ABOUT THIS EPISODE
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Summary
In this episode, Livtar Singh Khalsa and Hari Nam Singh share their remarkable journey through spirituality, personal transformation, and the integration of diverse life experiences. Discover how they navigated cultural, spiritual, and personal challenges to embody a holistic approach to life and faith.
Key Topics
Lyftar Singh's early life and cultural background
The role of yoga and meditation in personal transformation
The importance of integrating spirituality with everyday life
Lessons from Guru Gobind Singh and Sikh teachings
Overcoming rejection and forging a unique spiritual path
The concept of reincarnation and soul connections
Balancing discipline with love and compassion
The significance of community and shared spiritual practice
Sound Bites
"God is doing all the parts of the game."
"Everything that bothers you is you."
"You can be all this in one package."
Resources
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- (00:00) - Introduction and Personal Background
- (01:59) - Early Life in Florida and Moving to Georgia
- (04:05) - Meeting Yogi Bhajan and Discovering Yoga
- (08:01) - Spiritual Awakening and Meeting the Teacher
- (11:55) - Family Rejection and Personal Resilience
- (15:50) - Seeking Deeper Meaning Beyond Cultural Norms
- (20:10) - Meeting the Woman Who Changed His Life
- (23:47) - First Experiences with Sikhism and Living as a Sikh
- (28:01) - Living in the Ashram and Spiritual Discipline
- (31:57) - Dealing with External Perceptions and Inner Confidence
- (36:00) - The Integration of Faith, Lifestyle, and Personal Interests
- (39:55) - The Concept of God and Reincarnation
- (45:00) - Overcoming Insecurity and Embracing Authenticity
- (50:06) - The Path of a Householder and Spiritual Practice
- (55:10) - Love for Movies, Opera, and Cultural Expression
- (59:55) - Words of Wisdom about Guru Gobind Singh
- (01:02:06) - Living with Courage and Joy in the Play of Life
SHOW NOTES 🔗
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
00:00:41,665 --> 00:00:46,556
Today, my buddy Lyftar Singh, another
dinosaur.
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00:00:46,556 --> 00:00:48,887
You see two dinosaurs on the screen here,
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00:00:48,887 --> 00:00:54,229
but youthful dinosaurs, not Bronthosaurus
Rexes or Tyrannosaurus,
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00:00:54,229 --> 00:01:00,852
modern dinosaurs. And we'll just see where
it goes,
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00:01:00,852 --> 00:01:03,563
but ~ Lyftar I've known for many,
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many years. And ~ I you could I guess see
from the screen that
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00:01:10,086 --> 00:01:11,126
~ we're
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00:01:11,704 --> 00:01:14,746
Both dressed up in similar garb,
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00:01:14,884 --> 00:01:15,884
Yeah.
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00:01:15,367 --> 00:01:18,149
wearing turbans, we have gray beards,
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and we have ~ white attire. So I guess
you'd be correct in thinking that
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~ we belong to the same religion or the
same community,
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00:01:29,379 --> 00:01:31,220
~ whatever you want to call it.
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00:01:31,220 --> 00:01:34,073
And that's actually not untrue.
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So ~ we both go back about 50 years in
whatever it is we're doing,
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which
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you're watching this you may or might not
know anything about.
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So anyhow,
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there we go. He's he's I'm recording this
from Mexico and Liftar I believe
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is in Atlanta or the the
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Suburb.
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00:01:56,588 --> 00:01:58,669
suburbs. He looks like a suburban guy.
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00:01:58,669 --> 00:02:00,870
He's not a city guy. We talked about this
yesterday.
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00:02:00,870 --> 00:02:02,990
I'm a city guy. He's not a city guy.
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00:02:02,990 --> 00:02:07,071
So if he's if he's living in Georgia and
he's around Atlanta,
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I'm pretty sure he's not living downtown.
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He's living
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Probably in the suburbs, right?
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Yeah, and when I went there it was the
Exurbs.
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It used to be way out in the country a
place where you would like take
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a Saturday and go Roswell's the name of
the town.
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It's north of Atlanta. So you would take a
whole Saturday and go out to Roswell.
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It's by the Chattahoochee River and it's
like an old town from the Civil War days.
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They had a bunch of mills and stuff here.
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It goes back pretty far.
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Chattahoochee, that sounds something like
in the deep south.
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I'm a New York guy. There's no
Chattahoochee's in New York.
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Chattahoochee sounds like it's from
Georgia.
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Wind DM.
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So have you have you lived in Georgia your
whole
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life? No, I was born there here.
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~
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~ and we moved to Florida when
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I was about six six or something.
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So I grew up in Orlando.
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And ~
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Is that b what before the before Dis di ~
Disney World?
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00:03:20,982 --> 00:03:26,006
Yeah, I left there right when Disney
announced they had bought the property
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and they were gonna build there.
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And that was nineteen sixty nine.
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And ~ that's when I met Yogi Budjan,
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which precipitated my my quick ~ exit from
Florida.
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00:03:47,590 --> 00:03:50,021
really? I didn't know that. I got thrown
out of the house too.
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Yeah.
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00:03:51,162 --> 00:03:52,732
~ good. I didn't you know it's funny,
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it's like we're we're in our our seventies
and I've known you for a long time
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and I actually didn't know that we had
that in common.
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We both had the honor of being thrown out
of our own.
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Did you
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00:04:05,516 --> 00:04:06,516
Yeah.
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00:04:06,758 --> 00:04:09,749
that were like me, when you were thrown
out of your home,
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00:04:09,749 --> 00:04:13,751
did you get to sleep in your car the way I
did?
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I had a s I I had to sleep that night in
my car.
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No no, I I was only eighteen. I didn't
have a car.
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And what had happened
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00:04:25,462 --> 00:04:31,708
is I I'd gotten into the the Kundalini
yoga.
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00:04:31,708 --> 00:04:38,534
I'd just met ~ a man named John Twambly
who had just come from meeting
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00:04:38,534 --> 00:04:45,496
Yogi G and learned some yoga. He came to
Orlando to visit his father and ~ I
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00:04:47,316 --> 00:04:51,843
I had graduated from high school and this
was in about August
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00:04:53,165 --> 00:04:57,651
and at college was coming up. I had gotten
into Florida State University
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and excuse me.
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00:05:06,550 --> 00:05:09,081
So I started doing the yoga and
meditation.
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I was totally into it from the first
minute.
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00:05:11,742 --> 00:05:14,683
I knew this is what I'd been looking for.
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And what had happened was I had a band in
high school,
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rock and roll band, a couple of them.
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00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:27,609
~ I went to the beach one day because this
time coming up when I had either
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had to go to college or just blow it off
or and I didn't know what to do.
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I went to the beach
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00:05:35,724 --> 00:05:38,362
I took a quarter of a hit of acid.
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Yeah, ~ microdosing has made a comeback
and I just discovered it.
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00:05:51,371 --> 00:05:55,314
I only did L S D maybe six, seven times
total.
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I wouldn't like a complete whack out,
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but ~ for some reason I discovered if you
just take a teeny bit,
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it kinda does this cool thing.
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00:06:04,986 --> 00:06:05,986
I'm not
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Advocating it.
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No. This was nineteen sixteen.
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Business,
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you're not advocating it. We're talking
about about something historically that
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happened fifty some years ago.
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00:06:19,927 --> 00:06:20,927
Yeah.
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Anyway, so I go to the beach and all I did
the whole day is walk up
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and down the beach because the beach was
only an hour away.
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It was like a kind of normal thing we did.
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And I lived on a lake. So we had our own
ski boat and everything.
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But the whole day I've just walked up and
down the beach.
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What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?
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What am I gonna do? I don't wanna be
straight normal you know
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Go to work nine to five, come home,
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00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:55,958
drink, then go to bed. And I didn't want
to be a hippie because I already
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saw the hippies were all just drugged just
drugged out
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and not really not really going anywhere.
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So I come home, I walk in the door,
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and the phone rings, and it was the phone
was on the wall in the kitchen
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for all you youngsters. You know,
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you we didn't have cell phones.
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You had one phone in the middle of the
house and maybe another couple around.
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But anyway, I walk in the door,
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phone rings right there. I pick it up.
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It's my drummer from my band. And he said,
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You gotta come meet this guy. And
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I said, What? What's going on?
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He said, I met this cool guy and he was
walking in front of my house
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00:07:41,854 --> 00:07:46,540
and I just happened to be sitting in front
of the plate glass window
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00:07:46,540 --> 00:07:48,572
and saw him walk by and he had long hair
and a beard.
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00:07:48,572 --> 00:07:51,406
He looked really cool. I just ran out and
introduced myself.
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And he started telling me all this amazing
stuff.
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So I said, Okay, I'll be right over and I
jumped in the car,
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00:08:00,299 --> 00:08:02,567
went over there and
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He was there. John was still there with
Jason,
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my drummer. And ~
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00:08:14,753 --> 00:08:19,207
He just started talking about you just if
when you do yoga you stay high
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all the time. You don't have to take L S D
'cause then L S D you go up
125
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and you come down. And I'm like,
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this is what I've been looking for.
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This is it, this is it. And I didn't
realize till years later that
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00:08:34,630 --> 00:08:39,174
it was a prayer. That my day walking up
and down the beach,
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I didn't think of it as a prayer,
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but that
131
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What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?
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Where's basically saying I'm ready to meet
my teacher and right when I
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00:08:51,088 --> 00:08:56,522
got home I met him. And then later I
figured out he was the only
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guy within a hundred and seventy five
thousand square miles
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00:09:03,769 --> 00:09:05,810
who knew that thing that I needed.
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00:09:12,571 --> 00:09:17,033
and he had come to visit his father and he
just happened to be walking
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and my drummer just happened to be looking
out the window and happened
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to get the idea to run out and meet him.
139
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And so anyway, I went to college
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00:09:31,169 --> 00:09:34,805
just to see what it was like and I hated
it and I I only went to class
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00:09:34,805 --> 00:09:37,710
for two weeks. Then I just hung out having
fun.
142
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So on one day my f parents found out that
I
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00:09:43,460 --> 00:09:44,723
had been taking drugs
144
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that I was never gonna cut my hair again,
145
00:09:49,748 --> 00:09:54,943
that I had dropped out of college and that
I was gonna be a yogi.
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And their whole world changed on that one
moment.
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00:10:02,765 --> 00:10:09,219
So they my father said, I'm gonna put you
in a mental hospital for observation.
148
00:10:09,219 --> 00:10:15,544
And I said, Well, maybe if I act a little
weird I can get out of the Vietnam draft.
149
00:10:15,544 --> 00:10:20,147
Another reference for you youngsters.
150
00:10:20,417 --> 00:10:22,332
Well, you you could have had bone spurs.
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00:10:24,663 --> 00:10:30,938
Well I didn't but I went I went
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00:10:30,938 --> 00:10:33,190
in for forty days for observation.
