Shows
Divine Discoveries#19 Karma 101: Seeds of Action, Fruits of Destiny, Cycles of LifeSend a textIn this episode Team Discoveries has it's 3 castmates diving deep into gaining a precise understanding the concept of "KARMA" and it's various facets. We talk about the definition of the word itself and the various types of KARMA. This episode serves as a great introduction to the infallible law of karma/action. Enjoy!Our sincere gratitude to all our listeners! Please provide us with any feedback you can think of and we will use it constructively to improve and that is a promise! Thank you & God Bless! 😊🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
2026-02-241h 47Divine Discoveries#18 Why the Bhagavad Gita Still Matters - feat. Pramod MathurSend a textIn this episode Team DD kickstarts Season 2 with a very special conversation with retired chemical engineer, book author, spiritual seeker & guide to many: Mr. Pramod Mathur. Pramod Ji is the uncle of DD Castmate Vikrum Mathur and it was such a wonderful opportunity to learn about his own spiritual journey along with how he decided to author a book titled "MISSION POSSIBLE: Understanding and Applying the Bhagavad Gita (2nd Edition)". Team DD highly recommends all interested listeners to read this book as it simplifies some of the complexities novice readers might encounter while attempting...
2026-01-272h 09Divine Discoveries#17 One Light, Many Colors: Exploring Christmas, Hanukkah, & More (feat. Sangeetha Narayan)Send a textIn this episode DD host Pratyaksh Pai & Guest host (Montessori School Teacher, Singer, & Children's book author) Sangeetha Narayan team up to learn about the incredible history that most may not know about the joyful and popularly celebrated holidays known as Christmas and Hanukkah. These are the holidays that immediately come to mind when the month of December approaches and there is soooooo much to uncover and discover about these amazing holidays and the rich history which tells us about their origins. We also celebrate Bhagavad Gita Jayanti by reciting the 9 holy verses popularly known...
2026-01-011h 58Divine Discoveries#16 Give Thanks & Realize GraceSend a textIn this Thanksgiving special episode Team DD takes a deeper dive into how the attitude of gratitude is so essential for all spiritual seekers. Being thankful is a way to take the burden of "doership" off your back and surrender the glories/credit to God. It takes effort to get there, but we have to start just by being thankful to our loved ones for all they do and for all that we have. We also explore "gratitude" through some small stories from our holy epics and scriptures that emphasize the importance of thankfulness...
2025-11-271h 24Divine Discoveries#15 Diwali Dialogue: Lighting Lamps of the Soul (feat. Janardana Dasa & Prashant Sharma)Send a textIn this episode Team Discoveries discusses the customs, traditions, and deeper significance of the "Festival of Lights" known as "Deepavali/Diwali". There is so much to gain from the deep dive we took into uncovering the symobolic meanings behind our Diwali customs. Hope you all enjoy! Wishing all the listeners a Happy & Wisdom-Filled Diwali! 🪔😊🙏🏽Our sincere gratitude to all our listeners! Please provide us with any feedback you can think of and we will use it constructively to improve and that is a promise! Thank you & God Bless! 😊🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
2025-10-201h 55Divine Discoveries#14 Durga Shakti Unleashed - Nine Nights to Victory (feat. Jaya Pandey & Smitha Raj)Send a textThis episode centers around the Holy Festival of Navratri where we explore and learn about the various aspects of the Divine Feminine Energy known as "Devi" or Goddess. There are so many flavors or aspects of Devi that one can gain so much knowledge, compassion, and love from. Team DD were joined by 2 special guest speakers who shared their experiences of Durga Puja and so much more! No matter how much we learn, the glories of the Divine Mother are endless but we hope you enjoy the thrilling ride of Durga Discovery through this...
2025-10-031h 49Divine Discoveries#13 Vedanta 101 with Prof. B.N. HebbarSend a textIn this episode Team Discoveries has the good fortune of speaking with Prof. B.N. Hebbar in order to introduce our listeners to the WORLD OF VEDANTA. We understand what the term "Vedanta" means and learn about the various scholars who founded philosophical schools of thought based on the Upanishads and other prominent scriptural texts. This was a very insightful episode for Team Discoveries, we hope it will be the case for our listeners as well. Enjoy! Our sincere gratitude to all our listeners! Please provide us with any feedback you can th...
