Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Season 2 of the Women of Kriya Yoga Living in Joy podcast, a gathering place for women walking the spiritual path. These conversations are an offering from the Women's Sangha and Ministry of Kriya Yoga International in the lineage of Paramahamsa Pragyananandaji and Paramahamsa Hariharanandaji.
Speaker: Our host is Mary Dale Ma, a devoted disciple, seasoned yoga teacher, mentor for more than 40 years, and founder of the Param Yoga Healing Arts Center in California.
Speaker: Om and Pranam, dear friends, and welcome to you. I'm so grateful you've chosen to join us today for another sacred moment of connection, reflection, and inspiration.
Speaker: Before we begin, I invite you to gently allow your heart to settle into this moment. Perhaps close your eyes and begin to gently focus on your breath.
Speaker: Feel the quiet rhythm of your own breath with each inhale
Speaker: and exhale, calming down, slowing down.
Speaker: Father, Divine Mother, and our divine loving masters, Paramahansa Hariharananda, Paramahansa Prajnanananda and our Paramguru Paramahansa Yogananda.
Speaker: We bow in group gratitude for this gathering, for the gift of listening, and for the wisdom that flows through every sincere heart.
Speaker: May what is shared here uplift, awaken, and remind us of the joy and purpose that live within each and every one of us.
Speaker: Thank you, thank you, thank you for this privilege, Father, Mother, God. omhantahi Om Om Om Shantihi, Amen.
Speaker: Oh, today I'm deeply honored to welcome a woman whose life is a living testament to courage, compassion, and sacred service. Dr. Sruti Mohabrata, a bridge between personal healing and collective empowerment.
Speaker: Oh, Sruti Ma, it's just such a privilege to be with you. Welcome, welcome, welcome. And on this beautiful day, let me say you do look just beautiful, truly like a goddess.
Speaker: Sruti Ma, the world knew your work and your leadership. Can we just take a moment to go back to the little girl growing up within a family and culture? And could you share maybe a little glimpse of what your spiritual upbringing was like as a child and who or what shaped your early sense of faith, purpose and compassion?
Speaker: Pranamma, thank you so much. I'm humbled that you chose me to be here and talk and share and yeah share my journey and motivate people who are hearing this. So thank you, Ma. Thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker: Now, going back to my childhood, Indian families in general, we have certain rituals which we follow regularly.
Speaker: And these include when we wake up from the bed, we remember the divine and we thank him. When we end the day, we again remember them and we express our gratitude.
Speaker: Then in the morning after a bath, we always go bow and tell them, please guide our path and please help us to be better human beings.
Speaker: Again in the evening, just after sunset, just before, you know, that little time, we do evening aartis. We do vesper aarti, we do puja, we pray and we always ask for the blessings of God, Guru,
Speaker: masters and all our elders in the family. In my family, my greatest inspiration or my greatest ah supporters or people who inspired me in this spiritual journey were my both grandmothers.
Speaker: My both grandfathers also did it but in their own different way. My maternal grandfather, whom we call Aujha, mother's father, he was deep into rituals.
Speaker: And so he would, in his during his evening puja and during his morning puja, we were scared as little kids. We could not make any sound, he said.
Speaker: Whenever there is a pre prayer or whenever there is a ritual going on, where you are invoking the divine, everyone in the family has to respect.
Speaker: It's not that one person is praying. That prayer, that ritual is being done for the entire family. Same went with the evening prayers.
Speaker: My father's father, my we call our fathers Bapa or Bava. We used to call him Bawa, my father.
Speaker: So his father, we call him J.J. Baba. So he was different. His prayer was not so extended, but he had certain rituals which he followed and he was an expert in Sanskrit.
Speaker: So he read, he chanted beautifully in Sanskrit. But both my grandmothers, They were amazing people.
Speaker: They spent so much of time. I've seen my father's mother, J.J. Ma, she would talk to Krishna. She loved Krishna and she would cry.
Speaker: or Krishna, why don't you listen to me? Day and night she would talk to Krishna. She would go on cuddling him. She would go on talking to him. It's a very different kind of a puja that my father's mother did.
Speaker: So loving. I mean, so attached to her God, to Krishna. In everything, whether she would be cooking food, she would be surfing food. She would be taking care of my grandfather's need. She would be taking care of the kids. She would always be singing hymns, prayer, chanting. And when she fed us, as if it was a long protracted prayer, so much of love she fed us. It was as if that was one of her major rituals in her prayers.
Speaker: And my mother's mother, she was also like that. So, and my father, what he did, what he imposed, wouldn't say did, he would say, play as much as you want in the afternoon.
Speaker: But when the sun sets, I want all of you home, wash your feet, your face, and then sit in front of the house. in the home altar, sit there, do a little Vesper ritual, aarti, which we call evening aarti, pray, and then sit quietly for some time.
Speaker: That prayer and that aarti and that sitting quietly will help you in your studies. So after prayers, we did our evening studies and then we had dinner and went to sleep.
Speaker: What a rich, rich upbringing and an auspicious incarnation for you, my dear, to have been born into such a highly spiritual and wise family.
Speaker: Bravo. It's where, actually, in most of the families you will find, if you go to the rural areas especially, because in the cities, people have become very busy.
Speaker: But if you go to the rural areas, you will find these rituals being followed in every family.
Speaker: Well, Sruti, when you look back at the young woman that you were before life changed so suddenly, and the woman you are today, what feels like the greatest awakening of your soul along this journey, having had such a rich upbringing and obviously many tools to support you spiritually? Can you kind of share that with us?
Speaker: Yes. You see, I had a very simple principle in my life. my My mother and my father, they always kept on telling us, there are some rules that you must follow.
Speaker: Like you must respect your elders, you must respect your teachers, you must love and take care of the people younger to you. And if you are sincere and honest in whatever you do, you will be successful. That was something my father imprinted on us. So for me, it was a very simple understanding.
Speaker: You see, we have five brothers and sisters. My brother is brilliant. My sister is brilliant. She's a Hindustani classical singer. My other sister is also brilliant. She's a fine artist from one of the best institution now. She is doing great in her job.
