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Paula Crossfield - Weave Your Bliss Podcast - Cultivating a Practice and Finding Purpose with Nina Ra‪o‬

Finding your practice is the most important step to finding your purpose. Today’s guest. Nina Rao, a learned traditional chanter and wildlife enthusiast, shares how finding her practice with chanting led her to her purpose.

Nina discusses how she fell into her career path, the impact and importance of having a practice, and what led her to start Saving Wild Tigers.

This episode is packed with wisdom and guidance. Join Paula in this exploration of the chanting practice and finding your purpose.

Show Highlights:

How Nina fell into chanting
What happens when you’re chanting
How to live each day in a “good way”
Nina shares how she met her guru
Nina shares a hanuman chant
The experience of recognizing your mentor for the first time
What it’s like to have a teacher
How we learn from things and people around us
How practices teach you to let go of negative feelings
Integrating parenthood into your purpose
Making your practice part of your home life
Ways to start a practice with chanting
Why we need to spend more time dissolving the sense of other
What is Saving Wild Tigers and why Nina started it

Nina Rao – BHNN Guest Podcast – Ep. 75 – The Untold Story of Sita with Dena Merriam and Mirabai Starr

Nina Rao welcomes Dena Merriam and Mirabai Starr for a conversation about Dena’s book, The Untold Story of Sita, and how the forces of Sita and Ram are still present in the world today.

Dena Merriam is a long-time meditation practitioner in the lineage of Kriya Yoga and the author of multiple books, including The Untold Story of Sita. Learn more about her at denamerriam.com.

Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author of creative nonfiction; her latest book is called Wild Mercy. Learn more about her at mirabaistarr.com.

Nina welcomes Dena and Mirabai to the BHNN Guest Podcast. She asks Dena how her book, The Untold Story of Sita, came about. Nina reads from the book, and asks about Sita’s connection to the natural world. Dena talks about how she fell in love with Mother Earth all over again while writing the book.

“The whole universe was just part of one consciousness at that point. That’s very important for us to try to remember, because it’s in our collective memory. We all hold that memory.” – Dena Merriam

Rebalancing Sacred Energy (21:56)

The discussion turns to the power of mantra and vibration. Nina brings up how Dena is telling the story of Sita as an equal to Ram, not an appendage. Dena talks about the opportunity we now have to bring the sacred masculine and the sacred feminine into balance, and Mirabai explores how women are reclaiming their stories across different spiritual traditions. Dena discusses her work with environmental activists.

“The collective mind wanted to see Sita as the weaker, feminine figure that had to be saved; her hero comes to save her. That’s what the collective mind wanted, and that’s how the collective mind interpreted the whole thing. But that’s not serving us at this moment, that’s not what our society needs or wants. And there’s this desire to understand and to acknowledge the Shakti energy, because our society has been out of balance for so long.” – Dena Merriam

Nina Rao speaks with Robert Thurman about preserving the wealth of nature on BHNN Guest Podcast Ep. 52

The Presence of Sita and Ram (44:10)

Nina and Dena talk about how the forces of Sita and Ram are still very present in the world today. They touch on the idea of wisdom and love on the path of dharma, and Sita’s incredible trust in her own heart. Mirabai brings Hanuman into the conversation, and how selfless, loving service is the path to reunification of masculine and feminine.

“I think that when we turn to Ram and Sita, it should be that we are turning to living presences, invoking their help collectively with the Earth right now.” Dena Merriam

Sacred Music with Nina Rao - Podcast with Conscious Diva

How can the practice of Kirtan assist us with what’s happening in the world today - particularly with trauma. In this episode, renown kirtanwalli, Nina Rao explains the devotional music chanted in bhajans, kirtan and the practice of Bhakti, and how we become receptive to the flow of grace through chanting. Nina also shares the story of Hanuman from the Ramayana and how through the practice of Maha mantra, a transmission of wisdom is received by the practitioner.

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY
LISTEN ON iTUNES

Interview with Phil Cartwright - Nina Rao "Anubhav" Album

ANUBHAV is the title of the album ~ Anubhav is a word Ma spoke when talking with Nina about how important it is to have a disciplined practice so it may blossom into each one’s own direct experience of the Divine, the Soul, the One. This inner knowing or perception or feeling, Anubhav, is what guides us on the Path of Life.
Nina Rao learned traditional chants (bhajans) from her grandfather in a village in south India when she nine years old. The chants quietly stayed with her until she rediscovered chanting with Krishna Das in New York in 1996. For many years Nina has been Krishna Das' business manager and assistant, often touring with him playing cymbals and singing. In 2007, she recorded the track 'Nina Chalisa' on Krishna Das' CD "Flow of Grace " and in January 2013, she released her debut album, "Antarayaami - Knower of All Hearts". Nina regularly leads kirtan, chanting of the Hanuman Chalisa, and sings for yoga classes in her hometown of Brooklyn, NY and beyond.