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00:10:33,190 --> 00:10:36,082
It wasn't like a it wasn't a loony band,
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it was just the the cyc ward of the
regular hospital where people
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00:10:40,096 --> 00:10:45,730
go for observation. So I did forty days
there,
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00:10:45,730 --> 00:10:47,882
had a lot of fun actually. It was pretty
cool.
157
00:10:47,882 --> 00:10:53,547
Met some good people. And then when I came
out
158
00:10:55,519 --> 00:10:59,241
I was at home for two or three days and
one day my mom said,
159
00:10:59,241 --> 00:11:05,094
~ no, at the end of the forty days my dad
came in for the ~ interview with
160
00:11:05,094 --> 00:11:09,506
the doctor, hoping something was wrong
with me that he could fix.
161
00:11:09,506 --> 00:11:15,508
And the doctor says, This is the most well
adjusted
162
00:11:15,508 --> 00:11:19,900
boy I've ever met in my life. And my dad's
like,
163
00:11:19,900 --> 00:11:20,900
~ shit.
164
00:11:21,878 --> 00:11:22,878
Yeah.
165
00:11:23,079 --> 00:11:27,104
And anyway I get home in about three days
my mom said,
166
00:11:27,104 --> 00:11:28,836
I'm going to the beauty parlor,
167
00:11:28,836 --> 00:11:32,781
you either have your hair cut when I get
back or you'd be out of here.
168
00:11:33,591 --> 00:11:35,495
~
169
00:11:35,171 --> 00:11:36,171
I
170
00:11:35,495 --> 00:11:38,069
My mom was Mom was a strong willed woman.
171
00:11:40,235 --> 00:11:44,437
I put two shir three shirts, two pairs of
pants and a you know,
172
00:11:44,437 --> 00:11:46,158
a pillowcase, threw it over my shoulder,
173
00:11:46,158 --> 00:11:50,040
and just walked out the door. No idea
where I'm going,
174
00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:56,584
no idea what I'm gonna do. And my brother
had seen
175
00:11:56,584 --> 00:12:02,187
the thing happen and he came and picked me
up and took me over to Huddy Sing
176
00:12:02,187 --> 00:12:04,368
and Huddy Car from Orlando, you know them?
177
00:12:04,368 --> 00:12:05,789
You know them.
178
00:12:06,458 --> 00:12:07,458
~
179
00:12:07,350 --> 00:12:08,891
On cars, mother and dad.
180
00:12:09,861 --> 00:12:13,607
I you know, I I'm not the age I forget
people's names.
181
00:12:13,607 --> 00:12:15,009
If you showed me that picture I
182
00:12:15,563 --> 00:12:17,304
Yeah, you know him. So anyway,
183
00:12:17,304 --> 00:12:20,466
I was there for a day or two, then he
called Yogiji and Yogiji said,
184
00:12:20,466 --> 00:12:23,968
Send him out to LA and I've got this
beautiful boy.
185
00:12:23,968 --> 00:12:26,230
He runs an ashram and he'll fix him up.
186
00:12:26,230 --> 00:12:28,031
So I was out.
187
00:12:30,135 --> 00:12:33,483
Uhhuh. Did you did ever reconciliate with
your parents?
188
00:12:33,952 --> 00:12:34,952
No.
189
00:12:34,927 --> 00:12:36,511
Really? Did you ever see them again?
190
00:12:37,207 --> 00:12:43,339
Yeah. Yeah we tried, but they they were ~
somebody explained it
191
00:12:43,339 --> 00:12:49,421
to me years later. The sin that I did is I
changed tribes.
192
00:12:52,009 --> 00:12:53,009
It wasn't it
193
00:12:52,899 --> 00:12:53,899
No no, I totally
194
00:12:54,884 --> 00:12:58,139
wasn't like religion or anything 'cause I
was you know,
195
00:12:58,139 --> 00:13:02,526
I wasn't like bugging on We were just
trying to act nice and normal
196
00:13:02,526 --> 00:13:05,180
and went to visit ~ Well,
197
00:13:06,595 --> 00:13:07,595
~
198
00:13:08,098 --> 00:13:11,603
it's gonna be a pr it it's g they're gonna
take that personally.
199
00:13:13,269 --> 00:13:15,655
Yeah, they did. Every.
200
00:13:14,657 --> 00:13:15,657
Yeah.
201
00:13:16,929 --> 00:13:20,581
You know what? I had I had this I I had
the same thing,
202
00:13:20,581 --> 00:13:26,755
but ~ eventually ~ that but
203
00:13:26,755 --> 00:13:32,520
I had the beginnings of that. I didn't
actually see my family for a couple
204
00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:39,114
of years and and then even then it was
extremely strained.
205
00:13:39,114 --> 00:13:43,127
I'm just trying to think, but it was it it
was about
206
00:13:44,247 --> 00:13:46,629
It must have been about 20 years.
207
00:13:46,629 --> 00:13:51,614
But ~ they actually came to my second
wedding.
208
00:13:51,614 --> 00:13:56,449
And that changed actually amazingly
enough,
209
00:13:56,449 --> 00:13:59,211
that changed everything. And you know,
210
00:13:59,211 --> 00:14:04,706
and and that was an interesting thing that
you said that I think
211
00:14:04,706 --> 00:14:09,691
is ~ very true. That you know people
212
00:14:10,923 --> 00:14:14,125
try to understand these things through
different lenses,
213
00:14:14,125 --> 00:14:20,990
but at the end of the day, and it's
understandable that it's
214
00:14:20,990 --> 00:14:25,853
taken as a betrayal to whatever tribe that
you were born into.
215
00:14:25,853 --> 00:14:32,778
I w I was born into a Jewish family after
World War Two,
216
00:14:32,778 --> 00:14:39,192
right? So that there was a very strong
tribal especially after
217
00:14:39,192 --> 00:14:40,353
w what happened
218
00:14:41,603 --> 00:14:47,190
to the Jewish people and and and how even
my grandparents escaped all that
219
00:14:47,190 --> 00:14:53,297
and and so there was this tremendous I
mean like like
220
00:14:53,778 --> 00:14:58,303
tremendous sense of betrayal but to the
point that I was thrown out.
221
00:14:58,679 --> 00:15:01,537
But Mom, I'm wearing a quadruple size
yarma.
222
00:15:02,079 --> 00:15:04,680
Yeah, I don't think that's Yeah,
223
00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:06,762
I don't think it works I don't think it
works that way.
224
00:15:06,732 --> 00:15:07,934
No, I guess not.
225
00:15:06,762 --> 00:15:08,242
And
226
00:15:08,242 --> 00:15:14,566
~ and as you said, it it just even even
even me coming
227
00:15:14,566 --> 00:15:20,309
out of that particular tribe, there's
there's there's subdivisions of that
tribe.
228
00:15:20,309 --> 00:15:26,972
So even if I came home, I I was I was born
into like what I guess you'd call
229
00:15:26,972 --> 00:15:31,575
a very secular religious
230
00:15:30,261 --> 00:15:31,261
Mm-hmm.
231
00:15:31,789 --> 00:15:37,831
But secular religious things. So I
wouldn't call anybody like super
religious,
232
00:15:37,831 --> 00:15:40,221
except maybe my father, he went to
synagogue,
233
00:15:40,221 --> 00:15:46,183
but but and wanted but but I think more
for the tribal loyalty than actually what
234
00:15:46,183 --> 00:15:48,303
was happening inside the synagogue.
235
00:15:48,303 --> 00:15:54,605
And ~ and so if I actually showed up back
home wearing
236
00:15:54,719 --> 00:15:57,246
~ a yarmulka, you know,
237
00:15:57,463 --> 00:15:58,463
Ha ha.
238
00:15:58,406 --> 00:16:01,197
and I told my parents that
239
00:16:01,961 --> 00:16:05,773
I was intending on wearing it all the time
in public,
240
00:16:05,773 --> 00:16:07,473
that actually
241
00:16:07,309 --> 00:16:08,309
Yeah.
242
00:16:08,354 --> 00:16:12,535
would not have been welcomed, because
that's not exactly
243
00:16:13,056 --> 00:16:19,358
how that subtribe acts. It's it would
almost like I was like bleeding into
another
244
00:16:19,358 --> 00:16:23,800
subtribe of the bigger tribe, but that
still would have been on some
245
00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:27,842
way a rejection of the way that I was
raised.
246
00:16:27,842 --> 00:16:30,071
Because even even ~
247
00:16:31,853 --> 00:16:34,575
You it's interesting that you you you
brought this up about getting thrown
248
00:16:34,575 --> 00:16:36,807
out of your house because this is how
these conversations go.
249
00:16:36,807 --> 00:16:39,199
I wasn't intending that we're gonna talk
about that,
250
00:16:39,199 --> 00:16:44,814
but that's a really interesting subject
about being ~ rejected
251
00:16:45,114 --> 00:16:51,149
by your blood family for some decision
that you're not trying to offend anybody,
252
00:16:51,149 --> 00:16:54,242
you're just trying to do something you
think is good for yourself,
253
00:16:54,242 --> 00:16:56,153
and you're not harming anybody,
254
00:16:56,153 --> 00:17:00,167
but they feel very harmed. And I I get
that.
255
00:17:00,791 --> 00:17:06,043
But ~ they took it really personally and I
I I get that,
256
00:17:06,043 --> 00:17:10,655
but if when like yourself, you were you're
telling people and most
257
00:17:10,655 --> 00:17:16,338
of our audience has no ~ they don't know
about you you're talking about yogi
258
00:17:16,338 --> 00:17:17,504
g and they don't know about it.
259
00:17:17,504 --> 00:17:20,099
Okay, so we get all kinds of people
watching this.
260
00:17:20,099 --> 00:17:25,101
But let's say for purposes of this this
podcast that like you,
261
00:17:25,101 --> 00:17:27,042
probably about a little later,
262
00:17:27,042 --> 00:17:29,303
I was in my mid-20s, I was in law school.
263
00:17:30,031 --> 00:17:35,145
And ~ I found myself for my own reasons
getting interested in the same thing that
264
00:17:35,145 --> 00:17:41,981
you got interested in, right? So much so
that I was thinking about making
265
00:17:41,981 --> 00:17:44,734
major changes in my life, you having made
them,
266
00:17:44,734 --> 00:17:49,498
I think, faster than I did. But rather
than make that change right away,
267
00:17:49,498 --> 00:17:52,770
I was actually looking for ways to make
this work.
268
00:17:52,770 --> 00:17:55,112
See, I'm telling you stuff you never knew
about me.
269
00:17:55,112 --> 00:17:58,133
So so I I was trying to make this work.
270
00:17:58,805 --> 00:18:02,416
in a way that I was getting like what you
referred to what you needed,
271
00:18:02,416 --> 00:18:07,757
right? So I will I was trying to get what
I needed ~ internally,
272
00:18:07,757 --> 00:18:09,478
whatever whatever you call that.
