for Household and Renunciate
• 00:54:05 – Encounters with Ramana Maharshi
• 00:58:12 – The Wave of Freedom and Transformation
• 01:02:18 – The Awakening Process and Transformation Levels
• 01:06:33 – Liberation without Practice
• 01:10:38 – The Fourth State of Consciousness and Beyond
• 01:15:24 – Celestial Perception and Stages of Enlightenment
• 01:19:35 – The Role of Substandard Teachers in Spiritual Circles
• 01:23:31 – The Curious Cherishing and Denouncing of Knowledge
• 01:27:38 – Understanding the concept of “madhya”
• 01:31:39 – The Krama Tradition and Sequential Manifestation
• 01:36:24 – The Yoga Vasishta’s Philosophical Outlook
• 01:41:58 – The Rush to Act from Knowingness
• 01:44:50 – Understanding the Planetary Phenomenon
• 01:49:15 – The Transformation of Spirituality
• 01:53:37 – The Ocean of Milk and the Poison
• 01:57:45 – Making the Maximum Use of Time
• 02:01:34 – The Mandukya Upanishad and Aum as a mantra
• 02:05:30 – The Subtle Level of Understanding
• 02:08:56 – Being an Instrument in the Transition to Higher Consciousness

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Sally Kempton is a deeply practiced teacher of meditation and spiritual philosophy, and the author of the books Meditation for the Love of It and Awakening Shakti: as well as the audio course Doorways to the Infinite, recently put out by Sounds True. A former swami in the Saraswati order of India, she has been practicing and teaching devotional contemplative tantra for more than 40 years. Her teaching is powerfully sourced in the eastern meditative traditions of yoga and Kashmir Shaivism, yet highly contemporary in her focus on evolutionary practice. She offers a powerful transmission of meditative experience.

Books:

• Meditation for the Love of It
• Beginning Meditation
• Meditation for the Love of It
• Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga
• Shakti Meditations
• Doorways to the Infinite: The Art and Practice of Tantric Meditation (audio program)

Website: sallykempton.com

• 1st BatGap interview with Sally
• 2nd BatGap interview with Sally

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.

• Bio
• Wikipedia page

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

BatGap interview with Menas

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Exploring the Ultimate Reality in Kashmir Shaivism
• 00:03:04 – Non-dual contemplative devotional tantra
• 00:06:43 – Mathematics and Universal Consciousness
• 00:09:40 – The Veiling Principle in Shaivism and Quantum Physics
• 00:12:45 – The Limitation of Words and Perception
• 00:15:23 – The Veiling of Maya and the Principle of Vibration
• 00:17:53 – The Quantum Science of Consciousness
• 00:20:05 – The Continuum of the Quantum Field
• 00:22:29 – The Veiling Power of Language
• 00:24:53 – The Rhythmic Movement of Wholeness
• 00:27:03 – The Physical World Explanation of Subtle Realities in Physics
• 00:28:51 – Questions and Explanations
• 00:31:04 – One Mind, One Reality
• 00:32:49 – Levels of Sound from Para to Vicari
• 00:35:12 – The Unapologetic View of Indian Spirituality
• 00:38:12 – The Golden Age and the Loss of Language
• 00:41:00 – Exploring Subtle Experiences and Personal Truth
• 00:44:46 – The Self-Recursive Oneness and Shiva-Shakti
• 00:48:18 – The Primacy of Individual Consciousness in Shaivism
• 00:51:25 – The Fabric of Consciousness in Kashmir Shaivism
• 00:55:06 – Levels of Consciousness in Shaivism
• 00:58:18 – The Steerings of Consciousness
• 01:01:21 – The Levels of Manifestation
• 01:04:43 – Experiential Illustration of a Primordial Energy
• 01:08:05 – The Divinity in Nature and Scientists’ Views on God
• 01:11:07 – The Divine Intelligence within Everything
• 01:14:20 – The Devastating Realization
• 01:17:23 – The Humble Realization
• 01:20:33 – The Sanskrit terms for consciousness
• 01:22:55 – The Role of Shakti in Spiritual Awakening

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