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1:00

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your podcasts. Welcome

1:29

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1:31

we ask the big questions about life.

1:33

Why are we here? Is this all

1:35

there is? What is

1:37

my soul's mission? We

1:39

attempt to answer those questions and more

1:41

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1:43

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1:48

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1:50

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opinions expressed in this podcast are

2:27

those of the guest and do

2:30

not necessarily reflect the views or

2:32

positions of the show, its host

2:34

or any of the companies they

2:37

represent. Now today on

2:39

the show, we have Philip Goldberg,

2:41

the author of The Life

2:43

of Paramahansa Yogananda. I

2:46

know many of you are thinking, well, didn't Paramahansa

2:48

Yogananda write a very, very famous

2:50

book called Autobiography of a

2:52

Yogi, but Philip wanted to

2:54

go deeper than that because apparently

2:56

in that book, the original Autobiography

2:58

of a Yogi, Yogananda

3:00

does not speak very much about his own

3:03

life. He talks about other stories and

3:05

things. So if you want to

3:07

learn more about the man's journey, this,

3:09

this avatar, this ascended master and how

3:11

he walked this earth and the trials

3:13

and tribulations he went through, this is

3:15

the episode for you. Let's

3:18

dive in. I'd like

3:20

to welcome to the show Philip Goldberg. How you doing, Philip?

3:23

I'm well, thank you, Alex. How are you?

3:26

I'm very good. Thank you so much for coming on

3:28

the show. You and I have a

3:30

love for a certain guru who

3:34

walked, who walked the earth a few years

3:36

ago and really threw the earth

3:38

upside down a little bit, especially the west, kind

3:41

of tossed and turned and was a very

3:43

strong spiritual teacher. And

3:45

everyone who's ever listened to any of

3:48

my episodes knows that that person is

3:50

Paramahansa Yogananda. And you

3:52

know, he very famously wrote a little

3:54

book called the Autobiography of a Yogi,

3:57

which is that not so little. Wow,

4:00

800 pages. That's

4:02

a lot. 500 and something. But

4:04

it's a lot of pages. But

4:07

that book really transformed a lot of people's lives.

4:09

It's still transforming people's lives to this day. But

4:12

you decided to write a book called The Life

4:14

of Yogananda, which seems counterproductive

4:16

since he already wrote an autobiography.

4:19

So why did you decide- It was the

4:21

first question I was asked. But

4:23

he already wrote an autobiography. Why do you wanna do it? So

4:26

can you explain to everybody, first of all,

4:28

who Yogananda was and

4:30

what drew you to his life

4:33

and his teachings, and then why you wrote this book? Okay,

4:36

we'll go in that order then. Yogananda

4:39

was possibly the

4:43

most important of the spiritual teachers

4:45

who came to the West from

4:47

India. But I don't,

4:49

by most important, I mean the most

4:51

influential. Certainly

4:53

in the top three. My

4:59

prior book was

5:02

called American Veda. And

5:05

that covered the whole

5:07

history of how

5:10

India's ancient spiritual teachings

5:15

found its way into

5:17

America and transformed the

5:21

cultural and spiritual landscape of the

5:23

country in a way that's

5:25

rarely appreciated

5:31

sufficiently. Yogananda

5:33

was a key player. He

5:36

came here in 1920. There

5:42

hadn't been that many

5:45

Indian gurus. Prior to that,

5:47

his illustrious predecessor, Swami, Vivekananda

5:49

came to the US, actually

5:57

the same year Yogananda was born.

6:00

born 1893 and

6:03

Swami's in his lineage

6:05

were in

6:07

America at the time Yogananda came but

6:09

they were pretty low key. Yogananda

6:12

was the first to gain

6:15

prominence and stay here.

6:18

He spent

6:22

the last 32 years of his

6:24

life in America.

6:27

And so he had

6:29

time and the energy and the skill

6:34

and the charisma to reach a

6:36

great number of people and

6:38

left behind when he passed in 1952

6:42

his famous autobiography

6:45

of a yogi which has

6:48

been called one of the

6:50

most or one of the most important

6:54

spiritual books of the 20th century.

