Buddha At The Gas Pump

In 1986, Gina realized that she could pose a question mentally and receive an answer mentally. This turned her world upside down and required spending several years meditating and doing inner work before she was able to establish a relationship with a wise nonphysical being. This being became her inner teacher, mentor, and healer and was behind the many books she wrote in the 1990s. In 1999, shortly after meeting Adyashanti, Gina had a spiritual awakening, and the focus of her books shifted from astrology and other metaphysical subjects to nonduality and helping people awaken. In 2012, another important spiritual shift and deepening happened, and Gina became aware of a profound connection to the Christian lineage that went back many lifetimes. She began having inner experiences of Mother Mary, Jesus, and a circle of twenty-six other Ascended Masters, who appeared to her in her mind’s eye and spoke to her in words she could clearly hear in her mind. This batgap interview happened early in 2012 before this shi

In February 2008 at the age of thirty-three, Karen experienced a sudden and radical awakening. Prior to this realisation, no teachings or practices were followed – in fact at that time the terms non-duality and awakening were completely unfamiliar. This spontaneous realization presented itself during a period of intense emotional suffering and when demands in life exceeded Karen’s physical capability. Karen attempted to persevere in the face of these challenges, the consequence being a severely debilitating illness that affected physical functioning on every level. Although the illness had a devastating effect on life as it was then known, it seemed to create a space for a deeper reality to be recognized. As her state of health was so poor, Karen was unable to return to work – meaning that she spent a significant amount of time confined to her home. The effect of this period of solitude was profound surrender, allowing the realization to become deeply integrated into daily living. Two and a half years after

Andrée has been a spiritual teacher for 52 years. For 20 years Andrée was a full-time teacher of the Transcendental Meditation Program and introduced thousands of people to the experience of consciousness and meditation. More recently, she went to Brazil for 12 consecutive years to study their spiritual traditions to see into the spiritual realms and develop relationships with advanced Cosmic Souls. For Andrée, the exposure to the experience of consciousness led to new avenues of discovery. With refinement of perception, within the unboundedness of consciousness, along with the assistance of two Cosmic Souls, Hayehwatha and Vovó Anamalia, Andrée began to observe the details of the universe and beyond. Andrée feels this is the next level of experience to unfold within our culture; for people to observe their origin, history, and destiny with reference to the life of the universe and beyond. What is known as the life we live on the earth is a small portion of who we are. Andrée lives in Mount Shasta, Californ

From age 7, Elle was awake to divine Word. At 17, a revelatory spiritual experience increased this capacity and began her lifelong commitment to God-centered awareness. Elle awakened into Unity consciousness in her early 20's. For the next two decades, her life revolved around prayer, meditation, zen practice, and independent spiritual inquiry until her mind became fully accessible to the Emanating Spirit of Divine Counsel. What People Gain from this Teaching Elle is fully awake to the Divine Word, and has become a bridge to the Godmind within. She is a midwife to the Soul, assisting all in bringing forth their prime Design and Path. Elle resonates to the quality of Light of each person, responding empathically and telepathically to the nature of both human and soul, and inspiring us to True Awareness. In this Gatework, we are immersed in the divine theme of Being and taught to live in a way that is Divinity reliant and at-one with the Core Self ... the God-Essence within. The awakened individual is free

Suzanne Foxton is a mother, wife, writer and artist who works and lives in Kew in the United Kingdom. She was born a Hoosier (native of the US state of Indiana). She muddles along as best as she can, like most of humanity. Suzanne believes the particulars of her story are unimportant and she doesn't take much of anything too seriously. Her blog, Nothing Exists Despite Appearances, is an attempt to point to the infinite, eternal, and ultimately non-existent nature of reality. She began writing the blog to avoid having to talk to anyone about non-duality, finding that the revelation of the true nature of existence tends to alienate people in manifested reality. Now she continues to write because it's fun. Everything she ever thought was important is gone; what is left is everything and nothing, boundless and beautiful. Suzanne's blog Suzanne's book: The Ultimate Twist Interview recorded 2/25/2012 Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction

