Transcript
Speaker: Hi, I'm Alan Finger. Welcome to the Genius of Nothing podcast. Nothing is no particular thing.
Speaker: It's all things at once. Genius.
Speaker: Hello, everyone. This is Katrina Repka. It's the Genius of Nothing podcast. I'm in London with Sebastian Forsman in Sweden.
Speaker: Hello, everybody. Thank you so much for being with us and welcome. And Alan in Miami or Boca, as it were. Welcome. Join us all in nothing and genius.
Speaker: And um so our topic today is how Sebastian got stuck in Canada, which I don't think is a hardship, but which he felt was a bit of a hardship.
Speaker: So um more to the point, like what happens when things go wrong in life and how do you deal with them? Yeah, stay balanced and and kind of just not freak out, really. And yeah just live and have fun and and just be.
Speaker: Your story is kind of crazy, so I think you need to tell it. Yeah, so we, it's really crazy. So my wife is American, as I said before.
Speaker: And for a while, my they've been planning to have a family trip. you know where they all meet at a relative's house in Vermont, in Montpelier. So we go there for two weeks um and we're up in Montpelier. We went to maple farms and did all you saw the leaves changing and all that beauty. It was amazing. and just Fantastic. Great people. a lot of fun. Then when the family you know engagement kind of ended, and my wife thought, oh, it could be kind of a good idea to add on two more days and just you know explore a little more of the area around because we haven't really done that. Relax a little bit. and maybe go to Canada because you're so close when you're up in Vermont. It's just two hours from Montreal and I've never been to Canada. So I thought, ah that'd be fun. even When am I going to be this close?
Speaker: ah So we drove up, we had a car and we drove up. So we're there having fun, you know eating, it's great. And then, you know, nine, 10 o'clock in the evening, we decided, you know, we have two hour drive home. So we kind of thought, okay, let's go home. So we're driving home an hour to the border.
Speaker: come up to the border and we just can't get in. We sit in the car for half an hour, then they bring us in, in an interrogation room and talk to us and ask us all these questions. And i kind of try to ask, what's the problem? And they just, you know pretty dismissive and just saying that, you know, we'll we'll ask you when we have questions and we'll tell you what we need to tell you.
Speaker: So we spent most of the night there at the border control, not knowing what's going on, if I was going to go to jail or to be deported. And finally, i got to know that my Esther had just ran out when I was in Canada.
Speaker: And no one had told me that at JFK or anything, or it didn't say on the webpage even and when I checked it before I left. So they returned us to Canada and the Canadians were like, okay, welcome.
Speaker: Didn't care about that. ah and And the fun thing is Montreal isn't really Canada. it's It's like coming to France because everything is in French. Signs, driving, so like everything. They speak French. I love Montreal. Yeah.
Speaker: But it's it's so funny because you really don't feel like you were in Canada. I thought I was coming to Canada. didn't come to Canada at all. The bad thing with this whole thing, is so we got returned into Canada and you have to reapply for your ESTA.
Speaker: And I did that right away on the other side of the border, but nothing happened. We waited two and half hours, three hours at the border. Nothing happened. Nothing came in. So does we decided, okay, we have to go into Montreal, get a hotel, you know, stay and, you know, wait for it to come. And yeah, five nights later, it came.
Speaker: um And the craziness of this day was that Montreal is a lovely city. It's a really nice city. We had a hotel and we were exploring Montreal. So it wasn't anything, but um you know, you could have been stuck in some really bad places and we were not.
Speaker: But still it was stressful not knowing because we also had a rental car that we had from JFK that had, could only, that model could only be returned to the JFK drop off place um in New York.
Speaker: And Yeah. So we, and I couldn't drive over the border. I was the only like one that was allowed to even drive the car. So that was a little problematic. <unk>matic Otherwise we could just left Canada and gone back to Sweden.
