Wake Up, Human

Ep.08: The Wisdom of Yoga-Vedanta | A Conversation with Gajananam

• Shannon M. Wills

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Dive deep into the authentic traditions of yoga and Vedanta with Gajananam, a dedicated practitioner with nearly three decades of experience studying under direct disciples of Swami Vishnu Devananda, one of the pioneering yogis who brought these practices to the West in the mid-20th century.

Most of us are familiar with yoga as a physical practice – the postures and stretching we see in studios across America. But what if that's just the surface of a profound tradition designed to bring us lasting contentment? Gajananam expertly unpacks the deeper purpose behind yoga, explaining how it differs from our typical approach to happiness. While we often seek balance through external circumstances – enjoyable experiences, tasty food, exciting adventures – these moments of satisfaction are fleeting. Yoga, by contrast, teaches us to create internal balance that doesn't depend on outside conditions.

The conversation explores fascinating contrasts between Western and Eastern approaches to spirituality. In the West, the individual is central – we want to do what we like, how we like, when we like. In traditional Indian culture, people are more integrated together, with family and community as the unit rather than the individual. This cultural difference creates a natural foundation for spiritual practices that expand beyond the limited self toward greater unity.

Gajananam shares beautiful insights about the Sanskrit language, even treating listeners to a traditional chant that demonstrates its vibratory nature. He explains how studying texts like the Bhagavad Gita with a teacher, rather than alone, creates a different kind of understanding – one that can't be achieved when the individual mind tries to transcend itself on its own. The battlefield setting of the Gita reminds us that yoga isn't just for quiet rooms but for navigating life's real challenges.

Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or yoga-curious, this episode offers wisdom about connecting with our true nature and asking life's most important questions: Why am I here? What do I really want to achieve? As Gajananam reminds us, time passes quickly – make sure you're investing in what truly matters.

Shannon W.:

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 8 of the Wake Up Human Podcast. I'm your host, Shannon Wills, and in this episode, my guest and I will take up the path toward inner peace and contentment through the ancient tradition of yoga. Welcome to the Wake Up Human Podcast. I'm Shannon Wills, a curious wanderer with a passion for digging into life's mysteries and mining them for wisdom to apply to our modern lives. This podcast explores the ways we humans have become disconnected from our native ways of knowing what we have lost and what we can gain by coming back into wholeness. Each episode will explore this theme of reconnecting with our innate human power in order to heal ourselves, our relationships and our planet. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let's jump into the latest installment of Wake Up Human.

Shannon W.:

My guest today is Gajananam, a teacher in the Indian tradition of yoga and the complementary practice of Vedanta. Gajananam is the founder and director of the Vishnu Devananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Fremont, california. He is a direct disciple of Swami Vishnu Devananda, who was one of the early pioneering yogis who brought the practice of yoga to the US from India in the mid-20th century. Gajananam first delved into various yogic disciplines while serving and studying at Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers in the mid-1980s and 1990s. In the 90s he served as director of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in New York and has taught at many Sivananda Yoga teacher training courses and retreats. To deepen his understanding of the ancient scriptures and mantras of this tradition, gajananam studied the Sanskrit language under the tutelage of the Sanskrit scholar, dr Sarasvati Mohan, in the 2000s. Over the past decade, he has spent time in personal retreat in Uttrakashi Himalayas, where he attends satsang or gatherings with senior sadhus and monks. With close to three decades of practice, study and teaching experience, he offers yoga and Vedanta courses and retreats at his center in Fremont, at various other centers and ashrams and now online.

Shannon W.:

I had the pleasure of studying under Gajananam at his center years ago when it was located in Berkeley. I learned a great deal from him directly and from the fruits of my own practice, and hope to share a taste of that learning in this conversation. Gajananam is a true scholar and devoted practitioner of this ancient tradition and it's an honor to host him on this podcast. In my conversation with Gajananam, we'll unpack some basic definitions of yoga and Vedanta and explore some ways to bring the wisdom of those traditions into our daily lives. We'll talk about the misconception of yoga being simply a form of exercise or stretching, and also how physical exercise does fit into the bigger picture of yoga study. Then we'll dig deeper, exploring Sanskrit, the ancient language of yoga, the Bhagavad Gita, one of the key scriptures of the tradition, and some differences in yogic practice between the cultures of the West and India. We'll discuss the benefits of learning yoga as an oral tradition directly from a teacher, and we'll even trade a couple of dream stories with each other. We're going to pack a lot into this one, so I hope you'll join me for all this and more in this thoughtful episode coming up.

Shannon W.:

Next, you can learn more about Gajananam at his website, which includes information about his lineage, current and upcoming courses and recordings of past classes at vishnuyogaorg that's v-i-s-h-n-u-yogaorg. Just a side note on yoga and yoga classes in the Sivananda lineage to orient people who may not be familiar. Different from many yoga classes in the US, which are often a mix of yoga asanas or physical postures that can be different each time, with some breath work or meditation mixed in Sivananda classes follow a prescribed sequence a combination of breathing, movement and meditation that is learned, practiced and deepened into over time Among the various styles and lineages of yoga available to us. This is one that is quite steeped in tradition and is an excellent lineage to study if we want to get a sense of the depth of yoga beyond the physical benefits. So there's a little bit of background for you and now for the interview. Namaste Dhirgajananam.

Gajananam:

Namaste.

Shannon W.:

I'm so happy to talk with you today. Thank you for your time. My pleasure. I imagine that most people listening to this conversation may be students of yoga themselves, or at least have an idea of what yoga is. But in our current time, there are so many different kinds of yoga and different definitions of it. So for anyone who's not familiar with yoga or with your lineage, would you share what is your definition? What is yoga and why do we practice it? What is your definition? What is yoga and why?

Gajananam:

do we practice it? Good question, any endeavor we anything we start with, anything we try to do there. You know there can be different motives behind, but in the end what motivates us to do anything is we're looking for, you know? For we want to be happy, we want to be content. Obviously that's otherwise why we want to be happy, we want to be content. Obviously that's otherwise. Why would I try to do anything? So this is why we try, why we go into anything. So yoga is a very good means, intelligent means, for going in this direction, because most of the time when we're trying find our balance or our peace or things like this, we're trying to do it through external circumstances. Because you do feel this balance, you do something you really enjoy, something exciting you enjoy, or something you taste you very enjoy. So for a few moments you feel very good, very balanced. But this is dependent on external things and here it's working on the internal circumstances, really learning how to create an internal balance, and on many levels. That's why they're different practices podcast.