Speaker: My youngest sister is also very sweet and brilliant. So what I saw from my childhood is when you're sincere, When you risk respect your teachers, when you follow what they ask you to do, success is yours. So I followed it and I was successful in everything that I did.
Speaker: Honestly, Ma, I must tell you, I actually did not know what is failure. That came only after the major incident in my life, which changed the direction of my ah living forever.
Speaker: So I followed this principle. would come home, whatever has been taught in the class, I'll go through my studies. Then I will do all my home assignments. And then there was another simple thing my father had. He said, listen, listen.
Speaker: For the next class, always be a little prepared. You may not understand everything. Just browse through and then go to the class. And that also helped. So my teachers loved me. My parents loved me. My siblings loved me because I always took care of them. My mother was a working woman. She was a doctor. Very busy.
Speaker: My father, an anthropologist, often had to tour in tribal areas. So it fell upon me many a times on many occasions to take care of my siblings and I did it with joy.
Speaker: But what I got from Guruji, I got from Guruji the understanding that failure is something very interesting.
Speaker: It builds your character. It makes you stronger. But the most important thing is to accept it with grace. Believe that the supreme power, God, the divine being, he or she, they know.
Speaker: They know what is best for you. So whenever something happens which you think, oh, I failed, oh, this is not the right thing. always try to understand that this is the right thing but because of the lack of our spiritual understanding we are unable to comprehend it.
Speaker: That wonderful thing and I must tell you Ma, I experienced so much of peace because of that. experienced peace because of that.
Speaker: My desire to be more spiritually inclined started because of that be because that acceptance ma that whatever has happened is by the will of the divine whatever is happening is by the will of divine whatever will happen is by the will of the divine so i needn't be very perturbed anxious angry annoyed so That change came when I met Guruji.
Speaker: Jai Guru. Jai, Jai. jai Wonderful. Well, it just... oh It just so feels as though your life carries a deep thread of courage woven in every chapter, Sruti Ma. And you've become a true bridge, a living bridge between your personal healing and your collective empowerment, not only for yourself, but for others. It's just ah a beautiful thing.
Speaker: And the combination of your upbringing and then moving straight into Guruji's arms is amazing. So you have roots and wings, which is a beautiful thing. sportrzma Yeah, you just radiate such such bliss. Now, Sruti, in those early moments when the path ahead felt uncertain to you, where did you first find the inner strength to choose purpose over despair? I know you've given us an overview, but was there something in your own moments when you felt grace quietly step in and carry you forward, even before you met Guruji?
Speaker: Yes. Yes, I did. oh i was very shocked. I was shattered. What I could not could not comprehend What I could not understand is why society, government, extended family members are treating me the way they are.
Speaker: I don't remember occasions when we talked about health or incapacities or incapabilities. Discussion was always about, okay, this much you have achieved, how we can achieve everything.
Speaker: that extra mile, how we can do this. But Ma, after the accident, except my parents and then my professor and my siblings, nobody buy talked about that.
Speaker: The first shock came, I had qualified the topmost elite service of India. The first shock came when they rejected me.
Speaker: They sent me a letter because my father was communicating with them and he was telling them she has undergone a major, major accident. She needs time for rehabilitation.
Speaker: She will jump back to life. I know my daughter. Please extend the joining date. Please extend the training dates. To his appeals and his communication, what we received was a letter Just two, three lines.
Speaker: Here is a new offer with a reduced rank and a reduced salary. Clearly, the letter stated that I was no more acceptable.
Speaker: I was different and I was to be isolated. And for this was a huge shock. The second a shock came when, you know, how it is in our society.
Speaker: um You always look at a woman as perfect, beautiful, hands, legs. Anything that's a little different is unacceptable.
Speaker: So my marriage broke down two weeks before the wedding date. So this was a second major shock. Third major shock was the inability to take care of my very personal things.
Speaker: you know changing my undies, taking care of my periods. I was dependent on others for all these little, little things.
Speaker: There was no privacy in my life.
Speaker: So i just I just could not understand what is happening to me. And the fourth was friends and relatives only talking about move your leg, move your hand,
Speaker: Why can't you sit properly? Why are you moving so much? Without trying to understand it in the spinal cord injury, where you're paralyzed from your neck below, your body has no functions, no sensation, no functions. Your muscles are paralyzed. So your body is wobbling.
Speaker: I was given so many gyans. Everybody was giving me a gyan. Move your leg. Try this. Oh, your father has made you too, has pampered you. Oh, your mother is pampering. That's why you're not trying to walk.
Speaker: That insensitivity and along with it, when I tried to go out because My father said, let us not change our routine. Every week we went out for a film, we went out for ah ah for eating out.
Speaker: We tried to do that. And what an embarrassment we suffered as a family. In the restaurant where we eating because of, I get a lot of muscle spasms and my fingers are bent, you know, in a C6 quadriplegia, your neurons and so I had tremors. So my plate fell down.
Speaker: Everybody in the restaurant was so insensitive. they were staring, smirking. And i told my father, let's go. I can't sit and eat.
Speaker: And then for my medical tests, when I was required to go to Delhi, so when we get inside the train compartment, I'm told that you have to sit and that's your birth certificate.
Speaker: first on the top. I said, how can I? He said, that's not my business. Nobody helped. The entire night I and my mother spent in the railway near the toilet.
Speaker: The little space there, she spread out a sheet and so these kind of things bothered me a lot. And apart from feeling bad about myself, bad about my family, there was a second line of thought also running in my mind, which was right when i um in i was, think, in class four or five, my father always used to say, both my parents, my mother, listen, try to be an asset to your family.
Speaker: Don't be lazy. Your mother is a working woman. How much work she is doing. Try to do small chores. Your youngest sibling, she can barely take care of this. Do this. And he made a weekly timetable for us. That timetable always had a column.
Speaker: Help mommy. So those things. So, so... It was also while I was facing all this trauma, it was also going inside my mind, how in this condition, when everybody is rejecting me, I become an asset to my family.