Speaker: So we found ourselves in the situation where we, for these six days, kind of just go and, you know, check your phone and everything. Because we didn't have any luggage or anything. We just went up over the day. So I had a windbreaker. My wife didn't have anything. She had a she had a small little t-shirt and a half sweater or something on. That was all we had. No makeup, no toothbrush, no contact solution, no nothing. An umbrella we had.
Speaker: So we really, so being out of control. from this, I've actually learned a lot and about losing control and not being control at all of when it's going to come in or you know when they're going to grant you access back to the US. um Not knowing, not to be able to talk to anybody there or them telling you how but how you can use different techniques that I've learned and things that i that I've learned and accumulated my with my time with you, Al.
Speaker: and in yoga to, you know, balance yourself, center yourself to, you know, be able to be there. Because if this was 15 years ago, I would have freaked out pretty hard.
Speaker: and And I didn't. i had I had a lot of fun. and was a little stressful over the car and stuff like that and kept costing money every day, of course. But but still, I think we we had we made a little adventure.
Speaker: And... um Yeah, so so i thought we could talk a little bit about that and what, because you also gave me some advice because I talked to you during this time. And especially you gave me two mantras.
Speaker: which worked phenomenally well. um And the neuroscience part of me says that, you know, no, that can't really work like that. But they came in at, you know, the way they worked and when I did them and the result of that is kind of unquestionable. So it's strange. The neuroscience part, I agree, can't explain it, but the quantum science can.
Speaker: It shows you know that there's a whole other dimension that we as human beings don't even, our brain doesn't see. that there is a place where we can go beyond human perception, but it's not from thought.
Speaker: It's not from mind. And that's really hard to get because the human being consistently tries with the mind to understand it all and work it all out.
Speaker: yeah And so it's only, you know, i mean, there is the observer theory in in quantum science and that only when a wavelength is observed does it become a particle.
Speaker: yeah And so it's the same thing with mantra and with these practices. First of all, The mantra won't work unless you get into the right space for it to work.
Speaker: And, of course, as Sebastian and Katrina always scold me and say, Al, you can't just tell them to do nothing all the time on the podcast. But it's the truth.
Speaker: Yeah. Because the mind cannot it. cannot The mind cannot reach or access these subtle realms to make changes in wavelengths of energy.
Speaker: So if you use a mantra, you need to also be in that neutral space. And so there are techniques to do that.
Speaker: Arawana, Waterhands, a great practice, or Nadi Shodhana, the alternate nostril breathing. These practices are incredible because they they make you, your brain still, that suddenly you can access these realms.
Speaker: So Sebastian who and Katrina have done a lot of work with me and learned how to do all this. Yeah, the magic happens from the mantras.
Speaker: where But it only happens when you can access that other plane of consciousness. So Sebastian, please, you share with them the mantras and what happened with them and how. It's a beautiful story.
Speaker: Yeah, so just for clarity, I will say that I did actually freak out pretty hard when we got returned to Canada. For about 30 minutes, I had a meltdown. And Daniel, his wife, said he would have tail. What's up? Daniel did what? No, she wasn't very happy with me, mainly because she also told me to check my ESTA before we left for the US. And I did, and it just doesn't say on the webpage. You have to kind of remember two years earlier, one time you kind of got it. So that's kind of strange. but
Speaker: Anyway, so yes, it was touch and go there for a while. And I mean, everything really just, everything always works out, but it's just, it can be stressful until it does.
Speaker: So the craziest thing with all this, it is really that Alan seems to have some kind of weird like understanding or or epiphanies of when shit hits the fan in my life. When things go down and I need help, that's when he tends to call a lot.
Speaker: Like when my dog almost died and we we were going to the vet. And you know when I broke my wrist. you like All these kind of instances where things really hit the fan... He kind of calls out of nowhere.
Speaker: And it's kind of strange, but I guess he has kind of some kind of alert system on me, which is good. And then you called me the next morning at the hotel. And I don't think we talked about a mantra in the beginning there. were just trying to figure out, you know, if I could come down to you because I was going to come down to you after after Montreal is going to go down to Florida to you.
