One of the greatest blocks and teachings in the spiritual community is balancing our spiritual journey with our financial. I sit down with Master Sri Akarshana at his center in Dubai to discuss his journey from business person, to spiritual devotee and renunciate, to finding balance between the two. We discuss the common scarcity blocks keeping spiritual people back from abundance and the importance of using your resources to truly be of service. He then shares with us his 2023 prediction and how we can be on the leading edge of spirituality + technology merging.
Connect with Master Sri Akarshana on Instagram here: https://instagram.com/master_sri_akar…
Join Master Sri Akarshana on YouTube here: 
/ @mastersriakarshana
Get the podcasts emailed to you each week: https://iamsahararose.com/loveletter
Take this quiz I specifically created with Dharma Coaching Institute to find out if you’re best as an Intuitive, Transformational, or Empathic Soul Purpose + Spiritual Life Coach and how to actually make this your career! https://dharmacoachinginstitute.com/quiz
If you are looking for a diverse + nourishing community of like-minded souls I’d love to invite you to join the waitlist of Rose Gold Goddesses at https://www.rosegoldgoddesses.com
To receive a free gift, email a screenshot of your review of the Highest Self Podcast to [email protected]
Intro + Outro Music: Silent Ganges by Maneesh de Moor
Follow me your spiritual bestie to active your fullest expression + laugh along the way:
https://www.Instagram.com/iamsahararose
https://www.tiktok.com/@iamsahararose
https://www.Facebook.com/iamsahararose
Discover Your Dharma Archetype with my free quiz https://www.dharmaarchetypequiz.com/
Download my Goddess Embodiment Practice: https://iamsahararose.com/embodiment
Order My Books: https://iamsahararose.com/books
By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Sahara Rose, or used by Sahara Rose with permission, and are protected under U.S. and international copyright and trademark laws. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purposes. No other use, including, without limitation, reproduction, retransmission or editing, of this Podcast may be made without the prior written permission of the Sahara Rose, which may be requested by contacting [email protected].
This podcast is for educational purposes only. The host claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein.
Transcript
Episode #490: How To Step Into Your Greatest Level of Abundance as a Spiritual Person with Master Sri Akarshana
By Sahara Rose
[00:00] Sahara
No one in my ancestry, no female, has ever made money before. And because I have been able to step into that, I, now, at this point in my life, can truly live my best reality. And that’s why I think it’s so important to not demonize money, because, ultimately, money can provide us with freedom and choices, it does not equate to those things.
[00:21] Sri
I think like everything in life.
[00:22] Sahara
Yeah.
[00:23] Sri
And if we look at money, it’s just that society is engrained in us that money is the root of all and money doesn’t grow on, and everything about it is negative. But if we really ask the question, we say “Hey, are there some people in this world right now who maybe have a good amount of money, who are doing good with that money?”, and the answer is yes. “And is it true that if they didn’t have the money, maybe they couldn’t do the things they’re doing?”, and the answer is yes. What does that mean? It’s neutral, just like everything.
_______________________________________
[01:03] Sahara
Hi, it’s Sahara Rose, and welcome back to The Highest Self Podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you, your soul’s highest evolvement.
[01:11] Sahara
I have been on a journey for the past four months, traveling all around the world, reconnecting to different parts of my soul, and in this journey, I found myself in Dubai, of all places, which really wasn’t somewhere that I felt called to go before, but I ended up there and I was pleasantly surprised by the emerging spiritual community.
[01:31] Sahara
And if you’re new to the Podcast, I am Persian, my family comes from Iran and I spent a lot of time in the Middle East growing up, but one of the difficulties of that, is that, in the Middle East, spirituality, in this more modern way, isn’t a big part of the culture. It was a big part of the ancient culture, you know, ancient Zoroastrian roots, you know, even Sufism, however, today we are seeing a massive resurgence in spirituality in the Middle East.
So, I was really pleasantly surprised in Dubai, finding that there were spiritual centers and wellness centers and people even sitting with different forms of ceremony, and it was so beautiful and refreshing to see a revival of these ancient age-old wisdoms in the very lands that many of them came from.
[02:19] Sahara
So, when I was in Dubai, I put on my Instagram, my little story thing, in Dubai, and this beautiful soul reached out to me, Master Sri Akarshana, who, I had come across his YouTube videos before, and we decided to meet up and we went on the walk on the beach and we instantly just, like, dropped in, went straight to the heart of it, sharing the depths of our soul, and really just connecting and learning more about each other’s journeys.
So, I knew I wanted to have him on the Podcast, he had me on his YouTube Channel and it was just such a beautiful conversation, and today, you’re going to hear it.
[02:50] Sahara
So, we really speak about this unique shift that we are in right now, as spiritual people, of no longer wanting to be the renunciate that gives up all material possessions and all belongings and has no clothes, and moves to the mountains, and sits in their cave, alone, away from the distractions forever. That is a path, and many of us grew up thinking “Oh, a spiritual person is a monk and a renunciate, and that’s the path if you want to be spiritual, if you want to be enlightened”, but a lot of us, now, we’re not wanting to be separate from the world. We enjoy beauty, we enjoy luxury, we enjoy organic foods, traveling, giving back, giving gifts, giving money to charity. So, how do we have that balance between our desire to be part of the world, which does require monetary exchange with being highly spiritual people that are connected to this universal source consciousness that is far beyond us.
And he shares, in the Episode, his own personal journey on being on both extremes, you know, of going down the monk path, then also going down a very material path and how he has been able to see that spirituality with money and abundance, are actually not two separate things, but are very interrelated.
So, this is a really beautiful conversation that we got to do in-person, in Dubai. So, if you have YouTube or Spotify, be sure to watch the video, to drop in with us even further.
[04:16] Sahara
So, without further ado, let’s welcome Master Sri Akarshana to The Highest Self Podcast.
____________________________________________________________
[04:21] Advertisement
And before we dive into this Episode, have you ever noticed that you are that person that people come to whenever they have a problem?
Maybe at a party, you end up in this really deep one-on-one conversation with someone and they’re pouring their heart out to you and you genuinely love helping people, you have such wisdom that you want to share but you’re not really sure how to turn that into a career?
Well, if I’m speaking to your soul right now, I have a quiz that I’ve created for you about What Type of Coach Are You?
So, are you the Intuitive Spiritual Life Coach who uses their intuition, their ability to channel, their ability to come up with different ideas?
Are you the Transformational Spiritual Life Coach that’s able to put a fire under someone’s ass and get them to create massive life shifts?
Or are you the Empathetic Spiritual Life Coach that’s able to really listen and hold space and help people feel safe enough to come to their own solutions?
So, I have created a free quiz that you can take right now. So, if you head over to the show notes, you’ll be able to drop in and learn more about what type of spiritual life coach you are,
And if you want to take the next step and get certified, our doors open again for Dharma Coaching Institute, this April!
So, if you want to spend the next six months with me, diving deep into your own soul purpose, as well as becoming a Certified Soul Purpose and Spiritual Life Coach, helping other people step into their dharmas, then come join us at Dharma Coaching Institute. So, you can take the quiz and learn more about it in the show notes.
[05:49] End of Advertisement
__________________________________________________________
[05:49] Sahara
Now, without further ado, let’s get into this Episode!
