Spirituality, Meditation and Spiritual Growth
RG. No…, not Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Godara is spiritual.
Spirituality is a deep and vast approach with various interpretations. The common theme is connecting with a higher being that is bigger than ourselves. The focus is to make a positive impact and find a deeper meaning in life. It is a catholic human experience that touches and shapes us. Many find a mosque or temple. synagogue, church, yoga, or a small group to connect and enhance their spiritual life. Others pray, meditate, recite, serve or connect with nature and art.
Rahul is self-aware of his spiritual growth, strengths, and weaknesses. The Hindu faith allows him to get in touch with his feelings, emotions, and the spiritual world. Rahul was a school captain and a gap student at Harrow. We connect and talk about spirituality, meditation, spiritual healing, and spiritual meditation, and find many common themes between Hinduism and Christianity.
Rahul, I love talking about spirituality, faith, travel, food, and family. Let’s start by telling my audience a little about you?
One of the highlights of my school life was meeting Tarsem Singh Dhandwar, an alumnus, a leading figure in Hollywood in the world of Visual Art. He was perhaps the first person I really looked up to for his artistic and brilliant mind, coupled with an exuberant love for the world, and its colors.
I had always fancied myself as a man living in New York, with a trench coat, and a smoke on my lips! As a result, I fulfilled that when I went to study acting at the New York Film Academy. After that, I lived in NYC for 2 years, acted on Broadway, worked in a boutique hotel and did other things. My long and steady search for the divine and spirituality, led to a meeting with my Guru Amma, in New York. In conclusion, I returned to India in 2012 and spent 7 months with her. As a result, it became a fundamental turning point in my life.
I learned a lot about the values of true spirituality, the concept of a Satguru (A fully realized being), and the principles of Sadhana (spiritual practise), as a means of emancipation from the cycle of suffering that we undergo as human beings.
Currently, I spend my time between Kasar Devi, a very spiritually charged Himalayan Village in the Kumaon Himalayas, and in Punjab, North India with my parents. I am running a travel company focused on Spiritual Travel and Immersion, and a culture center in Kasar Devi. By the way Jerry, Bob Dylan visited Kasar in his heyday! So did Cat Stevens, and Swami Vivekananda had some of his highest realizations here.
I have a very beautiful and amazing woman in my life, from the Himalayan mountains, whose identity we shall keep mysterious and hidden~~ ;).
What motivated you to start the Resplendent Soul? Walk me through the whole process and what is it all about?
While spending time at Ammas ashram, and traveling around Dharamshala (Home to the Dalai Lama), I realized that a lot of people were looking for the depths of Indian thought, but could scratch only the surface of it. I felt like I could facilitate their outer and inner journeys within India, and then the idea of Resplendent Soul popped up. Resplendence is my favorite word in English. It means ‘Dazzling Measureless Splendour”.
The tours are 4, 7, and 18 days long. We take people through some of the regular well-known Indian spiritual hubs like Rishikesh, Vrindavan and then the more abstract places like Babaji’s ashram, or my village of Kasar Devi.
On the tours, people experience the deep ocean of Hindu life and thought, while we also showcase other religions. They are able to experience the devotion of the Hindu people, in terms of the rituals like fire ceremonies, pujas, devotional worship via songs and music, etc. They are able to appreciate both the outer aspect of the use of colors, life, people, and the deeper metaphysical meaning behind them. For example, many people are not aware, but the fire ceremony of India is very beneficial for psychological ailments and gives one a profound love for life. Cool aye?!!
The tours also include social aspects like service and social entrepreneurship, so as to enable one to see God in all of creation, and not limit it to prayer and worship.
Currently, I do 2-3 big tours annually for Germans, Kiwis, and sometimes a mixed group, apart from the small ones.
Help me understand what you mean by let’s get deeper into the heart of the universe?
The Heart of the Universe! Hmm… I don’t know, how to put this, cause even I am perhaps at the foot of the universe. As I grow older, I realize that we are unable to fully experience life’s deepest joy, strength, and confidence because we live on the periphery. We are too much in the mind of the mind, and not in the Heart of the Mind. To really understand the depths, one has to go very deep, dive deep within, to the very source from where the mysteries of the universe unfold.
Like Anandamayee ma, the great Bengali saint said “The world was born out of joy that is why you find joy in the fleeting things of the world, otherwise life would be an ordeal, but you must attain to that great joy, which brought forth the world!
How does one understand more of the guiding principles of life, of truth and Godliness via tours, retreats, working with communities, creativity, blogging, photography, friendship, and humanity?
I feel deeply that most of our education has been based to help us become survivors. We learn all the tools like mathematics, biology, English, etc., to simply earn a livelihood and make a name for ourselves. But we have not cultured the heart truly. We have many negative emotions like hatred, jealousy, lust, the works, but not enough self-knowledge and antidotes to transform them. I feel we can re-educate ourselves slowly and steadily. Just like 4 columns believes in a holistic attitude towards life, we can relearn the basic fundamentals of living a happy and contented existence, via the mediums of creativity, self-knowledge, scriptures, sharing in community growth, social service, family, hearing great stories and positive information that is already existing in the world. I like to use knowledge resources quite a bit, to understand the various spectrums of life and living, and I feel any and every human being can do so, by reading and understanding more effectively.