Speaker: so We didn't do anything there. You just told me to, you know, have fun and be out. to And we did that. And I started doing a mantra, the the Ganesha mantra. Um, gum, gum, gum, gunna patayay, namaha.
Speaker: Um, resolving obstacles. Usually we use it a lot when we try to find a parking spot, you know, and, and, um, which by the way did work in that. you calmed down and started to enjoy Montreal and began to surrender. Montreal.
Speaker: What's that? Montreal. Montreal. Montreal. yeah He went there for mantras Montreal. But it was crazy because I told you which mantra was doing and you were like, no, that's the wrong one. you can't do that one.
Speaker: It was the wrong mantra to try to resolve your estate and the people and getting back into the country. it Not wrong, but it wasn't nearly as potent as other mantras you could use Okay, yeah, because you just told me you have to use another mantra. yeah and And the thing is, this is day, now we're talking day five.
Speaker: um And and um so you give me another mantra, and I do that mantra for about for about an hour, um and then I go to bed, and then I woke up in the morning, I did my practice, my meditation, and did the mantra for quite some time. And then I opened my phone, and it had come through.
Speaker: And that doesn't mean that the mantra... Okay, so the mantra is... is ah i'll I'll chant it first and then you can explain a little bit of about what it is. So the mantra goes...
Speaker: oh my god this yeah it was long at the beginning put mantra a're while but yeah tune to niyaya to tune to the forces, the subtle forces that govern matter.
Speaker: so it's a great mantra, Om Shri Nilayaya Vidmahi, to give me a break, a vidya, an ability to see into those forces that govern how quarks and atoms and everything function.
Speaker: And then to have a break into that, then then katesaya dimahi is to bring it back and manifest that in the right to change and shift energy to give you a specific a result in the material world we exist in.
Speaker: And then the last part is allowing the magic to work. Yeah. dioana proco doya
Speaker: let it let it Let it flow through me and let it happen. So you're tuning to the subtle forces, you're letting them come back to guide you, and then you're surrendering to let it all just happen.
Speaker: Yeah. When Danielle saw this, she, and after I got it, she was like, I got to know what that mantra is. Yeah. It doesn't really stop there because that that was great. we got We got the visa. It was all through. We packed up the hotel, went drove to the border um like we were running from the cops. So now you've got the visa. You know, everything's fine. Just drive over with the border.
Speaker: But of course, I went on the Internet and and looked little bit at at this when these kind of problems happens and when you get denied entry into the U.S. s And a lot of people said that's A lot of times you can actually be taken into questioning and they can hold you and it can take a long time. and Maybe it hasn't gone through to their computer system. you know, there could be all these kind of problems and, you know, you could even get returned back. Yeah.
Speaker: And I heard all these horror stories, so i was just doing that mantra and you know focusing on it, nothing else, it's going to work. So you finally get there and the lines are huge because you have to remember this is during the lockdown. So the federal government is kind of shut down and they're working with you know like a skeleton crew, like the bare minimum. And of course, that doesn't really make people very happy.
Speaker: But a family member had a called Daniela and told her that you know they were kind of very strict and very hard on people and searching a lot of cars and it's going to take a lot of time. I was like, oh, Jesus Christ, this is just what we need.
Speaker: but So we're we're sitting there, we're getting closer and closer and we're I'm doing the mantra that Al gave me and we're getting to be like two car lengths away from the border control. And Al calls me just out of the blue.
Speaker: And I say, oh, where are you? And I'm like, oh I'm just two cars away. I think I have to, you know, hang up soon. I'm just sitting here doing, you know, the Omshi Nilyaya mantra. And he's like, no no, no, no, no. You have to add something to it. And I'm like, oh, no, have to learn this now. It's totally wrong mantra. and You know, so then he changed it from there and let you explain after I read it. I'm going to let you, Al, explain why you changed it and, you know, what that means also.