Shannon W.:

The purpose of this podcast is exploring the ways that we have become disconnected from our true nature and then ways, practical ways, real ways that we can come back into connection with ourselves. And we learn in this practice that yoga actually means union. And I'm curious what would you say about what is being unified, what is coming back into union with what in this tradition?

Gajananam:

What happens is this. So we say unity between yoga is union, so union between individual and absolute. But the issue is anything that if you take two disparate things and unite them, this means that before it there was a disunion, meaning later there can be a disunion again, Meaning that cannot be something that's permanent. Now, what we're looking for. We're looking for when you say I want to be happy, I want to be content. You don't want to say I want to be happy from nine to 10 on Sundays. The rest of the time I don't care. You don't want to say you don't want to be partially. You know I want to be, I'll take 50%, I'll be okay. You want to be completely, like, completely, like this. So really that's what we're looking for, but we're finding just small pieces.

Gajananam:

So yoga is a very good method for preparation, groundwork, because you learn less to have the mind running out to things, more balanced, less disturbed about the things around you, less involved to you know, the mind isn't as worried, involved with things around you, then you can introspect better. It was how you introspect. You want to introspect on something deeper within you, but your mind is running after everything else. So what happens is Vedanta. What it says is that you're not looking for some. If you're looking for something new or different, trying to get it, meaning that it will be a temporary solution.

Gajananam:

One verse in the Gita says yoga is vyoga. This vyoga means disunion, really learning to remove what is not you, not essentially you, and what remains is what you're looking for. So, since this is something very subtle, then Vedanta isn't something that is as easily accessible. You can say. So that's why, actually, my master, his master, their centers were Yoga Vedanta centers. That's why Yoga Vedanta? Because you do learn yoga in a traditional way for some time. Naturally you'll gravitate towards this introspection. Then Vedanta makes more sense, if that makes sense what I said.

Shannon W.:

It does make sense, and I would love for you to maybe define Vedanta. We jumped in quickly there, but how does Vedanta relate to yoga, and you touched on it a bit, but why a yoga Vedanta center?

Gajananam:

Well, again, it's not my creation of this, I'm just teaching as I learned and still practicing and studying as I learned, because it's they say, it's lifetimes of effort, which is probably the case, because it's quite an endeavor, but the most important endeavor but again, yoga is the preparation, preparing the ground, and Vedanta is the actual going actually to the essence Now. So what happens is I'll explain how it works actually OK, what happens is just like in any field if you medicine, any science, anything like this, there will be people that have really studied it very thoroughly. So those are the experts. You're going to first learn according to what they said Until you really understand it. Well, just making up your own thing doesn't make sense.

Gajananam:

So here's what the experts, let's say the ancient experts in the, said, after analyzing the individual meaning oneself, then saw that there are a few issues that we have, why we're not at peace, why we're not content. First of all, we have what's called mala, which is literally impurity or dirt in our minds. And one will say what do you mean? Well, are you judgmental at all? Do you get angry, do you get frustrated? Do you get impatient? Well, all those are impure in the mind because they're disturbing you and then also you're through that, you're disturbing others too. So that's one thing that we have and those things need to be. If that's not removed, how am I going to look at something Like, how are you going to look at something objectively, especially yourself, which is a very hard thing to do objectively, without removing these, my all these things? So that's one second issue is our mind is very unstable. This is called big shape, tossing them. So somebody will say what do you mean? I'm unstable mind say okay, I'll show you, sit quietly for 30 seconds and do nothing, just have your mind quiet. One minute Guaranteed. Your mind is going to go everywhere and be present very little. If you practice some meditation, you can be more present. Okay, but now I want to sit in introspect on something. How am I going to do it? My mind is everywhere. It's like I want to take a picture and a camera and everything is shaking. How are you going to do it? So that's the second problem.

Gajananam:

Third problem is we have unclarity as well, and clarity about ourselves, because I see myself as a conglomerate of things. On the one hand, I have emotions, I have thoughts, I have feelings, I have a body, I have energy, all these things. On the other hand, I'm one thing. You're always one and the same. Are you one or many? What are you? You have different parts. When you forget them, you're still one. So, whether they're there or not, you're still one. So what is the essence there? You know, I'm aware. What does it mean to be aware? Who is aware in there? Oh, I'm aware. We'll just say I is a very general thing. We don't understand what I is. So these are the three things we have. Mind has these impurities. The mind is not something stable. So you know, you need a tool, an instrument. And the third is unaclarity. So yoga works on the first two of these. The most yoga practices.

Gajananam:

Vedanta is the third. And the third is, we say, is the root cause of these and so without it's kind of like it'll be a little hard to go into graduate school without having some prep from undergrad that kind of thing. So this is a similar thing where the yoga really helps to prepare for it. So that's how yoga Vedanta go together.

Shannon W.:

Thank you for that. What it brings to mind is, I think, that some people have a misconception about yoga, which is that it is a physical practice, only a physical practice, or that it is just stretching, or that it's a form of exercise exercise, and of course, in the way that we're talking about it, yoga is much more than a stretching practice. But in yoga there is quite a bit of focus on the physical or body cultivation, at least in the beginning. So I'm wondering how would you say that? Maybe stereotype of yoga or the physical cultivation aspect of yoga fits into the cultivation of the mind that you were just talking about?

Gajananam:

Well, there are a few things. Number one is if the body doesn't feel good, if it's not healthy, then it'll be more difficult. Your attention will be on the body so much Very difficult not to focus on it. You want to. It gets in your way of things, to do things and also to introspect. So that's one thing. The second thing is the body is our grossest part, grossest manifestation. Because you have energy, too subtler. You have a mind too. You have an intellect too. All these are subtle and of course, your awareness even more subtle. So easiest to start with the grossest one and that's actually my master, so I'm vision around energy.

Gajananam:

Who came here? He came here in 1957. Nobody knew about yoga anything here then, and what he did was he saw. He saw the culture and he's, and then he started with health. You know health, healthy diet and yoga, the yoga asanas, the postures, because what happens is if you uh, the yoga posture is the way they're practiced in a traditional way is not just balancing your body and energy, but you learn how to draw your attention, bring your mind more inwards, less scattered. This is what happens, because as you do it, you learn how to be with the breath. The breath is one of the best ways to gather your attention. Learn how to be still, learn how to be still. You learn how to be more relaxed, you learn how to be more aware. So, other than the balancing energy and you know, making the body more supple, feeling better, it has all these other effects that are very, very important and helpful preparations. So, of course, whether you're embarking on this for meditation or inquiry, or you just want to feel more balanced and healthy, it does wonders.