6:56

And as you said to this

6:58

day people's lives

7:00

are changed by it. And

7:03

so when I wrote American Veda I

7:05

had a chapter on Yogananda and

7:07

his impact. And

7:09

afterward in

7:14

thinking what do I want to do next it

7:17

kept coming to me what

7:19

an interesting human

7:21

life Yogananda

7:24

led. And I couldn't

7:28

do it justice in the 20 some

7:31

odd pages. I could you know devote

7:33

to it in the previous book. So

7:36

I said that's a story that

7:38

should be told but I had the

7:40

same thought you did. But you know

7:43

why write a biography of somebody who's

7:46

famous for an autobiography.

7:49

So I reread autobiography of

7:51

a yogi for

7:53

you know fourth or fifth time or

7:55

whatever and

7:58

did a page count. and

8:01

realized that less

8:03

than 10% of that book

8:07

is about his life after the

8:09

age of 27 when he came to America. And

8:15

that, and there were

8:17

passages that

8:20

read like, and then four

8:23

years passed in Boston. And

8:26

I thought, well, no, you can't get away with

8:28

that. He came, his

8:30

first stop was Boston in

8:33

1920. He was there

8:35

for the first four years he was in America.

8:39

How did he survive? How did

8:41

he, what did he do? How

8:43

did he, you know,

8:47

fulfill his mission? How

8:50

did he deal with winter in New

8:53

England? You know, give me detail. So

8:55

I said, okay, there are gaps

8:58

in his personal story

9:01

and someone should fill them. And now,

9:04

so I took it on that. That's

9:07

essentially what happened. So

9:09

he is a Yogananda was doing the

9:11

Yara Yara Yara. I moved to LA. Well,

9:15

in a sense, and also

9:17

what's interesting is it's called

9:20

autobiography of a Yogi. But

9:23

a big portion of it

9:25

is about other people, people

9:27

who met interesting people,

9:29

saints, scientists,

9:31

all kinds of holy

9:33

people, miracle workers,

9:36

his gurus. And

9:39

so the actual autobiography

9:42

portion of it left

9:44

a lot out. And so,

9:47

you know, that

9:49

fascinated me. I had already gotten

9:51

hints in my prior

9:53

research that there were stories

9:55

to tell that he didn't

9:57

tell and details that were.

10:00

knowing and

10:02

a human story that holds

10:05

up as a narrative that we can

10:08

all learn from. Where

10:10

does one go for

10:12

information like this? Because I'm assuming

10:15

it's a Self-Realization Fellowship, which is this

10:17

organization, because they're the ones that house

10:20

pretty much everything that's available on Yogananda,

10:22

but most of that stuff is not

10:24

public. So how did you get access

10:26

to these stories? Good

10:29

question. For

10:32

one thing, there's

10:35

more available in

10:38

public domain than

10:40

people realize, obscure

10:42

articles and journals

10:45

or memoirs written by

10:47

people who knew him. But

10:50

yeah, including one

10:52

by his brother, wrote

10:55

about their childhood. But you're

10:59

right, the principal archive is

11:02

held in LA by the

11:04

Self-Realization Fellowship. So I could

11:06

not have undertaken the project

11:11

without their cooperation. It's

11:15

not like there's a room and they

11:18

said, here's the key, go. I

11:20

had a liaison

11:24

who was essentially the

11:28

most knowledgeable historian in

11:31

the organization. And I

11:34

would ask questions. That

11:36

person would bring me documents

11:39

from the archive or an

11:41

explanation and answer.

11:43

And that was invaluable.