273
00:18:09,478 --> 00:18:12,159
But I I didn't want
274
00:18:12,159 --> 00:18:18,400
to necessarily walk away from
275
00:18:18,820 --> 00:18:21,021
what was my world at that point,
276
00:18:21,021 --> 00:18:23,602
which not only was I in the tribe,
277
00:18:23,602 --> 00:18:26,322
but I was a part I was not only was in law
school,
278
00:18:26,322 --> 00:18:28,263
see I'm sharing all this shit with
279
00:18:28,353 --> 00:18:29,883
You that you know we never talked about.
280
00:18:29,883 --> 00:18:32,554
well, you know, you that I've always been
a big New York Giant fan,
281
00:18:32,554 --> 00:18:34,525
but sorry for being a New York,
282
00:18:34,525 --> 00:18:38,556
a huge New York Giant fan, and being in
law school and being brought
283
00:18:38,556 --> 00:18:42,307
up in a traditional secular Long Island
Jewish family.
284
00:18:42,307 --> 00:18:46,188
But also I was a party guy. I was a jock.
285
00:18:46,188 --> 00:18:49,109
Okay, and I was a ladies' man.
286
00:18:49,109 --> 00:18:52,200
And I I and I like that.
287
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:53,800
I I actually was pretty good at that.
288
00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:55,411
I was good at pricking up girls.
289
00:18:55,651 --> 00:18:58,472
I was a I was a good at being like a party
guy.
290
00:18:58,472 --> 00:19:02,074
I was good at being a jock. I was good at
all these things.
291
00:19:02,074 --> 00:19:06,976
And now, like you, I found like I really
needed something a little deeper than
that.
292
00:19:06,976 --> 00:19:12,208
And I didn't wanna lose my nightlife.
293
00:19:12,208 --> 00:19:16,700
You know? I didn't wanna lose that and
294
00:19:16,700 --> 00:19:20,676
and I really I didn't want to lose my
family.
295
00:19:20,676 --> 00:19:24,603
I didn't wanna I I didn't want to lose all
that stuff.
296
00:19:25,399 --> 00:19:31,104
But ~ so what I tried to do is I started
seeking out,
297
00:19:31,104 --> 00:19:35,657
like I'm in New York, so I'm I'm going to
Brooklyn and I'm trying to seek
298
00:19:35,657 --> 00:19:39,541
out the Hasidics. You know the Hasidics
with the right?
299
00:19:39,541 --> 00:19:42,213
But they were like very mystical kind of,
300
00:19:42,213 --> 00:19:45,235
very committed, very mystical.
301
00:19:45,235 --> 00:19:51,439
~ and I had a like a kind of a strange
attraction towards what they were doing.
302
00:19:51,439 --> 00:19:54,403
It seemed like more serious than what I
was.
303
00:19:54,721 --> 00:20:01,086
The tribe, the subtribe I was raised in
didn't quite j I didn't quite understand
304
00:20:01,086 --> 00:20:03,658
how all that worked. And at least these
other people,
305
00:20:03,658 --> 00:20:07,702
they were very foreign, but it seemed like
they actually had a very clear idea what
306
00:20:07,702 --> 00:20:13,006
they were doing. So I started going to
some Hasidic stuff actually,
307
00:20:13,006 --> 00:20:15,258
with the thought maybe that's the group.
308
00:20:15,258 --> 00:20:19,471
And I don't have to walk away from this tr
religion I was born into.
309
00:20:19,471 --> 00:20:24,075
But actually that was not very well
received by my family either.
310
00:20:25,624 --> 00:20:28,126
And then I realized that wait a minute.
311
00:20:28,126 --> 00:20:30,758
It's like what you were saying,
312
00:20:30,758 --> 00:20:35,342
this is about more about their tribe
because they weren't even happy that
313
00:20:35,342 --> 00:20:39,716
I was in the other sub tribe, which was
even more committed than their sub tribe.
314
00:20:39,716 --> 00:20:44,801
You know? And then they were always
concerned because they always
315
00:20:44,801 --> 00:20:49,475
saw me walking around with like blonde
blue eyed girls.
316
00:20:49,475 --> 00:20:51,777
That also was a travesty to them.
317
00:20:52,237 --> 00:20:55,870
Because it seemed like and then there's
there's a Yiddish word for that called
318
00:20:55,870 --> 00:21:00,254
a shiksa. So it seemed like I was running
after the shiksa,
319
00:21:00,254 --> 00:21:03,657
which I was, you know, it was my way of
being rebellious,
320
00:21:03,657 --> 00:21:06,699
you know, just running after these blonde
blue eyed girls,
321
00:21:06,699 --> 00:21:09,562
right? And these cheerleaders for the
football team,
322
00:21:09,562 --> 00:21:11,543
right? So that was that was my thing.
323
00:21:11,543 --> 00:21:16,798
But I finally landed up that I I met
324
00:21:16,798 --> 00:21:20,091
a woman who ~ was Jewish.
325
00:21:21,057 --> 00:21:26,831
Right? She was Jewish. And she was like
the runner-up in the Miss America contest.
326
00:21:26,831 --> 00:21:32,796
And she spoke nine languages fluently and
was actually
327
00:21:32,796 --> 00:21:36,299
the star of s of of Sesame Street in
Japan.
328
00:21:36,299 --> 00:21:40,562
Right? I mean she she checked all these
boxes.
329
00:21:40,562 --> 00:21:46,136
And there was one thing though I didn't
and and I told my parents about this
330
00:21:46,136 --> 00:21:47,136
and they were very
331
00:21:47,799 --> 00:21:50,420
Happy that this was going to keep me in
their tribe,
332
00:21:50,420 --> 00:21:53,911
and that finally I was bringing a a Jewish
girl back home,
333
00:21:53,911 --> 00:21:56,982
right? Well, and they got all excited,
334
00:21:56,982 --> 00:22:00,072
and she's coming over to to visit,
335
00:22:00,072 --> 00:22:04,504
but I didn't really maybe maybe I was just
being mean spirited,
336
00:22:04,504 --> 00:22:06,614
or maybe I don't want to deal with it,
337
00:22:06,614 --> 00:22:08,765
but I didn't tell them one thing about
her.
338
00:22:08,765 --> 00:22:12,066
So she shows up at the door, right?
339
00:22:12,066 --> 00:22:15,997
She's wearing the Star David. She just got
back from the synagogue.
340
00:22:17,087 --> 00:22:20,973
Okay. And she's dropped that gorgeous,
341
00:22:20,973 --> 00:22:23,397
but I didn't share one thing with her.
342
00:22:23,397 --> 00:22:24,397
She was black.
343
00:22:29,525 --> 00:22:30,525
Okay.
344
00:22:30,315 --> 00:22:32,182
You complained about the shit shows,
345
00:22:32,182 --> 00:22:33,182
what
346
00:22:33,511 --> 00:22:37,014
Right, she was exact. So the thing was
again,
347
00:22:37,014 --> 00:22:41,578
okay, they wanted me to be tribal,
348
00:22:41,578 --> 00:22:45,111
but not like religious,
349
00:22:45,111 --> 00:22:49,274
but not too religious. They wanted me to
marry somebody in the tribe,
350
00:22:49,274 --> 00:22:52,287
but not somebody like that who's in the
tribe.
351
00:22:52,287 --> 00:22:58,422
And so it's really kind of ~ I'm
understanding here that I'm gonna just
need
352
00:22:58,422 --> 00:23:01,055
to do what I need to do. And
353
00:23:01,515 --> 00:23:03,967
And it resulted in the same thing that you
did,
354
00:23:03,967 --> 00:23:07,929
is that I I got kicked out of and what if
you know what?
355
00:23:07,929 --> 00:23:12,142
And that was twenty-four twenty-four
hours.
356
00:23:12,142 --> 00:23:13,579
I don't know if I told you the story,
357
00:23:13,579 --> 00:23:16,915
and then I'll let you jump in again
because now I'm stealing my own show here,
358
00:23:16,915 --> 00:23:20,107
but but why not? Right? It's my show.
359
00:23:20,107 --> 00:23:23,670
~ but ~ but this is a good story though.
360
00:23:23,670 --> 00:23:25,941
~ I had taken vows to be a Sikh.
361
00:23:25,941 --> 00:23:28,533
And by the way, those of you in the
audience who don't know the reason,
362
00:23:28,533 --> 00:23:30,995
you know, we're Sikhs, and this is what
Sikhs look like.
363
00:23:31,295 --> 00:23:34,847
So we have we part of our commitment is
our outer appearance.
364
00:23:34,847 --> 00:23:37,588
So and and when you take these vows,
365
00:23:37,588 --> 00:23:39,980
it involves not cutting your hair and a
turban.
366
00:23:39,980 --> 00:23:41,571
So that's part of the program.
367
00:23:41,571 --> 00:23:46,493
So I came back from a solstice event in
Florida,
368
00:23:46,493 --> 00:23:50,105
actually, wearing a turban, walked into
the house,
369
00:23:50,105 --> 00:23:53,487
immediately got thrown out of the house,
370
00:23:53,487 --> 00:23:57,209
got thrown, I mean, within 10 seconds,
371
00:23:57,209 --> 00:23:59,511
out of the house, out of the family,
372
00:23:59,511 --> 00:24:00,511
and
373
00:24:00,609 --> 00:24:02,530
My mother, as I'm going out of the house,
374
00:24:02,530 --> 00:24:04,402
is saying that she's gonna call the
police.
375
00:24:04,402 --> 00:24:08,415
Very dramatic. She's gonna call the police
because there's a stranger in her house,
376
00:24:08,415 --> 00:24:11,837
right? And and that she never and that she
never actually had a son.
377
00:24:11,837 --> 00:24:14,649
Very, very dramatic. ~ okay, well,
378
00:24:14,649 --> 00:24:18,482
you know, I get in the car and everything
is on the front lawn,
379
00:24:18,482 --> 00:24:20,533
because I lived in the suburbs too in New
York.
380
00:24:20,533 --> 00:24:23,325
So I throw the I have everything in the
back seat of the car.
381
00:24:23,325 --> 00:24:28,349
And you know, well, at least I have a job
because I was working in a law firm.
382
00:24:28,747 --> 00:24:31,388
So I wore going to work wearing a turban.
383
00:24:31,388 --> 00:24:34,509
Okay. Well, so much for the job.
384
00:24:34,509 --> 00:24:36,919
Okay. So I'm out of the job. Well,
385
00:24:36,919 --> 00:24:39,880
you know what? at least I have a
girlfriend.
386
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,011
~ not so fast. No, okay.
387
00:24:43,011 --> 00:24:45,552
I show up there, that's the end of the
girlfriend.