Sharon is a gifted intuitive and a spiritual teacher in the lineage of Adyashanti. Sharon has a devotion and great love of the Truth. Adyashanti asked her to teach 2003 and guide those genuinely drawn to the path of Truth. Since then, Sharon continues to deepen into and embody this Truth herself. She invites you to “Come home…” to That which you’ve always been. In her presence you’ll taste a palpable expression of love and intimacy that allows you to feel safe dropping into the deep vulnerability required to know yourself as the All. Sharon offers support for the required shift of identity that is both direct and tailored to each person's journey. Her teachings are based on her deep realization of silence and the way silence expresses itself in form. She notes, “Often there is still a thread that says the ‘me is going to get it; the ‘me’ is going to wake up. And it just isn’t true. It actually wakes up out of the ‘me’. “ So in her teaching, Sharon emphasizes how silence wakes up in the body and how the emb

Eli Jaxon-Bear was born Elliot J. Zeldow in Brooklyn, New York, in 1947. His eighteen-year spiritual path started in 1971, when he was a federal fugitive during the Vietnam war. In 1978, Kalu Rinpoche appointed him the president of the first Kagyu dharma center in Marin County. In 1982, he was presented with a Zen Teaching Fan at ChoShoJi Zen Temple in Japan. After a search took him around the world and into many traditions and practices, his path and his search ended when he was pulled to India in 1990, where he met his final teacher, Sri H.W.L. Poonja. Confirming Eli's realization, his teacher sent him back into the world to share his unique psychological insights into the nature of egoic suffering in support of self-realization. Eli infuses the teaching with his teacher’s living transmission of silence. He presents a unique map of egoic identification as a vehicle for ruthless self-inquiry and final realization of true freedom. He dedicates his life to passing on the transmission of his teacher. Eli cur

Mariana Caplan, PhD, MFT, RYT 500, 
is a psychotherapist, yoga teacher, and the author of six books in the fields of psychology and spirituality, including Yoga & Psyche, the award-winning Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path, the seminal Halfway Up the Mountain: the Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment, and The Guru Question: The Perils and Rewards of Choosing a Spiritual Teacher. She is the founder of The Yoga & Psyche Method™ and The Yoga & Psyche Conference™. She has been teaching workshops and trainings at major retreat centers, yoga studios, and universities throughout the world since 1997, and since 2001 been an adjunct professor and developed large public programs at The California Institute of Integral Studies, and taught at Naropa University, John F. Kennedy University, and Sophia University. Website: marianacaplan.com Transcript of this interview Interview recorded 2/3/2012 Other BatGap events involving Mariana: Second BatGap interview with Mariana Caplan In

The Open Secret message is totally radical and uncompromising.  It is a rare and singular expression of absolute non-dualism.  It bypasses the mind and speaks directly to the very core of a wisdom that is imminent in all of us. When there is a readiness to hear, all seeking and need for personal endeavor falls away, leaving simply the wonder of what is. There is no me or you, no seeker, no enlightenment, no disciple and no guru.   There is no better or worse, no path, and nothing that has to be achieved.  All appearance is source.  All that apparently manifests - the world, the life story, the hypnotic dream of separation, the search for home - is the one appearing as two, the nothing appearing as everything, the absolute appearing as the particular. There is no separate intelligence weaving a destiny, and no choice functioning at any level.  Nothing is happening, but this, as it is, invites the apparent seeker to rediscover that which already is...the abiding, uncaused, unchanging, impersonal silence from

Matt Kahn is a spiritual teacher and mystic who travels the world, offering sacred heart wisdom that invites all seekers into the joy of liberated existence. Matt's spontaneous awakening arose out of an out-of-body experience at the age of 8, and numerous direct experiences throughout his life. Many spiritual seekers have experienced amazing, unexplainable healings, and have awakened to their true nature through his offerings of profound and loving teachings, and direct transmission of presence. Books: Everything Is Here to Help You: A Loving Guide to Your Soul's Evolution “Whatever Arises, Love That – A Love Revolution That Begins with You” Matt's website Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded 1/14/2012 Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Matt Kahn's Unique Blend of Nonduality and Relative Considerations 00:05:02 - The Validity of Exploring Everything Equally 00:09:01 - Deepening the Experience through Self-Reflection

