Spicy Soul Mama Podcast Episode 18 with Guest Nina Rao

Nina was recently featured on the Spicy Soul Mama podcast, where host Shelley Karpaty explores parenting and creativity as a spiritual path. The podcast is a little oasis, a place to come home to your heart, your creativity, and your spirit, not just as a mom, dad, partner, or professional, but as a whole human being. It acts as a reminder that joy, curiosity, and creativity are the antidotes to chaos and fear. Shelley and Nina discuss what Bhakti and loving awareness is, along with what it means to embrace parenting as a spiritual path, including wisdom from Sri Siddhi Ma on what the role of a parent entails.

You can read more about Shelley’s experiences and listen to the full podcast on the Spicy Soul Mama Substack.

Giving Back Season Never Ends

In the spirit of gratitude and giving back, we would like to express our gratitude for all of you practicing in community with us. If you combine all our individual efforts, they form a loving force powerful enough to reverberate across every creature in the entire creation.

Bhumi Devi gifts us everything we could need through Her flourishing ecosystems. That's why our kirtans in India were held to raise funds to help protect, conserve, rewild, and support the wilderness and communities living in proximity across India. The video below was screened before kirtan audiences to illuminate the current state of the environment and why it's important we each do our part to give back to Mother Nature.

The kirtan ticket sales were used to fund the rewilding of areas in Sunderbans, purchasing motorcycles for forest monitoring in Ranthambhore, research and community conservation by women in Uttarakhand, and towards organizations like Voices for Asian Elephants in Odissa, and Madras Crocodile Banks for protection of gharials, among other projects.

The photo above is from our latest darshan of Ganga Ma in Rishikesh.

If you would like to support these efforts, donations are accepted at SavingWildTigers.org via PayPal, check, or ACH transfer. Saving Wild Tigers is a registered 501(c) charity and donations are tax-deductible 🙏🏽

Nina is grateful to travel around the world to chant in-person, and also to share digital offerings and practice together in the ethereal space of Loving Awareness.

Integral Yoga Podcast | The Power of Spiritual Practice: Nina Rao on Chanting, Gurus, and Everyday Enlightenment

Join Nina Rao, acclaimed kirtan artist and devotee in the lineage of Neem Karoli Baba, in this heartfelt conversation with host Avi Gordon at Yogaville. Nina shares her journey from cultural rituals in India to discovering the depth of sadhana (spiritual practice) in New York through yoga, Krishna Das, and her guru Sri Siddhi Ma. Explore how consistent practice—through chanting, prayer, and mindfulness—fosters unconditional love, equanimity, and compassion in daily life. Topics include integrating practice into parenting, overcoming negativity, and remembering our interconnectedness.

Nina Rao first learned sacred chants as a young girl from her grandfather in south India, and the chants stayed quietly with her until she rediscovered this powerful practice with Krishna Das in New York in 1996. Since then she has been KD’s business manager and accompanies him musically. In 1998 she met her guru, Sri Siddhi Ma, in the foothills of the Himalayas and spent time with her regularly for 19 years, while Ma was in the body. Nina has been chanting regularly as her main practice, has recorded albums that are widely streamed and played around the world, leads chant events, studies and shares Veda chanting and, spiritual texts, is a hospice volunteer, is a podcast host for Be Here Now Network, goes on yatra/pilgrimage, and is a wildlife conservationist as chairperson for Saving Wild Tigers, and hopes that everyone will make a Homegrown National Park in their home by planting native species. Along with the 21 Taras Collective she has released a new album of 7 mantras in 2025. Nina co-hosted and released along with 10 women wisdom leaders, the audio course and program “Sita’s Gems”, lifting Sita Devi from victim to heroine of the Ramayana.

My Legacy Podcast: Krishna Das and Nina Rao | From Rock & Roll to Sacred Sound

From rock ’n’ roll dreams to sacred sound, Krishna Das’s story is one of redemption and renewal. Known as the “chant master of American yoga,” KD has touched millions through kirtan—a practice of music, devotion, and letting go. 

Joined by his longtime collaborator Nina Rao, he sits down with hosts Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, Marc Kielburger, and Craig Kielburger to share how music, devotion, and service became the foundation of his life. 

Together, they reveal how: 

• Letting go is a daily practice that builds real strength 

• Music can transform pain into connection 

• Service and love are inseparable 

Bonus Drop: A Krishna Das Sacred Sound Performance

Whether this is your first time hearing kirtan or you’ve been chanting for years, let this offering be a moment of stillness, healing, and renewal.

Subscribe to the My Legacy Podcast now to catch new episodes every Tuesday and bonus content every Thursday. And watch full episodes on YouTube every Wednesday.