388
00:24:45,552 --> 00:24:49,833
And well, at least, you know, I've like
really good friends from law school,
389
00:24:49,833 --> 00:24:53,494
most of whom are in the tribe as well.
390
00:24:53,494 --> 00:24:56,615
So ~ so much for the friends.
391
00:24:56,615 --> 00:24:57,615
So
392
00:24:58,615 --> 00:25:03,799
That night, within 24 hours of me doing
something that was not meant
393
00:25:03,799 --> 00:25:09,222
to harm anyone else, that was just
something that I felt I needed to do for
myself,
394
00:25:09,222 --> 00:25:13,045
honestly. I ~ I had no home,
395
00:25:13,045 --> 00:25:16,287
no family, no job, no money,
396
00:25:16,287 --> 00:25:18,248
no girlfriend, and no friends.
397
00:25:18,248 --> 00:25:23,042
And I remember parking my car in the
middle of nowhere,
398
00:25:23,042 --> 00:25:25,734
because I didn't have any money,
399
00:25:25,734 --> 00:25:27,695
and cr and basically
400
00:25:28,095 --> 00:25:32,717
Sleeping in the back of the car and crying
myself to sleep and waking
401
00:25:32,717 --> 00:25:36,639
up in the morning that all my clothes were
wet from my own tears.
402
00:25:36,639 --> 00:25:43,081
And I said to myself, I'm starting from
point zero here
403
00:25:43,281 --> 00:25:47,703
and I am not going back. So it's I'm all
in.
404
00:25:47,703 --> 00:25:53,566
And that's how that was the first 24 hours
of my life as a Sikh,
405
00:25:53,566 --> 00:25:56,887
actually. And I think, you know.
406
00:25:58,145 --> 00:26:03,517
I'm very fortunate because ~ you know
sometimes
407
00:26:03,978 --> 00:26:08,839
you have to be there to really want it
that much.
408
00:26:08,839 --> 00:26:11,341
You know, it if something's given to you
easily,
409
00:26:11,341 --> 00:26:17,103
it's easy to put away. But I I I I went
through hell fighting my
410
00:26:17,103 --> 00:26:22,605
s clawing myself up inch by inch and and
so now I I appreciate it.
411
00:26:22,605 --> 00:26:26,647
And I'm sure, you know, ~ you you have
412
00:26:26,893 --> 00:26:30,799
probably some interesting personal thing
to share along that and
413
00:26:30,799 --> 00:26:32,586
you know climbing the way of.
414
00:26:35,336 --> 00:26:40,871
I I always feel like I cheated because I I
was
415
00:26:40,871 --> 00:26:45,875
in the first minute, never had a doubt,
416
00:26:45,875 --> 00:26:50,729
never had a second thought, and whatever
happened after that
417
00:26:52,510 --> 00:26:57,434
was just part of the program. Like in all
these years,
418
00:26:57,434 --> 00:27:00,837
I've never because I was ahead of an
ashram.
419
00:27:00,837 --> 00:27:03,317
And ~ that is
420
00:27:03,361 --> 00:27:06,332
When you tell the audience what I mean
there'll be people listening don't need
421
00:27:06,332 --> 00:27:07,332
to know it.
422
00:27:06,731 --> 00:27:12,493
Yeah. So an ashram, I think it means the
house of the teacher.
423
00:27:12,493 --> 00:27:17,074
And we used to do this a lot back in the
seventies and eighties.
424
00:27:17,074 --> 00:27:22,815
Is people would move in ~ group homes
425
00:27:22,815 --> 00:27:28,077
or get houses around the same cul de sac
or right near each other.
426
00:27:28,077 --> 00:27:31,859
And we would practice our practice,
427
00:27:31,859 --> 00:27:32,859
which includes
428
00:27:34,019 --> 00:27:37,960
Two and a half hours of yoga meditation in
the morning before sunrise.
429
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:42,681
So from four to six thirty. And when
you're living together,
430
00:27:42,681 --> 00:27:44,400
you can do this stuff in groups,
431
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,303
and it makes it a lot easier to keep up
the energy and everything.
432
00:27:48,303 --> 00:27:54,025
But when the when it's a live in ashram
where people actually move in,
433
00:27:54,025 --> 00:27:57,246
the first thing that happened to me,
434
00:27:57,246 --> 00:28:01,317
'cause I was nineteen, when we first got
an ashram,
435
00:28:01,317 --> 00:28:02,317
when I
436
00:28:02,923 --> 00:28:09,615
I got sent to Atlanta in June of nineteen
seventy by Yogi Bhajan.
437
00:28:09,615 --> 00:28:11,378
He said go there and start an ashram.
438
00:28:11,378 --> 00:28:15,986
And I got a whole story of
439
00:28:18,349 --> 00:28:22,563
There's a movie, I think it's one of the I
can't remember,
440
00:28:22,563 --> 00:28:28,570
where somebody has to walk out onto what
looks like over a cliff and there's like
441
00:28:28,570 --> 00:28:32,934
a volcano. But there's actually a walkway
there but you can't see
442
00:28:32,934 --> 00:28:34,776
it 'cause it blends in with the
background.
443
00:28:34,776 --> 00:28:37,059
And every time he takes a step,
444
00:28:37,059 --> 00:28:40,973
it's there, even though it doesn't look
like it's there.
445
00:28:43,051 --> 00:28:47,516
And I was just I would just be taken from
one situation to the next
446
00:28:47,516 --> 00:28:51,470
and always taken care of. Nineteen years
old,
447
00:28:51,470 --> 00:28:57,807
no money. We ended up with a a little
house and about six people moved in.
448
00:29:00,458 --> 00:29:01,458
And
449
00:29:03,213 --> 00:29:06,806
They were all doing these weird numbers on
me like you know,
450
00:29:06,806 --> 00:29:10,169
like, ew, why are you? And I'd be like,
451
00:29:10,169 --> 00:29:13,882
They're all older than me. I mean,
452
00:29:13,882 --> 00:29:17,605
there were people there like twenty eight
years old and I'm nineteen
453
00:29:17,605 --> 00:29:18,916
and they're doing these numbers.
454
00:29:18,916 --> 00:29:22,150
So I wrote Yugi Budgeon a letter.
455
00:29:22,150 --> 00:29:24,620
I said, Why are they all getting all
bugged at me for?
456
00:29:24,620 --> 00:29:29,144
And he said, It's father phobias and
mother phobias.
457
00:29:29,144 --> 00:29:32,204
And no matter how old you are,
458
00:29:32,204 --> 00:29:33,204
you're the
459
00:29:33,077 --> 00:29:35,349
You're the symbol of authority.
460
00:29:35,349 --> 00:29:39,873
You then take the place of the father or
the mother or both or whatever.
461
00:29:39,873 --> 00:29:43,065
So it was
462
00:29:43,065 --> 00:29:48,800
a lot of acid rain I call it.
463
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:53,924
just and then you just kinda get used to
it,
464
00:29:53,924 --> 00:30:00,890
like okay, that's the deal. just like
465
00:30:00,890 --> 00:30:02,071
if it's raining you just
466
00:30:02,591 --> 00:30:04,492
Use an umbrella and you go about your day.
467
00:30:04,492 --> 00:30:10,805
So I didn't even through all that for
468
00:30:10,805 --> 00:30:13,846
we did that for twenty five years,
469
00:30:13,846 --> 00:30:19,259
I think, before last people moved out and
we didn't have anybody living with us.
470
00:30:19,259 --> 00:30:25,282
~ we got married, arranged marriage
471
00:30:26,663 --> 00:30:27,663
because
472
00:30:27,191 --> 00:30:28,191
How how old are you?
473
00:30:30,740 --> 00:30:34,804
I just turned twenty. 'Cause I'm my
birthday's June first,
474
00:30:34,804 --> 00:30:38,948
so I turned twenty right before summer
solstice.
475
00:30:38,948 --> 00:30:45,154
And what had happened the first year I was
in Atlanta is it
476
00:30:45,154 --> 00:30:50,139
was still the end of the hippie era and
the women were after me so bad.
477
00:30:52,333 --> 00:30:53,333
And
478
00:30:54,793 --> 00:30:57,434
I just kept saying, I'm not here for that.
479
00:30:57,434 --> 00:30:59,676
I d I'm not interested in that this time.
480
00:30:59,676 --> 00:31:03,348
I know why I'm here. I know what this
incarnation is for.
481
00:31:03,348 --> 00:31:07,871
It's not for that. So when I got to New
Mexico when we were had
482
00:31:07,871 --> 00:31:09,672
our summer solstice celebration,
483
00:31:09,672 --> 00:31:14,094
which is ten days where we all get
together out west
484
00:31:14,094 --> 00:31:20,658
and and do yoga and meditation and have
485
00:31:20,658 --> 00:31:21,658
a lot of
486
00:31:22,197 --> 00:31:24,419
spiritual experiences and other you know,
487
00:31:24,419 --> 00:31:28,131
fun too. Playing music and dancing and
doing all that stuff.
488
00:31:28,131 --> 00:31:31,244
But anyway I went out there and I said,
489
00:31:31,244 --> 00:31:32,575
Sir, you gotta find me a wife.
490
00:31:32,575 --> 00:31:35,657
I c I can't fight off these women.
491
00:31:35,657 --> 00:31:40,351
'Cause I was the cool guy,
492
00:31:40,351 --> 00:31:42,022
you know, the yoga teacher or whatever.
493
00:31:42,022 --> 00:31:43,533
Anyway.
494
00:31:45,837 --> 00:31:49,012
He found my wife, I'd never met her.
495
00:31:49,012 --> 00:31:55,522
We met one day, went and got our papers
the next day and got married the third
day.
496
00:31:55,522 --> 00:32:00,189
And then we came back to the ashram in the
middle of this.
497
00:32:03,741 --> 00:32:10,063
scene and we had to work out our stuff
having never even
498
00:32:10,063 --> 00:32:13,216
met and have all that going on.
499
00:32:13,216 --> 00:32:17,459
And even through all that, which now
looking back,
500
00:32:17,459 --> 00:32:19,360
I'm like, holy crap, how did we do that?
501
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:23,823
~ I just everything that came,
502
00:32:23,823 --> 00:32:26,444
I was just like, yeah, okay, this is
what's supposed to happen.
503
00:32:26,444 --> 00:32:29,671
That's what's whatever it is, whatever I
don't know,
504
00:32:29,671 --> 00:32:31,327
I don't care. I never like got
505
00:32:32,079 --> 00:32:33,977
this is too hard, I can't do this.
506
00:32:33,977 --> 00:32:36,609
And it's not like
507
00:32:38,859 --> 00:32:40,594
That's why I say I feel like I cheated.
