Episode 14

full
Published on:

24th Mar 2025

#14 - Sheltered by the Supreme Person: Finding Peace Through Japa, Stories, and Simplicity

Join us for a slow morning in the green hills as we settle in, stumble our way through greetings, and chant Japa together on our beads. There’s laughter, sidetracks about John Lennon, Basho, and that old “war is over” sign lost somewhere in childhood memory. Chant with us or just listen while we fumble our way to peace, weaving in sweetness and a bit of honest mess.

We start with grounding and personal stories (remembering the first time we saw that “Footsteps in the Sand” poem, or learning meditation as a kid surrounded by host families in Japan), then open up about what chanting and simple practices do for the body and the mind. You’ll hear about birds, goats, letting go of old stuff, living in a van, and what “wealth” really means when you strip things back. There’s gentle humor, plenty of awkward pauses, and the messiness of actual daily bhakti life.

We chant “Gopala Govinda Rama Madana Mohana” for a bit, with notes about finding that rhythm for yourself (slow, fast, just loud enough), and share how animals, friends, and every living being are part of this song. Toward the end, we talk about moving on, letting go, and what it means to be sheltered and carried by something bigger. This is for anyone worn out by the world and looking for kindness, softness, and a reminder they aren’t alone.

Transcript
Speaker:

is it recording I don't know

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maybe you can stop it

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maybe you can introduce it when I get my people oh okay

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haha

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hello

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Namaste Haribo peace be with you and upon you

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I love that sign

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I don't know from John Lennon and Yoko Ono

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I was just a kid I was eight years

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maybe 6 or seven when they were doing it

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when they had the or maybe it was before the

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I know Lennon was shot murdered in 1980

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but they had a beautiful sign up somewhere in London

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and New York City

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go ahead

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war is over war is over if you want it

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this also reminds me of that poem I like by Basho

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in making a cup of tea I stop the war

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not that you magically stop the war somewhere else

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but really you stop the war for a moment for yourself

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taking

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taking a

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a moment of transcendence to transcend above or beyond

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the constant challenges

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of the body and mind in the material world

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and to taste the nectar for which we're always anxious

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that's

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and we're just gonna do a little chanting on our beats

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you can listen

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you can put on your headphones if you like

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we're not doing this to impress you

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but maybe just to impress upon you

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that this is something you can take with you everywhere

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it's so it's so beginner and advanced at the same time

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I know people that the most advanced people

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I've ever met in my life

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they're also the most kind and humble

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and hard working and devoted

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but they still chant on their beads

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you know and it becomes a real pleasure

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but in the beginning sometimes

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you just have to do a practice

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in order to get a real taste for it

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if you just do a few and try it for one day

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you won't know but for the last 26 years

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no matter where I've gone

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no matter what I've been doing

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I've always been able to have these beads with me and

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they're not eternal but the practice I do on them is

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and it's the practice of mantra meditation

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Ma from Manas mind to give shelter to the mind

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we're looking we're always looking for shelter

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we're always looking to

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just like bees too

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we're always looking for nectar everywhere

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we're looking for pleasure

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and what I found and many others have found

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is that in transcendent sound

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you can

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I can find shelter and pleasure at the same time

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and in a way where

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certainly gone through periods

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where I wanted to try and find pleasure

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to to

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to satisfy that pleasure through my tongue

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and I just get fat

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so the nice thing about chanting on beads

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is that we get shelter and pleasure

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without the downsides of

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seeking those things in material life

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it's a very simple process

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but it's also very

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it's very humbling also which is a very nice

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thing to feel whenever I feel a shred of humility

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it's a very sweet taste

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one that I pray and hope that I can expand

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how about you

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I I didn't find any exercise yet

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that calms the mind so quickly

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yeah

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so we're just gonna do a little

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we'll just do this together for a little bit

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we'll I usually don't say it so loud

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I just say it out loud enough that I can hear it

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but I would I have found that when my mind

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or my body or both are more agitated

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if it's safe and appropriate to do so

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I I chant a little louder and it really it brings

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it brings sometimes I'm furious on my

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you know my I'm rolling the bead back and forth

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sometimes I'm just really peacefully touching it

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but I'm engaging the sense of touch

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the hearing the the voice

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sometimes

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we have nice pictures up too that we can engage in

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in our eyes being engaged in transcribe the

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speech

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into English

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Gopal Gobindarama Madana Mohana

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we'll do it a little faster

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but again

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you just do it as long as you can hear the sounds

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you can say it as slow or fast as you like

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but we'll just do it for some cadence

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we'll do you know 10 to 15 beats here

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and it's so nice for us and please share in

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in in this practice with us of

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of Japa Japa mala meditation on beats

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okay

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Goranga

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Goppa Govindaram Madana Mohana

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next beat Goppa Govindaram

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Madana Mohana copala Govindaram

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Madana Mohana copala Govindaram

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Madana Mohana copala Govindaram

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Madana Mohana Gopal Gobindar

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Amanda Mohana Gopal Gobindar

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Amanda Mohana Gopal Gobindar

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Amanda Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda Rama