Speaker: I think that positive thinking was a result of all the positive reinforcements I had got, all the spiritual reinforcements I had got. But the massive change came Because every step, you see, we were suffering a lot. I was transferred to hospital ah in another state in Tamil Nadu, near Chennai.
Speaker: So I was undergoing treatment there and there was no cell phone. On the land phone, a call came that my father has collapsed. He always wanted to be my cheerleader, never said anything in front of me, could not take the pain and he collapsed.
Speaker: So my mother had to leave me there and rush back. And at that point, I was completely paralyzed, which means I could not sit. I had not been trained to sit up, hold my brush or comb my hair or transfer from my wheelchair to the from the bed to the wheelchair. I had not learned all these things. So I was lying straight on my back, completely naked.
Speaker: Because my back was burnt very badly. And so they wanted to keep it open. In this condition, my mother started, I see her, she's crying. I said, Ma, you go, I will manage.
Speaker: And then I see her praying in front, doing a little aarti and praying to her Guruji. Please take care of her. I have to go. She told me, look, you are not critical.
Speaker: Your rehabilitation will start. But for your dad, it's life and death. Touch and go. That's what the doctors are saying. And I, not just his wife, I'm also a doctor. I want to be there.
Speaker: And have faith. These are the two words she said. Have faith. So, Ma... At five, a my doctor drops in, Dr. Suranjan Bhattacharji. I must mention him with deep respect, deep love.
Speaker: And Ma, before I forget, I must tell you, Guru doesn't start working on your life when you meet them physically. Guru starts his blessings. Guru starts directing your path long, long before you even physically meet him.
Speaker: So what happens? At five in the morning, my doctor walks in and he says, I'll take care of her. Don't worry. My students will take care of you. Don't worry. You go to your husband and take this money. He handled over a bunch of notes to her. Take this cash. Go.
Speaker: So at 5 a.m. her auto rickshaw arrives, scooting. And she's she she hugs me, cries and goes out because that's my birthday also.
Speaker: And then I hear shouts in the corridor. And I'm wondering, did someone die? Because that hour we often hear people crying and there is a death and all that.
Speaker: And then my mother's voice, hey, look, look, who is here? you know, my sister, my third sister, who was then studying in West Bengal in Shantiniket and in Kolkata,
Speaker: See, we did not have cell phones. So she just, when she had a couple of days holidays, she just booked a ticket, sat in the train to give me and my mother some company.
Speaker: So you see that night. My mother is leaving. My sister from Shantiniketan arrives. I was not alone anymore. That is Grace Ma. And these things have happened so many times that you know that your guru is taking care of you.
Speaker: It's just so powerful. Thank you for sharing that story with us. It's not a story. It is a glimpse of the path that you have so resiliently managed. And it's just, it's it's awe-inspiring.
Speaker: Now, in the quiet moments of your daily life, Shruti, what practices or inner reflections help you um not only to stay inspired yourself, but also to stay grounded when the outer work feels so demanding. Is there something particular?
Speaker: Yes. i I often felt, you see, um my family was privileged. They were taking care of me. And I had no issues. I could do anything.
Speaker: But then I thought, educated, Parents well placed, taking care of my needs, family standing behind me, money is not an issue.
Speaker: Despite that, I am facing so many challenges. So what about the hundreds of people out there? And many of them speech and hearing impaired, they cannot even speak about their turmoil.
Speaker: Who's taking care of them? Not everybody can buy a ticket and get into the flight because after three bad experiences in the train, we just decided we are not traveling by the train anymore in this condition.
Speaker: And this ah the flights were short duration. So instead of 36 hours to Delhi, I could reach Delhi in two hours. so But what about the hundreds of people?
Speaker: people who are Because every day I was seeing in the hospital people becoming disabled, people becoming spinal cord injured and reaching the hospital for treatment, immediate care and long-term rehabilitation.
Speaker: and mostly people were from very humble backgrounds. So I just started, what do I do? So my entry into the disability sector to set things right was more about getting laws for India. I had no, there was no laws to protect my rights. That's why government could so easily demote me and not let me join my job. So my initial work in disability was about getting lost for India. And I'm very, so that's what I'm telling. was very proud. I used to feel very proud. I used to feel, I said, this is done.
Speaker: yeah Father, this is done. Mom, this is done. Friends, this is done. And the newspapers were writing a lot about me. And then everybody was saying, wow, Shruti, she's so courageous. She's doing this. There was something, you know, that the sense of pride and ego that I have done it.
Speaker: But then, without saying me directly, slowly, slowly, slowly, I became aware that I'm not doing anything.
Speaker: Things are getting done by the grace of the Guru. I'm just a tool, a medium he is using. With that realization came a big change in my life, more humility.
Speaker: Another thing I'm still working on it is Guruji tells me not to get angry. He says everyone is acting as per their, no, whatever the divine is making them do, some are not realized, some don't have. some, what do you call, ignore the sign. So don't get angry on anyone because once you're angry, then you're unable to control your the words you use, your actions, you're unable. And later on, it doesn't matter how much you lament.
Speaker: Once that a bullet has left the gun, it's not coming back. So don't. Try your best to avoid that. So in my quiet moments,
Speaker: I slowly started thinking, oh, how did this happen? This officer was always rejecting, not listening to our demands. Then how all of a sudden he agreed, right?
Speaker: So these were things which I never used to think, I started thinking. Oh, I am nobody. Oh, I am nobody. I am just a tool.
Speaker: So when I sit in the evening, these are things I think about. And I also tell myself, oh, you have been angry. You have been angry. have to cut it down You have to cut it down. down. oh That temperament still has a long way to go. i sit and think. I i thank. I'm grateful.
Speaker: Grateful that I have such a wonderful guru. I have such wonderful parents, grandparents. So whatever I'm doing today, whatever I'm achieving, whatever I am, it's just my blessings, grace, blessings.
Speaker: Nothing is my own doing or nothing to feel proud of or nothing to boast about.
Speaker: Wonderful. And that brings me directly to how did you meet Guruji? How did Kriya first find its way into your life? And what was that meeting of heart and path like for you?
Speaker: And when did you get initiated? Tell us everything. i i i had so many, I'll tell you. There are monks in my family.