508
00:32:40,594 --> 00:32:44,895
I just I'm like that. I didn't have to try
really,
509
00:32:44,895 --> 00:32:46,279
really hard and hang on
510
00:32:48,439 --> 00:32:49,439
And that
511
00:32:48,855 --> 00:32:51,697
Well how did you how did over the years,
512
00:32:51,697 --> 00:32:55,530
you know, how if if that came easy to you,
513
00:32:55,530 --> 00:32:58,422
how how did you deal with I mean,
514
00:32:58,422 --> 00:33:01,144
I I've been around this so I know that it
exists.
515
00:33:01,144 --> 00:33:06,127
So, you know, it sounds like all these
things came pretty easily to you,
516
00:33:06,127 --> 00:33:11,231
but obviously you were you know,
517
00:33:11,231 --> 00:33:17,005
I've seen this for myself, you found
yourself surrounded by so many people who
~
518
00:33:17,697 --> 00:33:24,431
had so much difficulty ~ dealing with all
that comes with living this
519
00:33:24,431 --> 00:33:29,591
kind of way. So how did you find yourself
~ able to
520
00:33:29,591 --> 00:33:35,258
~ deal with ~ so many people around you
who it it didn't come as easily
521
00:33:35,258 --> 00:33:36,258
as it came to you?
522
00:33:40,973 --> 00:33:47,499
I ~ I've always been kind of do you know
what that
523
00:33:47,739 --> 00:33:52,083
did you ever have your face ~ red where
you have the four quadrants?
524
00:33:52,739 --> 00:33:53,739
No.
525
00:33:54,659 --> 00:33:57,926
So they do this face reading thing and
they do
526
00:33:58,380 --> 00:34:00,888
I heard that was year I somebody did it
years ago.
527
00:34:00,888 --> 00:34:04,240
Yeah. I have some some distant memory of
that,
528
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:05,240
but I know you're talking.
529
00:34:06,039 --> 00:34:09,431
Yeah, and so they do I forgot what they
represent,
530
00:34:09,431 --> 00:34:14,944
but you know, you know, emotion and then
spirituality,
531
00:34:14,944 --> 00:34:16,745
whatever they are, I can't even remember.
532
00:34:16,745 --> 00:34:20,118
But the guy he did mine
533
00:34:20,118 --> 00:34:24,490
and Yogi G told him to.
534
00:34:24,490 --> 00:34:30,574
He said, Do live tar and Yogi Bhajan is
Yogiji that we keep referring to.
535
00:34:30,574 --> 00:34:32,135
And
536
00:34:33,101 --> 00:34:39,171
He said I'm the only guy he's ever seen
ever that has all four quadrants
537
00:34:39,212 --> 00:34:40,275
or bootstrapped.
538
00:34:42,527 --> 00:34:49,462
meaning I don't really need stuff ~ I
don't need anything from
539
00:34:49,462 --> 00:34:53,575
around me. I'm just I know what I am
completely,
540
00:34:53,575 --> 00:34:58,979
totally and you know, really that's comes
from past incarnations.
541
00:34:58,979 --> 00:35:04,283
That you don't just like wake up one day
and you're like that.
542
00:35:04,283 --> 00:35:05,283
It's
543
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:10,131
And the thing about reincarnation people
don't understand.
544
00:35:10,131 --> 00:35:14,372
If you know anybody who's like a good
friend or a relative,
545
00:35:14,372 --> 00:35:16,303
you've been together many, many,
546
00:35:16,303 --> 00:35:22,465
many incarnations. You don't have like a
really good friend or somebody
547
00:35:22,465 --> 00:35:29,307
you really involve with that you're just
like souls
548
00:35:29,307 --> 00:35:33,918
wandering around and getting reincarnated
and you bumped into somebody
549
00:35:33,918 --> 00:35:36,759
you really like. That's not how it works.
550
00:35:37,813 --> 00:35:40,870
So you have this kind of
551
00:35:44,215 --> 00:35:48,818
thing where everybody that's in my orbit
is there because
552
00:35:48,818 --> 00:35:53,151
we have unfinished business. And once I
know that I'm like,
553
00:35:53,151 --> 00:35:56,824
okay, whatever. Now we go through the
unfinished business.
554
00:35:56,824 --> 00:36:03,749
Cool. So just and I just never never
bothered
555
00:36:03,749 --> 00:36:08,122
me, never cared. You know, I'll get upset
if somebody's a real jerk or something,
556
00:36:08,122 --> 00:36:11,574
but in my whole, you know,
557
00:36:11,574 --> 00:36:12,574
macro
558
00:36:13,789 --> 00:36:18,451
I never thought about leaving or freaking
out or going away
559
00:36:18,451 --> 00:36:21,438
or changing or it's just me.
560
00:36:23,906 --> 00:36:29,517
So y you know, y you feel comfortable in
your skin and you know,
561
00:36:29,517 --> 00:36:31,401
you you describe yourself a certain way.
562
00:36:31,401 --> 00:36:34,903
Do you find the times that you know people
~
563
00:36:37,259 --> 00:36:39,683
don't really understand where you're
coming from because of that,
564
00:36:39,683 --> 00:36:41,847
because that they're not that way
themselves.
565
00:36:42,345 --> 00:36:46,076
a lot and I really have to work on that.
566
00:36:46,076 --> 00:36:48,937
I'll tell when I was in high school,
567
00:36:48,937 --> 00:36:53,258
I believe it might have been eleventh
grade or twelfth grade,
568
00:36:53,258 --> 00:36:57,259
one day at the beginning of the year,
569
00:36:57,259 --> 00:37:03,671
I was thinking if all I have to do is say
hello
570
00:37:03,671 --> 00:37:09,232
to people once at the beginning of the
year and then I will have acknowledged
them
571
00:37:09,232 --> 00:37:11,323
and and I will have said hello.
572
00:37:13,279 --> 00:37:18,882
And I actually thought if you say hello
every day,
573
00:37:18,882 --> 00:37:22,654
you're like insulting them because they're
too stupid to know that
574
00:37:22,654 --> 00:37:27,167
you already see them and recognize them
and said hello.
575
00:37:27,167 --> 00:37:30,359
So I did that and I d stopped saying hi to
anybody.
576
00:37:30,359 --> 00:37:36,192
I just walked up. And then somebody
somebody came up and said,
577
00:37:36,192 --> 00:37:40,034
You know, I'm heard you're really stuck up
and snooty
578
00:37:42,305 --> 00:37:48,959
And I'm like, people have to be reinforced
that you know they exist.
579
00:37:48,959 --> 00:37:51,501
That's that bootstrap thing. Like,
580
00:37:51,501 --> 00:37:54,615
I don't need anybody to say hi to me or,
581
00:37:54,615 --> 00:37:58,306
you know, if we hadn't seen each other in
five years,
582
00:37:58,306 --> 00:38:01,388
I'll just pick up and we're good.
583
00:38:01,388 --> 00:38:03,149
You know, we're right back. There's no,
584
00:38:03,149 --> 00:38:05,951
~ you didn't call me for five years.
585
00:38:05,951 --> 00:38:11,935
So I was like that and had no idea that
literally no one else is like that.
586
00:38:12,129 --> 00:38:13,129
Yeah.
587
00:38:12,493 --> 00:38:14,204
Very few people are actually like that.
588
00:38:14,204 --> 00:38:17,845
Yeah. So people see you through their own
lenses,
589
00:38:17,845 --> 00:38:20,296
but it's not I ha you know, I have the
same thing.
590
00:38:20,296 --> 00:38:23,488
It's like ~ I'm by nature,
591
00:38:23,488 --> 00:38:28,170
I'm a really self-disciplined,
592
00:38:28,170 --> 00:38:30,851
incredibly committed person. I mean,
593
00:38:30,851 --> 00:38:33,392
people people actually until they get to
know me,
594
00:38:33,392 --> 00:38:36,973
don't know actually how committed I
actually am.
595
00:38:36,973 --> 00:38:39,454
I'm like a really, really committed
person.
596
00:38:39,454 --> 00:38:40,575
And
597
00:38:42,155 --> 00:38:45,036
in my interactions with people ~ close to
me,
598
00:38:45,036 --> 00:38:50,477
whether whether it I'm teach as ~ role as
a teacher or just somebody knows
599
00:38:50,477 --> 00:38:57,049
me ~ you know casually, is that their
first impression of me is that like
600
00:38:57,049 --> 00:39:00,340
I'm an unreasonable hard ass. You know,
601
00:39:00,340 --> 00:39:02,981
and that you know, and that I'm an
asshole.
602
00:39:02,981 --> 00:39:06,818
And and that I have no compassion,
603
00:39:06,818 --> 00:39:10,913
I have no empathy. Okay, that that's their
that's they're like
604
00:39:11,971 --> 00:39:16,623
you know, the lens they're looking at me
through compared to whatever they're
seeing
605
00:39:16,623 --> 00:39:22,246
in themselves or others, that I'm like way
out over there and I'm not I am who I am.
606
00:39:22,246 --> 00:39:24,477
I'm very committed. I'm not gonna budge.
607
00:39:24,477 --> 00:39:31,160
Okay. But then they get to know me and
they're like very confused
608
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:36,802
because it seems that I'm like the most
open-minded person they've ever met.
609
00:39:36,802 --> 00:39:38,803
And I'm actually
610
00:39:39,501 --> 00:39:43,542
quite compassionate and I'm a teddy bear
and I cry at movies,
611
00:39:43,542 --> 00:39:48,353
you know. And so they they don't they
actually have to get to know me,
612
00:39:48,353 --> 00:39:51,855
but I'm the same way. I'm just not who I
am,
613
00:39:51,855 --> 00:39:57,276
you know? And so I I imagine that ~ I I
can see how
614
00:39:57,916 --> 00:40:02,678
and I start laughing. ~ I I see how
sometimes people perceive me,
615
00:40:02,678 --> 00:40:06,279
but I for that reason I would imagine
that,
616
00:40:06,279 --> 00:40:07,579
you know, people
617
00:40:08,011 --> 00:40:10,012
choose to see you a certain way,
618
00:40:10,012 --> 00:40:14,115
but that's it's more than that.
619
00:40:14,115 --> 00:40:16,277
And it's through their own lens.
620
00:40:16,277 --> 00:40:19,189
But I I have the same I have the same
thing.
621
00:40:19,189 --> 00:40:25,773
I I often people have this and then they
get to know me and then they're almost
like
622
00:40:25,773 --> 00:40:30,877
feel betrayed by me because they almost
then want me to be who they're projecting
623
00:40:30,877 --> 00:40:32,968
me to be. But I'm actually not that way at
all.
624
00:40:32,968 --> 00:40:36,621
That actually I'm a pretty anybody who
gets to know me knows that I'm
625
00:40:37,055 --> 00:40:42,056
actually you know pretty carefree person
with a lot of interests and loves
626
00:40:42,056 --> 00:40:44,060
I I I basically love everybody,
627
00:40:44,060 --> 00:40:45,661
I get along with about everybody.