2025-09-171h 09Divine Discoveries#12 Lord Ganesha - Sacred Symbology of the Enigmatic DeitySend a textIn this episode, Team Discoveries attempts to take a deeper look behind the Divine Elephant-faced God and gained a beautiful new perspective on Lord Ganesha. The deep symbolism and valuable lessons to learn from the stories that glorify Lord Ganesha is just UNBELIEVABLE! On the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, we present this episode which consists of Ganesha stories, how his holy birthday festival is celebrated, popular Ganesh shlokas/mantra recitations, Ganesha's impact on modern day creative artists, and much much more!!Ganapati Bappa Moraya!!! 😊🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽Our sincere gratitude to all our listeners! Please...
2025-08-261h 25Divine Discoveries#11 Lord Shri Krishna - The Avatar of Pure Divine Love (feat. Smitha Raj & Janardana Dasa)Send a textIn this episode, Team DD along with guests Janardana Dasa & Smitha Raj explore the meaningful and nectarian pastimes of the blessed Lord Shri Krishna in observance of his holy birthday Shri Krishna Janmashtami.Along with the wonderful lilas of Krishna, we also delve into many other topics in relation to Lord Krishna such as the Jagannath Puri temple and the efficacy of why cows are considered sacred, and much much more! Jai Shri Krishna!!! Enjoy!!! 😊🙏🏽Our sincere gratitude to all our listeners! Please provide us with any feedback you can think of...
2025-08-191h 56Divine Discoveries#10 Guru Purnima: A Disciple's Extraordinary Journey (feat. Janardana Dasa)Send a textIn this episode Team DD explores a bit deeper into the concept of a spiritual master aka GURU. We learn about the festival of Guru Purnima and it's significance. A blessed disciple Shri Janardana Dasa (aka John Butler III) shares his incredible life experiences which are truly unbelievable and inspiring. He speaks about how he was given formal spiritual initiation by Guruji Sant Keshavadas and much later found spiritual connection once again with a female saint Shri Amma Karunamayi. Our sincere gratitude to Janardana Dasa for his graciousness to join us for this incredible mi...
2025-08-012h 29Divine Discoveries#9 The Shad Darshanas 101 with Prof. B.N. HebbarSend a textIn this episode the Divine Discoveries Team had a chance to speak with the very accomplished Prof. B.N. Hebbar to gain an introductory understanding of the "Shad Darshanas" aka the six ancient schools of Hindu philosophical thought. Each one of these philosophies has so much depth and there is logic and rationale applied by each of the philosophers who founded them. There was no room for false knowledge or blind faith, these Vedic scholars had competition from rival faiths such as Buddhism & Jainism so they had debate to justify why their philosophy made s...
2025-07-151h 43Divine Discoveries#8 Introduction to the Ancient Judaic & Hindu ScripturesSend a textTeam Divine Discoveries gives an introduction and overview of the various types of divinely inspiring scriptural texts that are known to people of modern day Jewish and Hindu faith systems. Through their research they were able to learn and explain some of their findings in a concise manner which can certainly wet the appetite for those who are curious to know more about the great scriptures and why we as a society benefit greatly from the wisdom they contain. Please send any questions/inquiries on the subject matter discussed in this episode t...
2025-06-141h 56Divine Discoveries#7 Stories & Glories - The Animal Avatars of Lord VishnuSend a textIn this episode the Divine Discoveries Team celebrates the appearance day of Lord Shri Narasimha (Shri Narasimha Chaturdashi) by telling the divine tales of Shri Kurma, Shri Varaha, & Shri Narasimha Avatars. We also do our very first Q&A session answering some very intriguing questions our listeners posed based on episode #6: Cosmic Creation & Time. Lastly we cover the Holy Days of May and hear more gems of wisdom from Guruji Sadguru Sant Keshavadasji!Our sincere gratitude to all our listeners! Please provide us with any feedback you can th...