Shannon W.:

I'm curious, when you go to study in India because I know you do at times go to India in your studies is there as much the focus on physical cultivation there in the practices or is that something that is there a little bit more of a focus on it in the yoga that was brought to the west?

Gajananam:

a lot more here. Yes, it's not that there aren't schools of yoga there that also do it, but the thing there's. So it's such a vast thing in india, india and in all fields that are very vast in spirituality, extremely vast. If somebody were to go and look, you know, really, go and look the different place, different place in the world, um, the vastness of how the spirit, spirituality has been developed there is mind-blowing it's just phenomenal.

Gajananam:

So you'll have all different varieties. So, yes, there will be places we'll focus a lot on, more primarily maybe, but most places, not Most places, won't be the major thing. That's the interesting thing.

Shannon W.:

It is interesting, india, and what you say about the spirituality of maybe spirituality being more, um, more and sort of an everyday experience in life, that people are living more directly in that understanding, um, and I'm curious does that change the way that people interact with this concept of unity or connection? Is there a sense that people and I understand, I don't want to generalize all of India, but is there a sense that people may be living in a way that's more connected to their true nature there?

Gajananam:

Well, you could say so. Again, as you said, you can't generalize, but, yes, one of the main differences you'll see is here in the West. Then the center of everything is the individual. We're individualistic and we want to do what we like, how we like, when we like. Oh, yes, so that's very much based on the individual.

Gajananam:

Now, the individual, what happens? Spiritual I don't mean. If I want to talk about spirit and this, that's not limited just to me, it's just by the name of it, everything, it's not something limited. So we're focusing on something very small, limited, like this my body, mind, my comfort is something very small and limited. Like this my body, mind, my comfort is something very small and limited.

Gajananam:

In India the individual is not the center, it's something much more flexible. Everything flows together much more. People are a lot more, it's more how would I say? People much more integrated together, where the unit isn't the individual, it's the family or the community or something like this from the get-go. So just the individual in this way is less of the focus. So from the get-go, you have a place where everybody is helping, serving everybody else, like you do for yourself here. So that already gives from the get-go, gives something much more conducive for this type of spirituality. We can say so here materialistically we're very advanced, scientifically very advanced. But as a community you can say as in this way or as a family unit, we're not as advanced. Individual events, there we'll take it, it'll be just the opposite.

Shannon W.:

It's almost hard to even imagine growing up in a culture with that as its center, because we are so individualized. I think some of the work at least for me and probably for others, the work in yoga is to actually deconstruct some of that strong sense of the individual that can actually get in the way of the connection the interconnectivity that is all around us.

Gajananam:

I'll give you an example of this, of what I just said, when in 2008, when I stayed with a good friend of ours, swami Ram Sarupanamaji. He used to come you might have even seen him in Berkeley, he used to come in the summers. Kamsarupanammaji used to come you might have even seen him in Berkeley. He used to come in the summers. He had a stroke and so he was staying in a small Ayurvedic clinic there in Bangalore. So I went and I stayed for like two months with him and that helped a little bit. He had a stroke and he was hard from tea, he had to be fed and everything, much in pain. I used to take him for a walk every day and say we have to go for a walk. So we'd walk you know, it's like 15 yards to the port, sit there for a while and then 15 yards back to his room and he'd be exhausted after that. But I'd push him once or twice a day to do it because he had to be up and moving.

Gajananam:

Um, so what happens is, first of all, they're putting up. Some devotees are putting up in the clinic just taking care of him and everything, because he's a monk and they learn from you, they respect him. This they're taking care of number one. So they're doing for him first of all. Now it's not, he is just being served sitting there. But then, on the other hand, people would come and want to hear him because people revere monks there and, and you know, they get some advice or some this and this. Anytime. Anybody would come, he'd sit up, he talked to them for a long time so he'd be there to serve them oh, he found that energy, then everybody's there for serving the others and if he'll, if they'll come to for him and they'll know that he's has this kind of diet, something, they'll bring that.

Gajananam:

If he's, if they'll come to it for him and they'll know that he has this kind of diet, they'll bring that. If they'll hear that he wants something he needs or wants, they will just bring it without question. So, just like your body does for yourself, the people are doing for each other.

Shannon W.:

It's fascinating to me because I can think of an example of someone who's maybe a Westerner and this is this is again a generalization but someone who says you know, people are coming to visit, people want my attention. Oh, I just don't have the time and energy for this. But, oh, but if I need to go you know, shopping for some new clothes, or even if I need to go to the gym or something to keep my, my body fit and muscular, oh I do, I will find the energy for that. Sometimes we find the energy for those individual tasks that benefit us individually and don't have the time for others. So that's thought provoking, you know. Related to this topic of yogic practice in India versus yogic practice here in the West, One thing I wanted to ask you.

Shannon W.:

There's a growing concern that I'm hearing among people in the West, in the US, about cultural appropriation of yoga. People who see the benefit of yoga or may be drawn to the wisdom, the teachings of yoga, and yet they're hesitant because they don't want to appropriate those teachings, co-opt them. As a Western tradition and just out of respect for the cultures that yoga came from, I think some people are hesitating to engage with yoga. At the same time, swami Sivananda and others were conscious about their choice to send teachers of yoga to the West. They had reasons for doing that, and I'm curious what you would say about this. So if people want to study yoga and reap the benefits of the practice, knowing that tradition has roots in another culture, how do we study it respectfully? And would Swami Sivananda or Swami Vishnudeva Ananda? Would they even consider this an issue?

Gajananam:

Sure, Well, the thing is, anything you take up you can always find issues with. That's a good point. So whatever you want to do, whatever you want to study, you're going to have to adapt to certain things. Here I take care of a garden. Right, I have a garden. I'm vegetarian. I never would in our garden in Berkeley, I never would put anything for snails or slugs because I would feel bad from this. But here I do have to spray some things because otherwise some diseases come and the plants die.

Gajananam:

I do it organically, because I say to myself well, they grow like that. There's no other way. If I go to the, I'll get. I go to the farmer's market and I get our vegetables. They're spraying and they're taking care of the things too. It's part of the part of life. So, yes, I'll do minimal damage, but I can't do none. So the moment I'm going to gardening, I have to open the door for certain things like this. I have no choice. I'll do. I do it as best as I can. I even go out my way. I get the composted. I compost things, worms, I try I way I get the composted. I compost things, worms. I try to get the different natural fertilizers that don't have bone meal and things like this, because I don't want to have the animals have to suffer for it. But it does need animal product in the ground. So my worm compost is good for this. In any case, whatever you go into, you need some adaptability will be needed. You can't help it.