628
00:40:45,661 --> 00:40:52,510
And people have a hard time putting that
and I think it really gets it's
629
00:40:52,510 --> 00:40:54,096
a really good example, I think,
630
00:40:54,096 --> 00:41:00,461
at the roots of our faith is that you know
people are always I think coming from
631
00:41:00,461 --> 00:41:03,113
a limited point of view, it's either this
or that.
632
00:41:03,113 --> 00:41:05,294
It can't be the two at the same time.
633
00:41:05,294 --> 00:41:06,625
So either you're like
634
00:41:06,923 --> 00:41:11,306
a rigid hard ass, or you're a loved lovey
dovey,
635
00:41:11,306 --> 00:41:17,171
but ~ they can't kind of embrace that you
636
00:41:17,171 --> 00:41:20,893
can be a really strong, committed,
637
00:41:20,893 --> 00:41:25,177
highly disciplined, very high character
person,
638
00:41:25,177 --> 00:41:29,020
and at the same time be a lot of fun to be
around,
639
00:41:29,020 --> 00:41:33,443
be very loving and flexible and
open-minded with other people.
640
00:41:34,047 --> 00:41:38,740
And I think a lot of that goes really to
the ~ the roots of our faith.
641
00:41:38,740 --> 00:41:42,713
And I I think that that's something that
I've actually developed over my life
642
00:41:43,073 --> 00:41:46,756
is to be more and more that way because I
I think that really gets you know,
643
00:41:46,756 --> 00:41:49,127
even the name of this ~ podcast,
644
00:41:49,127 --> 00:41:51,529
Warrior Saint, is that you know,
645
00:41:51,529 --> 00:41:55,202
people think you're either a warrior or
you're a saint,
646
00:41:55,202 --> 00:42:00,685
but they can't quite wrap their heads
around is that you can be all this
647
00:42:00,685 --> 00:42:02,827
in one package. So they only see
648
00:42:03,167 --> 00:42:05,259
in you what they want to see in you,
649
00:42:05,259 --> 00:42:09,173
but they they haven't got to the point
they can see that you're actually embro
650
00:42:09,233 --> 00:42:13,116
you're actually an embodiment of all of
that to all at the same time.
651
00:42:13,116 --> 00:42:15,799
What what's your what's your experience?
652
00:42:18,089 --> 00:42:22,242
~ well that's kind of
653
00:42:22,242 --> 00:42:27,176
an interesting topic because as you're
talking I'm
654
00:42:27,316 --> 00:42:30,499
I'm remembering our evolution
655
00:42:33,163 --> 00:42:37,285
Because we did start off kind of like
super fanatic.
656
00:42:37,285 --> 00:42:43,669
~ in the very early days and we would
657
00:42:43,669 --> 00:42:44,830
do this kinda
658
00:42:49,587 --> 00:42:55,652
One one of my favorite i in ~ Indian
culture
659
00:42:55,652 --> 00:43:00,316
and the language when you address somebody
else you
660
00:43:00,536 --> 00:43:04,920
you say G I or however you want to spell
it,
661
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:09,263
G. And G means soul. So you can say it
662
00:43:09,263 --> 00:43:12,776
to anybody like Hey G,
663
00:43:12,776 --> 00:43:16,658
how are you doing today? And it just means
hi,
664
00:43:16,658 --> 00:43:18,431
I'm talking to your soul, how are you?
665
00:43:20,321 --> 00:43:25,718
But when we're what when we're in the
throes
666
00:43:25,718 --> 00:43:32,288
of our our radicalism, we would we'd
667
00:43:32,288 --> 00:43:36,792
do this thing with the word G where you go
You're not supposed to do it like that.
668
00:43:36,792 --> 00:43:37,792
G
669
00:43:38,731 --> 00:43:39,731
Sh
670
00:43:40,727 --> 00:43:42,808
And it became a weapon. I mean,
671
00:43:42,808 --> 00:43:44,608
it's so funny looking back now.
672
00:43:44,608 --> 00:43:48,889
But we had to come from where we were.
673
00:43:48,889 --> 00:43:54,681
We had to kinda put on this whole new
thing completely.
674
00:43:54,681 --> 00:43:58,982
You know, and people growing up in the
last twenty,
675
00:43:58,982 --> 00:44:05,394
thirty years have no idea that how kind of
well,
676
00:44:05,394 --> 00:44:07,901
you know, look at pictures from the
fifties and the
677
00:44:08,395 --> 00:44:14,811
early sixties and America was kind of
homogenous and ~ you know,
678
00:44:14,811 --> 00:44:17,678
just Christian and Jewish and that was
about it and
679
00:44:20,415 --> 00:44:25,307
Now it's kind of like a anything goes,
680
00:44:25,307 --> 00:44:29,727
you know, nobody gets grief for looking
different or looking weird or having
681
00:44:29,727 --> 00:44:30,727
a beard or
682
00:44:32,555 --> 00:44:36,872
But back then we were coming out of that
and a lot of people were kind
683
00:44:36,872 --> 00:44:40,809
of trying to apply their old religious v
approach,
684
00:44:40,809 --> 00:44:46,659
which in a lot of cases is kind of fanatic
or
685
00:44:48,811 --> 00:44:50,772
You might not have been a fanatic before,
686
00:44:50,772 --> 00:44:52,332
but then when you got into this,
687
00:44:52,332 --> 00:44:58,795
you s your concept was I have to do it
really exactly right.
688
00:44:58,795 --> 00:45:04,037
And then it ends up being kind of looking
fanatic.
689
00:45:04,037 --> 00:45:08,228
And I went through that and I you know,
690
00:45:08,228 --> 00:45:10,219
and then years of just getting
691
00:45:12,691 --> 00:45:16,454
Seeing the world happen and how how things
happen and how people come
692
00:45:16,454 --> 00:45:21,478
and go and stuff comes and goes and
eventually you're just like,
693
00:45:21,478 --> 00:45:25,792
it's just all God. Why are you bugging
about anything?
694
00:45:25,792 --> 00:45:28,984
Just God is the doer.
695
00:45:28,984 --> 00:45:30,876
There's nothing outside of you.
696
00:45:30,876 --> 00:45:32,327
If you can learn that one thing,
697
00:45:32,327 --> 00:45:38,022
and I can tell you you can go right now
and talk
698
00:45:38,022 --> 00:45:41,224
to the ~ quantum physicists,
699
00:45:41,224 --> 00:45:42,224
they'll tell you
700
00:45:42,615 --> 00:45:46,678
Nothing is real. They'll tell you the
exact same thing the yogis have told
701
00:45:47,338 --> 00:45:51,741
the world since time began. There's
nothing real
702
00:45:53,182 --> 00:45:54,863
and there's nothing outside of you.
703
00:45:57,069 --> 00:46:00,747
Exactly what the yogi said and now they're
saying it and showing
704
00:46:00,747 --> 00:46:02,410
how that actually happens.
705
00:46:04,487 --> 00:46:08,800
Yeah, so you just start everything with
there's nothing outside
706
00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:12,562
of me and see where that takes you.
707
00:46:12,562 --> 00:46:18,607
Because it means everything that bothers
you it's you.
708
00:46:18,607 --> 00:46:21,188
Everything that you like it's you.
709
00:46:21,188 --> 00:46:22,749
Everything you don't like is you,
710
00:46:22,749 --> 00:46:25,011
everything that's happy is you,
711
00:46:25,011 --> 00:46:26,792
everything is sad is you, everything.
712
00:46:26,792 --> 00:46:31,295
It's all you and then you know,
713
00:46:31,295 --> 00:46:33,397
you say, well then you're saying you're
God
714
00:46:34,353 --> 00:46:39,104
No, everything's God. God is playing all
this game
715
00:46:39,104 --> 00:46:44,026
of separating itself into people and trees
716
00:46:44,026 --> 00:46:47,257
and bugs and planets and stars.
717
00:46:47,257 --> 00:46:50,628
And once you relax into that,
718
00:46:50,628 --> 00:46:54,699
pfft snuffin' to what's gonna bother ya?
719
00:46:54,699 --> 00:46:59,681
So but that take you know, it took took a
long time.
720
00:46:59,681 --> 00:47:00,813
You know
721
00:47:00,977 --> 00:47:05,762
when when i was living in the environment
you're talking about living
722
00:47:06,277 --> 00:47:12,520
in ashram living in this ~ communal ~
lifestyle big house a
723
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:18,646
lot of people i was the i was always
considered the person
724
00:47:18,646 --> 00:47:22,861
who wasn't taking this seriously and
725
00:47:24,065 --> 00:47:26,626
people, you know, not only not only what
you know,
726
00:47:26,626 --> 00:47:30,807
there'd be like a gudwara going upstairs
in the ashram on Sundays
727
00:47:31,107 --> 00:47:33,588
and I'd be watching, you know,
728
00:47:33,588 --> 00:47:37,339
football down in the basement during the
during the service.
729
00:47:37,339 --> 00:47:40,309
So pe people think I'm I'm really not
taking this seriously.
730
00:47:40,309 --> 00:47:46,691
And there was nobody else in the ashram
who any they they considered sports
731
00:47:46,691 --> 00:47:50,122
to be like below them spiritually.
732
00:47:50,122 --> 00:47:52,833
So I was some lesser creature who
733
00:47:53,499 --> 00:47:58,713
hadn't seen the light yet and then maybe ~
maybe I'd come around at some point.
734
00:47:58,713 --> 00:48:02,076
And then if it was like Friday night,
735
00:48:02,076 --> 00:48:06,300
everybody knew every Friday night I'd be
at the local jazz club.
736
00:48:06,300 --> 00:48:08,582
And they're thinking, you know,
737
00:48:08,582 --> 00:48:14,867
what kind of I mean they they were like
very fanatical and they're thinking
738
00:48:14,867 --> 00:48:17,909
why is this guy going to a jazz club?
739
00:48:17,909 --> 00:48:22,353
But you know the funny part of the two I
guess the two funny parts about it is that
740
00:48:23,451 --> 00:48:29,213
In time, ~ almost all the guys
741
00:48:29,213 --> 00:48:33,265
in the ashram landed up following me to
the stadiums on Sunday.
742
00:48:33,265 --> 00:48:34,636
And
743
00:48:33,586 --> 00:48:34,586
Okay.
744
00:48:34,636 --> 00:48:39,768
in time, virtually everyone in the ashram
would be in that jazz club every Friday
745
00:48:39,768 --> 00:48:43,509
night. I hung in there, I didn't react to
any of this.
746
00:48:43,509 --> 00:48:47,141
And they're finally, and I used to I used
to go out,
747
00:48:47,141 --> 00:48:51,503
I remember like twice a week, I was in a
actually ~ played ho I still
748
00:48:51,503 --> 00:48:52,503
was playing ice hockey.
