Episode 11

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Published on:

19th Mar 2025

#11 - Why Silent Meditation Is So Loud: Pilgrimage, Mindfulness, and Finding the Bodhi Tree Within

Travel with Mark and Maria as they share stories from a year-long pilgrimage, weaving together wild train rides through India, tales of sacred teachers, crowded journeys to Bodh Gaya, and all those tiny lessons in patience and letting go picked up along the way. This one is full of real talk about mindfulness, humility, and the joy (and the comedy) of keeping your cool while squeezed between hundreds of other pilgrims hoping for a glimpse of the famous bodhi tree. There’s mantra chanting, laughter, a bit of spiritual wrestling, and sincere moments straight from the heart. Perfect for anyone who loves sound meditation, Bhakti yoga, or just honest stories about learning to feel at home wherever you are on earth (or the cosmic road). Come breathe, chant, and reflect with us—everyone’s welcome.

Transcript
Speaker:

hey hey

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hi there hello

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do you come here often sometimes yeah

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lucky for me how did you find me

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are you going my way yeah

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hi I'm Mark

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and I'm Maria and this is Juicy Magic on the daily

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ah we've been getting so excited about

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like enthusiastic and motivated

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it's it's so nice to offer this every day

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and to connect with you um

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uh out there in the world

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if you're looking for a place to come and hang out

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and enjoy some transcendental sound

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some sacred yoga sounds and a little bit of scripture

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and lots of stories of life on the road and how to go

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how to feel at home wherever you go in the universe

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uh reminds me of this transoceanic spaceman named uh

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Narada Muni

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he travels around the universe with his Vena

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it's this amazing instrument

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and giving love of god to all he meets

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ha ha uh

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if you get a chance to read about Narada Muni

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he's uh he's got some amazing stories actually

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just heart opening mind blowing

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soul stirring stuff so that's the magic of

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as they

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we used to chant to go from the unreal to the real

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not that

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the material life that's unfolding is not unreal

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it's real but it's temporary

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this body is temporary

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this mind is temporary

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but I the living entity

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I Maria the person inside this body covered by the mind

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intelligence false ego is

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it's not temporary

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so if you're looking for something steady

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like a flame block that doesn't get blown by the wind

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I encourage you to to

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to try some garana breathing with us and

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and do some japa meditation

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some kirtan these are ways that we can

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Mike is wearing his beads

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I always bring my beads everywhere there

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people have watches you know

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and I don't really like watches

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but I like carrying uh

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my beads with me everywhere I go

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they're wonderful views Mark

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tell us about Buddhaya oh Buddhaya

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yeah so

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well you tell where

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where were where

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so recently we were in India

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we went on a we went on a pilgrimage for the last year

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visiting a lot of really special sacred places

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and visiting places that where a lot of our heroes have

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have been and gone before us and

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uh all the way from North America to Ireland

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and through Europe through the Balkans and into the far

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into Southeast Asia and Asia and South Asia India

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I'm still in the pilgrimage

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yeah

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I have a lot of more places to visit in the next years

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yeah

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I saw this beautiful picture of one of our teacher

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in our in our somberday

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in our

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in our succession of teachers and

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Bakti Sidhanta Saraswati one great amazing

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incredible teacher he was such a beautiful

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on the wall remember

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we saw it in in that in

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that in that

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was in this really old temple that

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there's more stories about this

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particular temple

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cause I had like the mystical experience there

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which one the one where the guy said uh

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do you remember me oh

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that one yeah but anyway

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his teacher's teacher's teacher

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Bactzi said to him on the wall

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it said

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I have come to build temples in everyone's heart

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that's a that I just

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I think I can't stop thinking about that

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that that is truly beautiful

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and we go around we look at some of these great

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you know pyramids and walls

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and most of them are built on slave labour

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so much suffering and cruelty in them and um

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I think the real divine teachers they

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they wanna build temples

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in the heart of every living entity

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for us so that we can all

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you can always worship God is in your heart

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he's in the heart of every living entity

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in the universe

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he's distinct also in his abode

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that's his inconceivable potency of a chinta bhadra

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a bhadra tadha simultaneous oneness and distinction

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and um let's just do some garong breathing

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and we'll talk about bodhaya and we'll finish it up

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let's do five garongas did we do garong yet

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but we just did did we oh my God time flies

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let's do yeah let's do three more come on

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let's do three more breathing in yeah

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ha ha

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it was just a 3 more garagara

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so you can enjoy together

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please do join us you know

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usually do it on your own or you know

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so you don't have to worry about your

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but timing of your breath

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but I find you'll find that if you do like 2034

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your breath will really expand

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your diaphragm will expand

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and your shoulders will drop

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and you'll really get relaxed

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lower your blood pressure

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all that stuff it's not medical advice

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but it's quite amazing so let's do three more

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hmm so Bodhaya

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Bodhaya Bodhaya is a place where it said that go Town

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Buddha Sitart of the Shakymini Drive

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Buddha is a title there's many many