[05:56] Interview
[05:56] Sahara
Welcome Master Sri Akarshana, to The Highest Self Podcast, it’s so great to have you here!
[06:00] Sri
Thank you for having me!
[06:01] Sahara
The first question I would love to ask you is, what makes you your highest self?
[06:06] Sri
Being the strong vessel, to allow that infinite, collective intelligence to flow through me and manifest it through me.
[06:19] Sahara
So, we’re here in Dubai right now, in your beautiful studio, and we’ve been having amazing conversations the past few days, and many beautiful synchronicities. And shared with me a little bit about your story, and it’s so inspirational because a lot of people may be in various stages of your story and having those different awarenesses.
So, can you please share with us what began your spiritual journey and what that looked like for you?
[06:41] Sri
I think what began my spiritual journey didn’t seem like a spiritual journey at that time. Now, when I connect the dots, I look back at it, I say it’s a spiritual journey. But I think one of the biggest moments was, growing up, my dad always told me that, you know, you’ve got to make money to be successful. I was not the academic type, so I had to go to work in burger vans and then eventually start my own business. I was only…
[07:08] Sahara
Where did you grow up?
[07:10] Sri
I grew up in the UK. And so, I started my first business, in the restaurant industry. And I was around 20 years old, I took on a lot of debt, but it went well. And when I got to, like, 24-25, I would say I was financially free, I could buy whatever supercars or all the things that people dream of. And I was happy for a while and then the question came in “Is this it? Why are we all here, you know?”, and I didn’t know that would take me into a part where I’d suddenly fall into depression.
So, I think that was one of my biggest moments because I realized that life is not just about materials or money or, you know, it’s something beyond that. So, I think that started the inquiry.
[07:56] Sahara
Yeah, it’s beautiful, because we never decide to go on a spiritual journey for the most part, it’s through our darkest times, you know, and really asking yourself “Why am I here? What is the point of all of this? I have the money, I have the success and what do I want next?”
So, what did you start to do after that?
[08:11] Sri
It’s quite a funny story because I had, in my restaurant, I remember it was Valentine’s Day, we had a performer, she played this Chinese instrument called the Jing, and after the performance, she really quickly rushed off and I said “Wow, you need to leave already?”, she said “Yeah, I need to pack my bags, I’ve got a plane to catch”, and I was like “Okay, where are you going?”, you know, just normal questions, and she said “I’m going to Kenya”, and I said “What are you going there for?”, and then she showed me a picture of her and some orphan children and then she said “Oh, I’m going to help them”, and she said “You want to come?”, and I was like “Yeah, whatever”, I said “No, not really”, so I said “No, it’s okay, you enjoy”, right, and I said “Safe trip”. But that was during a time where I would get into my sports car every day and literally say to whoever it was up there “Please, take me away”, like, that’s where I was, I was like, I couldn’t find any meaning in life, I thought I was done. I was supposed to be successful but I’m not happy and I didn’t know why.
And so, after that whole encounter, I remember, that night, I went out drinking with my friends, I was partying a lot, because I was lost, I was confused, and I told my friends, I said “This girl called Lisa asked me to go to Kenya with her, could you imagine?”, they said “Don’t go”, and I said “Why”, they said “It’s really dangerous out there”, I heard dangerous, and I said “Okay”. And obviously, I was a little bit like that at the time, and then I called Lisa up, in the middle of the night, half not there, and I said “When are you flying?”, I said “I’m coming with you!”, can you imagine? Like, my idea was, if I go out there and something dangerous happens, great, I’m done, I didn’t have the guts to do it myself.
And so, I booked the ticket, the next day we fly out, with this person I barely know. And I’m scared all the way because I’ve never been anywhere in Africa before, and I’m just looking around thinking “Oh, they’re going to stab me, they’re going to kill me”, you know, imagine, I’m being scared at the same time as I’m wanting to go there, you know. And good job I wasn’t so good at manifestation back then, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be here right now.
But then, the first day, we went into the forest areas, into the hills and she took me to the first orphanage, I see the kids playing there, kicking this old bottle around and laughing, cheering, and in the far distance, I see this lady, her name is Betty, and she was cheering with the biggest, the most beautiful smile I’ve seen in my life, and that was my first day, my first scene I witnessed and I burst into tears because I was questioning “Why are they so happy?” Everybody says I’ve got everything, but why do I not want to be here but they have everything, I don’t get it. So, all these thoughts that are coming up in my head, that’s where I took a complete 180 turn in my life and I started to promote, I started to live the life of ‘giving is living’.
And so, that’s when I started the charity and I built the orphanage and I built the school, and I started giving, giving, giving, and I said “This is life!” So, I think that was one big realization, big paradigm shift.
[11:36] Sahara
That is so beautiful! And I so agree with you that, ultimately, the spiritual journey is for us to be of service to something greater than us. And I see, often, we think of spirituality of just like “How do I improve and how do I get more?”, and that’s not why we’re here, it’s not so we can take, take, take, but it’s so we can take and learn and grown and then be able to share that and be the vessel. And it’s in that reciprocal nature with the universe that we really grow and open ourselves up for such greater things.
And often, too, when we’re stuck in depression, anxiety, even suicidal ideation, sometimes it’s helpful to realize how blessed we really are. And it might sound corny and even someone might say “That’s toxic positive”, but it’s the truth. Like, it is the truth that if you’re, right now, listening to a podcast, you are extremely blessed to even have the resources and the time to be able to do so.
And yeah, for me, the same thing of the times that I have been able to – I was in Zimbabwe doing volunteer work there and the times that I’ve been able to be on the grounds, helping people that I normally would’ve never had access to. Those are the pinnacles of my soul’s experience.
[12:45] Sri
But I think one of the interesting things back then was, because I went complete 180 in saying “Life is not about money, it’s not about materials”, detach from all of that, it’s about being here, in the mountains, helping their children, helping whoever you can help, you know.
And the interesting thing happened shortly after that, a few years after, I realized that my finances were dropping and I was just contributing, contributing, helping everybody, and then it came to one point where my team back in the UK was saying “Hey, you can’t keep going out there and keep giving away this money and helping them, because you can’t help the whole of Kenya”, this is what they were saying to me. That really shifted it back, it brought it back, it, kind of, grounded that idea of “Okay, just give, give, give and then you fulfil your highest purpose”, because we also say that, first of all, you can’t give what you don’t have, you have to fill your cup to be able to have that capacity. So, when that was happening, imagine, I would go into another phase of depression where I’d be sat there, one day, thinking “Okay, I can’t help them anymore, I need to stop this because if I continue, I’m going to run out of money”.
There was a lady called Mary, I remember, she came with her 9-month old dying baby and she came to me for help, but every single day, imagine, I’m getting so many requests while I’m out in Kenya, for help, and knew something had to stop, so in that moment I said “Mary, I don’t think I can help”, and she started crying, she said “Please help, please help”, and I said “I don’t think I can help”, and she said “Please, please, please, please assist”, and I said “Maybe we can try finding some help in the village or something, but I don’t think I can help anymore”. And I remember going back into, we had this mud hut, and I remember going back into the hut and this is during rainy season, and in the middle of the night I hear this loud scream, loud cry, I didn’t know she was still out there. So, when I stood outside the hut, and I see here there crying her eyes out, the baby had died, right in front of me. And I think it was my first time experiencing like that. But the problem was, I started taking all that responsibility, that was me, I said “I could’ve done something, I could have! But I didn’t, I said no!”. And then, a whole different conversation started gathering in my head saying “Who are you? You think you’re some sort of hero? You think you can change the world? You say giving is living, where did you give? How did you help?”