Speaker: My mother's, sir what you call it, my mother's, my grandmother's sister is married in a family where there is a monk.
Speaker: My heart father's side, there is a monk. And i'll I'll come to that later on. So were not what you call um we were not very new to the concept of the gurus coming and my mother's guruji, my mom's guruji.
Speaker: So we were not, we were quite used to gurus coming to our house and how, and my mother's guruji was so lenient. He, when he he would stay in our house and the day he used to go and meet other devotees, he will tell my mother, hey, Annapurna,
Speaker: give a little aarti and give a little dhup to your husband and the kids. We love non-vegetarian food. Fish was like our favorite food and everything.
Speaker: So he would tell that to my mother, hey, give them. oh And then my my uncle who was a monk, my mother's ah mom, my mother's mother's brother.
Speaker: So um he started an ashram in Bhuvaneshwar. It was a yoga vedanta ashram.
Speaker: And in his ashram, two or three times a year, he would do big feasts. So lot of yajna, puja, and he would invite a lot of monks, sadhaks to come and have prasana.
Speaker: And he would invite some members of the family too who lived in nearby places. So that is where I remember fleeting glances of Guruji in white.
Speaker: A shaven head and dressed in white. But I did not meet him or interact with him. That I had not done, Mother. And then um in um that my mother's ah own uncle, that is her hard mother's, my grandmother's brother, he was a radiology professor in Kathak.
Speaker: And he was a disciple of Gurudev and of Guruji also. So he always would tell me, go, go and meet Guruji, go. Gurudev, his name is Paramahansa Priyana Nanda, you must go and meet him. He's so knowledgeable, he's so academically rich, he's so spiritually high. Go and meet him.
Speaker: So i I would hear it, Ma, but I never gave it so much of importance. Okay, we'll go, we'll go. Then one day ah after the accident, we had gone for a compensation claim to the court in Puri and we were returning to Bhuvaneshwar. The police told us, don't go this way, there is a strike going on, go the other way.
Speaker: So, he told us to take the, you know that Marin Drive road, Kunark road where our ashram is there, Hariharananda Gurukulam. So when we were passing it, we saw a flutter of orange where it was written oh first Brahmachari training course.
Speaker: So we went a little ahead and I said, Ma, let's go inside and meet him. your Your uncle keeps on talking about him. So mother and daughter, we went inside.
Speaker: There was a huge rush. This was the first brahmachari training. People were running here and there. Very hesitantly, we were standing there, you know, asking someone, and Ma, no one told me to call him Guruji. I did not know if it was Guruji, if was Gurudev, it was Baba, Baba, no one.
Speaker: I just told him, can I meet Guruji? Who is Guruji? I said, the master here? Oh, you're talking about Baba?
Speaker: said, oh, I said, yes. Then they said, no, no, today he cannot meet He's very busy. There's a initiation going on. There are the inauguration program. The king is coming. Gajpati Maharaj is coming. The great Sankaracharya is coming. Sorry.
Speaker: Then my mom said, let's go. I said, no, ma, let's wait. And we were just, mother is looking at the daughter, daughter is looking at the mother. Then, you know, the flutter of oranges walking past by.
Speaker: And turns around. And then comes close and just gives me a big hug. And tells me, Shruti. I mean, as if we knew each other since many lives.
Speaker: And I'm telling a Guruji, my first line to him, Guruji, will you initiate me? There's some going on. And he looks at me and says, and his people around him are saying, no, initiation is over.
Speaker: Then, you know, his turn look, he turns at them and gives a turn look and then he looks at me and says, of course, I will initiate you tomorrow. Can you come at this time? So just mother and daughter are looking and just we came home.
Speaker: Then with our la relatives, we went the next day. In the Adi Kutir, Ma, have you come to Harirananda Gurukula? Not yet. Okay. That's Gurudev's room where Gurudev used to stay. It's a hut.
Speaker: So Guruji gave me initiation in that room. One-to-one personally. They're so beautiful. I said, I can't do this. this in first Kriya, can't do this. I can't do that.
Speaker: He said, you don't have to do anything.
Speaker: Just have some good thoughts in your mind.
Speaker: That is so beautiful. And when gave me initiation, something happened, Ma. I don't know what happened, but something happened. I was just looking into those eyes and I was just I don't know what was happening to me.
Speaker: And then my life took a major turn towards inner peace, calm, tranquility, not getting agitated over anything that was happening in the disability sector or my personal life. It was a huge change and that was the year 2002 and it was fifth of September.
Speaker: In India, we celebrate 5th of September as Teachers' Day.
Speaker: No mistakes. but' Just beautiful. Yes, ma. so That's what I'm telling you, ma. The guru is there. He is dragging you towards him. You are so lost in the worldly clamor that you're ignoring.
Speaker: So what other way he had but create a strike, change my driving route? And there I was in the ashram.
Speaker: You will come here now. ah Yes, you will come here now. Oh, my gosh. That is just a magnificent story. What a blessing.
Speaker: What a blessing. And then once you begin Kriya practice, how did it start to shape and change your personal challenges and your work?
Speaker: So this is what I'm telling you. The major change that has happened is... So earlier it was just a five minutes evening prayer. That's all. Do the aarti. Do some chantings and then it's over. But now there's a lot of addition to it. Sitting quietly. i I would still say I don't know what is meditation.
Speaker: But I do get a lot of peace when you cross your legs... switch off the light, you're sitting, you are, something happens. mother The entire day's stress, it just flies over.
Speaker: It's not. So you are ready to have a good sleep. And once you have a good sleep, you are ready for the next day. So that, and and I also learned,
Speaker: a lot of chantings, the structured way of saying the chants, reading the Bhagavad Gita, both my maternal, my paternal grandmother and my paternal grandfather, they my paternal grandfather loved the Bhagavad Gita. He would always speak in Sanskrit. But I, as much as they could, none of us went there, you know, reading or chanting or trying to understand. But, you know, when the guru tells you something, i have found that when I try to learn some chants, they take me a lot of time.
Speaker: But when Guruji says, suppose we are in a classroom and Guruji is giving a discourse and he says this, this, this, do it or read it. Ma, I find it is so easy to remember. It's so easy to memorize. It's so easy to understand.
