12/05/13 - Discover Your Dharma and Do It on Purpose! Inspiration from the Gita and Great Lives
Stephen Cope

Each one of us has an individual dharma to fulfill, our own true calling. What challenges do we face in discovering that purpose for our life and how can we overcome those challenges in order to enjoy “lit up living”? Join Yogacharya O’Brian and guest Stephen Cope, director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living and author of The Great Work of Your Life, for answers gleaned from the Bagavad Gita and from the lives of people who have faced the challenges and embraced the opportunities of living their dharma.

Stephen Cope is the director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living—the largest yoga research institute in the Western world. He has been for many years the Senior Scholar in Residence at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts, where he writes and teaches about the relationship between the Eastern contemplative traditions and Western philosophy and psychology. He is the author of three previous books, including the bestselling Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

11/07/13 - Courage, Service, and Surrender: Everyday Wisdom for Today’s Leaders from the Bhagavad Gita 
Swami Bodhananda Sarasvati

Swami Bodhananda Saraswati, spiritual director of the Sambodh Society and author of The Gita and Management joins Yogacharya O’Brian for an in-depth exploration of the keys to reaching our fullest potential as leaders. Whoever we are, whatever we do, wherever we are, we all have the same divine potential to serve and through selfless service, to lead. 

Swami Bodhananda Saraswati is an accomplished teacher of Vedanta, meditation, and management. He is the founder and spiritual director of the Sambodh Society in Michigan. He also directs several other ashrams and organizations, including the Bodhananda Research Foundation for Management and Leadership Studies in India. He is the author of twenty books, including The Gita and Management.

3/29/12 - Awaken Love and Compassion through Discovering the Atman, the True Self
Dr. Anantanand Rambachan

Love and compassion are the natural endowments of the soul. When we are freed from the narrow confines of self-interest and discover our oneness with all that is, we find a source of happiness and satisfaction that previously escaped us. The Bhagavad Gita offers profound wisdom for living in love and infusing our action with compassion. Join Dr. Anantanand Rambachan, author of Gitamrtam: The Essential Teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, and Yogacharya O’Brian for this insightful exploration of the true nature of the Self.

Dr. Anantanand Rambachan is Chair and Professor or Religion, Philosophy and Asian Studies at Saint Olaf College, Minnesota, USA, where he has been teaching since 1985. Prof. Rambachan has been involved in the field of interreligious relations and dialogue for over twenty-five years, as a Hindu participant and analyst. He is currently an advisor to the Pluralism Project (Harvard University), a member of the International Advisory Council for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, and a member of the Theological Education Committee of the American Academy of Religion. Prof. Rambachan delivered the invocation address at the historic White House Celebration of the Hindu festival of Diwali in 2003 and also in 2004.

3/22/12 - Selfless Action, Wisdom and Divine Love: Kriya Yoga and the Gita
Swami Atmavidyananda

The Bhagavad Gita offers a guide to Kriya Yoga—the integrated path that brings together action, devotion, and wisdom. Swami Atmavidyananda from the Kriya Yoga Institute joins Yogacharya O’Brian for an inspiring conversation about Self-realization—what it is and how we can attain it in this lifetime. Learn more about what has been called the scientific way of spiritual awakening.

Swami Atmavidyananda, a senior monk in the lineage of Paramahamsa Hariharananda and Paramahamsa Prajnanananda, is currently Vice President of the Kriya yoga Institute. He met Paramahamsa Hariharananda and, with his blessings, was initiated into Kriya Yoga in 1994. After completing his professional responsibilities, in 2002, he dedicated his life fulltime to the cause of spiritual practice and joined the Hariharananda Gurukulam, Balighai under the auspices of Paramahamsa Prajnanananda. Under the directions of his Master, Paramahamsa Prajnanananda, he travelled outside India in 2006 to teach Kriya Yoga in the west. Since then he has travelled extensively in North America, South America, Europe and Asia to guide seekers on the path of Kriya Yoga. www.kriya.org.

3/15/12 - Light Shining in the Darkness: Finding Solace and Enduring Support in The Bhagavad Gita
Ela Gandhi

Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, joins Yogacharya O’Brian for an inspiring glimpse of the Bhagavad Gita’s power to offer inspiration and support. Gandhiji said, “When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone, I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad Gita. I find a verse here and there, and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies…” Discover how the Gita’s timeless wisdom can help us meet life’s challenges and discover its inherent joy.

Ela Gandhi is a peace activist and was a Member of Parliament in South Africa from 1994-2004. She served as an executive member of the Natal Organizations of Women from its inception until 1991. Her political affiliations include the Natal Indian Congress, which she served as vice president, the United Democratic Front, Descom Crisis Network, and Inanda Support Committee. During apartheid, Gandhi was banned in 1975 from political activism and subjected to house arrest for a total of nine years. She worked underground for an end to the practice. After serving in parliament, Gandhi developed a 24-hour program against domestic violence, founded the Gandhi Development Trust, serves as a member of the Religious Affairs Committee, and oversees a monthly newspaper. She also chairs the Mahatma Gandhi Salt March Committee and the Mahatma Gandhi Development Trust. In 2002, she received the Community of Christ International Peace Award. She was conferred Padma Bhushan award from Government of India in 2007.

3/08/12 - Let Your Light Shine: Encouraging Words for Living Your Divine Purpose
Dr. Jay Kumar

Dr. Jay Kumar joins Yogacharya O’Brian for an inspiring conversation about the inherent divine order in the universe that supports us all in reaching our potential. Learn more about living in the highest way from the ancient wisdom found in the Bhagavad Gita that is especially appropriate for our time.