And so, imagine, I go into this whole new phase of “Okay, I thought life was about just service and helping people”. And it’s not about material, it’s not about the money world or anything. And I would go back to the UK and I would fall into this next stage, next part of my journey, of depression, where I’m questioning everything in my life – what is the purpose, why am I here? So, I go back to that purpose question again.
And then only, later on, slowly, slowly, coming to acceptance that “Hey, yes, that we are spiritual beings, and yes, we can fulfil something that’s greater than us, but we do live in a physical world, we are matter. And if we become more abundant in this physical world, then we also have more to give and more to fulfil that, what you were referring to as dharma.”
And so, that whole epiphany came where I said “Hey, you know what, it actually is the balance of two, you know”. So, I think that was a very important part as well.
[16:14] Sahara
It reminds me of this show and book called “Shanteram”, have you heard of it?
[16:18] Sri
No, I haven’t.
[16:18] Sahara
I really recommend it. And it’s a true story of this Australian convict who escapes from jail and ends up in India, living in the slums. And as he’s in the slums, because he was an ambulance, EMT driver, they start to call him ‘the doctor’, and going to him for all their health problems, and he’s realizing there’s all these preventable diseases that all these people from the slums are dying from, so, he feels extremely responsible of like “I need to help all the people in the slums”, but the thing is, one) he’s not a doctor, two) he doesn’t have resources. So, he begins to sell drugs to the tourists and uses that money that he gets from selling drugs to buy medical supplies for the people in the slums. And it’s this question of like, what is right and what is wrong, you know, and this, like, morality that we’re in.
And the hard part for him as well is, like, eventually he has to leave, but now these people are dependent on him, they’re expecting him, and he knows that if he leaves, they have no one else. And I think it takes us to the greater question of how can we create more empowered communities and how can we create more healers in communities and opportunities for conscious social entrepreneurship, and things like that, so, it doesn’t need to be a model that someone from outside country comes into the country with resources, but rather, being able to create communities that are able to support themselves. The ancient ways that we have for thousands of years, it’s just our colonialist societies have made us, you know, let go and become so attached to a corporation or an NGO or something like that helping.
So, I know you still have now, can you tell us a little bit about this orphanage in Kenya and what you’re up to with that?
[17:53] Sri
Yeah, so, we’re going out there again, actually flying tomorrow morning. So, I’ve been going out there for the past 11-12 years and we take some volunteers every year just because it really, completely, changed my life and I like people to witness that, you know, get some perspective and learn from the kids.
We always say we give to the kids out there, but actually they give us so much. I’m sure you, in your experience, had similar, you know, experience. You get so much joy from it, you get so much healing from it, so much love from it.
So, we have an orphanage, we have a school, a few hundred kids, and our project now is more focused on trying to get it to sustainability, what you were speaking about before, social entrepreneurship. A lot of people ask me, they say “Why don’t you do something in India? Why don’t you do something here? Why don’t you do something in the UK?”, I said, well, I can, I can keep giving money here and giving money there, giving money here, but if we don’t create something sustainable and we haven’t got the foundation for that, there’s not really, we’re not really doing this change, it’s not going to last, you know.
So, we’ve been focusing on it, it’s been a tough ride because it’s, obviously, a whole different culture with corruption and all the things that happened and that come with it, but it’s been a beautiful ride, a very fulfilling ride.
[19:10] Sahara
Well, I definitely want to come visit one day.
[19:12] Sri
Next time, you come.
[19:13] Sahara
Yes, absolutely! Yeah, you told me, I was like “Maybe I should just go tomorrow” and have my own story with this.
So, I want to talk about business as a vessel, really, of spirituality and being of service because I know that it has been for you, for myself and a lot of people listening. They want to create their own businesses and use it, really, as a way for them to share their voice and impact humanity in a way.
So, if someone’s like, maybe, very much starting their entrepreneurship journey, maybe they’re still figuring out “How do I create a business out of what I love?”, what do you suggest for them?
[19:46] Sri
Well, I think it’s very similar to what you speak about, when it comes to finding your dharma. I think it’s finding out what your passion, what your skillsets are, finding out what serves the world and what problems there are that’s happening out there and what needs solving and how can you help. And to understand that it’s a, what money is, is an exchange of value for value, right? Before money we would have bartering, still exchanging value for value.
So, I think once you find out what it is that you want to put out into the world, what skillsets you have, what knowledge you have, how you can help people, as long as you’ve got a solution, then people will exchange that value for value. But I think that the thing is, because we use the word spirituality, that’s where things can get a little bit more complicated than just – I always say to people “If I didn’t believe in spirituality, and I was just doing business purely just to make money, life would be so much easier”. I’m not talking about life as a whole, I’m talking about business life would be so much easier.
When you’re talking about spirituality, just like, even if you talk about churches out there that collect donations, people start talking about “Where is the money going and all this”, there comes a lot of questions around money. And this is where I see a big problem in the world, where you have this divide.
When I was teaching, I started teaching only 12 years ago, speaking, I was teaching business. On my journey of teaching business, it was also during my journey of realizing that money is not everything and why are we chasing something that is just material. But that is not the goal. So, as I evolved, I started to see the people that were coming to my business sessions, evolve. And I started to see I was attracting different people, people would come in “I’m a theta healer”, “I’m a Reiki healer”, “I’m this, I’m that”, “I’m a download”, all these words and terminology that I would not use before, but I connected with that because that was where I was going. I felt I was remembering, you know, I call it a spiritual remembering, and like “Wow, suddenly, everything just makes sense”. And I started to dedicate so much time to helping these entrepreneurs, say “Hey, come from a space of love, come from a good intention, come from a space of service”.
So many people in entrepreneurship, they say “Add value and the money will come”, but the problem I see that some people, you can interpret it in two ways. Some people say “Add value, the money will come”, oh, you mean I need to give something to somebody first and then I get to get the money off them, I say yes “That is add value and the money will come”, but that’s a completely different perspective and the intent is different, the energy is different.
But then there’s “Add value and the money will come”, meaning that “I sincerely want the good of humanity, I want to help people, and that’s the space I come from”, it’s a space of love. If people come from that space and then understand that if you have the right business knowledge, then the money will come. That’s a completely different energy.
And so, I was spending, taking my years, educating these business owners become conscious entrepreneurs, and I said “Hey, this is sustainable, you know, you’re not here just to make a quick buck, it’s a sustainable and it’s helping people”.
And it’s interesting because as I started to awaken myself more and more throughout this journey, I went completely onto this whole language of what we speak today, od intuition, and downloads, and channeling, and everything, and obviously, then, my audience would change because everybody who, now, I was attracting, was all the, what we call ‘woo-woo people’, all your tree huggers, you know, it’s all downloads and everything, and angels and everything.