Lisa started spiritually seeking in her early 20’s. She had her first awakening in 2005 after attending a talk given by Tony Parsons. After this, she spent some time in India with Ramesh Balsekar. It was there that she met her final teacher, Roger Castillo, who was also a student of Ramesh. She lived with him for three years in Australia during which time many falsehoods were seen through. In the beginning of 2011, Lisa’s awakening stabilized and the seeker fell away. Lisa now enjoys communicating the nature of Happiness to anyone desperate enough to know the truth. Website: lisacairns.com Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded 1/7/2012 Lisa in BatGap discussion with Tim Freke Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - A De-scription, Not a Pre-scription 00:03:49 - The Illusion of Cause and Effect  00:07:20 - Living without Concepts and Belief Systems 00:10:50 - Animal Cruelty and Personal Concern 00:13:35 - The Funny Story of

Greg is a teacher of nondualism well known for a breadth of expression and a sense of humor. Inspired by Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon, Greg is one of the pioneers, along with Jean Klein and Francis Lucille, of "direct-path" style nondualism, a very intuitive, holistic and immediate form of Advaita. It was through contemplation on the teachings of Sri Atmananda that Greg's own search came to its peaceful conclusion. Having studied Western philosophy at the Universität zu Köln in Cologne, Germany, Greg received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Rochester. He studied Advaita Vedanta through the Chinmaya Mission, the Mahayana teachings of Pure Land Buddhism through Jodo-Shinshu, and studied Madhyamika Buddhism through the lineage of the pre-eminent scholar of Chinese Buddhism, Master Yin-Shun of Taiwan, P.R.C., author of The Way to Buddhahood: Instructions from a Modern Chinese Master. Greg is the technical consultant for Philosophical Practice, the Journal of the American Philosophical Pra

Once the shift to the Awakened State of Being has occurred, it becomes obvious that every moment that proceeded that moment was significant towards its Self. It is also obvious that Awareness was present in each and every moment prior to that.  The difference is that it is ‘Realized’ – Awareness is aware of Awareness. The journey for Canela Michelle towards this realization was happening long before she had heard of the potential of consciously living in the stateless state of Being.  Once she heard that this was possible in 1995, the path was lit up and speedy until she ended up in Satsang with Isaac Shapiro in February 1998.  By this time her inner and outer explorations were deep and subtle yet her explorations of what she perceived seemed to only serve to expand all of that even more…so she simply asked Isaac:  ‘Is it beyond perception?’  He answered ‘Yes’ and in that moment, what was there previously as some sort of structure fell away, leaving only ‘What Is’ at play and Awareness being aware of That.

Satsang with Bob Nickel is a great opportunity to be with someone who points to the pure truth of Awakening in a simple and clear way. One of the recent attendees at Bob's satsang wrote, "I was deeply moved by Bob’s blissful presence as well as the clear insight he is able to share with everyone into the deeper truths of life and ourselves. I could feel that Bob speaks from his own personal experience, those same truths shared through the ages by many of the great sages." Bob has been freely sharing in the non-dual Advaita tradition since 2004. He experienced his first spiritual epiphany at the age of nineteen, followed later by other special experiences. In recent years it has become clear to Bob that all experiences, which by nature come and go, have nothing whatsoever to do with the Truth that one essentially Is. His satsangs are dedicated solely to making Ramana Maharshi’s invitation to Self-Inquiry available to everyone, as a direct and immediate means to Self Knowledge, inviting all to simply abide ef

More than twenty years ago, my (second) wife and I divorced, after ten years of marriage. We both had, originally, looked forward to our years ahead with each other, and had planned for a comfortable retirement. I was in my early forties when we married, and I focused my attention on a career (as an insurance agent) so that we might further our goals. In so doing, I put aside what had been a primary interest prior to my marriage and this career: the “spiritual pursuit”, for enlightenment. After we divorced, I recognized that I had some unfinished business: it revolved around “the meaning of life”, which is at the bottom of the spiritual pursuit—to which I returned. As soon as our house was sold, I took my share of the equity and bought a fully-equipped camper van. I parked it on the property of an absentee friend in the redwood forest, near where I had been living in Northern California. I lived there in virtual solitude: reading, contemplating, taking walks for hours in the forest. At the end of three year