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now back to the show. of

14:01

Self-Realization Fellowship. Like

14:03

any other spiritual organization,

14:05

there's always breakaway groups,

14:09

small ones, but some of them

14:12

were people, or

14:14

started by people, who were

14:16

direct disciples of Yogananda, and

14:18

they had stories, they had

14:20

documents, they had letters,

14:23

and people heard I was doing this,

14:26

and they said, oh, you know, I've got

14:28

this file cabinet

14:30

full of stuff, and you know, you

14:33

find things, and people hear about

14:35

you, so you just do your

14:37

homework. And some of it was

14:40

things like going into the Los

14:42

Angeles Times archive, and seeing

14:44

articles from the 1920s and

14:46

30s, travel

14:49

documents from his

14:52

passport, and when

14:55

he left the country, and there

14:57

are things that

15:00

you come across, and it

15:02

adds, you know, also

15:05

went to India and talked to people there, you

15:07

know, his family

15:12

members, you know, who didn't

15:15

necessarily know him, because, you know, he

15:17

died in 1952,

15:20

but who had letters, and who

15:22

had stories, and you know, so you

15:24

just do your research. So

15:27

let me ask you this, then, what happened to

15:29

him? I always wondered that too, about those four

15:31

years in Boston, because

15:33

he shows up, he's horrified that

15:35

they're selling hot dogs, he thinks, oh my God, what

15:38

kind of country have you brought me to,

15:40

that they eat dogs? Those

15:44

kind of stories. But

15:46

what did he do those years?

15:48

Because he came essentially on a

15:51

boat, showed up, no

15:54

one knows who he is, he is dressed in a way that

15:56

people from the 1920s in Boston, he looked like a man. essentially

16:00

like an alien, because people even they've heard

16:02

of India, maybe, but they have never seen

16:04

an Indian, you know, let

16:06

alone if they did, you know, maybe

16:09

a few rarefied people did, as I

16:11

said, they were, you know, the occasional

16:13

yoga person, Swami Vivekananda had spent time

16:15

there 20 or so years

16:18

earlier. But you're right, 1920, it was the

16:20

he arrived two months

16:24

before women voted for the first

16:26

time. You know, that's a long

16:28

time ago. And racism

16:33

was ascendant. The

16:36

Ku Klux Klan was being,

16:38

you know, had a huge revival at

16:41

that time. So he, if

16:46

you look at his passport

16:48

photo, you see him bearded. He

16:51

shaved it, he shaved his beard on the

16:53

boat, because people warned him

16:55

that he didn't want to stand out

16:57

that much in, in

17:00

the streets, but he didn't cut his hair

17:02

yet. And that would have been a violation

17:04

of the order

17:06

of Swami's that he was in. And he

17:11

learned over time to do things

17:13

like tuck his long hair into

17:15

his collar, you know, in the

17:17

back and wear a hat and

17:19

wear Western clothing when he was

17:21

in public. But you know, at

17:23

first he didn't. But he

17:25

wasn't entirely a stranger because he

17:27

came to speak

17:30

at a conference that

17:33

was being held in Boston. And

17:36

he had acquired

17:39

the he was substituting for

17:41

the originally scheduled representative

17:44

of Hinduism in this

17:48

interfaith setting. And, you

17:52

know, was very young, was very

17:55

uncertain about his command of English.

17:58

But he came here and stayed

18:00

at an YMCA for a

18:02

few days before the sponsors

18:04

of the conference, you

18:07

know, housed him in a proper

18:09

way and ended up staying.

18:12

And there's a lot of funny stories of

18:15

his adjusting to America and

18:17

like riding a subway for

18:19

the first time, not knowing how

18:22

a drinking fountain operated, you

18:25

know, and being a vegetarian and all that,

18:27

you know, is there's

18:29

a lot of funny stories. But on the other hand, there

18:33

was harassment, too. And he

18:37

was a dark skinned foreigner

18:39

at a time when even the

18:42

Irish and Jews were being discriminated

18:44

against, you know, so you

18:46

could imagine. So he did.

18:48

I would imagine he had some struggles and

18:50

he I mean, did he have a job

18:52

to pay the bills? How did

18:54

you know? So who was who

18:56

was paying his bills these four years

18:58

while you were asking the kind of

19:00

questions a biographer has to ask. He

19:04

had some money from his father. He was

19:06

raised in a

19:08

affluent household by

19:10

a hardworking father who worked

19:13

for the British railway system. And also,

19:15

it should be noted, you know,

19:17

this is 27 years before

19:20

India gained its independence. So

19:22

he was a subject of

19:24

the British Empire and

19:27

could have been deported at any time.