Speaker: All we changed was the ending. Okay, so here it is. ummsri neyya vijmahi venkatiaya de mahi tanuhari for suredouts tau harry proch shootdonas So you changed dimahi to tanu harri we just changed the n part the only owner prehodo nu to tauwahari prehodo nus egg exactly that's the part we change so and the difference between those two One is welcoming the energy through you to manifest, and the other is focusing the energy into a specific purpose.
Speaker: So now, he was two cars away, you had to focus on the and the people there to focus the energy there. So it's like a laser beam focusing this energy to those people, to that circumstance.
Speaker: I was trying to like a laser beam, trying to write this down and memorize it and doing it like a crazy person. I came all sweaty up to the desk there like, no.
Speaker: And then what happened when you got to the desk? Yeah, well, this is the craziest part of the whole thing, that that they took in every other car except us. And when we got up to the the counter to that to the guy that was serving us there, he he was like this huge guy that, you know, looked like he could make a balloon out of metal moll out of me.
Speaker: And he he was just the nicest guy in the world. He was like apologizing for everything that happened. He's like, I hope you're better time now. and yeah Hope everything works out good. And yeah, welcome back.
Speaker: And this actually did something. i could feel that it did something. Not that I can prove that scientifically, but something happened. Something shifted. If it wasn't me or in them, i don't know. I can't prove that.
Speaker: But don't you think, I mean, I've always felt that my whole life i've strive I've been striving for control. Like that's one of the hallmarks of my personality is that I ah like to labor under the illusion that I have control. But i have learned through yoga that actually we don't really have any control over anything. So the mantra is like...
Speaker: imply that you have control or that imply that you changed an outcome in a situation. So I think there's this dichotomy between one on the one hand, we don't have any control over anything and the universe happens. And okay, we've talked about this before, like we do the best we surrender to the result. Yeah, we have our 49% and the rest is the universe. But then do we have control if we're consciously changing things?
Speaker: No, Katrina, all we have is the ability to do our 49%, which a human being has got, but the rest is up to these subtle forces.
Speaker: So yeah if you're trying to control, then you're blocking it But if you are surrendering to the subtle forces and weling welcoming them, you're allowing the circumstance, the 51%, to come in and direct you better. But if you're only at, you see, trying will knock your efforts, which we call 49%,
Speaker: because the universe controls everything. But if you're only really doing 25% because you're trying to control, you're not surrendering. And you're not in that place where you can welcome the energy in.
Speaker: So yes, always the higher forces will pervade. And if something else happened and he wasn't meant to, whatever, it would have taken that course.
Speaker: So if I came out with anything from this whole ordeal, i would say that comfort is something that we love because, you know, it makes us feel very safe and we can control the situation. But it's a very hollow comfort because it's it's just exhausting for one thing because you kind of have to keep track of everything and hold everything in place. And ultimately, it also limits you in in so many ways. And, you know, when you can let it go of, you know, what should it be or should have been,
Speaker: Then you can actually create space. And most of all, you're also not stuck in your past and your past doesn't become your future because you're not just dictating the old rules that you have on the future. i I consistently said to you, Sebastian, stop worrying.
Speaker: Enjoy Montreal. Yeah. Go and enjoy. And then he'd grumble it's in French. I said, it's okay. Your name sounds French, so go and enjoy it.
Speaker: The universe has put you there. It's a wonderful thing. Enjoy it whilst it's keeping you there. exactly And then you did. You started going and doing things and pictures. and Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. We had a lot of fun. And I talked to Katrina. which didn't really understand why we didn't have the podcast. And I said like, oh, I'm in Montreal. And apparently I was just a couple of blocks down from where you used to live because you used to live in Montreal. Yeah, I lived there twice. I love it so much.
Speaker: Yeah, it was a great city. We had a lot of fun.