LIVE: Bhakti Meets Buddhism with Nina Rao & Acharya Shunya | Ram Dass Summer Mountain Retreat 2025

You're invited to join us LIVE from the 2025 Ram Dass Summer Mountain Retreat, for a special session with Nina Rao and Acharya Shunya - sharing in conversation on the intersection of Bhakti and Buddhist tradition. Together, they'll explore devotion, emptiness, and the timeless space where love and awareness meet, accompanied by rare archival audio from Ram Dass.

💛 Want to experience the full retreat? Donate what you can to unlock all 15+ hours of livestreamed content + replays: https://ramdass.org/summer (No one turned away • Sliding-Scale replays available through August 25)

Nina Rao talks with Jesse Dvorak on Art & Void

In this episode, Jesse Dvorak sits down with Nina Rao—chant leader, recording kirtan artist, and longtime assistant to Krishna Das—to explore the spiritual depth found in mantra, chanting, and sacred sound. Nina shares her personal journey into the world of kirtan, how traditional practices can quiet the mind and open the heart, and why devotion through sound is a powerful access point to creative flow and inner clarity. Whether you're a spiritual seeker, artist, or writer, this conversation is a reminder that true creativity begins with presence. Topics include: The practice and purpose of chanting The role of devotion in artistic expression How mantra supports mental and emotional healing Bridging spiritual tradition with modern creative life

Listen on SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCASTS

21 Taras Collective Mantra Mala Vol. 1 Pre-Sale

In a visionary effort to preserve and share sacred feminine wisdom, three acclaimed women, Dharma teacher Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton, chant artist Nina Rao, and composer/violinist Genevieve Walker have joined forces to create an enchanting collection of the 21 Tara mantras, powerful Tibetan Buddhist chants known to “take the wind out of fear and suffering.”

This groundbreaking project is bringing these ancient practices to life through the Tara Mantra Mala trilogy—original melodies designed to preserve sacred sound, deepen meditation, and make the blessings of Tara accessible to all.

21 Taras Collective Mantra Mala Vol. 1

“These mantras have traditionally been passed through oral transmission in Tibetan-speaking communities. Now, practitioners of all backgrounds can connect with them through melody.”

— Lama Tsultrim Allione

21 Taras Collective mantra Mala Vol. 1 Preview

Sita's Gems Unearthing the Vastness of the Divine Feminine Audiobook Course

Giving thanks to Mother Earth for continually providing. But we know we take is too much. Give us the strength to moderate, recycle, rewild, rejuvenate, conserve, preserve, and honor with mindful gratitude.

Sita, born of the earth, embodies the beauty of Mother Earth in her infinite wisdom, compassion, and courage.

My experience reading the Ramayana from a young age left me feeling concerned about the treatment of Sita in the story-telling. I’ve talked about this on my podcast on @beherenownetwork with more current re-tellings.

Now.. I am so honored to be part of this mandala of people honoring Sita Devī in this ground-breaking audio program with original verses of Valmiki’s Ramayana with commentary from brilliant women, and devotional music.

Sita is a radiant embodiment of the Divine Feminine, who dwells in our hearts.
Sita’s Gems invites us on a journey into the Nature of Sita, which is really a journey through the facets of our own nature. This is a pilgrimage into the sacred heartspace, steadying us amidst all of life’s challenges.

We have unearthed 24 of the most compelling Passages from the Ramayana, featuring Sita. Here we bring these passages into the light with narration by master storytellers, and then weave them together with commentary by 12 women wisdom leaders.
A veritable Sitayana has emerged, serving to reflect, reframe and recenter the significance of Sita, the central heroine, whose shakti animates the great epic.
This hybrid audio production–part audiobook, part guided course–is a symphony orchestrated to open the doorways of your own heart, while serving to illuminate and integrate the multi-faceted nature of the feminine within us all.

This hybrid audiobook & course features 24 of the most compelling Passages featuring Sita from the epic Rāmāyana. Here we bring these Passages into the light with narrations by master storytellers, and then weave them together with radiant commentary by 12 women wisdom leaders.

• You will receive a Digital Download – 9 hrs of audio with 24 Passages, plus commentary by 12 women wisdom leaders

• Epic Self-Guided Program, including a PDF Listener’s Guide

• Co-hosted by Michael Sternfeld and Nina Rao

• Forward and conclusion by Vandana Shiva

• Sita’s Prayer – a beautiful bhajan audio track by Krishna Das

• An original Kirtan by Nina Rao/Shyama Chapin and their Chorus

Join us on the journey into the nature of Sita…

Please visit SitasGems.com for details and how to order and take your time to listen and hear 🙏🏽 Make sure you use your discount code NINA10

Chris Grosso – The Indie Spiritualist – Ep. 132 – Peaceful Coexistence with Krishna Das and Nina Rao

Reflecting on our ability to peacefully coexist, Nina Rao and Krishna Das join Chris Grosso to talk politics, practice, and more.

Visit BE HERE NOW NETWORK for many podcasts by Chris, Nina, Krishna Das and more