19:29

And they were spying on him because,

19:32

you know, they didn't. They

19:35

were on the lookout for people

19:37

raising money and guns in the

19:39

West to support

19:41

the freedom movement. And

19:44

the more prominent it became, the more they

19:47

looked out, you know, kept an eye on

19:49

him. But so

19:51

he came to speak at this conference. His

19:53

father had given him some money and paid

19:55

for the ship's

19:57

passage. And

19:59

then. Then he said, if

20:04

I'll be back unless

20:06

the Americans need me. And

20:10

after his first talk

20:12

at that conference, which was his

20:15

talk was titled The Science of

20:17

Religion, he

20:20

hung around and

20:22

waited to see what would happen. And

20:24

then somebody invited him to speak at

20:27

a church

20:31

outside of Cambridge in Somerville,

20:34

Massachusetts. And people heard him

20:36

speak. And so somebody

20:38

said, oh, I have a study group.

20:40

Come speak in my living room. And

20:44

it was the same kind of story

20:46

that every visiting guru or Buddhist

20:49

monk or whatever followed.

20:53

Get out small with a small

20:55

group of people who liked what

20:57

he had to say and supported

21:02

him and paid, you know, had

21:04

some money, helped out arranging

21:07

for him to speak here and

21:09

there. And so went from

21:11

10, 15 people and

21:14

someone was living room to a

21:16

few years later, filling the Symphony

21:18

Hall in Boston. It just grew

21:20

in that way. There were

21:22

always money issues and always organizational

21:25

issues that he had to deal with.

21:27

And those kind of concerns

21:29

only grew as his fame and success

21:31

grew. Now,

21:37

you mentioned that he had a mission

21:39

in this life to do something. What

21:41

exactly were the parameters of that mission?

21:44

Yeah, it wasn't, you know,

21:47

like a mission statement that we're

21:49

used to. You know, carefully

21:51

crafted by, you know, but since we've

21:53

already seen what he did, we could

21:55

kind of guess what his mission was.

21:58

So well, so what mission? And it

22:01

was essentially to bring

22:03

the teachings of

22:07

the Indian tradition, what

22:09

we think of now as Hinduism,

22:12

but really a certain

22:14

core philosophical

22:18

and principles

22:20

and methods, practices

22:23

that we think of as yoga, the

22:26

yoga philosophy, yoga practices,

22:30

Vedanta philosophy. So

22:33

not all of Hinduism, which

22:36

is very vast and diverse,

22:39

but certain core principles that were

22:42

acceptable to Western culture,

22:44

Western thinkers, Western values.