Explain who Guru Amma is and what is the message of the divine?
Amma and Haidakhan babaji are my two gurus. A guru literally means “Dispeller of Darkness”. They are both Satgurus, meaningfully enlightened beings who have only taken birth to help all mankind, just like Christ.
Does your spirituality include a God, a holy book, and what is the supreme self?
To me, spirituality is both form & formless. So as a practicing Hindu on the journey towards God-realization, I worship all the forms of divinity present in the Sanatana Dharma (The original name of Hinduism) and all other faiths.
I especially enjoy loving Lord Shiva, Lord Ram, Krishna, Devi, and Hanuman!
I have a very big reverence for the ancient and present masters of India like Amma, Babaji, Neem Karoli Baba, Papaji, Padmasambhava, Nisargadatta Maharaj, and also many from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
I do read different spiritual texts as is the way in India, and not a single Holy Book. My favorite scriptures are mostly words of Masters who are living or have left the body.
The Supreme Self just is. As it is! Before, and beyond a name. Perhaps God is another word we use for it. Just like the Yogis use Pure Consciousness.
Sat-Chit-Ananda! Truth –Consciousness- Bliss.
Let’s talk about tours. What is your goal here? Is it to showcase India? Is it to connect the traveler to their own spirituality or to connect with Indian spirituality?
The goal of the tours is to show the wealth of India’s spiritual light, so the seeker can benefit from those and use them in their own life. The Sanatana Dharma is very scientific, vast, and alluring and can provide many tools to crossover from suffering to endless union with self!
India has an endless ocean of knowledge, devotion, and beauty. Perhaps that’s the reason this country has been so tolerant and loving towards all, even those who plundered it. It is Mother India!
By showcasing the many modalities of spirituality present, we wish to inspire the seeker, who has come on a journey, to connect to their own hidden potential. Some of them get inspired to take on practices and insights from the Indian traditions, and some just enjoy it, get a nice feeling, and do what they were already doing. It’s a bit like “Eat, Pray, Love”!!!
Rahul, India is not a safe country for women. How do you ensure the safety of women on your tours? Give me practical aspects of your security procedures?
Yes, India is facing a major problem with women’s security, and we wish to do our best to be a part of the change in consciousness towards the removal of this problem. Usually, our women travelers do not face any issue, as we travel in groups, and they are mostly in very safe areas, with us. If we are helping a single woman traveler navigate her way towards India, we try to connect her to the best people and services, wherein her risk is minimized. Until now, fortunately, there have been no negative incidents in the last 5-6 years since our inception.
Why does the world need art, music, spirituality, and getting in touch with these things?
The world needs these, like music, for example, is one of the easiest ways to connect to oneself, and thereby to one’s godliness. As a result, spiritually charged devotional music from any tradition helps us to feel rejuvenated in spirit, to take care of our negative emotions, and help cross over the difficult times. Nanak, the great Saint, and founder of Sikhism used to often say that just by listening to the Lord’s name, one can become perfectly happy and perfect!
I think art can really help in catharsis and helping one unload both the beauty and the darkness within. Ditto for spirituality. The greater we are attuned with the cosmic truth, the happier, more contented, and dynamic we become!
Talk to me about food? I am sure spirituality means taking care of your own body?
Jerry, I have learned slowly how important food is. Gurumayi, says that we mostly only need about 60-70% of the food that we eat. The rest is just our hunger for God, for truth.
I feel if we eat too much, or not the right combinations we become tamasic, lazy, in inertia, and slowly degrade ourselves and our minds.
While eating light vegetarian meals, we remain uplifted, sparkly, and can have a stronger cognitive ability, provided we combine that with the right thinking and feelings! I am experimenting more with foods these days and enjoying the effects. For example, I am more of a pitta type person, a fiery type, so lessening caffeine has been beneficial, so has decreasing spicy foods. I have also incorporated a self-massage 2-3 times a week, called Abhyanga, from the ancient Ayurvedic style, which also helps alleviate the daily pent up tensions, and helps remove toxins from the body as well! The results have been amazing!
I believe in loving people unconditionally, getting in touch with my own brokenness, so light can come in, forgiveness, gratitude, peace, patience, kindness, and gentleness. Do we have anything in common?
We have a lot in common Jerry. I do understand and appreciate the Christian principle of “the brokenness” within. We all come enmeshed in our karmas from previous lives and to that, we add on the ignorance of this life. By accepting our brokenness, our not knowing, we open the door for God’s light to come in. To recharge us, to show us our own inner greatness, and to live the Biblical maxim, that we are made in his image. By surrendering the individual will to the Supreme will, we are able to merge ourselves back in him and gain greater and greater joy and love, until only That remains.
Yes, I am trying to work towards unconditional love, and go beyond my own judgments, resentments, past, present, future, and perceptions. It’s a long journey, isn’t it? But it’s become more and more exciting, ever since the name of the Lord has been planted more and more in the heart within!
Many warm greetings from the Kumaon Himalayas and I pray that all is well in Canada and your family, and orbit!
Om Namah Shivaya. (Salutations to the Supreme)
Photo Credits: Ian Espinosa Mohamed Nohassi R D 134-3488_IMG by Enayut Rasul CC BY-SA 2.0, Juskteez Vu Jon Flobrant