Speaker: The hardest part with it is always the waiting and just, you know, living in limbo, not knowing if it's going to come through at all. And some people said, you know, yeah, it took me a month or two months to get it. And i was like, I can't live Canada for like two months. That's, I'm going be. Well, that point you should, yeah. I mean, you just go.
Speaker: Yeah. But then I had the car, so I had to return the car and Danielle, my wife couldn't drive the car back to New York because she wasn't allowed to drive it. Um, because I didn't add her as a, you know, second driver. So ah that was a problem. Um,
Speaker: What I really wanted to ask you that I hadn't asked you since I got back really was that when I called you and talked to you about this, what mantra I should use for the immigration, how do you... Because you came up with these mantras in a split second.
Speaker: when i When I do it for my students, I have to kind of you know think about it. i have to look it up. And and you know I need to do a little bit of work when I do that. But it just came as like a split second to you. and You were very clear about what it was. what What does that come from? Like, do you... being Turning 80 next year. doing this practice for 65 years. So this has happened before. No, you're able to let go. and Whatever comes through just comes through.
Speaker: and I trust it. And then all these miraculous stories come afterwards. Because I don't think about this. It's just, you know, there's the memory base of what I've learned.
Speaker: And I let that flow. And, you know, and people don't get that because there's genius in nothing. It's opposite how we learned. And and people want to, well, how did you know that Montreal?
Speaker: I don't know. I surrendered, felt your situation boom, that popped into my mind. There was no analysis. I mean, you you do, I feel over time, like some components of this mantra I've never heard before. I feel like I know a lot of your mantras. You know, we've talked a lot about mantra, but actually certain parts of this must have been dredged up from your deep memory, because... Yeah, you know, Katrina, a lot of stuff, because I don't think about things,
Speaker: You've learned because you've been with me a long time and you've been writing and doing stuff with me and learned a ton of stuff and mantras and everything. But because I don't really think about it, I don't think what I learned, you know?
Speaker: i just Suddenly something happens and that pops in and it's like, oh, wow, okay. Venkates once was talking about that or or my dad or Nishra Sananda.
Speaker: And so it's sometimes I get the connection, sometimes I don't even get that, just comes through. So would you say that's the same thing with knowledge, that people shouldn't try to study so much or learn like about yoga and everything? or well well Well, that, guys, I can really share with you because I used to say to my father,
Speaker: I couldn't believe how he could sit down and talk for an hour and a half, two hours lecturing. But he was extremely studious and wrote notes and read books and everything. I said, you know, with the way I am, Dad, I'm never going to do that.
Speaker: And at that moment, Swami Nishraya Sananda was at our home. And he turned and he heard me saying this to my father and he looked and he was an engineer and he was very scientific. He was trained engineer.
Speaker: yeah And he turned and looked at me and he said, no, you don't have to worry. and he gave me the story of the glass half full and the glass empty.
Speaker: And the story is, if you take a glass of, an empty glass and a glass of milk, and you try and fill it with water, well the one you just pour water in and it's full.
Speaker: but the one with milk is going to take 100 glasses before the the milk is out of there and the water is filling it. And he used that example. And he said to me, because you're open and you can't study and read, the stuff is going to come, you're actually gifted, and you'll find it's just going to flow through you.
Speaker: And I thought, yeah, Swamiji. oh good Then I could use that excuse why I didn't do good at school.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I think that's probably we don't, we're trying to keep our episodes not too long, but I think that was a good one. Interesting. What do you guys think? That was great. Yeah, I think so.
Speaker: Hopefully you get some um yeah some tricks. Empty your glass, everyone. Practice the techniques to clear your mind and allow the universe in.
Speaker: Yeah. And if you got if you've got any problems, call Al. Yeah. we'll give We'll give your phone number. yeah That's great. Yeah. Okay. All right. Namaste.
Speaker: Namaste. Have a super wonderful week. Namaste.
Speaker: Thank you for joining us today and have a super wonderful week. Namaste.