Speaker: So I think the Guru's words, they are like, what are they? They are like power pills or they are like, they just enhance your understanding, enhance your yeah memory. They enhance everything.
Speaker: They always make you a better person than you were yesterday. But one has to follow what they say. And I failed, Ma. I won't say I've learned everything. I fail every day.
Speaker: Then at the end of the day, I said, Baba, I failed. Let me try again tomorrow. aye I fail every day. That's what I'm telling you.
Speaker: That is pure humbleness and an example of such grace that's in your life. it While you were speaking, reminded me of Hariharananda, always trying to let everyone know that Kriya is so easy. It's easy.
Speaker: Don't make it complicated. And it sounds like that's what Guruji shared with you, is that, of course, you can do this. Just just relax. Relax. Relax.
Speaker: It's that's just a beautiful story. It truly is. I'm saying also, Guruji, I've heard him often. Don't run after the light, the vibrations. First you calm yourself and focus.
Speaker: and Absolutely. Learning experience, everything will come on there. Yeah, there's no rush. Just all we have is today. All we have is this moment. And we do what we can do and then surrender.
Speaker: Yes, Ma. And in the last 10 years, Ma, everything, everything, every moment, I'm experiencing His grace.
Speaker: Every moment. The most difficult challenge in front of me, I'll tell you a couple of... Is there time to talk about couple of experiences? Of course.
Speaker: Yes. Now, I was in Norway for the Education Congress, and i will I had taken with me examples, my work experience, and I was very excited to be there and make a presentation before the work. But you know, Norway is very cold.
Speaker: And at that point, it was six months daytime. It was no night. I was used to all these things and suddenly my became very homesick and I was crying. And the other thing, Ma, I'll be very honest and tell you, we are so used to small privileges. When you enter a hotel, there are people to carry your things to your room to make you comfortable. But in Norway, when I asked that in the reception, they said, no, you have to take your self-service. You have to take your things to your room.
Speaker: We can help you because you are on a wheelchair, but not all the time and every day. So all these little, little things, they were just funny and they were very few people. India, we have surplus of human beings that buzzing all around us.
Speaker: Right. ah So many. So in Norway, I found there are so few people. The hotel it felt desolate and I was wondering, we were so many of us in the meeting this morning.
Speaker: Why are we so few today in the hotel? So those things, everything all together, had an impact. I was homesick. I was crying. i wanted to go back. I wanted to run actually. I said, oh, please God, do something. Just I want to reach home. I want to reach my mom.
Speaker: And then, you know, I told you there were no cell phones, you know, that was 2003 or four. And then it links the reception. There's a phone ringing and they come to the dining hall where we are eating. said ah Who is Shruti here?
Speaker: said, I am. Now there's a call for you. Please come. And I was wondering... Nobody knows where I am, which hotel. Why would they know? They all know that I'm in Norway for a meeting and I'll come back in my family.
Speaker: There was no this thing where it was, I was sponsored by USAID. So there was no paper on anything with me. I got everything in Delhi that I shared with my family. That this is the hotel, this is the number.
Speaker: who called me and this from that side? Sruti?
Speaker: Yes, this is Shruti. Shruti, this is Pragyar Ananda. What? How? How do you know?
Speaker: Where are you? How come you are calling me? Where did you get this number? 10 to 15 questions. He laughed. I said, come. I am in Austria, in Vienna.
Speaker: And I am so delighted that you have come to Europe. And Shruti, You have brought a unique, you're going to speak something very unique from a very different country.
Speaker: Feel comfortable, be happy. I did not need anything else, I just wanted to hear something soothing, you know, someone I'm familiar with.
Speaker: And he just shotted out everything. i had a lovely sleep the next day. And i was smiling. i was not jittery anymore. And we had a good for conference and I came back, this is one.
Speaker: we Fantastic. I was in i had so many complications because of the spinal cord injury. I was bleeding. Vaginal bleeding was so much.
Speaker: After some time, the urethral bleeding also started and doctors were almost helpless. They didn't know. Finally, the doctor just put his thing down and he said, he called my mother. said, Madam, can't help you. You are a doctor. You can see in this.
Speaker: I don't know. You just give her this, um give her some sedative. Let's see what happens. My mother said, what are you telling? You are telling me to put my daughter to death, last sleep.
Speaker: She's bleeding. It's not stopping. And then they all, because my mother is a doctor. She has her own hospital. So it was all there. So they bring, my mother said, let me take you.
Speaker: So she placed me on her bed, on my head, there was her Guruji, then my Guruji, and everybody was there. And my grandmother was also there and they're all crying and praying and the nursing home staff, the nurses and all, they are also crying.
Speaker: Around two in the night, Ma, there's a call again.
Speaker: My mother says, hello. Annapurna Ma, this is Prajnanananda.
Speaker: And you know, it's a mother's anxiety. She was blasting him left and right. You are dead. You said you will take care of my daughter. My daughter is dying. Doctors have given up. and what is there ah She was not even listening to Guruji.
Speaker: After some time, Guruji said, Annapurna Ma, Nothing is going to happen to Shruti. She'll be absolutely fine tomorrow morning. then she Then he said to give the phone near my ears. It was a land phone as I'm telling you.
Speaker: So I don't remember anything. But what I know is when I got up the next morning, Ma, I was just like any other day, fresh and fine.
Speaker: and some Miraculous. Yes, ma. There are many incidents like this, but these two I thought I must share with you. ah Thank you so much. i am blown away by that, as I know who my listeners are as well.
Speaker: It's just so amazing. the you know Masters always say, i'm watching you. and these these two examples were the x-ray vision of the master.
Speaker: I'm watching you. Be careful. Be careful. Yes. And on the other hand, just embrace that and know that and lean into it It's amazing.
Speaker: We forget that sometimes, but they never forget us ever, ever, ever. The thing I have learned is we don't need search for him or to cling on to him physically.
Speaker: He is way, way beyond the physical body. If we just bow down gracefully and accept he is not a body He can reach you anywhere and everywhere.