Gajananam:

Our grandson Judo the terms are in Japanese, he'll say no, tell me them in English or I won't do it. You can't. You know you can't. Just you're studying another language. You can't study a language without something from some other culture. So this is one thing. So, because of where this developed over millennia, most probably, of course, you cannot escape to really learn it properly, to have some things from the culture in there. It'll be very hard to separate. But what happens is what you gain and learn from it is phenomenal. What you gain from it is not something that's cultural. What you gain from it is, you know, balance of mind, is health, is a great understanding of peace, of unity. That's something totally universal.

Shannon W.:

Yeah.

Gajananam:

So of course you know you when. So you have to. It doesn't mean you have to change your name, you have to change your attire, all these things, yeah, some things. It doesn't mean you have to change everything, but some things have to be, you'll have to adapt, otherwise it's not going to, you're not going to open the door to be able to learn it. So these are the things. Is that you have to be adaptable to learn anything? So this is not, you know, especially something which is much more subtle, something much more profound, a lot more you know, some more adaptability is probably needed. I'll tell you a nice thing.

Gajananam:

First group that I brought to Uttarakhand in North India, where I go every year. Swami Ram Surupanandaji is there. Others go for retreat. So one lady used to come for our classes in Berkeley. She lived, I think she was, in Lebanon for a little while. She taught at the French embassy there yoga. So two people from Lebanon where students came.

Gajananam:

One of them Ali. He's Muslim and he had a very difficult time with a lot of because in the retreat it's India and of course India is, and in an ashram there'd be so many Hindu things there. So he had a very difficult time with a lot of the things, but he stuck throughout the whole thing. So after he went back though, then he made a slideshow from photos and shared, and it really touched him. He really changed, it got. So, you know, really helped him in so many ways.

Gajananam:

And the thing about it is especially not the Indian and Hinduism are dogmatic things. Every religion will have some of those things in some places. But that openness very much helps and that's an important thing also. The student has to be open, but also the person teaching has to also be. You know, also have that openness, otherwise very difficult. So in this way it really, if it's approached in the right way, matter you can learn and you can really grow and learn from it. Actually, after a few years, when I contacted Ali, I said we're having a retreat. You want to come? He said, oh, I was just in retreat, meditation retreat there, so some other retreats, so he doesn't have time to come down.

Shannon W.:

So so, but he had continued with his practice then exactly, that's the point uh.

Shannon W.:

so I wonder, would you say then it's someone who who has a concern or a consideration. Would the advice to that person maybe be just go ahead and try it, because if you yeah, then you miss the opportunity for that, for that universal, phenomenal opportunity for growth that does transcend culture. And so I I would say that in my study of yoga, I have become more respectful, if anything, of the traditions that yoga came from, and there must have been a reason. Was there something that Swami Sivananda or Swami Vishnu Devananda, is there something that they saw? And other yogis who also came to the West I'm thinking of Yogananda, and there are so many others what was it they saw in the West that caused them to that they saw or that they intuited? Something led them to this understanding that they were called to go West to share the teachings of yoga. What was that that was calling them out?

Gajananam:

It was seeing the one and all and wanting to help. You know, help suffering. There are doctors that will join Doctors Without Borders. They go to other countries and they treat people because they see the people are suffering same way they saw people were suffering.

Gajananam:

Let us help them because they're suffering. But that's the reason for service, because literally you know now that I know, you know my wife being from a traditional place in ind and having more understanding of the culture from all these years, I'm sure that Swami Vishwanathananda, my teacher, it was probably very difficult just to be in the West. It was so different coming from a traditional background. So he didn't come here just to explore, to enjoy or for something like this. He very much enjoyed going back and going to the Himalayas and just to, to meditate.

Gajananam:

But he came to serve.

Shannon W.:

That is, that is karma yoga, isn't it? Yes, thank you for that, because it's. There is still so much suffering here, so much suffering even though we have so much material wealth, but we are suffering so much in our spiritual and emotional health and also in our soul, and so I think that those Swamis were right and I think they're still right. And so I think that those Swamis were right and I think they're still right and I think we need it now more than ever. So I would be so sad if people hesitate to try this practice.

Gajananam:

I agree.

Shannon W.:

So mentioning service and karma yoga. This actually brings to mind the Bhagavad Gita. I would love to talk with you about the Gita a bit. I remember quite fondly studying the Gita with you in our Sunday school every week for some time.

Gajananam:

We have our Sunday school going on.

Shannon W.:

You have the Bhagavad Gita Sunday school. It's a precious opportunity.

Gajananam:

Yes, yes, and of course, since we've been doing for years both the people have been coming regularly and also I've been studying the Vedanta in a very traditional way for the last seven years then we study a lot of Vedantic texts. It's been very nice.

Shannon W.:

Okay, so I do want to ask you more about the Gita, but I want to ask you about something you just said, which is you've been studying Vedantic texts in the traditional way. What does it mean to study a text in a traditional way?

Gajananam:

What happens is the way Vedanta has been taught traditionally. If you take the Bhagavad Gita, for example, there it's a conversation between the teacher and student, between Krishna and Arjuna. Out of respect, we say Lord Krishna is as the teacher and Arjuna as the student. Like you're a teacher. Traditionally it's always been passed down like this orally, and there's an important reason for it is that if you are reading the text, no, I'm going to study on my own. My study is based on my mind, my understanding, my pace, so I'm trying to look beyond myself as an individual or make the ideas of myself, but the whole base of the study is still me, the individual.

Gajananam:

When you're sitting as a student, listening, when you're discussing, listening directly, it's a much more directing, on the one hand passive, but you also be very active to listen closely, and so again, so listening is very different than just reading and it points to things in a much subtler way and as it does it, slowly. Understanding can deepen over time. Step away, your knowledge of it slowly deepens, like if you wanted to learn a language and you just, you know, went for two classes and then took a break and went a little bit here and there. You'll know a few words, a few sentences. You know you'll get like when I go into Korean stores I'll say, and they smile because I probably say hello in their language in a very awkward way, but I can say hello and goodbye or thank you. That's pretty much the extent.

Gajananam:

I don't know anything else. But if you go regularly, over time, your knowledge of it, everything will become deeper and more solid. So if it's for a language or for a profession or for a degree, how much more important it is for something subtle like this, much less likely I'll get to this understanding with them. Now, another important point with it is this it's done like this with somebody who has experience with it, with the teacher, for this same reason that, first of all, you need somebody experienced to teach you anything. Number one without that experience, how will they be able to give the subtle points? How will they be able to if the subtle points? How will they answer questions?