749
00:48:53,473 --> 00:48:56,985
And I was in a hockey league. And they
have like the people,
750
00:48:56,985 --> 00:49:00,377
the kind of people who are in the ashram
at that point have no idea what
751
00:49:00,377 --> 00:49:05,080
is this guy wearing all white turban and
he's he's carrying his hockey gear
752
00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:08,001
and he's off to playing hockey at midnight
because that's the only time
753
00:49:08,001 --> 00:49:10,883
you get Ice Time. But in in time,
754
00:49:10,883 --> 00:49:13,705
everybody was there watching me play
hockey.
755
00:49:13,705 --> 00:49:19,608
And ~ and so I was a very bad influence on
everyone
756
00:49:19,828 --> 00:49:21,269
who actually got within
757
00:49:21,787 --> 00:49:26,240
a hundred yards of me, because I kind of
was bringing them all to this other world
758
00:49:26,240 --> 00:49:28,821
that they didn't want to have any part of.
759
00:49:28,821 --> 00:49:33,164
And the other thing that's interesting is
that the
760
00:49:33,164 --> 00:49:38,347
few people who how hung in there and they
were like,
761
00:49:38,347 --> 00:49:40,889
as you say, very fanatical and very rigid,
762
00:49:40,889 --> 00:49:43,961
and had even, I think,
763
00:49:43,961 --> 00:49:47,823
some resentment and anger about the way
that I was conducting myself.
764
00:49:49,107 --> 00:49:51,089
They're all gone. I'm still around.
765
00:49:51,089 --> 00:49:54,181
I think that's a very, very important
lesson.
766
00:49:54,181 --> 00:49:55,181
These
767
00:49:54,567 --> 00:49:55,567
Yeah.
768
00:49:54,952 --> 00:49:58,124
are the people, now now you're kind of
bringing stuff out of me,
769
00:49:58,124 --> 00:50:04,349
old time resentments, but there was I
remember so many people who were telling
770
00:50:04,349 --> 00:50:08,133
me that I wasn't a good Sikh,
771
00:50:08,133 --> 00:50:11,175
that I wasn't serious about this,
772
00:50:11,175 --> 00:50:18,157
that that I needed to walk away from all
these things to to to really ~
773
00:50:18,525 --> 00:50:22,047
be true to whatever this is, they're all
gone.
774
00:50:22,047 --> 00:50:24,909
I'm still here. And now am I still here?
775
00:50:24,909 --> 00:50:27,871
I basically am walking the walk.
776
00:50:27,871 --> 00:50:31,314
And and I had, I just kind of,
777
00:50:31,314 --> 00:50:35,020
even back then there was something in me
that said,
778
00:50:35,020 --> 00:50:38,118
I don't actually have to give up any of
this stuff.
779
00:50:38,118 --> 00:50:43,502
Okay. I have to, I have to I I think the
lesson very early on for me is that
780
00:50:43,982 --> 00:50:45,923
I had to integrate this stuff.
781
00:50:45,923 --> 00:50:47,505
I didn't have to give up anything.
782
00:50:47,505 --> 00:50:48,505
I had to
783
00:50:48,305 --> 00:50:53,788
make everything work together so I wasn't
so it's working together.
784
00:50:53,788 --> 00:50:57,987
And and I think that's also very much from
our faith.
785
00:50:57,987 --> 00:51:01,913
I think there's a whole historical ~ and I
think those are in the teachings
786
00:51:01,913 --> 00:51:04,483
of the faith that it's about integration.
787
00:51:04,483 --> 00:51:09,927
It's not about renunciation. And so I I
saw that and I think that
788
00:51:10,269 --> 00:51:14,030
There were people who now I really I kinda
understand this is that
789
00:51:14,030 --> 00:51:17,565
and and I'm trying to understand it from a
compassionate place,
790
00:51:17,565 --> 00:51:22,779
is that I think that ultimately a lot of
people are acting like they're really
791
00:51:22,779 --> 00:51:24,671
committed, they're really sure of
themselves,
792
00:51:24,671 --> 00:51:27,263
but deep down they're insecure about it,
793
00:51:27,263 --> 00:51:29,324
and they're insecure about themselves.
794
00:51:29,324 --> 00:51:35,019
And so they've got to be like like a
certain way to prove to themselves
795
00:51:35,019 --> 00:51:38,192
and others that they are something.
796
00:51:38,192 --> 00:51:39,833
They're they that they're not yet.
797
00:51:40,687 --> 00:51:42,788
And I from early on going, no,
798
00:51:42,788 --> 00:51:44,549
no, I like football, I like jazz,
799
00:51:44,549 --> 00:51:49,701
I like this. I I I there's nothing that's
if these things are not prohibited.
800
00:51:50,086 --> 00:51:51,086
No.
801
00:51:50,541 --> 00:51:56,484
But but you know, I've got to kind of
integrate it into some some whole here.
802
00:51:56,484 --> 00:52:01,516
And and that's always been like really
important to me is is
803
00:52:01,516 --> 00:52:05,948
to be like like a person who's interested
in a lot of things that
804
00:52:05,948 --> 00:52:08,039
I'm very participating in the world,
805
00:52:08,039 --> 00:52:09,039
but
806
00:52:08,797 --> 00:52:11,331
But I I figure out a way to make it all
work together.
807
00:52:13,253 --> 00:52:20,185
Yeah, and the whole idea of our whole path
Kundalini
808
00:52:20,185 --> 00:52:24,656
Yoga and Sikhism seek Dharma. I don't even
call it a religion.
809
00:52:24,656 --> 00:52:28,687
I think religion the idea
810
00:52:28,687 --> 00:52:33,639
of religion destroys dharmas, but ~
811
00:52:34,659 --> 00:52:36,920
the whole idea is the householder.
812
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:39,820
You fully participate in life.
813
00:52:39,820 --> 00:52:41,711
Well, I mean not
814
00:52:43,281 --> 00:52:46,829
drugs and wild sex kind of participate.
815
00:52:46,829 --> 00:52:49,675
But in the you know, normal life,
816
00:52:49,675 --> 00:52:52,712
get married, have kids, build a business,
817
00:52:52,712 --> 00:52:53,744
get very rich.
818
00:52:56,047 --> 00:53:00,379
Nothing none of that is prohibited and our
whole thing is designed
819
00:53:00,379 --> 00:53:04,302
to work around that. We get up in the
morning and do our meditation
820
00:53:04,302 --> 00:53:06,783
and then we're done at six thirty.
821
00:53:06,783 --> 00:53:10,885
Start your day. Do your whole normal day.
822
00:53:10,885 --> 00:53:16,458
Do whatever you do. But you have that and
by the way,
823
00:53:16,458 --> 00:53:21,471
that two and a half hours is
824
00:53:22,552 --> 00:53:24,853
one tenth of a day, twenty four hours.
825
00:53:25,755 --> 00:53:27,706
One tenth of that is two and a half hours.
826
00:53:27,706 --> 00:53:31,628
So you're tithing your time to your own
soul,
827
00:53:31,628 --> 00:53:33,248
to your own higher consciousness.
828
00:53:33,248 --> 00:53:37,430
And whatever you give karmically comes
back ten times.
829
00:53:37,430 --> 00:53:41,412
It multiplies by ten. Everybody thinks
karma's even.
830
00:53:41,412 --> 00:53:45,273
It's not even. It gets multiplied by ten.
831
00:53:45,273 --> 00:53:48,625
So you were on the right track early.
832
00:53:48,625 --> 00:53:50,816
I was I went and saw every movie.
833
00:53:50,816 --> 00:53:53,377
I I was a movie freak.
834
00:53:54,449 --> 00:53:56,710
I never did give up anything. I just
835
00:53:57,447 --> 00:53:59,026
What's your favorite type of movies?
836
00:53:59,026 --> 00:54:00,026
What do you like?
837
00:54:01,267 --> 00:54:05,196
I like kind of tongue in cheek action
838
00:54:07,846 --> 00:54:11,725
~ it depends. You know, there's some
series movies I like,
839
00:54:11,725 --> 00:54:17,649
but a lot of them are just ~ like
intellectual I can't stand intellectual.
840
00:54:20,467 --> 00:54:24,285
But you know, I like stuff with Arnold
Schwarzenegger because it's
841
00:54:26,407 --> 00:54:30,060
He knows that it's a goof and you know
it's a goof.
842
00:54:30,060 --> 00:54:35,343
He's not trying to be the actor of the
century and it's just some fun action.
843
00:54:35,343 --> 00:54:37,845
That's the kind of stuff I mainly like.
844
00:54:37,845 --> 00:54:43,399
I might like rom coms or whatever.
845
00:54:45,757 --> 00:54:50,701
Anything anything nice. I dunno I used to
kinda like horror movies,
846
00:54:50,701 --> 00:54:53,784
get a thrill, but now my nerves can't
handle it.
847
00:54:55,697 --> 00:54:59,169
No, I have I have enough challenges
sleeping these days.
848
00:54:59,169 --> 00:55:00,440
I don't need that on my night.
849
00:55:00,440 --> 00:55:03,972
So ~ I you know,
850
00:55:03,972 --> 00:55:07,303
I never was much of a I I never was much
of a movie guy.
851
00:55:07,303 --> 00:55:12,586
I think mostly because I it it's other
than watching a ball game,
852
00:55:12,586 --> 00:55:17,909
it's tough for me to like sit like two
hours for ~ anything
853
00:55:17,969 --> 00:55:23,712
and I've got so much I I think just my
personality.
854
00:55:23,712 --> 00:55:24,712
I'm such a
855
00:55:24,953 --> 00:55:30,485
stimulation junkie that it's like nonstop
stimulation for me.
856
00:55:30,485 --> 00:55:32,995
So ~ it's from one thing to the next.
857
00:55:32,995 --> 00:55:36,736
So for me to actually have the patience to
sit down.
858
00:55:36,736 --> 00:55:41,658
I think the only thing that I'm
consistently willing to sit through,
859
00:55:41,658 --> 00:55:43,798
like for two and a half hours,
860
00:55:43,798 --> 00:55:46,656
is opera. I'm a big I'm a big opera
physic.
861
00:55:46,656 --> 00:55:48,310
I think I had told you that I'm I am.
862
00:55:48,310 --> 00:55:52,391
I'm a I'm a total opera nut. I'm gonna be
in New York next week.
863
00:55:52,657 --> 00:55:54,721
I'm gonna be at the opera almost every
night.
864
00:55:54,721 --> 00:55:56,664
I'm just the big, big opera nut.
865
00:55:56,664 --> 00:55:59,760
But you know, some of them go on and on.
866
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:05,391
I mean, it it could be like three hours of
~ of endurance to get through one.
867
00:56:05,427 --> 00:56:10,921
You just reminded me there used to be a
guy living in the Oshroom here
868
00:56:10,921 --> 00:56:15,364
who was a mousketeer and he was in
869
00:56:15,364 --> 00:56:20,208
the band ~ Moonlight Feels Right was their
big hit.