22:50

And in particular, the

22:53

teachings of his particular

22:55

lineage, which he

22:58

called Kriya Yoga. So

23:00

he was bringing Kriya

23:02

Yoga, which, you know,

23:05

embedded in the larger

23:07

overall principles of

23:12

the Upanishads and the Bhagavad

23:14

Gita to the

23:16

West. That was his, you know, destiny,

23:21

which, you know, according to what

23:23

I've read, you know, was told

23:26

to his parents when he

23:28

was an infant, that he

23:30

would have some, that kind of mission. And

23:33

his guru, Sri Yukteswar, had

23:38

been told by his guru that he

23:40

would one day have a disciple who

23:42

would go to America and

23:44

Sri Yukteswar recognized in

23:47

young Yogananda before

23:49

he was called Yogananda, that

23:53

he would be that one. And

23:55

he was essentially trained for that

23:57

mission. right

24:00

back after a word from our sponsor. As

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you? Coming! And

25:09

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25:11

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25:13

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25:26

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25:29

an actor, a producer and a proud Latino

25:31

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25:34

is why I make sure to dedicate time to

25:36

what's important. Like supporting my

25:38

community through my work, sharing my Colombian

25:40

and Venezuelan culture and being

25:43

present for my family, which is everything to

25:45

me. Hey

25:47

everyone, it's Wilmer Valderrama and

25:49

we're reflecting on what matters most. I

25:51

start by giving things for good support in

25:53

my life, whenever I need to make the

25:55

big decisions. How about you? If

25:58

it's insurance you need, stay far. Stay Farm is

26:00

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26:03

Stay Farm offers great support 24-7. Just

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26:27

And now back to the show. And

26:30

he also, when he brought over Kriya

26:33

Yoga and aspects of

26:36

the yoga philosophies and things like

26:38

that, he also introduced meditation. Is

26:41

he the first to do meditation or was

26:43

the other Swamis... I mean, in a big

26:45

way, in a big way. Well,

26:48

yeah, first to make it accessible

26:51

to that number of people,

26:54

yes. Swami

26:56

Vivekananda is known

26:58

mostly for articulating

27:01

Vedanta philosophy in

27:05

a way that he sort of set

27:07

the template for how to use, which

27:10

language to use, what to emphasize

27:12

to the Westerners. And his Swamis

27:15

carried that on. But

27:17

they had meditation practices. It

27:22

was more low-key. Yogananda reached far

27:25

more people and

27:27

perhaps taught

27:30

more systematic methods

27:33

of meditation practices,

27:36

we should say, because that

27:38

wasn't just... And then

27:40

that set the stage for the

27:43

1960s and 70s when there were a

27:46

whole lot of gurus. And

27:49

when the Beatles picked up

27:51

on Transcendental Meditation, that of

27:53

course, that exploded. And so

27:56

what Vivekananda started and

27:58

Yogananda started... brought

28:01

forth to large numbers of people,

28:03

eventually became mainstream in America

28:06

through this succession of

28:08

teachers and the available access

28:11

to, you know, through

28:13

technology and so forth. Now, the Beatles, you

28:15

brought up the Beatles, because it's probably one

28:17

of my favorite bands of all time, is

28:19

I'm Not Alone in That. And

28:21

I was fascinated to

28:24

know that I was a Beatles fan all my life,

28:26

but I had no idea the impact that Yogananda and

28:29

Autobiography of a Yogi had on them, so

28:32

much so that his

28:34

lineage is

28:36

in Sgt. Pepper's, the

28:39

album, Sgt. Pepper. The famous cover. The

28:41

famous cover, you see Yogananda, Babaji,

28:43

Yukteshwa, I think Lahira Mahasaya is

28:45

in there as well. All four. All

28:48

four of them are in there. And

28:50

I was like, oh my, how did

28:52

they, what is happening? I blew my

28:54

mind. Tell me how that happened. It's

28:57

George. George was the

29:00

driving spiritual force of

29:02

the Beatles. And if,

29:05

you know, after the Beatles broke up,

29:08

George, you know, was such

29:10

a sincere Yogi and practitioner. And

29:17

that carried through to the rest

29:20

of his life. And, you know,

29:22

I've given presentations just about George

29:25

and you could see

29:27

it in the lyrics of his, some

29:30

of the songs he wrote with the Beatles

29:32

and then later in his solo

29:36

career. He was

29:38

a strong advocate of Indian

29:40

philosophy and Indian spirituality and

29:42

a real sincere seeker. And

29:44

it started with him musically

29:48

when he discovered the sitar and went

29:50

to India to study with Ravi Shankar.

29:53

And Ravi Shankar gave him two books,

29:55

one of which was autobiography of a

29:57

Yogi. And the other was one of.

30:00

the Cananda's books called Raj

30:02

Yoga and those transform George's

30:04

life. There's

30:06

actually four or

30:08

five different guru lineages that have

30:10

a claim on George. So,

30:13

you know, when they were conceiving

30:16

the album cover for Sgt. Pepper, which came

30:19

out in 1967, each of the Beatles could

30:25

choose four cultural

30:28

icons to put on

30:30

the cover. So you see Muhammad Ali and Bob

30:32

Dylan and Mae

30:35

West and W.C. Fields and

30:37

all these people. George's four

30:39

were the four gurus. Wow,

30:43

I didn't know that one. That's a new

30:45

little bit of information. And

30:48

it should be said that over the

30:50

course of his life, he would keep

30:52

stacks of autobiography to give to

30:54

people. But, you know,

30:57

the Transcendental Meditation people, the

31:01

Vedanta Society people, the

31:03

Hare Krishna's because George was

31:06

a big devotee of chanting

31:08

and they all have

31:10

a claim on George. But

31:13

yet, but yet, but George put

31:15

the four gurus on the cover.