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Madana Mohana copala Govinda RMA

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Madana Mohana copala go vinderama

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madana mohana copala go vinderama

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madana mohana copala go vinderama

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madana mohana haribo haha

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whoa it's very nice and stereo no

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no it's

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the sun came up

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and I was just feeling this warmth coming over me

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not just physically

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but also in my heart and I felt sort of a giddiness um

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I find that when I surrender more to the sound

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it bubbles up some

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some feelings of joy and ecstasy in my heart

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and I get a little

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sometimes I get a bit silly and jump up

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and jump around oh yeah

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like the song that you found right

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yeah this transcendental music

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he started to play it and then he just started to

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you just started to smile and laugh and jump around

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and he was chanting and it was so contagious yeah

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it's really sad we can't play music on YouTube

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because of property rights

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but um we'll try to play

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Maria got me a really nice guitar and a Diana yeah

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and we'll try to do more uh kirtan together on the road

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we're heading over to the U

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K soon so you'll see some different sights and places

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yeah

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you're gonna take a ferry across to Italy

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and then drive through Italy oh

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we'll do some on the ferry yeah

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it'll be fun I'll have some ferry meditation

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ferry meditation and then we'll get into the UK and

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yeah that would be something we're letting go of some

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some more material things that we don't need

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or we can't use anymore

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and they're hard to carry around in a small van so

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we've been in this process

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well maybe this will be a good chance to introduce

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but over the next 10 to 15 days

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we had a lot of people want to ask us more about

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how we got came to the place of just

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having a lot more free freedom free time

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look at that bird over there oh

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where it's it's on the road on the road yeah

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on the road oh there oh my God yeah

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it's really colourful

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sorry so no

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somebody love I I birds get my attention they're uh

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they represent freedom to me

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they fly and they sing so beautifully yeah

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if I could only sing like no

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we just concluded the first two weeks of Choo

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Choo magic on the daily

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so maybe we can start diving in

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into some topics that yeah

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people are asking us about

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and we're talking about really

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a lot of the practices we do is all about it redefining

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really

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a lot of people think wealth is one thing and we're

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we're just trying to give a different perspective

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on what wealth is is

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is unfolding for us inside

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and then the exterior wealth

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it looks very different than it might have 30 years ago

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when I was 20 years old or whatever

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and

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no matter what happens to me in the future

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I hope I can come to this type of understanding

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more and more at a much younger age

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in body

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I'm eternal but

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you know I don't think this might be my last

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my last kick at the can around the planet yeah

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I still got a lot of work to do

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so that's good it's up to god

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but yeah

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in my activities but so we

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we were thinking of taking wealth and all ways

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as a guiding topic for the next two weeks

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yeah and we find too

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that in our studies

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almost all the scriptures around the world

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they talk about equal weights and measures

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keep that for the next one yes

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yeah and they talk usury and what is money

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and how to engage money

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so that it becomes spiritually purified

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and we want to talk about some new technologies too

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that have a great deal of potential for goodness

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for good in Bitcoin and in uh

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how do how do we keep things real when we've got a

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a I and central bank digital currencies

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and all of these networks that are very

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can be used very negatively

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but just like nuclear energy

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we can use it for good as well it is

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there's a great deal of possibility

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but like always without the right

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without a purified or at least um

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a better understanding of consciousness and who we are

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a lot of these technologies just get used for

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for bad things so just like electricity

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you can use it to make some toast

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or you can use it to electrocute someone

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ha ha so or or

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you know use that force for

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for negative things so

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I would love to be offering more

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just Frank discussions about uh

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how we simplified a lot of our

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uh processes how we

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the simple processes we engage in

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the habits that we've cultivated

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and continue to cultivate

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so that we have this really nice chance to

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spend a lot more time in reflection

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in contemplation

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rumination

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in deep thoughts around some beautiful scriptures

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we're studying

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Antra meditation japa kirtan garam breathing and

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eating a very simple diet

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peaceful diet

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and just some simple things you can do

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no matter what stage of life you're in

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some very simple things that are profound over time

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that you can do just around meal times and

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with some incense and a few things

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you can you can really

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deeply begin to develop more gratitude

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and forgiveness and thankfulness in your life

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and share that with those around you

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that's the wealth that we're truly looking for

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is love for god love for others

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more constant understanding of our true identity

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purpose function position

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when we know who we are and where we belong

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and how we fit in

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in a sense into the cosmic scheme of things

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it's easier just to be more of ourselves

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and I I've personally found that to be incredibly

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a incredible relief

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we talk about shelter like an umbrella

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but just

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having a certain level of surrender and acceptance

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gives a great deal of relief

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as well because we

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I don't have to do it on my own anymore

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you've never been alone in the first place

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yeah that's true as well

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do you want to tell the story about

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the footsteps in the sand

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oh gosh

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he said you that touched you so deeply at some point

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yeah well

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a long time ago many moons ago

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uh I was a

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as a 17 year old I went to Japan for a year for

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for an exchange and my oldest childhood friend

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my best friend at the time

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and still an incredible friend

