Eli Jaxon-Bear was born Elliot J. Zeldow in Brooklyn, New York, in 1947. His eighteen-year spiritual path started in 1971, when he was a federal fugitive during the Vietnam war. In 1978, Kalu Rinpoche appointed him the president of the first Kagyu dharma center in Marin County. In 1982, he was presented with a Zen Teaching Fan at ChoShoJi Zen Temple in Japan.

After a search took him around the world and into many traditions and practices, his path and his search ended when he was pulled to India in 1990, where he met his final teacher, Sri H.W.L. Poonja. Confirming Eli’s realization, his teacher sent him back into the world to share his unique psychological insights into the nature of egoic suffering in support of self-realization.

Eli infuses the teaching with his teacher’s living transmission of silence. He presents a unique map of egoic identification as a vehicle for ruthless self-inquiry and final realization of true freedom. He dedicates his life to passing on the transmission of his teacher.

Eli currently meets people and teaches through the Leela Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to world peace and freedom through universal self-realization.
He is the author of Sudden Awakening into Direct Realization, (New World Library), The Enneagram of Liberation: From Fixation to Freedom, (Gangaji Foundation Press), and he is the editor of Wake Up and Roar: Satsang with H.W.L. Poonja, (Sounds True).

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded 4/14/2013

First BatGap interview with Eli.

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction to the Interview with Eli Jaxon-Bear
• 00:04:20 – The One Cosmic Being
• 00:06:49 – Lovemaking and the Mystery of Consciousness
• 00:09:21 – The Truth of Self-Identification
• 00:11:21 – The All-Pervading Intelligence
• 00:13:34 – The Consciousness Before the Big Bang
• 00:16:15 – Being Present Before Perception
• 00:18:39 – The Permanent Realization
• 00:20:58 – Using Crisis to See Deeper
• 00:23:14 – The Capacity of Emotions
• 00:25:33 – The Fall of the Roshi
• 00:27:40 – Spiritual Names and Practices
• 00:29:49 – The Usefulness of Spiritual Practices
• 00:32:02 – Dissolving the Ego and Individuality through Meditation
• 00:34:22 – Finding the Balance Between Enlightenment and Normal Life
• 00:36:53 – The Middle Way and the Eightfold Path
• 00:39:03 – Trusting the Universe’s Support for Awakening
• 00:41:11 – Letting Go and Letting God
• 00:44:04 – The Wounding of the Egoic Shell
• 00:47:06 – The Insanity of the Ego
• 00:49:48 – The Search for Truth
• 00:51:37 – The Mystery of Traveling
• 00:53:46 – The Significance of Devotion and Higher Beings
• 00:56:24 – Meeting Siva at the Banks of the Ganga
• 00:59:00 – The Importance of a Final Teacher
• 01:00:59 – The Psychedelic Experience and Ayahuasca
• 01:02:41 – LSD and Awakening
• 01:04:47 – The Mystery of Freedom and Love
• 01:06:45 – People Waking Up
• 01:08:22 – A Global Awakening
• 01:10:13 – Introduction to batgap.com

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I Am
Soft Bones Lit with a Misty Diffused Light,
Surrounded and Penetrated with
Essence,
Isness,
The All.
I Am
That Still Point,
Between Illusion and Light.
From this Place, I See the Space of Emptiness
Here Inside
That I Have Made by My Dying,
Ready to receive this vision
of Galaxies
Universes
End on End
Spinning Around the Center of Me
Absolute Stillness
From Which Is Sucked in and Spit Out,
All That Ever Was and All That Ever Will Be.
I Am That,
You Are That.
We Are
One

anatta

Paradoxically, “Anatta”, HWL Poonja, enlightened master, said, “means, I don’t exist.” Exactly! That was Anatta’s experience late one night almost 20 years ago when the ego/personality disappeared and was seen to have less reality than smoke and dust.

Yet a magical life has transpired, regardless. Starting out as a ‘Jesus Freak’ in New York, Anatta lived in Oregon and India as a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. In the presence of HWL Poonja she washed the Master’s dishes, ate radishes from his hands and massaged his arm which had been injured. She spent a beautiful afternoon sitting under the trees in Ojai California attending a talk with the late J. Krishnamurt. All in all, Anatta eventually traveled to India on seven separate occasions.