31:17

So that says something. I'm just throwing that out

31:19

there. Oh, yes, there's a lot. He

31:22

would go and visit SRF when he

31:24

was in L.A. and he would give

31:29

out copies of Art of Apography of Yogi.

31:31

But, you know, he didn't limit himself to

31:33

any one. Yes, as

31:36

he shouldn't, as he should. And Yogananda would be the

31:38

first to say that. It's

31:40

quite right to go to

31:43

all teachings. One thing that I found really

31:45

fascinating when I first was introduced

31:47

to Yogananda, I was introduced

31:49

to autobiography of a yogi when I was in

31:51

my mid-20s. I started

31:54

reading it could not. It

31:56

was I was so not ready. I'm just so not ready

31:58

for it. I was reading like. Guys

32:01

levitating, biolocation, this guru

32:03

walking around who's still

32:05

alive after 2500 years

32:08

in the Himalayas. It was so far out

32:10

of my comfort zone that I put the

32:12

book away. It was only until my mid

32:14

30s where I picked it up again. And

32:18

then I started to understand and then

32:20

I started to really dig deep into

32:22

it. But what I found fascinating about

32:24

Yogananda that kind of

32:26

things set him apart from his contemporaries

32:29

is that he brought Jesus Christ into the

32:31

mix. No man big time. Yeah.

32:34

And he was talking about Jesus and he

32:36

put them up there. He put Jesus up

32:38

there with his other lineage and that Jesus

32:40

was part of his lineage. And

32:43

that was such a, I'm not

32:45

saying it was a smart marketing play, but

32:48

I don't think he, I don't think he was looking

32:50

at it that way. But in

32:52

hindsight, it opened the door

32:54

to so many people in the West because

32:56

everyone here knows Jesus that the West was

32:58

basically built upon Christian

33:00

values and so on and so forth. But

33:04

it was really fascinating. What do you know about

33:06

that? Why are you laughing so much? You've

33:09

touched on a lot of things. First

33:11

of all, I want to say for your listeners,

33:16

I teach courses from time to

33:18

time through Hindu

33:20

University of America, hua.edu.

33:24

They have a wonderful curriculum

33:28

of classes and online

33:30

courses. And one of

33:32

the courses I do is going through

33:34

Autobiography of a Yogi chapter by chapter.

33:38

And so I would invite people to look

33:40

at that because I bring in

33:43

all the stuff that's not in the

33:45

book that I learned in

33:48

my own research. But

33:50

about the presence

33:53

of Jesus, one

33:55

thing that is

33:59

common... across the

34:01

Eastern traditions, essentially,

34:03

you know, if you go to India and

34:07

you mention Jesus, people

34:09

just think of Him as a

34:11

great spiritual teacher. And they're

34:14

happy to, you know, extol

34:20

Him and quote Him and all

34:22

that. And all the gurus

34:24

who came here had nothing but respect

34:27

and reverence for Jesus. It's very common.

34:30

It's one of the beautiful things

34:32

about the Hindu and Buddhist cultures

34:34

is the openness to, you know,

34:37

any great saint or teacher.

34:41

Yogananda took that to another

34:43

level. He

34:46

didn't just hold Jesus up

34:48

and quote Him and hold Him up

34:50

as an example. He

34:53

claimed that Jesus was essentially

34:55

part of His own lineage

34:58

and that He and the

35:00

aforementioned Babaji, the deathless

35:03

yogi, are

35:06

in some kind of communication. And the,

35:11

you know, the yogin on this whole

35:14

mission is essentially, you know, endorsed and

35:16

set up by them. He

35:20

spoke about Jesus so much that

35:23

there's a two-volume

35:27

set totally in

35:30

about 1,200 pages. It's

35:32

sitting right there. That's on your shelf, I'm sure. Yeah,

35:35

right there. Yep, I see it next to the

35:37

Gita. And, you know, it's

35:39

called the Second Coming of Christ, and it

35:41

was assembled by His devotees after He died

35:43

of everything He said and

35:45

wrote about Jesus. So that's all. It's

35:47

a lot. the

36:00

Centurion Lounge. Is

36:02

he connecting to complimentary Wi-Fi? Oh

36:05

my, look at that, he is. And

36:08

you will not believe where he's going next.