And when I went there and I started to communicate with these people and find where their problems were, I realized that the majority of their problems was in the physical world.
Now, that’s interesting, because, imagine, once upon a time, I’m on this side, next moment I’m on that side and I’m seeing this problem, I’m seeing that problem, I’m saying “Hey, you know these business entrepreneurs, they’re looking at all those tree huggers and saying ‘go get a job, do something with your life, you know. What do you think? You think just God will give you everything?”, it’s like this whole thought. And then, the other side is looking at this side and thinking “You guys are just chasing money every day, you don’t even know what self-love is, the meaning of life”.
And it’s interesting because they say “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we’re spiritual beings having a human experience”, right? And the spiritual people can say that, but I don’t think they get it yet because what is it meaning? It’s meaning that, yes, you are spiritual, but you are physical too. So, maybe now is not your time, you say “Oh, I just want to detach from everything”, but there will come a time where you will be detached from everything but why do you think God, Source, Universe, put you into a physical world to try to get you to completely detach from physical? There must be a purpose, a physical purpose here, that you need to fulfil. And I think people don’t get that and that’s why people think there’s this divide. You have money, you’re not spiritual, you’re chasing money – I’m not saying chasing money.
I say to people all the time, I say “Hey, your best mantra is ‘Hey, Universe, I’m open for everything, I’m open for abundance, and yet, at the same time, I’m attached to nothing”. I say, if you live life like that, I say like becomes so easy, and guess what, abundance will come your way and then you don’t have to just close your eyes and visualize yourself being abundance, I’m saying when you open your eyes, are you sitting in comfort? Because that’s important too, they know it’s important. Except, I think a lot of people, they divide these two things.
[25:37] Sahara
Yeah, I think it’s like a spiral, right? When you’re so in the physical realm, your lesson is to detach from this physical reality and trust that there is spirit, or something beyond, then you might go only in that realm that it’s like, all about enlightenment and leaving your body and connecting to God consciousness, and then you have to go back and realize like “I’m here, in this physical body, on this planet for a reason, there must be a reason why I’m here”. And it’s this beautiful spiral that we’re constantly going into.
And you know, you said something interesting the other day when we were walking, you were like “The 60s with Osho was all about, you know, kind of, like, normalizing that you can be a spiritual person and have sex, and they were destigmatizing that”. And today’s generation is, you can be a spiritual person and have money and want money. And I so agree with that, like, as a Capricorn, I’m like, I love money, you know, and it’s a beautiful way, like, right now, having the choice and having the freedom, as a woman, to be able to travel where I want and have the ability to make my own decisions.
Like, no one in my ancestry, no female, has ever made money before. And because I have been able to step into that, I, now, at this point of my life, can truly live my best reality. And that’s why I think it’s so important to not demonize money, because, ultimately, money can provide us with freedom and choices, it does not equate to those things.
[26:57] Sri
I think like everything in life.
[26:59] Sahara
Yeah.
[26:59] Sri
Like, in our practices, in our spiritual practices, we do a lot of work on witnessing, witnessing meditation, being the witnesser. And what is a witnesser? A witnesser is being able to see everything just as it is, not judgmental, not worse than it is, not even better than it is, just as it is. And if we look at money, it’s just that society is engrained in us, money is the root of all and money doesn’t grow on, and everything about it is negative. But if we really ask the question, we say “Hey, are there some people in this world, right now, who maybe have a good amount of money, who are doing good with that money?”, and the answer is yes. “And is it true that if they didn’t have the money, maybe they couldn’t do the things they’re doing?”, and the answer is yes. So, what does that mean? It’s neutral, just like everything.
[27:48] Sahara
Yes.
[27:49] Sri
Right? Just like a knife.
[27:50] Sahara
Depends on who you are.
[27:52] Sri
Yes, just like a knife, you can operate and save someone’s life or you can kill someone with it, it’s the same thing, it’s neutral. Money is purely a magnifier, an amplifier of who we are.
[27:59] Sahara
And I feel like the way that you use money, like, the Universe watches and sees. You know, like, when I started to make money for the first time, the first time I did is, I began sponsoring children in Cambodia.
[28:10] Sri
That’s beautiful.
[28:11] Sahara
And now I have like 7 children in Cambodia, and 2 grannies, and I plan to go to Cambodia and visit them, and I’m emailing with them all the time and they just feel like my family now. And every single time I would make a little bit more money, I would sponsor another one and sponsor another one. And it’s so easy to wait until “Oh, once I have this amount of money saved, then I’m going to start to donate, then I’m going to start to be of service”, but when you start to donate and be of service in whatever capacity you can, the Universe sees where that money is flowing and sends more to you.
[28:38] Sri
This is why I always say to people, some people say “Oh, I would love to do some charity work some time”, and I say “Why some time, why not now?”, they say “Oh, yeah, I don’t have the financial ability right now”, I say “But it’s not really that because a) if I’m making $1000/month, then a) I can still give the $50, $100, you don’t have to be a millionaire to give.
[28:57] Sahara
And that’s a true abundance mindset, exactly. And I think, again, we have such scarcity with money that we’re, like, afraid, like “If I’m only making $1000/month, I need to hold onto every single dollar”, and it’s like, even if you gave $10/month, you know, it’s showing that I’m not so attached to this money and knowing that I have more money than a lot of people, at a $1000/month, probably more than like 80% of the population on planet earth, you know.
[29:22] Sri
Do you know what’s interesting? Because, obviously, a lot of our messages, to a lot of people who are more spiritually conscious, pretty much all spiritual people can speak that we are abundance, we are unity, we are one with Universe, we are everything, yet, at the same time, they live with that scarcity mindset or that – it’s like unconscious, because it’s…
[29:46] Sahara
Right, because it’s the separation.
[29:48] Sri
Right? That’s interesting, right, because they can speak it, they can definitely speak it, every day they can even affirm it.
[29:53] Sahara
Yeah.
[29:54] Sri
“I’m abundance, I’m one with Universe”, and then, the moment it comes anything with money, then this whole fear starts kicking in.
[30:00] Sahara
Well, here’s the thing with money, it does require aligned action, you know. And I think a lot of spiritual people have a resistance to action, you know, because it’s a lot easier, I call it mental masturbation, you know, in your head to be like “My vision board and I’m going to attract this and blah blah blah”, and it’s like “Okay, what are you now doing with that?”
[30:20] Sri
This is what my audience don’t like hearing.
[30:23] Sahara
No one likes hearing it, but it needs to be said. And you know, when we realize that we are creators and creatrixes of our own reality, business becomes a tool, it’s like “Oh, I’m going to wave my magic wand and what do I want to create? Do I want to create a business where I’m one-on-one dharma coaching, spiritual life coaching? Do I want to create a business where I make these, like, beautiful candles that I’m making and put them out on Etsy? Do I want to create a business with social entrepreneurship or be a part of a business that has a mission that matters to me?” And we realize where we invest our time and energy, we can actually create realities that no longer exist, that’s magic, that’s alchemy right there. But we have this idea in our head that work is this, like, dense, hard thing that sucks, and it’s like “I have my work and I have, like, my higher spiritual self, and they’re separate”. But it’s when we have that integration that we’re like “Wow, I can put my energy towards whatever I want”. And not everyone wants to be a multimillionaire, that’s actually not in some people’s best…
[31:21] Sri
Do you know what I think as well, it’s not just about the lack behind money or wealth, I think also, it’s the fear of judgments, right?