Continuing the journey in the west to Hawaii and Sedona, she sat with many well known teachers – finally finding her heart’s home back in the town of Tiruvannamali, India, and has felt blessed sitting at the foot of her ultimate teacher, the sacred mountain, Arunachala, near the Ramana Maharshi ashram; a place where, since ancient times, many enlightened beings have been drawn

When not in India, Anatta lived a very ordinary life in Southern California near her three daughters and three grandchildren.  Surprisingly existence has sent her two more teenagers to raise and she is currently in the mountains of North Carolina doing just that, though that journey is coming to an end as the “kids” are almost grown.

The Ordinary Life and Deepening into the Divine still go on and on, where they join into one blessed existence…..

About the book, The Ordinary Buddha, by Anatta Campbell

A wonderful “secret” is revealed in these pages —that ordinary people are coming to the Highest Spiritual Experience from all variety of backgrounds. Enlightenment is possible here and now for each individual, absolutely regardless of background or training.

A huge momentum is happening, a universal movement toward “waking up.” Unlike in ancient times, now it is happening, to you and me, and the guy down the street. No particular path or religion is responsible for it.

Adyashanti and Byron Katie, two well known teachers, share their personal awakening stories, as well as eleven other “ordinary” people who, in beautiful and dramatic ways, share with us their journey from real-life, not so saintly pasts to the discovery of their true nature; The discovery that we are not who we thought ourselves to be all along, but something far more grand and yet sweetly ordinary.       The Knowing sweeps through us like a fresh breeze on a spring morning. Their discovery is our discovery.

The Enlightened ones say there is not the slightest breath of separation. The message is, You Are That.

• Anatta is available for Skype or phone sessions.
• Please feel free to contact Anatta, at: [email protected]
• www.Facebook.com/TheOrdinaryBuddha
• The website for her book, “The Ordinary Buddha“: www.Theordinarybuddha.org.

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded 3/9/2013

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction: Anatta Campbell on Buddha at the Gas Pump
• 00:05:28 – The Different Aspects of Awakening
• 00:10:21 – The Continuous Process of Awakening
• 00:13:50 – The Journey of Awakening and Maturing
• 00:17:47 – The Fullness of Emptiness and Presence
• 00:21:35 – The Paradox of Existence
• 00:25:15 – The Experience of Selflessness
• 00:29:16 – Living Life Differently After Awakening
• 00:33:02 – The Search is Over
• 00:35:37 – Creativity and Aligning with the Source of Life
• 00:39:25 – Addiction and Alignment
• 00:43:32 – The Miracle of Utilizing Laws of Nature
• 00:47:06 – A Message from the Other Side
• 00:50:43 – The Balance of Control and Surrender
• 00:54:50 – The Impact of Words and Ego Growth
• 00:58:24 – From Jesus Freak to Seeker
• 01:01:31 – Going to India with Osho
• 01:04:30 – Understanding and Accepting the Flaws of Spiritual Teachers
• 01:07:46 – Controversies and Personal Experiences with Osho
• 01:11:09 – The Transformative Power of Meditation
• 01:14:30 – Surrendering Everything I Thought I Was
• 01:18:00 – Different Psychic Experiences
• 01:21:38 – Rediscovering the Chapters
• 01:24:47 – Following a Unique Path
• 01:28:27 – Oneness and Duality in Existence
• 01:32:08 – The Longing for God to Know Itself
• 01:36:09 – Experiencing the Thoughts of Animals
• 01:39:37 – A Conversation about Consciousness and Life
• 01:42:18 – E-Book and Hardcover Publishers
• 01:45:25 – Meditating in the Woods
• 01:48:48 – Gratitude and Farewell

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Arjuna Ardagh is an awakening coach, writer and public speaker, who also trains others to become facilitators of awakening.  He is the author of seven books, including the 2005 #1 National Bestseller The Translucent Revolution, which was featured in “O” magazine. His new book Better than Sex is the complete introduction to Awakening Coaching.  His novel The Last Laugh will be republished by Hay House in spring 2013. He is also the creator of several online courses, including Living Awakening, and The Deeper Love.