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I mean I now know my best friend is the supreme person

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and no disrespect to my oldest childhood friend

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I admire him a great deal

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he's a very intelligent person

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and very compassionate as well

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and community driven and wants to help the world with

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just taking better care of

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of of the world we have

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but we used to write each other a lot of letters

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a lot of postcards and we were always like doodling and

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you know

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we would take a nice thing and we would draw like

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a monster coming up out of the sea or whatever

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and

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in one of these exchanges I have I've

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I've gotten one of these you know

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I've been away I was away in Japan for the first time

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for a very long time away from my family

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my culture my home

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everything that seemed familiar and normal to me

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and it was a big part of shaking up that world

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and getting me more into meditation

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because I began a more formal practice of

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of the impersonal silent meditation when I was in Japan

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one that had

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that carried over from my next door neighbor

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who was my godfather since I was born

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a Japanese man named Paul Mikatsu

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he also taught me meditation at a very young age

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but again it was an impersonal

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quiet silent meditation

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but when we were over there

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you know I

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I could feel the feelings of uh

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I felt really sad sometimes

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very lonely even though I was surrounded by

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and the Japanese people were wonderful

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I stayed with some incredible families

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I'm hoping next year to go back and meet them again

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these families that took me

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in

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as a young man and hosted me as if I was their own son

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they were so kind to me

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and people in Japan were so incredibly

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oh so respectful and clean and neat

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and I really admire Japan

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and the Japanese people and their culture

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and their

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many of their social arts

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I got involved in judo and then in

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we go to the Rock Gardens every month in Kyoto

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to study with the Zen master there

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my my

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my father my host fathers were really happy

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because no one wanted to go do the old things

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the old ways with them and I did

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and we kind of I was kind of like having lots of dads

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they took me around to see the ancient sites

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Nara

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and some of the ancient pilgrimage routes in Shikoku

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and Kyushu

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lots of beautiful nature there as well

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but in one of these exchanges

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there was one of these very hallmark type card

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where you see the footsteps in the sand

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yeah I mean

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millions of people have seen this image and it's like

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it's a little story like

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about oh God

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you know uh

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there's a there's two sets of footprints

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as if God's always with us

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and then this person only sees one set of footprints

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he's like why

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why Lord

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at the time I'm doing a terrible job paraphrasing it

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but in the in the card

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basically the person is asking God

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why during my hardest parts

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of life

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did you leave me there's only one set of footprints

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and he said no my

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my child that's when I was carrying you

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and something in that really hit me

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there was some transcendent wisdom

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in that hallmark card and in that

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and it really dawned on me in that moment

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it became covered up again and then exposed again

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but it really felt like

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I just felt this huge yearning in my heart

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to suddenly realize

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to just realize how much I needed someone

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higher than me bigger than me

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I needed the shelter and Protection of

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the telephone

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calls to my biological parents weren't cutting it

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I needed some

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I needed something much bigger than me to give me

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the feeling of being at home

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you know and of being protected of being loved

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lots of people there at the time

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it was you know

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there weren't as many foreigners there

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and it was like being a rock star to some degree

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had a lot of people coming up and taking pictures

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and wanting to touch you and fawning over you

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wanting to take you out for karaoke here

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just to be seen with their friends and

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and it didn't really that

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it was fun for a week or two

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but it became actually quite annoying and troublesome

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and it didn't satisfy

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it didn't give me a sense of a good feeling

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I just wanted to be left alone

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you know uh

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but that I

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I just remember

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being profoundly impacted by that feeling of

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I just that's so true

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I need someone to carry me

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through the trials and tribulations of this world

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being in strange lands can

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can precipitate that that feeling

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so just know that you're never alone and that actually

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the supreme person you're never alone haha

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hmm

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and it's nice to be around others

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that can help remind me of that

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or it's really

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I encourage you to find other people to be with

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who can remind you of that

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especially in this time where it's just really nuts out

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out in the world just complete madness

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um there is no really good leadership out there

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hardly at all

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um there are a few

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few leaders that are inspiring

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yeah it's getting late

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it's getting late yes

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time to wrap things up yeah

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and I wanna see the goats

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oh you can hear the

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that's right we can hear goats

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can we see the goats yeah

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yeah they put these lovely bells

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they're almost like you know

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the cows in Switzerland

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when they have the bells around their necks

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can we see the goats please

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yeah let's go see the goats

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we like hanging out with the

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you know it's nice

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the animals do love the chanting too

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you know that's another thing

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the transcendent sound

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you can share it with every living entity

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it's really hard to to drive by a cat that's suffering

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at the side of the road

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with a limp and just silently meditate with it

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and you'll crash your car

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but you can chant aribo or goranga out the window

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and the cats always like there

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they always look

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and it's very nice way to give some mercy

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some kindness some shelter

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a taste of the transcendental

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to people and other bodies

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everyone's looking for the same shelter and love

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so with that

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hi all hi all

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Namaste and peace be with you and upon you

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thanks for hanging out with us today

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JuicyMagiK On the Daily Podcast with Maria and Mark
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