[31:28] Sahara
Right.
[31:29] Sri
You see a lot of people going into becoming more conscious, coming into the spiritual world and then they have all their conscious friends, and because it’s not commercialized to be okay, then they think “Oh, well, I’m supposed to be spiritual right now, I’m not supposed to buy something expensive or pay for something expensive”, and I think they also fear judgments.
[31:50] Sahara
Totally, because we’re told those stories, you know, “More money, more problems”, or you know “Those neighbors of ours that are rich, see, they’re evil”, or whatever the thing is. And we’re also afraid of, yeah, like, letting go of old friends that maybe are no longer in our tax bracket and, like, what does that mean.
But what I have found, often times too, with money, is like, we think it’s this really, really hard, complicated thing, but making money is actually really easy and people don’t realize that. It’s actually very easy because every single person has a unique gift to offer and it’s just when we can tune into our dharma, our energetic signature, that we end up sharing that very thing that the world needs, that only we can share, which I shared with you, it’s like, the supply is one and demand is infinite, but it’s just, most people don’t sit with that question long enough to understand what it is. So, then they’re jumping to the thing that looks like it’s making money, you know, “Everyone’s talking about this on social media, it’s making money, so let me do this”, “Everyone’s doing that, so let me do that”, but then you’re one in a sea of a million, the exact same thing, in the exact same way, with the exact same brand, exact same font, and then you’re wondering why it’s not making money, because it’s not your dharma.
So, what tips do you have for someone who is maybe having a hard time, like, with their judgment around money, they, you know, they want to make more money but they feel like there are some limiting beliefs and scarcity blocks?
[33:16] Sri
I think that they need to, first, think about, you know, where those thoughts came from. Most likely it will come from parents, upbringing, teachers, what we’ve heard in the past. And then, also, is to acknowledge, okay, where were they at that time, the people who were involved, who conditioned us, who said these words, you know. Maybe that was only their interpretation or your misinterpretation or their understanding of it. So, enter a question here, is that true for everybody who has money or is that true for everybody who has tried to make money? Is it really that difficult or has it been easy for some, and has money been good for some also? And when we come to that more, we take a step back and we look at it, we realize that “Hey, money is just neutral and money can be easy if we allow it to be”. I think that, from that perspective, then, I always say, the easiest way to get any result in life, is to find somebody who has achieved it already, study, read the books, watch the videos, find the mentors, find the coaches, because they are, like you say, making money is easy because your awareness is around that, and not everybody’s awareness is, and we don’t learn it at school.
So, I think, at the same time, there are things that need to be learned, right? Somebody can say “Oh, you said add value and the money will come, I help people every single day, I’m still broke”, yeah, but do you have a service for people, do you say “Hey, by the way, this service…”, and “Hey, this is the website”, or “Do you have something there?”, the answer is no, that’s why, you know, you communicate that and some people will find it – I think the biggest challenge people usually have is, they feel like asking for money, they feel like “Oh, I don’t want to ask for money because it feels like begging for money or I need their money”. But instead of thinking that, I think it’s more, shift the perspective again, to “Hey, I have something of value”, it’s purely an energy exchange. Energy is everything, everything is energy, money is energy, it’s just an energy exchange, just like you smiling at someone, someone smiles back, it’s the same thing. And once we come to that acceptance, then, okay, how about we better learn, and I don’t say learn sales, I just say how about we better learn the skill of communication, how about we, more effectively, communicate. Because, actually, everybody sale sells anyway, you know, we do it all the time. We sell to our kids, “Do your homework”, they say “No, I don’t want to”, “Okay, but if you do your homework, I’ll give you this”, it’s the same thing, right? It’s an exchange, it’s communication, so, we’re selling all the time. We’re even selling when, sometimes, we purchase a new vacuum cleaner, we got it on sale and then we tell our aunt or uncle about it, and then they do and buy it, what have we done? We’ve just sold. So, we do it all the time.
But I think a lot of the time we find it difficult when it’s our own service because we feel like “I can’t ask people for money”, but everything is an exchange of value, everything is an exchange of energy.
[36:28] Sahara
Yes. And I think there is where packaging something really comes in, because I could be like “Oh yeah, like, I’m helping you, giving you advice whenever you need”, there’s a difference between doing that and packaging, like, a transformation or “Here’s how I’m going to work this”.
[36:41] Sri
This is a coaching program.
[36:42] Sahara
Exactly, this is a coaching program or this is how we can work together. And giving some form of boundaries and structure to it too, because then it can start to make sense in people’s minds because there’s a lot of people out there giving incredible advice and sharing wisdom or doing things for people and stuff, and if they can just fine tune it, choose that thing, create a package around it so the value is easily understood by other people, then it makes sense.
So, I think that’s a really great tip, that we’re already being of value in many different ways, it’s like how can we have more awareness around it and then make it super easy for someone. Because I think, most of us, we’re investing in things that are going to get us the results that we want faster, you know. So, it’s like, let’s say the result that I want is to find love again, so, if I could go to my friend and call her and talk to her for three hours, or I could go to someone who’s like “I’m a coach, specifically, to help you find love again”, and it’s a 90-minute session, I would even find more value in that because I’m like “Okay, this is a container that I’m in, with a result and we’re working towards that thing”, vs. maybe the friend spent even more time with me, but it was because of my awareness around the value.
[37:49] Sri
That’s right, yeah. And another thing we usually say in this whole area of coaching, as well, is that people who pay more, pay attention. When you have actually invested in something, you treat it very differently. How you use the tools is very different.
When you sit with a friend, a friend rambles on all night and tells you all these things, like “Yeah, yeah”, but you don’t end up doing it. So, I think that exchange of energy actually helps people to implement, you know.
[38:17] Sahara
Totally! It’s like, what are you going to pay more attention to, you know. Maybe you watched a YouTube video or something and the person gave you advice or you signed up for a coaching session, and even if that person said the same thing, because you invested your time and your energy, you have more awareness and you show up.
And I even see in my different containers that I have, the higher ticket people, they just take more action on the things that I’m saying because they’re showing up in a bigger way. And it doesn’t have to be this way, like, we can see everyone as our teacher and not wait for those things. But I just tend to find, again, the mind perceives value and we take action based on that.
[38:54] Sri
It’s how much energy you put out, you also get back.
[38:56] Sahara
Yes!
[38:57] Sri
In some form it comes back, so we can look at that money like, also, energy.
[39:03] Sahara
Yeah, beautiful! And if you have any words of wisdom to share, you know, for 2023. I know you do energy forecasts and you shared with me a little glimpse of what’s available for us in 2023.
[39:16] Sri
When I went into my initiation journey with my master up in the Himalayas. We did some practices and I’ve been able to foresee some things and then needed to come back and communicate this.
Master Gramasakhsha, he refers to as, in spirituality we call this ‘dark age’, like dark energies are strong right now. But I don’t want any of the listeners or viewers to think this as “Wow, there’s a lot of negativity, that’s really bad, what are we going to do now?”. Just like in certain religions, there’s a teaching of three energies, the creator, the preserver, the destroyer. But the destroyer’s not bad, the destroyer just is, needs to do the work to cleanse and clear for the new things to happen.