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many Buddhas just like Christ

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Christos Messiah is a title

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he was worthy of being anointed by god

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and Buddha means awakened one

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so this particular Buddha is very famous

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appeared 25 years ago and what is now in Nepal

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to a clan known as the Shakyauni tribe

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he was prince born into a royal family and

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there are four main sites of pilgrimage for him

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in northern India there's where he was born in lbhinia

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it's in Nepal now there's Bodhgaya

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where apparently he took enlightenment under the tree

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a Bodhi tree and

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there's Sarnath where he left his body

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and also Kushangar

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where he gave his first sermon at Deer Park

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that's just north of Varanasi

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and uh it's all in the

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the the sort of north central part of India

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but anyway this tree is still

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still there in a place called Bulgaria

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south of an industrial city

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do you remember oh my god

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we had this train ride these

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there was the the Mahakomela was on

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so there's literally millions

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and hundreds of millions of people

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going to this place called priad

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where there's a confluence of the Jamuna

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it was insane

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and the Ganges and also the mystical river

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the Saraswati and um

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because of that

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there were literally like every single train station

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I mean India has 1.5 billion people busy already

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this like

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everyone and their sister and brother and cousin

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from as far away as Bangladesh

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where we met some people that were pilgrims from

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all the way from Bangladesh

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they were taking like 3 days of train ride

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standing just to get to Priyag

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that's the amazing thing about India

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it really blows your mind

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there's a lot of paradoxes there

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but we were on this train and when we

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we had to jump off before the train stopped

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because there were mobs of people at the train station

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and we ended up taking a taxi from our Airbnb host

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from Gaya which is an industrial city

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over a million people down to Boat Gaya

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which is about 40 minutes south

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it's quite cool it's at 2 in the morning

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we're driving to these little three wheeled tractor

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with our yeah

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we're just cruising down you know

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you can see the agriculture coming

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so we went to Bodhgaya and to pay respects and to

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to circumambulate the tree

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the boat guy the

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the guy the boat guy tree and the temple

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the boating tree and the temple

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huge temple there dedicated to Lord Buddha

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and you can find a lot more about Buddha in the Vedas

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of who he was and why he came specifically

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but it was just amazing you know

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there was just

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but there was people from all over the world there

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and then there's the

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one thing that was really funny

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was really close to the tree

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on one side of the temple

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there was just like kind of

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reminded me of the taping section

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from a grateful dead concert

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where you had all the the tapers

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you know

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they're all these silent meditators sitting there

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it was really ironic because they're all like

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sitting in there on the cushions

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and there's huge signs everywhere saying

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please be quiet and it's like so noisy

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it's like people are coming and going

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people are shuffling shifting

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you can see people really trying

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yeah people circling

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ambulating the tree and pushing

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pushing people around

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pushing people over to get to the tree

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it's like doing this holy place

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and people are like pushing and shoving and

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and it's about I mean

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Buddha is about mindfulness and being kind

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and they're pushing everybody around

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and stepping on your feet

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and you're like oh God

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well there were there lots of

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I mean there's all kinds that are there

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let's just say it's more like a Disneyland

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uh uh ride

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it's a sun degree

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but it was still an absolutely magnificent

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no disrespect man

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it's it's a beautiful

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sacred place to visit but we just

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I found it really funny that

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you can see that the people that were sitting there

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trying to do their silent meditation were struggling

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they were struggling so hard

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so you can see some of them were absolutely

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completely annoyed with all the noise around them

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and they kept pointing up to the sign

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trying to get people's attention to be quiet

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and you know

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and I just thought to myself yeah

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I remember my silent meditation days

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you know for about oh

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you know four or five years

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I lived in and around silent meditation retreat centers

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and um

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it's really hard to sit quietly

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let alone get your mind to get quiet

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and then add that to the chaos of the world

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and I just remember thinking at that point

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I was so glad I had my beats

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cause I was just chanting the Harry Potter mantra

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you know I had my

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I plugged my ear I plugged one ear and I'm

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I'm in bliss you know I'm

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I'm meditating I

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I couldn't deal with it though

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I got so agitated I got I even

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pushed back at one of the ladies that yeah

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she was trying to run you over

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yes she literally pushed me and I almost fell

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and I had enough I had enough

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I turned around and I said

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stop pushing

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and she's on fire and

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and I I come to this holy sacred place

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after chastising this woman that she was pushing me

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and I got in this so angry mood and I was

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oh that's right

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oh that's right

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you were pissed you were so mad

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I was like I was look

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look I said

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just try to let go try to let go

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you know yeah

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and then I'm standing under this body tree

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and all these people are there

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and I I just

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Mike was chanting and we're sitting down at some

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some spot yeah

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we had our back and we were facing the tree

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it was beautiful yeah

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and I just sat down and I closed my eyes and I said

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I'm so sorry

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Sadara I'm so sorry

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I'm in this place

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of all places where I'm supposed to be mindful

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I lost all mindfulness and threw it out the window