Gajananam:

That's one thing, Vedanta is about inquiring, understanding myself, so it's not that you'll say something. This is how it is, accept it and go home, and that's how it is finished. No, you have to look into it.

Gajananam:

If your ideas are different, why are they different? What is contradicting? And slowly you see, because it's a universal thing. You're an awareful being, you're a conscious being. It's universal. What does that mean? This is really analyzing. The more you look at it, the more it helps you to look at it.

Gajananam:

Method. It's a method of inquiry. Now, do we try on our own to find our contentment, our happiness and look into our core being? We try on our own and we don't manage to find it easily. And one of the main reasons I'm doing it as myself, the individual. I'm looking for what's beyond myself as the individual, kind of like trying to stand on my own shoulders.

Gajananam:

When somebody is pointing it out to you. It's not you looking into it yourself, that person pointing. So that's how the tradition, where in Vedanta, works, that's why you're the teacher there. The teacher is pointing it out. They've experienced, but also they're pointing it. So it's not I, the individual, looking at that, Of course, then you have to introspect on it yourself and then you have to introspect on it. Nobody can do it for you, but it's not pointed that way. It's much more difficult to get to because it started from me, the individual, as the base. It's not starting from me, the individual as the base, but that's a very important point in the how Vedantic inquiry works.

Gajananam:

So traditionally you study for an extensive period regularly with with an experienced teacher. That's how it's done and I had been. I lived in Arash from seven years. I've been a student before getting to the Sabyoga for 20 years or whatever after that only I went to study vedanta in a systematic way like this, traditionally, from the first text that I've already read many times more advanced texts, because I saw there's opportunity, I said let me go, yeah and uh, and obviously everything else must have been preparation. But now, having been studying for seven years or so in that way, I see how much more depth is there because of the systematic approach. So this thing just hearing some talks on and off is something. You gain something. But a regular, systematic thing, you really gain a lot more understanding. So that's really the important thing Regular, systematic.

Shannon W.:

I do think that I experienced some of that when I was studying the Gita with you, Because, again, I had read the text more than once and interpreted it according to my own understanding and I think I'm taking it in and learning from it, and I'm sure I was. But when we began to study systematically, chapter by chapter and regularly coming together every week, I remember experimenting with the teachings over that week. So rather than just I read this book and then I put it down and I'm going to trust that I got what I needed, there's always some lesson, there's always some teaching that we're pulling from that text. And then I could ask myself well, how could I practice this in my day-to-day life? How can I practice this out in the world? And it never failed that an opportunity would come up to practice that. And then there's some experiential knowledge that I now have. It feels like it is sunk more deeply into me than the knowledge I got from reading the book.

Shannon W.:

That's wonderful, that's how it should be done, yeah.

Gajananam:

Yeah, literally again in the systematic study of Vedanta, exactly, it's something like this Primary, first you, you hear, you understand what it's saying, the understanding. Then you reflect on it like this you reflect on it to really see the understand that it doesn't have contradictions within you. It has contradictions, you ask about it to clarify, like this, and then afterwards you meditate, you know, you meditate or assimilate, put into practice. So that's exactly because if it's just something hear, you kind of store it somewhere in your mind and be done, then you know some nice information is there.

Shannon W.:

Yeah, and what a shame if we read the Gita and we just have some nice information, because there's so much to incorporate into our lives.

Gajananam:

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Shannon W.:

For anyone who is not familiar with the Gita, or maybe has heard of it but doesn't know what it is, would you explain how the Bhagavad Gita fits into the study of Yoga Vedanta, the importance of that text.

Gajananam:

Yeah, the Bhagavad Gita is really one of the best texts for studying these things, both Yoga and Vedanta. These things, both yoga and Vedanta. It's not a very long text 18 chapters, 700 verses, Of course, all the elaboration on it. To really study it thoroughly it takes a long time. But the main point is what it does. It takes these teachings and puts it in a very practical way.

Gajananam:

Instead of just sitting there because there is a teacher and student, but instead of having them sit somewhere in a cave or in a very quiet, comfortable AC room discussing the higher philosophy, it's taking place just on the battlefield, just before the battle. And what happens then is so yoga? It's not a yoga. You're going to go sit quietly in your room, comfortably. But can you do? Can you keep the equanimity in a battle as well? If you can keep it there, if you can keep up the equal vision, keep up all the, keep up the respect, keep up all these things, even in battle, then you know you've won the battle of life, because you can deal with anything. You can say like this Now, of course, that's just one aspect, but the battle is also symbolizing the internal battle.

Gajananam:

Everybody has their internal struggles, Everybody has this. They say what's taught is the main battle, main struggle. All this is within your own heart and then in the Gita, it's teaching exactly the points of yoga, the different things in yoga, as we mentioned before, for your inner balance and as well as Vedanta, to clarify about yourself. So these are the tools you use in order to, if you want to say, to win this battle, you can see, to win the battle, you can find, or find the peace, whatever you want to call it. But it's in order to transcend these limited ideas we hold in our minds, the day-to-day petty ideas I'm holding on to. So the Gita really helps to illustrate it very nicely. So the student there is really representing us.

Gajananam:

The battle is actually his cousins, which have been very unrighteous and everything and forcibly ruling the kingdom and very hard for everybody from that, and he and the righteous brothers which are rightfully supposed to rule, and then they try everything possible to have peace and it's not possible and so, as a last resort, they do have the battle. This is the last resort. So it's very difficult for him because now it's a family thing and his great-grandson on the other side teach on the other side like this and uh, which means that I hold so many things near and dear within myself. But those things that I hold near and dear with myself are not always very good for me. I like my judgmentalism and pettiness and my ego very much, so I hold on to them, but they're not necessarily the best thing and I say no, I don't have any of those. Well, if you have any family and friends, you'll know very quickly you do have, because they'll you know, you'll butt heads and they'll point it at us. So this is the real battle. Some people they hear battle and they're turned off by.

Gajananam:

But these are two things to remember again. That's why one has to first understand what it is before throwing out. But first of all is the main thing is your inner struggle. And second thing is within our life, everything won't doesn't go just smooth and nice. We do have to have some confrontation from one thing, here and there for certain things. We don don't have to overdo it. If you're a mother, you're going to have to yell at the child sometime or punish them sometime. It's part of you. Know, you have to do your duty, but you have to do so learning how to do in a proper way, as needed and then without, because, also there, I can be shying away from that too. So there is the internal and external struggle in life. There is that, and so it's not something that is about pro-war or anything like this, nothing of that sort, but it's dealing with the struggles, learning how to deal with them.