So, right now, in this phase, from 2020, 21, 22, 23, 24, all the way through, destroyer is at work. So, what is it? We have choice, we can say “I’m upset that it’s happening. Why is this happening to me? Why is all this chaos happening? Why is war breaking out? Why is financial crisis? Why am I losing my job? Why am I…?”, you know, everyone, we can all play victim, or we can play a bigger role and become one with Universe and observe from Universe’s perspective. Why would there be a cleanse? Why would there be a clearing? Why would there be a loss, right?
I always say to people “Hey…”, a lot of people, they’re always trying to find “Oh, I’m trying to find my purpose, find myself, find myself”, and I say “Hey, but it’s the lost and found”. You cannot find yourself if you don’t first lose yourself. And so, we can see loss as bad or loss as a way of finding ourself. So, when you say “I’m lost in this relationship”, actually, hey, let’s clear this path, there’s more things you’re finding stuff here, you’re finding stuff about you, you’re finding stuff about your future, you’re finding stuff about your dharma”. So, during this time, we can either play the blame game and the victim game or we can play the different level of consciousness and sit and observe. When we witness everything, I say – a good thing you can say is just, everything you see, if you see as negative, you can use the word “That’s interesting”, instead of saying “That’s bad”, you say “That’s interesting”, because it’s neutral.
And when we start to observe everything that’s happening, we will see that with – there’s this Chinese saying that says “In a time of chaos, is where opportunity is, opportunity lies within chaos”, because when that cleansing is happening, it’s clearing new space for new creation to happen. Your question to you is “During this time, when I observe, okay, there’s some chaos there, where is my opportunity to do what? To serve. What can I do, right?” And some people will question it, they’ll say “Wait there a second, so you’re saying financial crisis, okay, people are struggling with this, struggling with that”, and then you’re like “But how am I supposed to help people? I ain’t got the knowledge”. How about, instead of saying “All this lack of resources, how about you become resourceful and ask the better questions” instead of saying “Oh, yeah, I see opportunities when economic crisis is happening”, because it’s going to happen, it’s coming soon, there’s going to be a big crisis and everyone’s going to be affected, not just financially, they’ll be affected mentally, everything. Am I seeing this as an opportunity, was this opportunity an opportunity? Okay, opportunity to invest, you say “But I don’t have the money”, how do you find the money, right, how do you leverage the money? Learn about money, now is a good time to learn.
Mental health – I always say, during this pandemic, during this lockdown, I always say there’s three things that the Universe was telling us, and people don’t see the signs. Number one, it gave us the biggest what? It gave us the biggest health scare. So, either people are, like, sitting at home thinking “I hope I don’t die from this virus”, or why don’t you get active? It’s interesting how the Universe, I don’t know if you noticed this. If you look at Covid, yes, there was a lot of lives lost (inclusive of my grandma, actually lost her life also during that time to Covid), but we can either see it as just loss, loss, loss, loss, or we see it as “Hey, what is the sign the Universe is giving?”, because the Universe is always giving us signs. But if we actually look at the stats, what is this showing? Everybody died? No. In fact, it was quite clear, they even said, people who had stronger immune systems, better health, even when they got it, they were okay. The people who had weaker health, they didn’t survive. So, what is that telling us? It’s telling you “Hey…”, that’s like the Universe saying “I’ve been telling you all this time to look after your health and you’re not listening, so, you know what, I’m not just your parent, I’m your most loving parent. I’m going to have to take that thing away from you and force you to look after your health”. But people didn’t read it like that, people are just saying “I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared”. So, look after your health, that includes mental health, right? Build up, find the coaches, find the mentors, build up your mental health too, your mental strength.
Second thing, wealth scare. People think it’s happened already, loss of jobs, all the rest. But there’s a big thing happening and it’s not – sometimes people say “Oh, that’s a good prediction”, I say “It’s not a prediction”. You look at every history, it cycles, every 12-15 years, you see the same cycle happen again, and again, and again. This is not going to differ this time, it’s the same thing, it has to happen.
So, again, you can see it as “Oh, why is this happening? More people losing their jobs”, or “Oh, my house isn’t worth what it was when I bought it”, all I can say is “Hey, maybe Universe is telling me that I need to start managing my finances, maybe I need to learn about finances, maybe I need to learn about becoming more independent of our finances”, why? Because there will be people losing jobs. But do you know what’s really interesting? And I did this actually, and across many, many events, we have like thousands of people come on these virtual events and I asked the question, I said “I pretty much know…”, I said “Raise your hands if you’ve lost your job during lockdown?”, they all raised their hand, I said “I want to ask this question, I’m predicting that you are also the people, right, everyone who did lose their job, you are also the people who, maybe not so long back, one year ago, two years ago, three years ago, you were in your job and you had said “I’m not happy in my job”, or “Maybe I want to try my own thing, maybe I want to do my own thing”, but you couldn’t commit.
It’s like people in relationships, right? “I’m not enjoying my relationship but I can’t break up, I can’t live without them, right?” Anybody who ever has even spoken that before, or felt it before, or received that message or download before, through them, to say “Hey, I should be, I’m called to do my own thing, yeah, at the same time, my limited mind or this fear is not allowing me to fulfil that”. Then, what does the Universe do, like I said, the Universe is your most loving parent, Universe is listening, Universe is watching, observing, no words go unheard, no actions go unseen, Universe is always watching “Ahh, I hear you, I feel you, you want to but you’re afraid of taking that step”. Okay, so what was 2020? Let’s gather up all the wish lists people, you all wished for that once upon a time, but you don’t have the courage to do it. Let’s gather all that up. Okay, let me help you. Remove!”, “Oh, no, I lost my job”. No! Everything happens for a divine reason, nothing is by accident. At some point you sent out a signal, right? And then they responded and now you’re not happy with the response, right? It’s because it surprised you. But actually, nothing should surprise you because everything is manifestation.
So, when we start to look at this, what does that mean? Okay, now, anybody who’s going to be struggling financially, what should that be? Oh, it’s a sign. You mean, I’m supposed to learn, I’m supposed to learn something here, I’m supposed to learn how to become more independent, how to manage my own finances?
And the final thing, the final sign, I say, is for evolution. I always say, our physical reality is purely a limited representation of the metaphysical. Metaphysical is infinite, it’s way beyond, it’s trying to get this message through so everything can manifest into physical reality, this thing that is way beyond. And that’s why all we’ve seen for the past 20 years, 50 years, 100 years, is evolution, we’ve been advancing, right? Technology. So, what is this final sign? It’s to move into technology. We see it. When did metaverse announce? Metaverse announced during the same time, lockdown, it announced. Why is everything going digital currency? Everything is going digital assets, everything going digital reality.
And it’s very interesting because, I think, pre-Covid, pre-lockdown, everybody was, all these spiritual teachers “Put your phone down, get off your phones, be more present in the moment”, that was the message. We’ve lost that connection with people.