Ardagh has been a keynote speaker at conferences all over the world, including the International Conference on Business and Consciousness, the “No Mind” Festival,” the Whole Life Expo (in 5 cities), the Integral Spiritual Experience Conference, and the Omega Institute annual conference. He has appeared on TV, on the radio and in print media in seventeen countries.  He is a member of the Transformational Leadership Council.

Arjuna was educated in England, at Kings School, Canterbury, and later at Cambridge University, where he earned a master’s degree in literature.   Since the age of 14, he has had a passionate interest in spiritual awakening, and he began to practice mediation and yoga at that time. In his late teens, he trained as a meditation teacher. After graduating from Cambridge, Ardagh devoted himself completely to the call he felt inside, and studied and lived with a number of great spiritual teachers, both in Asia and the United States. In 1991 Arjuna met his teacher, H.W.L.Poonja, a retired army officer in Lucknow India, with whom he passed through a radical shift in consciousness.

Arjuna started to train facilitators in 1995, in order to create an environment where awakening can happen outside of the usual patriarchal and hierarchical context: as friends supporting friends. The same work has now evolved in the Awakening Coaching Training, where most of the courses are offered online, thus bypassing the need for students to travel and take time away from their other responsibilities. Arjuna has trained more than 1100  facilitators of awakening since 1995.

Arjuna Ardagh is the creator of several online courses. Through high-definition video interviews with 40 remarkable people, Living Awakening shows us how states of inner awakening can become the stable foundation of enlivening and giving the Unique Gift each person was born to share.  Arjuna and his wife, Chameli Ardagh, have created The Deeper Love, which teaches singles and couples how to integrate awakening consciousness into intimate relationships.

Arjuna and Chameli live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California, with their two teenage sons.

You can find out more about Arjuna Ardagh at arjunaardagh.com.

Other books and media:

• Radical Brilliance: The Anatomy of How and Why People Have Original Life-Changing Ideas
• Leap Before You Look
• Relaxing into Clear Seeing
• Awakening into Oneness
• Awareness Meditation
• Let Yourself Go – 6 CD series from Sounds True
• The Mystery of 2012

Interview recorded 11/3/2012

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

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction and Personal Background
• 00:04:27 – Finding Solace in Meditation and Seeking Answers
• 00:08:23 – Discovering Bhagwan Rajneesh in India
• 00:12:00 – Meeting the Old Man
• 00:15:47 – Going Mad with Endless Thoughts
• 00:18:49 – The Recognition of Infinite Consciousness
• 00:21:47 – The Tricky Part of Doing Concepts
• 00:24:55 – Financial Challenges and Life Lessons
• 00:27:44 – Stress and its Relationship to Awakening
• 00:31:54 – The Relationship between Awakening and Dealing with the World,
• 00:36:13 – The Traditional Teacher-Student Relationship
• 00:40:11 – The Experience of Transmission and Presence
• 00:43:07 – Projecting onto Others
• 00:46:54 – The Theater of Awakening
• 00:50:23 – The Coaching Relationship
• 00:53:32 – Coaching for Full Potential
• 00:57:33 – Facilitating Awakening Online
• 01:01:12 – The Importance of the Student’s Disposition
• 01:05:40 – The Attitude of a Beginner
• 01:09:54 – The Model of Leaving Responsibilities Behind
• 01:13:11 – The Antidote to Stress and the Call to Life
• 01:17:07 – Fully Giving Your Gift and Finding Fulfillment
• 01:21:48 – The Attention Turned Inward
• 01:25:13 – The End of Seeking and the Recognition of Spaciousness
• 01:28:17 – The Nature of Unfoldment
• 01:32:14 – The Beauty of the Coaching Relationship
• 01:35:28 – Levels of Spiritual Maturity
• 01:37:58 – Awakening and Human Integrity
• 01:40:47 – Evolutionary invitation for everybody
• 01:43:56 – The Democratization of Awakening and the Evolutionary Meme
• 01:47:23 – Available as an Audio Podcast

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