ANUBHAV is the title of the album ~ Anubhav is a word Ma spoke when talking with Nina about how important it is to have a disciplined practice so it may blossom into each one’s own direct experience of the Divine, the Soul, the One. This inner knowing or perception or feeling, Anubhav, is what guides us on the Path of Life. Nina Rao learned traditional chants (bhajans) from her grandfather in a village in south India when she nine years old. The chants quietly stayed with her until she rediscovered chanting with Krishna Das in New York in 1996. For many years Nina has been Krishna Das' business manager and assistant, often touring with him playing cymbals and singing. In 2007, she recorded the track 'Nina Chalisa' on Krishna Das' CD "Flow of Grace " and in January 2013, she released her debut album, "Antarayaami - Knower of All Hearts". Nina regularly leads kirtan, chanting of the Hanuman Chalisa, and sings for yoga classes in her hometown of Brooklyn, NY and beyond. http://www.ninaraochant.com

Embodied Love - Online Conference

Devotion is a phenomenon more universal than any particular tradition, for devotion can be as varied as love itself.  In the dharmic traditions, the term for devotion is bhakti. As Bhakti Yoga, it is a form of practice characterized by devotion to a deity. The more popular forms of bhakti are Vaishnava, Shaiva and Shakta in character (devoted to Krishna, Shiva, or forms of the Goddess, respectively). In all of these traditions, bhakti is both a form of religious and contemplative practice since love for a particular form of God/Goddess is widely accepted as one of the most effective ways to focus the mind.  

In this free online conference, we will discover both traditional and non-traditional forms of bhakti. We will explore the ways in which devotion transforms our world, from the inside out. Just as falling in love has the power to shape and renew one’s worldview, becoming a Bhakta transmutes our vision and refines our heart. Love for the divine further empowers the devotee to transcend aspects of mundane existence, as it challenges common and selfish expressions of love.  By dedicating our practice to a principle or deity that transcends the ephemeral, we can begin to taste the fullness of embodied love and its liberating possibilities.  

This conference, as with all programming at Embodied Philosophy, will seek to strike a balance between scholarship and practice. Each participant has been invited to share embodied bhakti-informed practices as well as scholarship and research relevant to Bhaktas and the various Bhakti traditions.

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We will learn about:

  • The history of Vaishnava Bhakti

  • The teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā

  • How to live the life of the heart

  • The yogic practices of devotion

  • The character of Hanuman, the personification of devotion from the Ramayana

  • How Bhakti yoga differs from other forms of yoga

  • Why serving the divine will save the world

  • The relationship between the Bhakta (or practitioner) and Bhakti

  • The relationship between the human and the divine in Vaishnava Bhakti

  • Stories from the Indian tradition that are central to Bhakti

  • Sri Krishna

  • The 9 Practices of Vaidhī Bhakti

I am so pleased to be included as a presenter in this free online event coming up Oct 4 to 6, 2019.

Sign up here!
https://www.embodiedphilosophy.org/a/17738/tSca2zU2

Mindrolling Podcast – Raghu Markus with Nina Rao on Nina's Anubhav CD

Nina Rao visits the Mindrolling Podcast for a chat with Raghu about the transformative power of mantra and the fruits of pursuing a spiritual path.

Nina learned traditional chants from her grandfather in a village in south India when she was nine years old. The chants quietly stayed with her until she rediscovered chanting with Krishna Das in New York in 1996. For many years Nina has been Krishna Das’ business manager and assistant, often touring with him playing kartals (cymbals) and singing. In January 2013, she released her debut album, Antarayaami – Knower of All Hearts and her sophomore album, Anubhav, in 2018. Nina regularly leads kirtan, chanting of the Hanuman Chalisa, and sings for yoga classes in her hometown of Brooklyn, NY and beyond. Keep up with Nina Rao at ninaraochant.com.

Listen to this episode from Mindrolling with Raghu Markus on Spotify. Nina Rao visits the Mindrolling Podcast for a chat with Raghu about the transformative power of mantra and the fruits of pursuing a spiritual path.Find show notes and resources here: https://beherenownetwork.com/mindrolling-ep-258-nina-rao/