During lockdown, Universe was like, you think, because Universe will say “You don’t know what’s coming round the corner”. During lockdown, probably the only thing that gave us connection was technology. The thing that we were told to keep putting down and that you shouldn’t be on technology, you should be more spiritual. So, how do we, like, even inclusive of this dialogue we’re having here, how are people going to consume this? Through technology. We can say this is a spiritual message, but it’s through technology that they’re receiving this message. So, is technology good, is it bad? You know, for a lot of spiritual people, they say “Technology is not good, you know, you should not do all this stuff”, you know, but actually, hey, wait there a second, you’re listening to this right now on some virtual platform, you know, on some social media, on some podcast. So, where is, what’s it coming to now, Universe is going to show you even more powerful thing moving forward, as it manifests through us. It’s the opportunity, the Universe is basically saying “Get online!”
If you look at businesses, isn’t it that all businesses crashed during the lockdown or during this time? No, it’s not. Look at Amazon, his wealth went up how many times, right? Why? Because it was showing you. High street stores were struggling, all these conventional businesses, struggling, right? What was thriving? Online business was thriving, right? Everything, everyone, was going online.
[49:20] Sahara
Yeah, I had my biggest month ever in my membership community, March 2020.
[49:24] Sri
There you go!
[49:25] Sahara
Because people were wanting online community.
[49:27] Sri
Exactly, same. March 2020, we had 22.000 people practice yoga with us on a Zoom call.
[49:3] Sahara
Wow.
[49:33] Sri
We never had that amount before, right? So, what is the sign for everybody? The sign is, okay, just don’t see anything bad, right? Don’t need to see anything really, really good or anything, just see it as it is. Evolution – we’re moving towards technology worlds, it’s moving.
Now, a question, okay? You’re early, in crypto, in NFTs, in assets, in metaverse, you’re early, you say “That’s bad”, no, it can be bad if you’re putting bad information in there, just like social media, can be negative, there’s negative channels or it can be positive, like this Podcast show. So, how about, if you can bring this Podcast show into the metaverse, and you be the first one? We’re saying how do we find opportunities during this time? This is the opportunity during this time, right?
And the interesting thing is this, this is saying that such change is the only constant, but at the same time, we also know that humans are not so good when it comes to change, right? Because it’s that fear of the unknown, right? “I don’t know what’s going to happen. Will it turn out, will it work out?”, but if we understand that change is the only constant, meaning we’re going to be forever evolving, right now, there are going to be a lot of people who are listening to this “Oh, you’re talking about metaverse, you’re talking about that Mark Zuckerberg thing, oh that’s about data protection and all this”, I get all of that, I’m saying “Hey, you obviously don’t understand it”. We’re not talking about Mark Zuckerberg, we are not even talking about Facebook metaverse, we’re just saying that there is a virtual world that we’re advancing in right now. Where do I see that virtual world? It is the exact bridge, we have the metaphysical, we have the physical. The metaverse, or that virtual world, will be the bridge between these two. Everything that you’ve ever dreamed of before, as a kid, loves to fly like Superman, a house built of chocolate, whatever it is, doesn’t matter how crazy your thought is, you dreamed of it when you were a kid.
[51:30] Sahara
So, I can manifest my soulmate?
[51:32] Sri
Yeah, and to look any way you want them to look as well. But the thing is, that, these things in physical reality is still limited, why? Because there’s physical laws, right? There’s gravity, there’s all of this, there’s physical laws that we’re bound by when we’re in the physical. But metaverse changes everything, we’ll be able to time travel, we’ll be able to – you can be back in Miami, I’ll be here in Dubai, and the moment I put this on, I’ll be sitting in your living room, and in the future, we’ll be able to shake hands, we’ll be able to hug. It’s like, wow, on the other side of the world! But the thing is, people will be looking at “No, I’m not going to put those silly goggles on”, but that’s what they said for social media when it first started too. That’s also what people said, I don’t know if you had this, right, I’m guilty of this – when supermarkets started introducing the…
[52:22] Sahara
Self-checkout?
[52:23] Sri
Yeah. I don’t know what your feeling was, whether you just perceived it very nicely, but personally, I didn’t, just like any other human out there, I was looking at it “Oh, look, another robot, and now we’re losing that human touch again, you get no one to speak to”. So, guess what? During that time, I would still queue up. Everyone’s going fast check-out, I’m like “Nope”, I’m stubborn, like “No!” Humans are not so good with change, right? And I heard a lot of people say that too “Oh, we’re losing the human touch”. But it’s very interesting, unconsciously, what, 4, 5, 6, 7 years have passed by and, unconsciously, we all use that fast lane now. Why? Because we realized, it’s convenient. That’s what technology is, it’s convenient, right?
People would never have imagined, before lockdown, that they would sit in front of a laptop for three days, to indulge themselves in a motivational event, they would do that now. And not only will they do that now, some people even prefer to do that now. We’ve evolved and it’s been an unconscious evolution. We don’t even know how far we’ve come, but we’ve already evolved as humans, you know.
[53:27] Sahara
Yeah, and I agree with what you’re saying and, like, with what comes up for me is the fear of losing our sense of grounding. Like, you know, I’ve put on these, like, VR oculus things and I feel so dizzy after because it’s, like, the human body is still evolutionary behind and we’re like “Wait!”
I remember I did this, like, boxing game and it was like this person punching me and I’m like “Ahh”, like, my nervous system could not handle it.
So, how can we adapt when our biology is still very much designed for in-person connection, being on Earth, etc.?
[54:01] Sri
It will naturally happen, it will naturally happen. 1) yes, our biology would advance, but at the same time, technology will also advance to, also, match us too, so, both will advance.
But I think that, it’s like when lockdown first happened and we were teaching yoga from a Zoom call, our feeling was “Oh, it’s not the same, I can’t help you, I can’t even see the angle properly, I don’t know if you’re doing it correctly or not. You don’t know how to guide properly”, but then, slowly, slowly, you adjust and it becomes normal. It’s the same with everybody at work, now having Zoom meetings all the time.
And it’s funny because, I speak to so many people today, and when lockdown first happened, everyone was like “Oh, I just wish I could just get out the house and meet people”. The funny thing is, two years later, people get the opportunity to meet people and they don’t want it anymore. They’re like “Actually, let’s just jump on Zoom and let’s just chat on there”, right, it’s easier.
[54:53] Sahara
But I wonder if that’s now because we’re comfortable with being in our, like, very lonely cubicle that we control, you know? And, like, going out there and meeting new people, it brings up that fear.
[55:05] Sri
There’s that as well. How I see it is like this – like social media, okay, is it bad? Well, not really. It is if you’re addicted to it. But same with any addiction. So, when you’re talking about grounding, should they still be present in the moment when they’re having a meal with their family? Of course! But when it comes to some convenience, to be able to suddenly chat to somebody on the other side of the world, would you use it? Yes, use it, but don’t remember this world”.
Now, this is the interesting thing with this whole web 3 game now. It’s saying “Before, we were, like, okay, our highest self, most connected and we’re here”, and then social media is like, okay, we go into there, we get lost in there. Okay, but then, we go into there and all these gurus are now teaching “Go into there, but don’t get lost in there, come back, live in the present moment”. Now, humans are going to need to evolve even more, because why? You’ve got two layers now, you not just going to go into there, you’re going to GO into there and then there’s going to be a lot of people who are going to get lost in there too, right? So, what’s that then? Like you, like me, the retreats we run, people will still have to come back, take the goggles off, still go to Bali with you and still meditate in person to ground that energy and to understand “Oh, okay, how do we use these as tools? Not live in it indefinitely, forever. How do we use it as tools to be able to help the people around us, or help more people in the world, or fulfil some other the things we cannot in this physical reality?” But don’t get lost in it.