Shannon W.:

It seems that taking up the Gita with an understanding that this is a metaphor would be essential, because then, when you realize it's a metaphor and you begin reading it as such, rather than oh, this is a battle scene, I don't want to read a war book, no, this is a metaphor for an internal battle it changes the entire text. So that part seems extremely important. So thank you for sharing that.

Gajananam:

Yeah, that's a very good point you brought up Very important.

Shannon W.:

And just a side note, I love that you said this isn't necessarily work to be done by a monk in a cave or by a modern person in a comfortable, air conditioned room. Because there is I think there are many people who say oh well, you know, I don't, I can't be a monk in a cave, I don't have time for this kind of practice, you know, because I'm you know I can't go to monk in a cave, I don't have time for this kind of practice. You know, because I can't go to a cave in the Himalayas and practice. And yet we try to do our entire practice in an air-conditioned, comfortable room and then consider that we are done.

Gajananam:

Well, again, that's. One of the things is that in the Western way of things we very much compartmentalize things and things and again, we talked before comparing Western and Indian culture. In India things are much more fluid, like they talk about IST, indian Standard Time, people say Indian Stretchable Time. Things are good like this, as it's needed then. So the spirituality isn't just you go to the church of the temple in this time of day, you do, and that's finished. It's in and through everything. So, uh, so, in this way, the teachings here. That's why, again, battlefield meaning in your day-to-day life, it's something to live in, your day-to-day life, through everything. It's not just something for a certain time place. Yeah, there's time for prayer, time for meditation, just to focus on that is very good, very helpful. Time for just, you know, study these things very hot to it in air conditioner, absolutely very good, so you're comfortable. But then what's there has to be then lit. That's the difference. It difference. It doesn't just stay there.

Shannon W.:

So important, so important For a student who really wants to make this attempt to learn and live these teachings in their daily lives. What would you consider as a starting point for them? Is the Gita part of the starting point, or is it the physical cultivation practices, or is it more of a combination?

Gajananam:

Well, both are very good For a deeper understanding. Yes, having the philosophical background, like the Gita, is very helpful. Otherwise, what happens is what's happening with yoga. A lot here is just one part is taken out and everybody's focusing on that. You have an orchestra. Take the violin out. We love violin, just violin. The rest of the orchestra you're not paying attention to. So you can play the symphony, you can play some things, but not everything. So one part is taken out, like this You're a doctor, you're studying to be a doctor. Oh, I love to study. You know the skeletal system. The rest I'm not as interested in. It's like this you're taking one part out.

Gajananam:

So one thing, though, is, if you practice that's again one of the things is the way that I learned. I went and I wanted to relax. You do yoga. It makes you relax, and and slowly, you see, to relax isn't every you know to really relax deeply, it takes a lot more. You need a lot of understanding. It's not just a simple technical thing, and then you have more of a, so it naturally leads you to something more. So, yeah, but to really go deeper into some of the philosophy around is very helpful. So yoga and Gita is good, you know, if somebody just goes to study Gita, also good, because that really gives you that encompasses for everything in the life. It's true having some sort of practice like yoga and meditation helpful to go hand in hand with it, absolutely.

Shannon W.:

So there are different entry points, aren't there? Yes, to that same goal of unity.

Gajananam:

Yes.

Shannon W.:

Gajananam, I want to make sure, while we have some time, to talk with you about Sanskrit. This is something that I understand. You have studied for many years the Sanskrit language, which is, of course, the language, I believe, the language of the ancient yogis and ancient yoga, vedanta and the ancient texts.

Gajananam:

Yes, they're written. Most of them are written in Sanskrit.

Shannon W.:

Yes, yeah, and I studied Sanskrit with you. Just a bit, just the tip of the iceberg. I personally was drawn to Sanskrit because of its connection to yoga and also as its history, as one of the world's most ancient surviving languages that we still have access to, and so there's this particular thing I'd love to ask you. So I've always had this thought that by learning an ancient language, that we might be able to gain access to some of the ancient ways of thinking or seeing the world that those people had, and maybe that our modern languages that may only be a couple of hundred years old, maybe they can't give us those same ways of thinking or seeing. So I just wonder if you think this is true or has this been your experience? Is there something available to us by learning Sanskrit, like in connection to an ancient way of knowing that somehow coded into the language there?

Gajananam:

That's a very nice way, very nice thought. Yeah, I think you have a good point there, because, in any case, the moment you do learn any other language, you have to. First of all, your mind has to be more flexible, and there will always be some cultural things, some things beyond just what you're used to in the language, because it's thinking differently than how you're thinking. Somebody gave a talk once. Some of his family must be Hispanic because he was talking about speaking Spanish. He said that part of the family would say English is very limiting, we can't really express with English. So somebody knows English and Spanish, maybe things like this. So the language of other dimensions, now Sanskrit. There'll be many things written in Sanskrit, not just the spiritual things, of course, but since our interest is in that, most of the literature on yoga and Vedanta, the more traditional ones or older known ones like this, will be in Sanskrit, and so that was one of the reasons I wanted to study it is so you can read the original also, not just rely on the translation.

Shannon W.:

Yeah.

Gajananam:

And the translation needs a lot of elaboration, a lot of the time because of the, as I said, because nomenclature is missing by the same has been codified by the same group of seers.

Shannon W.:

you can say that, you know just discuss the philosophy as well, so it's very much intertwined. So I'm thinking that many people who are listening may not be familiar with the sound of the Sanskrit language. I wonder if you would be willing to share with us a chant or a mantra, something you particularly love, so we might get a sense of the feel of the language and the sound of it.

Gajananam:

That's a wonderful idea. What happens is one of the important things in Sanskrit is actually the sound itself, because there is, of course, the meaning, the grammar, but also it's a vibratory language where the vibration itself really has a purifying effect for the mind and for our psyche. And so this has both the intonation of the sound of the language as well as the way it's chanted the swadas. Swadas means different notes, like a notation. This is the Vedic way, very ancient way, which you'll find in India in priests. The priests chant like this, or in ashrams they chant like this I'll chant this very beautiful prayer, and usually it's done at the beginning of worship or beginning of the class to invoke this energy which helps to remove distraction, remove obstacles. Om.

Speaker 3:

Ganana, antwa Ganapati, gumhava Mahekavin Kavinam Upamashravastamam Keshchharajam Brahmanam Brahmanaspata Anashrumban Nurtibhise Dasadanam. It is such a lovely language.