Natalie Gray is an ordinary person who spent the first 25 years of her adult life searching for meaning and answers. In her search, she looked for those answers in several places, including trying to find a calling (as an actress, teacher and life coach), through self-help and awareness seminars, through study and initiation with various spiritual teachers and teachings and through the use of drugs. After coming to the realization that no one or no thing outside of herself was going to be able to give Natalie what she wanted, she began an intense personal and internal search for the truth. In the fall of 2010, Natalie experienced what she refers to as “...the end of seeking. I was done,” she says. “I had no more questions. I needed no more answers. What was sought had been found.” Since then, Natalie has shared her experience and insights through her blog, and in videos on YouTube. She communicates regularly and freely with individuals who have questions or are interested in talking about nonduality. You can

Jon Bernie’s first awakening experience at the age of sixteen led him to spend many years practicing in the Zen and Theravadan Buddhist traditions, first as a monk in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and then as an early student of Jack Kornfield’s. In the late 1980s, Jon’s spiritual trajectory was profoundly altered when he met Jean Klein – master of Advaita Vedanta and Kashmiri Yoga with whom he studied intensively for an extended period. Jon subsequently spent time with H.W.L. Poonja and Robert Adams, both direct disciples of Ramana Maharshi. Jon’s spiritual development was also greatly aided by Brother David Steindl-Rast, who, along with Thomas Merton, was one of the first Christian monks to seriously practice in the Zen and Tibetan traditions and has since been instrumental in building interfaith networks worldwide. After Jon met Adyashanti in 2002, his spiritual journey came to fruition, and subsequently Adya asked Jon to teach. In addition to his work as a spiritual teacher, Jon is a certified

From an early age Rupert Spira was deeply interested in the nature of reality. For twenty years he studied the teachings of P.D.Ouspensky, J.Krishnamurti, Rumi, Shankaracharya, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Robert Adams, until he met his teacher, Francis Lucille, in 1996. Francis introduced Rupert to the teachings of Jean Klein and Atmanada Krishnamenon and, more importantly, directly indicated to him the true nature of experience. Rupert’s YouTube Channel. Interviews can be listened to here and watched here. Rupert lives in UK and holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and USA. Books: The Transparency of Things: Contemplating the Nature of Experience Presence, Volume I: The Art of Peace and Happiness Presence, Volume II: The Intimacy of All Experience The Ashes of Love: Sayings on the Essence of Non-Duality The Light of Pure Knowing: Thirty Meditations on the Essence of Non-Duality Transparent Body, Luminous World: The Tantric Yoga of Sensation and Perception (Book and

Jeff Foster graduated in Astrophysics from Cambridge University in 2001. Several years after graduation, following a period of severe depression and illness, he became addicted to the idea of ‘spiritual enlightenment’, and embarked on an intensive spiritual search which lasted for several years. The spiritual search came crashing down with the clear recognition of the nondual nature of everything. In the clarity of this seeing, life became what it always was: open, loving, spontaneous, and fully alive. Jeff presently holds meetings and retreats in the UK, Europe, and around the world, clearly and directly pointing to the frustrations surrounding our seeking activities, to the nature of the mind, and to the clarity at the heart of everything. His uncompromising approach, full of humour and compassion, enlightens and exposes the seeking mechanism – the mechanism behind all suffering – shattering our hopes for a future salvation, revealing the unconditional freedom and ease that is always already present, rig

Gangaji shares a simple message-This is an invitation to shift your allegiance from the activities of your mind to the eternal presence of your being. Born in Texas in 1942, Gangaji grew up in Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Mississippi in 1964, she married and had a daughter. In 1972, she moved to San Francisco where she began exploring deeper levels of her being. She took Bodhisattva vows, practiced Zen and Vipassana meditation, helped run a Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center, and had a career as an acupuncturist in the San Francisco Bay area. Despite her successes, Gangaji continued to experience a deep and persistent longing for fulfillment. She pursued many paths to change her life including relationship, motherhood, political activism, career, and spiritual practice, but even the greatest of her successes ultimately came up short. In the wake of her disillusionment, she made a final prayer for true help. In 1990, the answer to her prayer came unexpectedly, taking her to India and