Speaker: Not faith. That will work wonder in our lives. ah It's just wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful. Listening to you, it has to inspire everyone. I'm just so touched by that. And thank you for being so willing and transparent to share these precious gems of your life. they They're just wonderful.
Speaker: Thank you, Ma. Your personal journey truly has become a bridge to others, Shruti. You often speak about transforming adversity into service.
Speaker: What does that transformation look like for you in the quiet, unseen moments when no one is watching you? And how did that inspire you to start your amazing organization, Swabhaman?
Speaker: ah mothers This one story, I don't know if you have read, the story of the two friends and the starfish. So these are two friends, you know that? I'll very briefly tell it.
Speaker: So two friends are walking on the beach and then they see starfishes washed to the shore. So one of them starts picking up the starfish and throwing it back to the water.
Speaker: After observing for a couple of minutes, the other friend said, what are you doing? Hundreds and thousands are dying here on the shore, are washed out. How many you have been able to survive till now?
Speaker: To this, the other one said, I don't know about the rest of the hundreds, but I do know the 10, the 15, the 12, whom I threw you back into the ocean, they are living.
Speaker: that That is something which had been with me and the other is my father's father. He was so kind.
Speaker: In the village, he will see if there is a marriage, if there is a thread ceremony, anybody wanting to go to school and he will carry away everything from the house or give them money so that they could do their thing.
Speaker: So then this is i have we had all seen. He would help any anyone. For him, there was no bar. caste, class, disability, religion, nothing was a bar.
Speaker: A person in need is there, i am privileged and have enough to take care of my family and them, so I will give them. So these are the same thing I saw in my father and my mother.
Speaker: My mother would take care of people from the very poor areas, should not charge them a single month. I'd seen my father doing that. He was an anthropologist. He would go to tribal areas.
Speaker: And he would often return with one or two boys, get them admitted in school and colleges and help them with their jobs. These are things, Ma, which I had seen and which I had grown up.
Speaker: butnight So I sat and thought, okay, okay. We are working for the laws now. Ma, it's not that it happened in a day or in a week. Of course.
Speaker: yeah We changed the law and the best law came to us in 2016. we started from That's the first law we got. Then we got 2003, 2009, finally and India is, earlier we used to look up the American with Disabilities Act, the Equality Act of UK, but now the world looks up at the rights of persons with disability act in India. So we did some good changes.
Speaker: But then I found laws and policies, these are good. You need a positive ecosystem, but they are not enough. How can you change a person's attitude towards disability if he or she doesn't understand, has no sensitivity, will not relate to the pain and suffering of the others?
Speaker: So my next course was Empower People with Disabilities, with Education, with Employment and Accessibility. and create awareness among civil society, more importantly the government offices, that you are not doing them any favor.
Speaker: The law grants it, the government has sanctioned a budget, all that you are doing is disbursing. So don't make them feel bad, don't make them run to you for several times.
Speaker: So now with this, Then I thought I cannot change lot of things at the same time or help a lot of people at the same time. But let me start change. So my work started with education.
Speaker: How do we go to the school? How do we talk to teachers? And how do we identify parents? If a child, now all children with disabilities are different. Somebody has visual impairment. Somebody has hearing impairment. Somebody is mobility impaired. Some has cognitive challenges, intellectual challenges. But what was happening in India at those times was it was make one coat and they said, I have done it for the disabled.
Speaker: No, that doesn't help. The coat has to be of different colors, different fabric, different sizes. So that's what we started doing. One child at a time.
Speaker: And before we knew it, more than 300 students had returned back to school. More than 100 students, those who had dropped out, went for skill development and getting into jobs.
Speaker: so What I was doing was not after the policies and the laws. I was changing the life of one person at a time. And if that child required a therapist, if that child required a teacher who had to do differently, I was orienting and training teacher. So one-to-one approach.
Speaker: Those things helped us, you know, not I will do it for thousand students and I will solve the problems. I'll do it for only one child. So our kids are doing very well now, Ma. And with this positive examples happening right in front of the teachers, their attitude attitude is also changing.
Speaker: The age-long belief that, no, they can't, you know, that is now changing. Yes, they can do. If the child...
Speaker: I will tell you one example. We walked into a class and the teacher was so angry with one of the students. I said, what is the matter? Oh, ma'am, I have tried every method. She's not writing even one line.
Speaker: She's not replying to my questions. I was just going there and trying to interact and I was telling stories and because I was on an inspection that day. Then I said, suddenly I asked, can you sing? Do you sing? Do you like to sing?
Speaker: Yes. So this question, the teacher was asking her, can you tell me the name of 10 kings who had done great things for environment protection in this thing?
Speaker: Ma, can you believe it? She started singing and she recited the entire lesson, including answering that question while singing.
Speaker: Ah. So somewhere it's our mistake, now we are unable to ah find the best tool by which we can assess the learning of the child.
Speaker: And it has to be individual specific. So that's how ma I have worked. The laws and policies, you do it for the entire country, the entire state.
Speaker: But to change attitude, you have to go to one teacher at a time, one student at a time, one parent at a time. Yes, it's slow. But you go on building cadres of volunteers. You go on building cadres of inclusive education teachers. They will do.
Speaker: They will take it forward. I think that what you just said to us applies to every human being on the planet, Sruti, whether they have disabilities or not. Every single human is an individual. and deserves time, attention, and dignity. And I think just listening to you in the last little while, i i believe your middle name should be Dignity. So you're offering that on such a wide spectrum. It's it's just ah ah a very beautiful, precious thing and has taken a lot of tenacity
Speaker: Sruti Ma, have you had, and I'm sure the answer is yes, of course, an opportunity to mentor young leaders, especially those who are living with disabilities.
Speaker: When you are mentoring, what inner quality do you hope they awaken within themselves before they ever even try to step into the idea that they can change the world in any way?
Speaker: But two things are needed. Compassion and hearing people what they are saying. One cannot be in a hurry to jump and say, that okay, you are not able to read. Let me do this, this, this for you.
Speaker: You have to have patience and listen to the child. Listen to the father. Listen to the mother. Listen to the siblings. When you listen to these, all these people, listen to the teacher.