Dr. Jay Kumar is a professor of Indian religion, Yoga philosophy, and cognitive studies at Chapman University and at Loyola Marymount University. His research interests also encompass mind-body medicine, neurotheology, and the neuropsychology of consciousness. Additionally, Jay is a certified Yoga and meditation instructor, international motivational speaker, Vedic astrologer, energy healer, writer, and host of the weekly syndicated national radio show “AWAKE with Dr. Jay Kumar!” His new book is titled The Science & Spirituality of Health & Happiness. Jay intimately understands our fundamental human need to feel honored and recognized for the value we each uniquely bring to the world. His purpose in life is to inspire you to your fullest potential, as we all become empowered leaders in humanity’s great transformation. www.drjaykumar.com

3/01/12 - Inside the Soul: The Battle We Must Fight Every Day and the Key to Victory
Michael Nagler

Have you have ever asked: Why do I continue to do things that I know aren’t useful, as if compelled to do them? If, like most people, you have asked that question, you’ll find this soulful exploration of the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita with Michael Nagler, Founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education and Yogacharya O’Brian to be a breath of fresh air. The dynamics of the inner battle to fully express our divine nature, so skillfully portrayed in the Bhagavad Gita, offer us the key to changing our minds, changing our behavior, changing our lives and our world.

Michael Nagler is Professor emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC, Berkeley, where he co‐founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program. He is the author of The Search for a Nonviolent Future, which received a 2002 American Book Award and has been translated into several languages; Our Spiritual Crisis: Recovering Human Wisdom in a Time of Violence (2005); The Upanishads (with Sri Eknath Easwaran, 1987), and other books as well as many articles on peace and spirituality. Michael has consulted for the U.S. Institute of Peace and many other organizations and is the founder President of the board of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education. Michael has worked on nonviolent intervention since the 1970’s and served on the Interim Steering Committee of the Nonviolent Peaceforce. Michael is a student of Sri Eknath Easwaran, Founder of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, and has lived at the Center's ashram in Marin County since 1970.

2/23/12 - Living the Divine Song: The Bhagavad Gita as a How to Live Handbook
Br. Prabodh Chaitanya

Nothing is more practical than spiritual realization and nothing transforms our lives for the better in such a complete way. Br. Prabodh Chaitanya, resident Acharya of Chinmaya Mission San Jose, joins Yogacharya O’Brian for a look at what the Bhagavad Gita can tell us about conscious, fulfilled living every day. When viewed as a manual for achieving success in life, we find that the Gita explains our nature, our purpose in life, and offers us the means for achieving our goals.

Br. Prabodh Chaitanya' is the resident Acharya of Chinmaya Mission San Jose. Prabodhji's spiritual call came when he read Swami Chinmayananda’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. He served for six years at Chinmaya Mission Orlando in various capacities and subsequently went to India to participate in celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Chinmaya Mission. He studied Vedanta for the next two years under the grace and guidance of Swami Tejomayananda and tutelage of Swami Ishwarananda. Since his appointment as Acharya of Chinmaya Mission San Jose, Prabodhji has been conducting Vedanta discourses in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. He has also conducted Jnana Yagnas, camps, and retreats all over the United States and Canada.  www.chinmaya‐sanjose.org

2/16/12 - Both, And: The Inclusive Worldview of the Bhagavad Gita
Dr. Christopher Key Chapple

Is God transcendent or immanent, beyond or within the world? What is the key to spiritual realization—a focus on Absolute Reality or Manifest Divinity? Which is better: active works or silent meditation? Wisdom or devotion? Join Dr. Christopher Key Chapple and Yogacharya O’Brian to discover how the Bhagavad Gita advances, and holds, teachings that at times seems contradictory but point to a holistic worldview that is liberating by its very nature. Dr. Chapple is the editor of the comprehensive Winthrop Sargeant translation of The Bhagavad Gita.

Dr. Christopher Key Chapple is the Navin and Pratima Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University. He served as Assistant Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions and taught Sanskrit, Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism for five years at the State University of New York at Stony Brook before joining the faculty at LMU. He has published several books, including Nonviolence to Animals, Earth, and Self in Asian Traditions (1993), Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life (2002) and Reconciling Yogas (2003).

2/09/12 - The Inner Meaning of the Bhagavad Gita
Roy Eugene Davis

Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, returns to the Yoga Hour for an insightful conversation with Ellen Grace O'Brian about the timeless wisdom found in The Bhagavad Gita. When explored as an allegory, where characters and events symbolize every person’s spiritual journey of awakening from self-conscious involvement with physical and psychological circumstances to realization of our essential nature, the Gita becomes a treasured guidebook to authentic spiritual growth and fulfilled living.

Roy Eugene Davis is the spiritual director of Center for Spiritual Awareness. Mr. Davis was ordained by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1951 and was appointed as the minister of the Phoenix, Arizona, Self‐Realization Fellowship Center in March 1952. In late 1953, aware of a need to learn to live effectively in the secular world, he withdrew from the organization—but not from his relationship with the Kriya Yoga tradition or his commitment to serve. After 2 years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps at Fort Riley, Kansas, he began his mission as an independent teacher. Since then, he has taught in more than 100 cities in North America and in Japan, Brazil, Europe, West Africa, and India. Some of his books are published in 10 languages and in 11 countries. He is also the publisher of Truth Journal magazine and writes monthly lessons for CSA members around the world. www.CSA‐davis.org