Sleep In Sacred India | GSP Ep 71

Welcome to the Grounded Sleep Podcast. Tonight, you don't have to do anything except get into bed, close your eyes, and allow me to guide you into a deep, restful sleep.

Enjoy letting go of the day, quieting all the mental noise, and going back to that primordial place of stillness that is calling you back.

Transcript

Good evening,

And welcome back to the Grounded Sleep Podcast.

And in tonight's journey,

We'll be going to sacred India.

I lived in India for quite a while,

And it is one of my favorite places in the world.

And so it got me inspired to share some of my favorite places in India,

Where there were some beautiful spiritual teachers,

Teachings,

And just sacred energy.

So namaste,

And as we fall asleep tonight,

Namasko to sleep.

When you're ready,

Get into bed,

Make sure your PJs are on and the lights are off,

Have your retainer in,

Cover your eyes,

Whatever it is that you do,

And let yourself really be ready to go to sleep.

Part of going to sleep is making a decision to let go of the day.

So as you begin to start to relax,

As you begin to slow your breath down,

As you begin to let go of today,

Let yourself take this journey with me to sacred India and feel free to fall asleep at any time.

And we can begin our journey in India over 4,

000 years ago in the fertile plains of the Indus River.

And that's where one of the world's first great civilizations arose,

Known as the Indus Valley Civilization.

The history of India is long and complex over the thousands of years.

So much has come to pass in this sacred land,

And for those of us who've got to experience it and travel there,

There is such a richness in culture,

In history,

And in spirituality.

And I want to start us in what I consider one of the more sacred places in India,

A place called Thiruvannamalai,

And that is in the south of India,

Not too far from the city of Chennai,

And it's where a great sage named Ramana Maharshi lived in the first half of the 20th century.

Today there's a beautiful ashram there.

It's still thriving,

And it's right next to an incredible mountain called Arunachala.

It's also a dormant volcano,

Believed to be a manifestation of the Lord Shiva.

And when I was there,

On a full moon night,

We walked around the mountain.

There were thousands of people making the pilgrimage,

And it was such a beautiful,

Special energy.

And then I went and sat in the ashram and meditated,

Read some of Ramana Maharshi's interviews and teachings,

Visited the cave he meditated in,

And found his enlightenment and it's such a sacred place.

Ramana Maharshi's main teachings centered around asking the question,

Who am I,

And encouraging his students to really look into themselves and find out who they really were.

One of my other favorite places in India,

Where I spent a lot of time,

Is called Rishikesh.

And Rishikesh sits on the banks of the Ganges River in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The word Rishi means seer,

And Kesh means place.

So it is a place of seers,

Of sages.

Sometimes it's also called the yoga capital of the world.

There are countless ashrams up and down the river where people from all over India and all over the world come to meditate and to practice yoga and to practice their traditions.

On this river is a place called the Divine Life Society and an ashram founded by Swami Sivananda,

Who is a very renowned spiritual teacher who wrote many books on yoga and meditation.

And to this day,

You can go to that ashram,

See where he's buried,

And really feel the energy.

And this is a place where I spent a fair amount of time studying Vedanta,

Which is a non-dual spiritual tradition.

And put simply,

It's a form of self-inquiry and meditation on the oneness of all of life and a very profound teaching.

I love Rishikesh.

It's also where the Beatles visited and lived and studied Transcendental Meditation.

It's got an energy to it.

It's fun,

And it's also a very deep place to sit and meditate.

Then we can begin to journey to a place called Varanasi.

Varanasi also sits on the Ganges River and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

And this is a place where they say life and death coexists harmoniously,

Or where the veil between the earthly and the divine feels especially thin.

If you go to Varanasi and walk along the Ghats,

Walk along the river,

You witness daily rituals that have been around for thousands of years.

Pilgrims bathe in the water seeking purification.

There's cremation grounds for those who have passed.

And despite the intensity that you'll feel in Varanasi,

There is also a profound spirituality there.

There's endless labyrinths,

Alleys to walk through,

Temples and ashrams,

And history on every street.

But Varanasi is not for the faint of heart,

So make sure before you go there you spend some time meditating.

Then there's a place I love called Dharamsala.

And that's where the Dalai Lama lives,

The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.

And that is further up in the Himalayas.

And it's a town full of prayer flags,

Monasteries,

Lots of monks in maroon robes.

And then of course,

To this day,

The Dalai Lama lives there.

And if you're lucky,

You can go and even meet him.

People line up to meet him all the time.

As you walk through the streets,

You can feel this warm Tibetan hospitality.

And the Dalai Lama's teachings on compassion,

On nonviolence,

You can really feel them in the atmosphere.

So as we continue to journey,

Let yourself slowly but surely drift into sleep.

We can also explore the deserts of India,

Particularly the deserts of Rajasthan.

Here the golden sands stretch to the horizon.

There's ancient forts,

Palaces full of history,

Tales of valor,

Of romance.

There are cities like Jaipur,

The pink city,

The golden city,

Where you can find emeralds and crystals and all sorts of jewels.

You can ride a camel as the sun sets.

And of course,

Late into the night,

There's a canopy of stars,

Beautiful,

Bright starry nights.

And there's nothing like the peacefulness of the desert.

Make sure you're breathing,

Slowly drifting into the peaceful night.

And let's finish our journey tonight in Ladakh,

The land of high passes,

Mountains,

Valleys,

And monasteries.

Ladakh has incredible rugged roads that weave through the Himalayas,

Sometimes at incredibly high altitudes.

They say Ladakh is a place where the earth meets the sky,

And in my experience,

Time kind of stands still there.

You'll find monks praying,

Chanting,

Turning prayer wheels.

In the wintertime,

The conditions could be harsh,

Very cold.

People will walk up and down the frozen rivers.

You'll see Buddhist monasteries hanging off cliffs,

Small villages perched up on hilltops.

And there's this culture,

This Tibetan culture,

That is so compassionate and peaceful.

And to me,

This is one of the most beautiful and unique places in the world.

But it's hard to reach,

Which makes it that much more special.

And there are so many more places in sacred India we could explore.

We could go to Bodh Gaya and see the Bodhi tree that the Buddha sat under,

Perhaps the third or fourth generation of that tree,

And even pick up a few leaves and take them with us.

We could visit the beautiful coastlines of Kerala and Goa in the southwest part of India.

And,

Of course,

We could explore the cities of India,

Mumbai,

Delhi,

Chennai.

This vast country has so much beauty,

So much tradition to offer us,

And it's really the birthplace of so many of the spiritual practices that have helped awaken countless souls on this planet.

So as we fall asleep tonight,

We honor the reverence of India and all of the gifts that it's given the world.

Allow yourself to drift off into a deep sleep,

A deep restful night where you can recharge,

Dream,

And find peace.

Reviews

🙏🏼

Great, I slept like a baby. Beautiful place and I admire your courage and determination to learn. Mazel tov!!

Good one. TY

thanks david

peacefully zonked right out 🥰

Amazing as always ! Bless be thanking you!

So peaceful. Thanks David 🙏🏻💤

🙏💗

Thank you for sharing, I enjoyed the peaceful walk and your stories of India. 🙏🕊️❤️

🤩🦋🙏🏼☃️🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

Thank you for another calming and restful grounded sleep session! 🙏🏼 ✨

Thank you for your specialized spiritual travel tour through Sacred India. Places I may never see or witness in this lifetime. Namaste 🙏🏻

Very well done

Thank you, David🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻Absolutely excellent! I did not hear the full story. I fell asleep and slept for almost 2 hours. Very grateful 🙏🏻🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🙏🏻