Speaker: So listening is important, pah and empathy is essential, and compassion. So I make it a point, I tell all my volunteers, they have interactions with Guruji in all our programs. When Guruji comes, my volunteers interact with him.
Speaker: What a blessing. So what would be the smallest, bravest first step for someone who wanted to become an agent of change?
Speaker: my The first thing is to come to peace with your body, your mind and your thoughts. You see, until I was, come I always thought the wheelchair is a burden.
Speaker: If I sit on the wheelchair, I'll never walk. So I didn't want to get off from the stretcher. Finally, my doctor said, Shruti, how long do you think we can carry you on a stretcher?
Speaker: We need something small and compact. And it took a long time. It took my father and my mother. By that time, my father had healed a little. So my father and my mother, they came all the way from Bhaneswar. My sister came. They all sat with me.
Speaker: They met me. they They didn't tell me, accept the wheelchair. Go and accept. Go and sit. They just told me how nice it would be to go to the garden.
Speaker: Just think you love gardening. Two people carrying you on your stretcher, neither can you sit with your roses, nor can you touch the leaves. So those kind of, you are an outdoors person.
Speaker: How is our little car? Do you think in our little car we can fit the stretcher? Yes, we can fold the wheelchair and put it inside. And you don't do what, my sister say, don't you want to wear something nice, fashionable?
Speaker: Look what you're wearing and lying down on a stretch and how you look. You're looking at the world from a very different view, very different angle. So, all those little, little things, I started thinking, that's true.
Speaker: The wheelchair is actually an inconvenience. Whether you want to go to the toilet, sit on the commode, it's so difficult. Because, Ma, I had to be trained.
Speaker: I had to be body trained. I had to be trained how to hold the spoon and the fork. It took me almost 15 days because when the first marshal of food could go from my travel, from my plate to my mouth. So how to wear my clothes, how to...
Speaker: Then I had to, add ah one good thing with me was my sister had then got married and she moved to the US with her husband. So I got a lot of things. She sent me beautiful magazines to read, lot of new things happening. And she sent me a lot of things which assisted in my living independently.
Speaker: So so that's how... things happen and so I would like to tell everybody, first you be comfortable with yourself.
Speaker: Your height, your color, the way you sit, the way you comb your hair, you be comfortable with that. Doesn't matter who says what.
Speaker: That's number one. Number two, you must believe in yourself. don't believe in what you're trying to do or what you're doing presently don't believe in that how do you think you will be able to convince other and tell them about the first step to take that's number two number three always dream bigger i have heard guruji saying this writing in his books, ah speaking to us, during his informal discussions, formal talks, it is always there that walk the talk.
Speaker: Whatever you are asking people to do, you must do it yourself first. You don't get up at 5 in the morning and tell you, hey, hello, guys, get up at 4 in the morning. There is no truth in the statement you are waking. So why will they wake up?
Speaker: So walking and he always says, these are some important things, Ma, which I carry with me everywhere. Number two, he says, giving back. This is the very day that we are conceived.
Speaker: Since then, all that we are doing is taking, taking. First the mother who gives her, gives us oxygen, takes out her carbon dioxide, gives us blood, our nutrients.
Speaker: And for so seven to nine months, she's protecting us. Just think about nine to 10, 11 months, she's protecting us. Then you are just born. There's your father, there is your grandfather, there's your grandmother, there's Because in India we have huge families, joint families, even nuclear families have a lot of people who come and stand by you when you need help.
Speaker: You need an extra pair of hands, there is always someone to lend it. So your first words, how to walk, hold to hold on to the hold on to their hand, be protected. When you're so vulnerable, you're a little child,
Speaker: ah Keep you safe. lot of things. and I'm not talking about no general specific situations, a lot of things happening in the world. But these things you do with your, in your early years, you do with your family.
Speaker: Then you go to schools, colleges, universities. In India, ma even now, education is, I think in US also, education is highly subsidized.
Speaker: except the private universities, it's almost free, I think, in many public schools. Same here in India, the government schools, it's all free. So yeah government is spending huge amounts, paying the teachers, building an infrastructure, getting you the books.
Speaker: So again it's again, you are taking, taking, taking. And then comes water. Until the last 10, 12 years, water was free.
Speaker: And of course, air, without which you cannot survive even for a few minutes. That's air that's free. So your parents gave you, your mother gave you, your nature is giving you, your school and teachers are giving you.
Speaker: What are you doing? Just taking. Have you ever thought about giving back? He says it is everybody's responsibility to give back to the society.
Speaker: And he again underlines, he says, giving back is not always about money, financial, financial, this. Giving back is about your shoulder. Somebody wants to cry, and let them cry.
Speaker: Soothe them. Nobody has time these days. Elderly people, your elderly grandparents, sit with them. In your free time, talk to them.
Speaker: The maids, the gardeners, everyone who is walking working in and around you. Teach their children in your holidays. In your free time, this is giving back.
Speaker: Keep the environment clean. Keep the rivers clean. Keep the roads clean. Keep the neighborhood clean. All these are giving back.
Speaker: So it is everybody's responsibility to give back. And ma I carried very strongly with it. with This and now, because I am invited to a lot of talks all across India and also the TED Talks, TEDx. So what I do is, this is what either I start with or I end with.
Speaker: I said for young people now to sustain planet Earth, it is important that we give back. So these are few things which very gently, you know, very gentle manner without imposing it on you, Guruji says.
Speaker: So I have, I am carrying these messages very strongly with me and respect your elders. He said you must, because in college and universities these days what is happening is people are becoming very disrespectful of their teachers.
Speaker: So he said, Then he says grace, it is invisible. Grace is invisible. Then he says, do you remember in your school and college days, suddenly you know that you have, oh you should get eight out of 10.
Speaker: You get nine. How is that happening? That's grace. Because within his heart, the teacher knows that you're a good student, you have made a good effort, you are sincere.
Speaker: So that you are well ah mannered, you are respectful. And that point five flows from his heart straight to your answer no, no.