36:10

The Amex dedicated card member entrance for the

36:12

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36:14

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36:17

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36:19

backing of American Express. Turn supply. Learn

36:21

more at americanexpress.com/with Amex. As

36:24

an actor, a producer, and a proud Latina

36:26

father, my days can get very busy, which

36:29

is why I make sure to dedicate time to

36:31

what's important. Like supporting my

36:33

community through my work, sharing my Colombian

36:36

and Venezuelan culture, and being

36:38

present for my family, which is everything

36:40

to me. Hey everyone,

36:42

it's Wilmer Valderrama. And we're

36:44

reflecting on what matters most. I start

36:47

by giving thanks for good support in my

36:49

life whenever I need to make the big

36:51

decisions. How about you? If

36:53

it's insurance you need, State Farm is there to

36:55

help you choose the right coverage for you. And

36:58

State Farm offer great support 24-7. Just

37:01

call an agent. State Farm

37:03

is also a big supporter of my

37:05

Cultura podcast network by helping to share

37:08

our Latinx voices. Like

37:10

a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Listen

37:13

to new episodes of your favorite

37:15

my Cultura shows wherever you get

37:17

your podcasts. There's

37:19

no distance too far for the perfect trip. Hi,

37:23

checking in for? Or the perfect

37:26

table. Hey, where are

37:28

you? Coming. And

37:30

when you get access to Resi Priority Notify

37:32

with your Amex Platinum card. Hey,

37:34

this looks amazing. I'm so glad you made

37:36

it. And travel benefits at

37:39

fine hotels and resorts booked through Amex Travel?

37:41

It's worth the trip. That's the

37:43

powerful backing of American Express. Terms

37:46

apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com/with Amex.

37:52

And now back to the show. And

37:56

he mastered how to

37:58

talk. about

38:00

it and how to bring Jesus.

38:02

It's not the interpretation

38:04

of Jesus you'll find in the

38:07

next Sunday's

38:09

sermon wherever you are.

38:12

It's a more esoteric one, of

38:14

course, but

38:16

it's fascinating, and you're absolutely

38:18

right. I know you

38:20

were joking when you called it a

38:23

marketing ploy, but he was accused of

38:25

that. He was accused of

38:27

that. He's selling out to the Christians,

38:29

he's pandering to them, putting up Jesus

38:31

and all that, but it was sincere.

38:34

When they acquired the property

38:40

that to this day is

38:43

the headquarters of SRF

38:45

internationally on a hilltop in LA,

38:50

he scheduled the opening of that in 1925

38:52

for Easter Sunday morning, and every Christmas he

39:01

celebrated in ways

39:03

that many Christians don't.

39:06

All-day meditation

39:08

practice on the day before,

39:10

and then of course gift-giving

39:12

and food and, you know,

39:14

celebratory thing. He was very

39:17

sincere in his

39:19

reverence for Jesus as an avatar,

39:21

as a great saint right up

39:23

there with his, you know, his

39:26

own tradition of Krishna and,

39:28

you know, that sort of thing. So it

39:32

was sincere. Did it also

39:34

work as a marketing

39:37

device? Sure, because many,

39:39

you know, it assuaged

39:42

the conscience of many people who

39:44

were curious about him and attracted

39:46

to him, but also

39:48

felt very strongly about their

39:50

roots in Christianity. But

39:52

let's not also overlook the fact

39:55

that it was a turnoff for

39:57

many people. There's

48:46

no distance too far for the perfect trip. Hi,

48:50

checking in for... Or the perfect

48:52

table. Hey, where are

48:54

you? Coming! And

48:57

when you get access to Resi Priority Notify

48:59

with your Amex Platinum Card... Hey,

49:01

this looks amazing! I'm so glad you

49:03

made it. ...and travel benefits

49:05

at fine hotels and resorts booked

49:07

through Amex Travel, it's worth the

49:09

trip. That's the powerful backing of

49:12

American Express. Terms apply. Learn more

49:14

at americanexpress.com/ with Amex. So

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Data is no Smoothie Kings New

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