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I thought I was so calm the whole journey

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but here I totally lost it and I closed my eyes

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I was just so sorry and I

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I I begged for forgiveness

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and then I heard him laughing

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she started laughing the same guy

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what's going on she's like a total shift like

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like that and there's mercy again

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the descending process yeah

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and then I

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I was like what I heard

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but I heard everybody laughing

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yeah it's beautiful

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yeah and then it's beautiful

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yeah and then it's beautiful

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he he really shared something with me

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and the most beautiful thing he said was

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because I asked him what can I do

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what can I do

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and he said find your own body tree around Bower Tree

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yeah and I was and he was like

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and I was just thinking

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can it be an olive tree in Greece

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ha ha and I was laughing and I was I was positive again

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and but then another lady ran me over and I

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I was just like took the Indian habit of oh

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you're doing your chest as in there oh

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that was funny stories

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but I didn't but I didn't go back in the this um

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pushing back being angry mood anymore

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so yeah that's good

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it's true that you know

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whether you're

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whether you're subscribed to sound meditation or

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or not but it's true that the temple

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the altar the Bodhi tree

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it's in our hearts yes

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it's deep in here God is with us

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it's not on the outside it's with every living entity

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and the more that you the more that I and you

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and we can connect to that within

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the more we'll be able to see it in others

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that's when we say Namaste

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that's what we're paying respects to

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is the Lord in the heart within every living entity

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and also the living entity inside that body

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might be an elephant body

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a dog body a priestly body

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a saintly body but we offer respect

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I just remembered because he was then asking me

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do you wanna take it back

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take what back you know

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he showed and I said he would I right

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yeah and he said

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do you wanna take it back and

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I said the push of the woman

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oh right yeah

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the push of the woman and then I

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I I I

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I I thought yeah

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I should have been kind and gentle

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and not to have pushed back

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and then I thought

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but then I wouldn't have had this citory

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this revolution this

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this lesson so after

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after going through all the variations

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that could have happened and I think in one I put

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I really pushed her really bad

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with another alternate universe

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so I I pushed her back and uh

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so I thought I pushed her anyhow

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and then he said okay

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which one which variation do you choose

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and literally at the end

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I chose exactly the one that happened

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and I saw all of the variations

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merging into the one that happened

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because that was the one that gave me that lesson

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and I don't wanna miss that

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and it was so powerful so I'm happy we went yeah

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and that's the back to the descending process

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that's the beauty of humility and patience and

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and allowing Grace to happen

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that's the descending process yeah

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I beg for forgiveness I was

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I was totally frustrated being in the sacred place

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so frustrated

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and I think that's the humbleness that's needed yeah

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this really quote just came to my head that like

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there are love dogs no one knows the name of

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give your life to be one of them

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mmm and so that's uh

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fuck yoga is about becoming a love dog really

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you know the

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the dog just loves its master so much

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just waiting at the store

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I remember just recently went by a store

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and there was a dog waiting there

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I love dogs I want to go and pet them

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that dog was just sitting there

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waiting you 100% waiting for its master to come up

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didn't care about anyone else

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anything else it was 100%

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you know and that's kind of like

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oh yeah

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I was looking at that dog with a little bit of jealousy

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and thinking that's how I wanna be with the Lord

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you know Lord help me get there so

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so that's another thing about bodgaia

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we can tell more stories gosh

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we can tell three or four less stories

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just about bodgaia about brendavan

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about ethera and maipur and navadweep

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we didn't get to Dharaka or to Kirk Shetra

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I went to Sunk Golovdown Hill

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which is another story from the Vegas 5,000 years ago

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and

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it's a deep

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rich ocean and it's a warm and beautiful place

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and there's so much to learn

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and it all really begins and ends

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the Alpha and Omega is in transcendental sound

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the logos the word in the beginning was the word

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and the word was with God

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and the word was God

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and the names are god they're they descend

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he descends with all his qualities

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and eventually everything

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more and more gets revealed

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through the transcendent sound

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we can just enjoy the relish the

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the taste of chanting them

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sometimes with some distractions

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sometimes really surrender to them

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and that's boy that's a it's like riding us a wave

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I've done some surfing and it's way better

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I did a lot of skiing and lots of

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tried lots of pleasurable pursuits

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but nothing comes close to that feeling of

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riding transcontinental sound

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or surrendering to transcontinental sound

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it's a wave that doesn't drown you

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ha ha ha like the wave

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some of the waves that I tried to surf

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and there's no salt water going through your throat

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and it's just pure bliss

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but sat chit andanda vigraha eternal form of bliss

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knowledge and being

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so with that let's uh let's say Haribo and I'm a stay

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I'm Mark and I'm Maria

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and this is Juicy magic on the daily

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on the daily can you say it together

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on the daily

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so thanks for tuning in we'll see you tomorrow and uh

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I think it doesn't stop when I think of

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JuicyMagiK On the Daily
JuicyMagiK On the Daily Podcast with Maria and Mark
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