870
00:56:20,208 --> 00:56:22,069
~ what was the name of that band?
871
00:56:22,069 --> 00:56:26,352
Anyway, he and I were talking about
writing a musical.
872
00:56:26,352 --> 00:56:30,835
We went to New York and went to two shows
a day for a week.
873
00:56:30,835 --> 00:56:33,017
And so
874
00:56:33,843 --> 00:56:37,844
thirteen, fourteen shows, something.
875
00:56:36,349 --> 00:56:37,594
Well like like Broadway plays.
876
00:56:37,844 --> 00:56:40,935
Broadway plays. Yeah. That was kinda wild.
877
00:56:40,935 --> 00:56:47,317
there's one more story that I wanted to
bring up because he
878
00:56:47,317 --> 00:56:53,058
and I were talking the other day about New
York and he loves New York
879
00:56:53,058 --> 00:56:55,099
and I can't stand it for one second.
880
00:56:55,099 --> 00:56:58,520
'Cause I grew up in the exurbs,
881
00:56:58,520 --> 00:57:02,041
not even the suburbs. We we would be in
the country,
882
00:57:02,041 --> 00:57:03,111
not you know
883
00:57:03,645 --> 00:57:08,526
farmland way out, but on the outskirts
even of the suburbs and we
884
00:57:08,526 --> 00:57:15,088
had always had land and woods and trees
and lakes and so that's
885
00:57:15,088 --> 00:57:20,050
how my brain works and the first time I
ever saw a in Washington DC,
886
00:57:20,050 --> 00:57:22,191
the first time I ever saw a row house,
887
00:57:22,191 --> 00:57:25,822
I got nauseous that people live like that.
888
00:57:25,822 --> 00:57:30,043
I lit I got physically nauseous that you
would l have that.
889
00:57:30,183 --> 00:57:31,510
Yeah, yeah, no.
890
00:57:32,083 --> 00:57:35,285
But anyway in nineteen seventy two,
891
00:57:35,285 --> 00:57:37,536
I think, one or two somewhere.
892
00:57:37,536 --> 00:57:41,739
~ I was in the Calls of String Band,
893
00:57:41,739 --> 00:57:44,821
which was a band a bunch of us put
together in the early days.
894
00:57:44,821 --> 00:57:50,445
We went to New York to record an album.
895
00:57:50,445 --> 00:57:56,709
And ~ so one night we all went out
896
00:57:59,475 --> 00:58:01,313
Just mopping around to have fun.
897
00:58:01,313 --> 00:58:02,919
And
898
00:58:05,241 --> 00:58:07,290
One of the ladies in the band is Krishna,
899
00:58:07,290 --> 00:58:09,971
Black Krishna. And ~
900
00:58:12,425 --> 00:58:15,660
She was called Black Krishna 'cause she's
black and there was another Krishna
901
00:58:15,660 --> 00:58:17,723
who was white and she was called Pink
Krishna.
902
00:58:19,977 --> 00:58:26,341
case you're wondering. And but she she was
actually ~ Broadway actress
903
00:58:26,341 --> 00:58:28,663
and was in a in the movie The Pawnbrokers.
904
00:58:28,663 --> 00:58:32,055
~ but anyway she
905
00:58:35,721 --> 00:58:41,756
She was with us and we're walking along
down in Manhattan and we come
906
00:58:41,756 --> 00:58:46,770
to this big giant construction area with a
big skyscraper going up.
907
00:58:46,770 --> 00:58:49,913
And we went over to
908
00:58:49,913 --> 00:58:54,767
the entrance and there
909
00:58:54,767 --> 00:58:58,600
was this big big dude there at the front,
910
00:58:58,600 --> 00:58:59,600
black guy and
911
00:59:02,257 --> 00:59:05,458
you know, the guard and we said,
912
00:59:05,458 --> 00:59:07,559
ca can we go in there? He said,
913
00:59:07,559 --> 00:59:11,517
No, nobody can go in there. So Krishna
goes up to him,
914
00:59:11,517 --> 00:59:15,683
bats her eyes at him. ~ come on,
915
00:59:15,683 --> 00:59:20,645
it'll be all right. She totally charmed
the guy and he let us go
916
00:59:20,665 --> 00:59:23,976
in to this active construction site.
917
00:59:23,976 --> 00:59:26,967
It was at night, there wasn't any actual
construction going on.
918
00:59:26,967 --> 00:59:30,749
He took us up to the eighty first floor,
919
00:59:30,749 --> 00:59:31,749
which is
920
00:59:32,059 --> 00:59:34,490
near the top of what had been built
already.
921
00:59:34,490 --> 00:59:40,832
And we walked out to the edge and there
were there were
922
00:59:40,832 --> 00:59:46,294
no walls or windows. This was open and
they had wooden you know,
923
00:59:46,294 --> 00:59:49,315
they'd put a wooden rail just two by
fours.
924
00:59:49,315 --> 00:59:55,297
And we're we're s leaning over this rail
looking down eighty one stories down
925
00:59:55,297 --> 00:59:56,507
the side of that building.
926
00:59:58,632 --> 00:59:59,632
And ~
927
01:00:01,775 --> 01:00:06,922
It was on September eleventh that I
remembered that that was
928
01:00:06,922 --> 01:00:09,069
the Trade World Trade Center.
929
01:00:09,863 --> 01:00:11,316
they were just putting that up then.
930
01:00:11,316 --> 01:00:14,280
Wow, that's amazing.
931
01:00:17,651 --> 01:00:20,838
There you go. There you go.
932
01:00:20,838 --> 01:00:24,517
Just guess that's a big thing for New
Yorkers in particular.
933
01:00:26,631 --> 01:00:32,536
Yeah. I've had a few of those Forest Gump
moments where I've been
934
01:00:33,479 --> 01:00:35,675
been somewhere for something important.
935
01:00:36,861 --> 01:00:40,843
Well listen, as we ~ it's it's been about
an hour as we wrap this up.
936
01:00:40,843 --> 01:00:43,706
Well listen, first of all, thanks a whole
lot.
937
01:00:43,706 --> 01:00:48,680
Really appreciate you. And ~ this being ~
the
938
01:00:48,680 --> 01:00:53,815
~ Warrior Saint podcast and and
939
01:00:53,935 --> 01:01:00,340
~ we're ~ always keeping it aligned to the
culsa ideal.
940
01:01:00,340 --> 01:01:05,074
~ you're a culsa yourself. would you like
to say a nice word about do
941
01:01:05,074 --> 01:01:06,365
you have some nice words?
942
01:01:07,050 --> 01:01:11,152
In any way that you'd like to share about
Gudugovin Singh before we say goodbye.
943
01:01:13,344 --> 01:01:14,344
Wow.
944
01:01:16,659 --> 01:01:17,853
Putting you on the spot there,
945
01:01:17,853 --> 01:01:18,853
huh?
946
01:01:19,145 --> 01:01:24,068
Well my my view of Guru Gobind Singh
947
01:01:25,789 --> 01:01:30,712
is that whatever I had that made me like
just
948
01:01:31,952 --> 01:01:34,294
I'm made for this, ~ there's no questions,
949
01:01:34,294 --> 01:01:39,677
there's no nothing. Throw whatever you
want at me can't knock me off.
950
01:01:39,677 --> 01:01:45,640
I mean I'm not claiming anything yet.
951
01:01:45,640 --> 01:01:46,941
I'm not done yet, but
952
01:01:49,437 --> 01:01:50,437
He
953
01:01:53,149 --> 01:01:59,791
That's that kind of example of you're just
playing the world
954
01:01:59,791 --> 01:02:05,283
as a game. When you see the whole see the
the game,
955
01:02:05,283 --> 01:02:07,354
you see God is doing all the parts.
956
01:02:07,354 --> 01:02:11,255
God is the one who's shooting the arrow,
957
01:02:11,255 --> 01:02:13,376
God is the one being shot by the arrow.
958
01:02:13,376 --> 01:02:15,837
And by the way
959
01:02:17,981 --> 01:02:24,152
I've always recommended to people
Christopher Isherwood's Bhagavad Gita
because
960
01:02:24,172 --> 01:02:29,381
in the battle scene where Arjuna and
Krishna are standing against the entire
army,
961
01:02:29,381 --> 01:02:31,475
just the two of
962
01:02:34,325 --> 01:02:36,037
And the way Krishna talks, he's like,
963
01:02:36,037 --> 01:02:39,651
Yeah That's just stuff,
964
01:02:39,651 --> 01:02:42,253
Maya. Those aren't real. Don't worry about
that.
965
01:02:42,253 --> 01:02:45,577
God is gonna do what God's gonna do and
we'll win.
966
01:02:47,857 --> 01:02:49,591
And that was Gurgo V and Singh's
967
01:02:52,337 --> 01:02:58,905
message the way I see it. Like 'cause he
had his children were killed
968
01:02:58,905 --> 01:03:04,813
and his I mean his whole the Mughals just
came after him and everything
969
01:03:04,813 --> 01:03:08,718
he knew and loved. And he just yeah,
970
01:03:08,718 --> 01:03:10,750
come on, bring some more. Got more,
971
01:03:10,750 --> 01:03:11,750
come on.
972
01:03:13,989 --> 01:03:15,389
And it's not like ~
973
01:03:17,597 --> 01:03:22,482
It's just like a if you can just switch
your attitude like that,
974
01:03:22,482 --> 01:03:26,827
then you enjoy the stuff that comes,
975
01:03:26,827 --> 01:03:30,952
you enjoy the challenges, you enjoy the
ups and the downs and everything.
976
01:03:30,952 --> 01:03:35,667
Because you s you're in the game and you
see the game and that it's just a play.
977
01:03:37,779 --> 01:03:40,276
So that's what I get out of Guru Goman
Singh,
978
01:03:40,276 --> 01:03:45,110
Maharaj. I mean you know many other games.
979
01:03:46,759 --> 01:03:52,331
I appreciate that coming from you and you
know before I s say goodbye,
980
01:03:52,331 --> 01:03:55,433
just ~ thank you for your friendship.
981
01:03:55,433 --> 01:04:00,915
love you and ~ also ~ thank you for really
being one
982
01:04:00,915 --> 01:04:06,467
of the pioneers for bringing the spirit
983
01:04:06,467 --> 01:04:12,010
of Gudagovin Singh and the Khalsa to the
shores of the West.
984
01:04:12,010 --> 01:04:15,201
You're part of that great legacy.
985
01:04:15,939 --> 01:04:22,397
And certainly ~ one of the great sons of
Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj.
986
01:04:22,397 --> 01:04:24,890
So thanks buddy, we'll see you soon.
987
01:04:24,890 --> 01:04:30,106
Wahiguruji Karakalsa. Wahiguruji ki fate.