[56:37] Sahara
Yeah, like, I even think about how TikTok was made, like, right before the pandemic, and when the pandemic happened, TikTok was this way that so many people were dancing and doing challenges together, and even I was having a lot of fun on there, and I was so grateful to have this app. But then, once life, kind of, started picking up, I was noticing I’m missing out on life to scroll on TikTok. Now, it’s like, it crossed that threshold of like “Now I’m addicted to this app”, and I had to delete it off my phone to find that equilibrium.
[57:06] Sri
But people need to attach before they detach.
[57:08] Sahara
Right.
[57:09] Sri
There’s no point any other way. You know, I had the same thing when I first started YouTube, I was vlogging. I don’t know – have you tried vlogging before?
[57:16] Sahara
No.
[57:17] Sri
You lose your life. Like, it’s not… Okay, we’re going for a meal, right…
[57:23] Sahara
“Here I am, just sat down, the menu’s arrived…”
[57:26] Sri
You have to figure out the lens, okay, the angle, you’re not enjoying the meal anymore, you’re not even enjoying the person anymore. It becomes that, but then you get lost in there, to then find again “Okay, what’s the balance?”
And it’s interesting when you said that because I thought of something that my master Gramasakhsha, he always says he says “A lot of people today are always practicing detachments, minimalism, detach from this, detach from everything, detach from everything”, he said, the funny thing he said “A lot of people, they never had it in the first place. You know, a lot of these people venturing into spirituality, consciousness and detachment, you never had the wealth in the first place, what are you detaching from?” How about you allow yourself, at least, give yourself the honor, because we’re in this world for such a short time, in this physical reality, but give yourself, just honor yourself to give yourself the experience, to experience life at its fullest, experience at its fullest, and then decide “Oh, I don’t like the taste of that”. But at least taste it first, otherwise you never know, and then decide where is the balance, should I detach this much, that much, 80%, 50%, right? Then find “Okay, what’s best for me?”
[58:35] Sahara
Yeah, I think it’s, you know, you chase your desires to realize which ones are empty, you know. Like, you might, if you have a desire, like “I want to have 100,000 TikTok followers”, or whatever the thing is, like, and that desire is there, you deleting TikTok is not going to get rid of that desire, you need to follow it and see, and make the content, and build, and grow, and then you might realize that you love it or you might realize that you have 100,000 and now you need 200,000 and 500,000 and a million, and it’s never enough for you. But you would never have consciously had that experience if you didn’t try.
[59:06] Sri
Like the person who says “I want to start my own business, okay, done”, “I want to make my first six figures, done”, “I need to be a millionaire, done”, “Ten million, a hundred million, done” – depression, “What am I doing?” It’s the same thing, but that depression, that down comes the next up, right? It’s chaos to order, it’s inevitable, it’s a part of human evolution, it’s a part of how we learn as part of our journey.
[59:33] Sahara
Can we create experiences that we learn without chaos? Like, how can we learn without chaos, learn without going into the pain and the rug being swept under your feet? Do you think that’s possible?
[59:44] Sri
I think the learning is different, the depth of the learning is different. So, yes, we can, but it’s very surface level.
[59:50] Sahara
Right.
[59:51] Sri
It’s not deeply engrained, you know. So, somebody can tell you “Hey, you don’t do this in business, you should do this”, you’re like “Okay”, people tell you in relationship “You shouldn’t do this, you should communicate effectively or whatever”, okay, you listen to it, you do it and it works, but it’s not deeply inside, you will still, if some big chaos happens, you’ll still make those mistakes and then still dive into that problem. But I think that when people really get down and messy in all the chaos, it becomes the biggest learnings, you know.
[1:00:24] Sahara
Yeah, because I can read a book about self-love or I can go through the journey of losing love, you know, and that wll actually really help me embody that lesson.
[1:00:32] Sri
Okay, but, so, I have something for you. So, but then comes the question of what is the point of reading the books on it then, instead of just…?
[1:00:42] Sahara
I think the books can give you insight that you would not have had on your own, you know. Like, sometimes we’re so in our heads and 80% of our thoughts are repeated from the day before, so, we’re kind of cycling these old belief systems that we’ve kind of picked up from the world around us. So, reading a book can open you up to a whole new universe in way of seeing things that can prepare you for when those experiences happen, or maybe those experiences won’t need to happen because you have that awareness and you can, you know, kind of see it from afar. However, I don’t think you can prevent anything that’s related to your karma, it’s going to happen and it tends to be only through that embodied experience you reach depths that no book, coach, teacher could ever prepare you for.
[1:01:27] Sri
I think that books and education just accelerates the whole journey.
[1:01:31] Sahara
Yes.
[1:01:32] Sri
Because you can avoid some mistakes.
[1:01:34] Sahara
Right, because it’s like being able to speak different languages, it’s having a wider range of vocabulary so then when you’re in the experience, you’re not, like, figuring it out on your own for the first time, you’re like “Oh wow, millions of people have experienced suffering and loss and grief and all these things, I’m not alone”. But no book is not going to give you the manual on how you’re going to heal either.
[1:01:53] Sri
That’s right.
[1:01:54] Sahara
Yeah. Well, this has been a lovely conversation, thank you so much for sharing all your wisdom with us today.
[1:01:59] Sri
Thank you for having me.
[1:02:00] Sahara
And where can listeners connect with you further?
[1:02:02] Sri
I think the best place is probably YouTube, they can find me on YouTube, Master Sri Akarshana.
[1:02:06] Sahara
Yes, you have some awesome videos, which we’ll share below, so, I’ll be sure to link them. Thank you again so much for being here today.
[1:02:12] Sri
Thank you so much.
[1:02:13] End of Interview
______________________________________________________________
[1:02:14] Sahara
What a powerful conversation! I love dropping in with people, and right after this, he actually shared with me more of his spiritual practice, and we even sat for a meditation together. So, it shows that spirituality can take many shapes and forms and it feels really good to know that it’s making its way back into the Middle East and different parts of the world where it, more recently, has not been.
[1:02:35] Sahara
So, if you’re interested in stepping into your own path of abundance and spirituality, by creating a career for yourself as a Certified Spiritual Life and Soul Purpose Coach, then come join me at the Dharma Coaching Institute. This is my school, it’s ICF recognized, so you know you are getting the highest caliber of education. We have guided over 1500 students through this tried and trued process where we give you the exact tools that you need to create a thriving career for yourself as a Certified Soul Purpose and Spiritual Life Coach.
So, you can head over to the show notes to learn more about it, take the quiz to find out what type of coach you are and get started in your journey with us this Spring.
[1:03:15] Sahara
I hope you loved this Episode, be sure to subscribe to be alerted when the next one comes out, and I’ll see you again.
Namaste!
Episode #490: How To Step Into Your Greatest Level of Abundance as a Spiritual Person with Master Sri Akarshana
By Sahara Rose