Gajananam:

It's something when you chant the mantras in Sanskrit afterwards, you just want to meditate. It brings you to a nice meditative state.

Shannon W.:

So true, I didn't quite want to speak there. Yes, now, would you provide a translation for that?

Gajananam:

It says like this you're Vinesha, meaning you're the one who is. Everything is made out of groups of things. The whole world is made out of groups. It's all structure upon structure upon structure. So what is the base, structure of everything in through? Because Ganesha, ganesha, ganesha, meaning the one who is of all the different structures, the base, the boss of all things. You can say who is?

Gajananam:

of all the different structures, the base, the boss of all things, you can say that would be the infinite.

Gajananam:

So invoking this one and this one is the most ancient, this one is the wisdom behind everything and this one is known can only be known through similes, because the mind can't grasp something beyond name and form, so the similes help to point to it. You can't know that one directly, like I know you, like I can see and hear or think of something, because it's too abstract for that. And it says this is really the light, the wisdom behind the Vedas, behind universal knowledge, universal knowledge, and this is the one who really knows it, because the only way to really know the universal truth you have to become the universal truth, because it's beyond work to see that you are the universal truth, because it's something beyond their mind. So you're that one who knows this. So this one mantra and invocation has the whole philosophy or what we discussed now really to go into detail. We take a lot more time just to study one mantra like this. We can sit for a few hours to really understand all the details and the import absolutely.

Shannon W.:

Thank you for that beautiful mantra.

Gajananam:

Thank you for sharing with us thank you to the rishis who put it down and passed it down for generation by generations, and that people like you and me can learn it too. It's amazing.

Shannon W.:

Absolutely.

Gajananam:

Thank you to the rishis. Now, that being said, it's not that to study Gita or yoga you have to know Sanskrit. That's one thing. You have to learn other language. It's a wonderful thing too, especially if somebody wants to study this very much in depth and for a long time and everything. Then, yes, having some knowledge in this can be very helpful because, like you know, studying Gita, then you can chant the original, you can understand a lot of it directly. So that's it's not necessary, but it can be very nice.

Shannon W.:

Yeah, yeah, thank you for the reminder. It's not necessary, I think. Maybe for some people it would be. For some people it would make sense, certainly for me. I find it fascinating, sort of like where scientists tell us that when we're looking out at a star far off in the sky, we're seeing that star as it appeared, we're seeing the light that was emitted from that star maybe 100,000 years ago, and we're literally connecting with 100,000-year-old light in our retinas. And in the same way, I just find it fascinating and beautiful that this language is available to us, that we can learn and reach. It feels like reaching back in time to the consciousness of those ancient seers who created it.

Gajananam:

Because then you're exactly because it's their thought, but their thoughts put down like this, and you're reading, getting their direct thoughts instead of what you know, translation, translation or something. I'll give you one thing, though what you said about seeing the stars in this, yeah, if that thing blows your mind, I'll tell you. What blows my mind, you as the, your consciousness, awareness is that the sun there that you're seeing can be hundreds of thousands, even million years old. What you're seeing, but the consciousness that is within you, that is right there and you feel all the time, is timeless, not just millions of years old. And this one, people say, ah, this, your mind can't fathom it. That's the amazing thing. That's one of the reasons a teacher is needed. It's not a dangerous thing if you don't do the teaching, nothing like that but to really grasp it, because what's so tricky is you as a conscious being. It's not something graspable by the mind, the other way of the mind, because you're a wearable being. You can think Because look if you weren't a awareful being. You can think Because look, if you weren't awareful being, you can't think. A robot doesn't think, it's just some programs, it's not an awareful being Now. But if you're not thinking, you're still an awareful being. So that comes first, that's primary to you, primarily. You're an awareful being and that one is eternal. And it's something that at the beginning, when this is pointed out, beginning means study. Do yoga, vedanta. Study a few years, five, 10 years still, okay, maybe, something like this. But if you keep going into it it makes more sense. And because it's something the mind can't fathom, you can't limit it by anything. So this is quite a phenomenal thing and these are the statements that the ancient seers point out and what Vedanta is pointing out, and what greater endeavor to look into this than anything else. Now, for deep understanding of anything, you really need to stay and look at it deeply, like that's why somebody has a doctorate in something we have respect, and say, yes, that person studied this for five years years, they have a deeper understanding of that topic. Yes, so here about self-knowledge, I'm the awareful being in this. How much you know, how much more subtle it is, so how much you have to study.

Gajananam:

So one monk that came were in school vedanta that I'm studying at. He came, I guess, as teacher and five days gave some talks in the mornings. So he took one verse that would be the equivalent of a short paragraph from one of the Upanishads. Upanishads are the ancient part of the Vedas, the ancient texts which deal directly with the Vedanta, with teaching Vedanta, the vision of Vedanta. Okay, so five days he elaborated on it. That's every detail of this. Then afterwards he said last day they said you know, we did the fast route here. If we study the vision of Vandhyasam, we need at least two months. And so it's not just for because of the depth, the depth of the knowledge we want here. I think what we have in what we have, a lot of breadth of knowledge of many things. But depth is something. You have to stay with something for a long time, with a lot of interest. Then the depth comes. So that's again.

Gajananam:

Actually, one other important point, whether yoga, vedanta or anything else of the sort you do, is that there's an analogy they give okay, you're looking for something here.

Gajananam:

We're looking for finding our inner peace or contentment or truth of ourselves. Okay, so I'm going to go to one yoga school or something or one Vedanta school for a few months. This, it's very nice, I'm feeling good, and then I say, okay, let me try a different one, it might be more interesting, or Buddhism or something else for some time. Then I'll do that Sometime. I'll keep doing a little bit of each. And it's kind of like when you want to dig a well and you dig down one, two yards, well, it's not very moist, let me go there. I'll dig down another yard somewhere else. Somewhere else You'll get a lot of holes but you won't get to water. Or if you go one, you'll go deep, you'll get to something. So this is the same thing where really one has to be persistent to get to anything. It's really persistent and both do something regularly and in a wise and sincere way, then somebody can get to something.

Shannon W.:

Hearing you talk, I was reminded of a dream I had once and I think it's good I'd be reminded of it.

Shannon W.:

Uh, it was similar to the story of the, the digging the wells and shallow wells in too many places.