2025-05-151h 14Divine Discoveries#6 Cosmic Creation & TimeSend a textIn this episode the team of Divine Discoveries explores the creation of the universe according to the Jewish and Hindu scriptures. We also explore the span of Yugas, Manvantars, and Kalpas and how old our universe is according to the Vedic calculation of time. Guruji Sant Keshavadas also gives a beautiful message regarding the 14 lokas and how that translates to the chakras within our bodies.Our sincere gratitude to all our listeners! Please provide us with any feedback you can think of and we will use it constructively to improve and that i...
2025-05-051h 44Divine Discoveries#5 Lord Shri Rama - The Ideal Human Avatar (feat. Maya Kini Rao, Rekha Pai, & Suchitra Balasubramanian)Send a textTeam DD is back celebrating Shri Rama Navami (Lord's birthday/appearance day) and taking an explorative journey into studying the character of "Maryada Purushottam" Bhagavan Shri Ram! On this journey we get a surface level understanding of the historic literary epic known worldwide as the "Ramayana" and it's original author: Sage Valmiki. We were also fortunate to have 3 very special guests join us to share their blessed experiences from their recent expedition to India where they visited the Shri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya (sacred birthplace of Lord Rama) just 1 year after it's grand inaugural o...
2025-04-091h 27Divine Discoveries#4 God - Exploration of the Infinite ConsciousnessSend a textIn this episode, the Divine Discoveries Castmates dive into exploring THE HIGHER POWER, THE INFINITE DIVINE ENERGY/CONSCIOUSNESS, THE ETERNAL SUPREME REALITY/TRUTH, etc. etc. etc. which we simply refer to as "GOD". Our understanding is extremely limited, yet there is a curiosity to understand that which is unlimited. There is a desire to fathom the unfathomable or to make the infinite, finite. In truth, it is impossible for anyone other that GOD to fully know and understand GOD, but the DD Squad has tapped into the most authentic and ancient holy scriptures to g...
2025-03-261h 58Divine Discoveries#3 The Glories of Lord ShivaSend a textIn this episode the DD castmates take an explorative journey into the enigmatic form of God known as Lord Shiva. We talk about who Lord Shiva is and all the symoblic wisdom we can gain from this divine form of the Supreme Brahman. Through the various segments we have in this episode, we reveal some very interesting nuggets on Lord Shiva and all aspects connected to that divine persona.Our sincere gratitude to all our listeners! Please provide us with any feedback you can think of and we will use it constructively...
2025-03-031h 04Divine Discoveries#2 Religion & Spirituality - Same/Different? (The Maha Kumbh Mela feat. Gokul Pai)Send a textIn this episode we take a deep dive into analyzing the giant terms "RELIGION" and "SPIRITUALITY". We explore the similarities and differences of the 2 terms and gain a better understanding of what it means to identify as one or the other. We also welcomed our very first guest to speak about his experiences after attending the Holy Maha Kumbha Mela that took place in Prayagraj after a span of 144 years.Our sincere gratitude to all our listeners! Please provide us with any feedback you can think of and we will use it...
2025-02-202h 00Divine Discoveries#1 Spirituality: What's in it for you?!Send a textIn the very first episode we introduce ourselves and try to take a very ground level approach to exploring the word: "Spirituality"....discussing what it means to each of us and how the listeners can potentially find a connection to it. We also discuss the various spiritual practices that could be helpful to anyone who wishes embark on their own spiritual journeys. This describes just some of the amazing topics we covered in this introductory episode. Lastly, you will hear some pearls of wisdom from His Holiness Sadguru Sant Keshavadas who is the inspiration f...
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Terror at Collinwood: A Dark Shadows PodcastEp 81: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Generational Appeal of DS with Vikrum MathurWriter, film critic, and actor Vikrum Mathur visits the podcast to talk about his experiences as a fan of Dark Shadows and how the series connects with many people across cultures and generations. Vikrum recounts stories about his great grandmother’s love of DS and also talks about some of the creatures and folklore of India that would have worked well in the Dark Shadows setting. In addition, Vikrum reminisces about playing Dark Shadows with his friends, shares thoughts about some of his favorite characters from the original series, and discusses the various iterations of DS over the years. Jo...
2024-04-131h 04