Speaker: So grace is not something, kripa or grace, it's not something that the guru or the teacher will come and they will put on your head and said tap you on your head or your back and tell you, we don't know what he's doing with his taps.
Speaker: so like He says kripa, it is two words, kru and pa. Kru is to do, pa is to get. So when you do something good, you will always get back something good.
Speaker: So these are his teachings which I'm following, trying to follow. but trying to follow No, you are following it, Sruti Ma. And I dare say that life is perfect in every way.
Speaker: And when the unseen hand of God and Guru are active in your life, grace does take place. yeah And I see that from your perspective, incredible path. Had you not had that catastrophic accident, you would not have unfolded in the way that you have and become a catalyst for those who are in desperate need of dignity and grace. You have become a dynamic leader which we are all so very grateful for from you.
Speaker: And Sruti Ma, what is your deepest prayer or hope for the world you are helping to shape for our children, our communities, and the soul of humanity itself? ah From the very gross point, I think what all of us have to do is now save the planet.
Speaker: You see, when the last river is dead and the last tree is, last river dries up and the last tree is dead, what will we eat? How will we survive without air, water and food?
Speaker: So I think it is everybody's responsibility, not the teacher, not the curriculum developer, not the government officials to save the environment. It is everybody's responsibilities.
Speaker: And we have got a beautiful planet, a beautiful environment from our grandparents and parents. It is now our responsibility to ensure that our children, the next generations, get some of the clean and good environment. So that's number one, I tell everybody. But I also tell them,
Speaker: I do this because it's it's it' is my personal, this thing. I said, always smile, keep up a smiling personality. Half your problems are gone. Yes, problems will be there in everybody's life and every day.
Speaker: The more we live, Guruji says, the more you'll, I mean, the longer you are living, it means there are more challenges are coming your way. More challenges, more challenges. But if you can smile at your challenges,
Speaker: That's going to help you lot. So this is for our children. They must, they must. Because, Ma, what pains me very deeply is when I see students taking away their lives.
Speaker: For what? Percentage? Some three, four marks? Some lack of scholarship? Having lost? These are not reasons. it is Life is so much bigger.
Speaker: Life is so much, what you call it? It's immense. These are very, very small things. And this reminds me to also share with you, which again I'm sharing with all the students. There's so many things, beautiful things. He says, we must understand the difference between life and livelihood.
Speaker: We are so focused on our careers that life passes us by. Life is about the moment and the people with whom we start our journey on planet earth and end it.
Speaker: Livelihood or your career is a very, very small component, but we don't understand that. We are so focused these days on our career that dinners are with colleagues, superiors, going out is with colleagues, superiors, office mates.
Speaker: So everything is now, if you see, most of it is revolving around our careers. That perspective Ma, we need to change. We need to understand.
Speaker: My father, my mother, my grandmother, my teacher in elementary school. These are people. who make my life. These are people who are creating my character.
Speaker: These are the people who are influencing my thoughts. So whatever I am today, it's a accumulation of their wisdom, their thoughts, their education, their living a life the way they live.
Speaker: He would often ask, how many times you visited? many times are you missing? Because these days you find students rushing out, not attending social functions because there is an exam, there's tutorial. there is a this those Those things now need to take a, how how students will learn to balance this life and livelihood. Livelihood is important.
Speaker: Career is important. But balancing that, and I think Kriya Yoga is the perfect way of doing it. You balance your love.
Speaker: Beautiful. It is. It truly is. It will come only with when we started, you told all your listeners that we must take a deep breath. We must inhale and exhale and feel it. So these are things we need to teach our children along with one, two, three, A, B, C, D. We need to teach children. Don't pluck a leaf.
Speaker: Breathe before you do anything. Watch your breath. Feel your breath moving. So these are things if we start early, then we will get a different generation.
Speaker: Very sensitive to the environment, trying to take care of it. Respectful to their teachers, old people, people who are suffering.
Speaker: Compassionate about things. That India, oh this is also something his is... The world has a lot of good people, good engineers, good doctors, good writers, good technicians, good intelligence ah technology, good everything, dancers, musicians. The world is now teeming with talent.
Speaker: But what the world needs now is good human beings. And that is what we should strive for. I have been hearing him saying this to all the youth seminars and youth meetings he attends.
Speaker: Beautiful. Well, Sruti Ma, that is absolutely true. And the depth of um your understanding, your wisdom, your love, your compassion is obvious. And we thank you so much for your willingness for sharing not only your story with us today, but your heart, your courage, and your unwavering devotion to humanity, your life reminds us that joy is not something we wait for. It's something we become when we choose to love, when we choose to serve, and to stand in our truth.
Speaker: Now, as we close, I'd like to leave you with a reflection from our beloved Guruji, Paramahansa Prajnanananda, who reminds us so simply and so beautifully, when the heart awakens in love, service becomes spontaneous.
Speaker: And through that service, the soul discovers its true joy. And you are a joy, my dear, a true joy. Your life is ah a living expression of this truth, showing us that when we choose love over fear and dignity over despair, joy naturally flows into the world through our hands,
Speaker: our words, and just our presence with that beautiful smile of yours. And to our dear listeners around the world, that we're so grateful for you taking the time to be with us today. And may this wisdom guide you gently back to your own heart, where love becomes action and action becomes prayer. May this conversation remind you that your life, exactly as it is, holds the power to awaken unite and to inspire.
Speaker: And with that, my dears, we hope to see you soon. Until we meet again, walk in grace, live in joy, and remember the quiet power of your own beautiful soul.
Speaker: omhanti Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti. Amen.
Speaker: This podcast is brought to you by the Women's Ministry of Kriya Yoga International. You can learn more about the ministry at our website, womensministryofkriya.org. Kriya Yoga is a powerful meditation practice that awakens constant communion with the divine through the science of the breath.
Speaker: Handed down from teacher to student in an unbroken lineage of enlightened masters, it transforms body, mind, and heart, helping us be calmly active and actively calm. Today, this living tradition welcomes seekers everywhere through the guidance of Paramahamsa Pragyanananda, the principal disciple of the great master Paramahamsa Hariharananda. To learn more about Kriya Yoga, please visit kriya.org.