Shannon W.:

I had a dream that there was a fire that needed to be put out and it was a small fire and I went down to. And I may have. This dream might even be based on something I a teaching I learned and I dreamed that I went down to the river and I got a bucket and I filled it up with water and then I went halfway back to the fire and I dumped the bucket out on the ground and and then in the meantime, the fire is getting bigger and I go and get another bucket and take it halfway and dump it on the ground, and the whole time in the back of my mind. In this dream, I'm like Shannon go all the way to the fire and dump the water, that's all you need to do, but I was too distracted with filling up the buckets and dumping them on the ground. So, very similar. You're not going to reach your goal if you're going halfway back and forth hither to thither.

Gajananam:

That's nice. I'll share a dream too. I had years ago when I was new in Berkeley, when I was teaching some yoga class at the YMCA for some time. I was very curious. I went and talked there. I said how far can I take in the YMCA where everybody's coming just for exercise? It was very nice. It was very nice teaching there too. So it was a very long room. So in my dream we had a meditation class in there and somebody said you know, I'm coming for the meditation class for two months now, and that's. I'm not really finding balance, a piece in this. So it was in the dream. I got up and I ran to the other side of the room and I said why am I not? This is in berkeley. I said why am I not in los angeles yet?

Shannon W.:

you dreamt this teaching. You gave him. What did the man do? Did he get any? Did he get anything from that?

Gajananam:

That was. That was that's what I remember from the dream. If there was more, I forgot the rest.

Shannon W.:

Oh my gosh. Aren't dreams wonderful for showing us what's inside our psyche and maybe sometimes what we need to see? Thank you for sharing that. I love that. We just shared dreams. Now I'm looking at our time and I realize we don't have a lot left, so I do want to ask you is there anything that any last thought that you would like to share before we sign off?

Gajananam:

Any last thought that you would like to share before we sign off? Yes, yes, what happens is we go through our life and we do so many different things, and one very important thing to do is one really has to introspect and see why am I here in this world? What do I really want to do? Where do I want to get? To Really think about it and then really strive for that. Because I can do a lot of small things, gain a lot of, you know, make more money and get more famous in something, and, you know, fulfill, you know, go see many things in this way. But one really has to really think what is really deeper desire within me? What do I really want to achieve? What do I really want to get to? And really, you know, really look at it and then, of course, one can once in a while can reevaluate like this, and then really it doesn't mean and then really strive for that. This doesn't mean you're going to, okay, throw everything else away. Some people do throw everything else away. Go become a month or another, something. That's fine If that's for you, there's nothing. One can just totally focus on something that's their goal. But it's very important because, if you think about it.

Gajananam:

Time goes by very quickly. When we look back at our life. It seems, you know, decades went by very fast. When we're old, and what will? We feel? Sorry that I didn't really strive, I didn't really understand something deeply, because most things in life are there, fleeting, they go by very fast. Most things that I run after okay, I'll get for a little while, enjoy a little and be gone. So what really is more important? What is deeper? So this is very important to think about and look at. It doesn't mean you're going to come and do yoga vedanta, you're doing it a different way. That's fine, of course. I think this is a great way, but not a problem. You don't have to do it like that. Then, even if we don't get all the way to and find completely, at least I'm going to be satisfied. I really did my level best, because when I'm old and if I know, okay, I won't have too much long left here in the world and I'll feel sorry that I didn't put endeavor into what's really important.

Gajananam:

I'll give you one nice example on this exact thing. This must be 25 years ago or so. One person lived at our yoga center when I was in our Shivananda Center in New York. He had cancer and he was dying from cancer. He was in the hospital. So one of the last times I saw him there which it was terminal, it was clear he had, you know, weeks to live at that time there which it was terminal, it was clear, he had you know weeks to live at that time. And he said like this you know, because when you're close to death you'll a lot of the time you'll introspect a lot more Some people you know there might be a lot of worry and concern, but some, some of the people and some of the time we're really going to look at things in a very different angle and clear.

Gajananam:

So he said look, look at all the people just running around doing all these things, but they don't really understand what's really important to look at. But that's why I have to really think what am I here for? What am I really trying to achieve what's really important, not just the external things, and then really really look into that, not just leave it. Don't. Don't just leave it for tomorrow, for some other time. Carve out some time to look into.

Shannon W.:

It's very important such wise words, even just to remember to ask the question, so simple, yet, I think, so rare ask and then also keep following up on it.

Gajananam:

Asking is very important and keep asking, keep looking into, keep following up, otherwise you know people, literally how many people say, oh, what's the meaning of life? What's really is what? Who am I really behind this, or is there a God or things like this, and they leave it as an interesting thing. Meantime, you know, I'm just running after a few things that will be there for a little while coming, though we have such a powerful instrument our mind, and this for these great things yeah, so maybe not just ask, but ask and then ask again.

Gajananam:

Yes.

Shannon W.:

Now I do have one last question for you. Where can people find you, or how might people be able to learn more about you or even study with you if they're interested to do so?

Gajananam:

Oh, anybody, of course, is more than welcome and with the current situation that so many things have gone online, our classes have been virtual. So we do have some Vedanta classes which are online, and then if somebody doesn't live in our area near Fremont, California, in the Bay Area, then they could always join that class. They could just contact me. I'm sure you'll share my contact information and yoga classes. We don't have a beginner class or introductory class online, because that is better. I would recommend to learn in person. There are many very good Sivananda teachers, Sivananda centers around the country. Pretty soon we should be having in-person classes here in Fremont. We do have some online classes for people already familiar with the style, just because that's a little bit harder to teach online. So again, I want to let anybody that wants to join us contact me. I'd be more than happy to have them join any of our classes.

Shannon W.:

Excellent, Excellent. I'm happy to hear that you may be offering some of the introductory classes in person. I highly recommend those to anyone who's listening who might be in Fremont Gajananam. Thank you so much for joining me in this conversation. You've been an important teacher to me and I respect you so much and I wish you the very best with your continued teaching and your efforts to share the wisdom of yoga and Vedanta with the rest of us.

Gajananam:

Thank you very much. It was a pleasure, very nice to see you again and thank you so much for doing this. Thank you for the interview and very nice. Thank you, interview and very nice.

Shannon W.:

Thank you. That's it for this episode of the Wake Up Human podcast. To learn more about my guest Gajananam, including his current and upcoming classes and retreats, visit his website at vishnuyogaorg, and to learn more about me and the wake up human podcast, visit my website at shannonwillscom. If you liked this episode and know someone who might benefit from listening, please share it with them. This podcast is a labor of love for me and I'm thrilled if it can be helpful or inspiring to someone else. Thanks so much for listening and I'll catch you on the next episode of Wake Up Human.