Wisdom of the Sages

Krishna's "coincidences" didn't calm down—they escalated. Part Two of Meet the Pilgrims picks up right where the last episode left off: real people, real spiritual detours, and that unmistakable moment when you stop chasing "success" and start getting redirected by grace. Live from Govardhan Eco Village, this continuation brings even kirtanf the Wisdom of the Sages pilgrimage into view—hardcore kids from the punk scene, yoga teachers, musicians, academics, kirtan leaders, and seekers who thought they were just "improving themselves"… until bhakti started improving them.     And sometimes it's a former corporate success story singing kirtan, wandering musicians Googling "kirtan near me" and ending up singing for Radhanath Swami, and a PhD student realizing the ladder of achievement was leaning against the wrong wall. And it's not just about "how I got here." It's about what happens after you arrive—when humility opens the channel, association does its work, and spiritual life stops being theory and becomes transformation. Sometimes the miracle is a "secret temple." Sometimes it's a new marriage that begins with a second-date kirtan. And sometimes it's a former corporate success story singing kirtan on the streets of Mumbai because he finally meant it when he said, "Teach me how to be a devotee." ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

This one is all about spiritual journeys—the stories that bring people onto the Wisdom of the Sages pilgrimage: unlikely beginnings, messy detours, and those moments where a single step toward bhakti turns into a full-on sprint from the universe. This episode is a rapid-fire parade of the spiritual plot twists of real humans with real backstories… getting quietly (and sometimes loudly) redirected by grace.  You'll meet the community behind the podcast—teachers, therapists, travelers, skeptics, seekers, punks, adult entertainers—each one carrying a different "how I got here," and somehow arriving at the same place: kirtan, sādhana, and a new definition of what it means to come home. If you love pilgrimage stories, spiritual synchronicities, and the kind of bhakti that sneaks up on you like a monk with a stack of books—this one's for you. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Magic happens in the last place you'd expect it: a Mumbai hospital where patients don't want to be discharged and staff don't want to go home. Recorded live from Govardhan Eco Village, Raghunath welcomes author Radha Bhakti to unpack the astonishing culture of Bhaktivedanta Hospital on Mira Road—an all-faith, all-heart care facility built on a radical idea: treat the body, mind, and soul… and put people over profits. What started with four idealistic medical students serving Mumbai's slums has grown into a 300-bed integrative hospital where kirtan can be heard in the stairwells, spiritual care teams befriend patients as their "job," and even end-of-life care includes the kind of emotional closure most of us don't realize we're missing until it's too late. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 ********************************************************************* Find Radha Bhakti's book here: India: https://tulsibooks.com/product/magic-on-mira-road-stories-from-the-bhaktivedanta-hospital/ Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Mira-Road-Bhaktivedanta-Hospital/dp/1880404621/ Also Bookwrights Press in the US: https://www.bookwrightspress.com/wp1/product/magic-on-mira-road-stories-from-the-bhaktivedanta-hospital/ Canada: https://a.co/d/fz5AlIW Worldwide: AMAZON

A Bhagavad-gītā-level reality check: the world we experience isn't "illusion" in the lazy, dismissive sense—it's illusion like a reflection. Consistent. Coherent. Convincing. And still untouchable. Like an upside-down tree mirrored in water, it looks real enough to reach for… but you can't taste its fruit. A reflected rose has no aroma. And a reflected life, no matter how intensely we chase it, can't deliver the ananda we're actually built for. But the reflection does point to a reality worth pursuing. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

A higher spiritual taste doesn't negotiate with desire—it demotes it. From Govardhan Ecovillage in Maharashtra, Raghunath and Kaustubha riff on William James (father of modern psychology), the bhakti renaissance in India, and the strange way spiritual culture can make renunciation feel effortless: not by suppression, but by a new attraction taking the center of the heart. Along the way: kirtan "clubbing," deep-rooted devotion that suddenly shoots up like bamboo, and a reminder from the Bhāgavatam that when Krishna's touches the soul, even heaven, power, siddhis, and liberation start to look like broken glass next to the real thing. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************