Gurudev Shri Amritji (Amrit Desai) shares wisdom on kundalini awakening, yoga, and meditation as direct gateways to self-discovery and God within. His story moves from founding the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health to a deeper second awakening after leaving Kripalu, reframing karma, ego, and life challenges as catalysts for growth. Key themes include surrender to being, freedom from becoming, accepting what is as is, timeless presence, and awakening the inner teacher. Listeners drawn to chronic stress relief, emotional memory healing, post-traumatic stress, and zero-stress yoga will find practical spiritual insights for modern life. The teachings point toward aging with vitality at 93, living beyond the ego mind, and embodying yoga as a path to inner peace, balance, and awakening.
Takeaways:
- Awakening keeps unfolding - it’s not a single moment, but a continual deepening into timeless presence.
- Accept what is as is - fully meeting painful events without blame or shame erases karmic patterns and past suffering.
- From becoming to being - real freedom comes from dropping ego-driven striving and living from the God-centered presence within.
Quotes:
- "Most people think enlightenment is a one-stroke awakening, and the whole job is done. There is no such thing."
- "If I fight with it, I am reliving my past again and again… that is why I say accept what is as is."
- "This is the transition from becoming an ego mind to the being that I am now."
Timestamps:
[00:00:04] – Introducing Gurudev Shri Amritji and the “Age of Possibility”
Peggy opens the show, shares why Gurudev is her first guest, and summarizes his journey from Gujarat to becoming a pioneering yoga master in the U.S. and founder of Kripalu.
[00:02:03] – Early Years, Intuitive Yoga, and Becoming a Teacher in America
Gurudev explains how he arrived in the U.S. as a high-school graduate, learned yoga from a simple poster, and unexpectedly became a sought-after yoga teacher in the 1960s.
[00:05:27] – Art, Creativity, and the Mystic’s Path
Peggy asks about his art background; Gurudev connects artists, musicians, and dancers to the heart's creative source and describes how this inner connection shaped his yoga teaching.
[00:09:17] – The 1970 Kundalini Awakening: From Doing Yoga to Non-Doing Presence
Gurudev recounts his Kundalini awakening in Pennsylvania, the spontaneous movements that followed, and his realization that an “intelligent energy” or God within was guiding the practice.
[00:14:19] – Leaving Kripalu as a Second, Deeper Awakening
After a tech interruption and reset, Gurudev reframes the painful loss of Kripalu as a karmic event that became a second, deeper awakening, emphasizing acceptance over blame or shame.
[00:19:55] – Karma, Crucifixion of the Ego, and Erasing Past Patterns
He explains karma as “as you sow, so shall you reap,” how tragic events surface old karmic seeds, and how conscious acceptance can erase karmic imprints instead of reliving them.
[00:24:02] – Enlightenment as an Ongoing Journey, Not One Stroke
Gurudev challenges the idea of instant enlightenment, describing awakening as a continuous movement from time-bound ego into timeless presence, moment by moment.
[00:26:58] – The True Role of a Teacher: Awakening the Teacher Within
He shares that his real work is not creating followers but transmitting energy so receptive students awaken their own inner teacher and continue the inner journey themselves.
[00:28:27] – Aging, Slowing Down, and Accepting the Body as It Is
Gurudev reflects on aging at 93, noticing frustration when his body slows, and using that as a cue to return to presence, acceptance, and harmony with the “energy body.”
[00:36:23] – Surrender to Being, Freedom from Becoming
Prompted by Peggy’s question about his core phrase, he explains “becoming” as ego’s time-bound striving and contrasts it with “being” as timeless awareness beyond success and suffering.
[00:38:50] – Who He Sees in the Mirror Today
Asked how he sees himself now, Gurudev describes living in profound balance (even measured by devices as decades “younger”) and feeling increasingly free from past conditioning.
[00:41:44] – Final Message: God Within, Garden of Eden, and Sharing the Path
In closing, he expresses his wish to share everything he’s received, guiding seekers to find God right here, right now within the body described as the Garden of Eden and Shiva’s abode.
Conclusion:
Gurudev Shri Amritji’s journey is a living reminder that awakening is not a single moment, but a lifelong unfolding into deeper presence, acceptance, and freedom. From his early days in America learning yoga from a poster, to founding Kripalu, to walking through profound loss without blame or shame, he consistently points back to one central truth: accept what is as is. His stories of kundalini awakening, karmic cleansing, and aging with grace show how surrender to being can dissolve the stress and suffering created by the time-bound ego mind. Rather than chasing fulfillment by becoming “more” on the outside, he invites us to recognize the timeless awareness already here and let that presence guide each step. For anyone feeling weighed down by chronic stress, past mistakes, or fear of the future, Gurudev’s teachings offer a direct, practical doorway to inner peace right here, right now, within.
AmritYoga.org, Programs, Articles & Resources
Amritji.TV, Online Streaming Library & Weekly Livestreams
AmritKala.com, Bookstore & Publications
Amazon: Embodying the Power of the Zero Stress Zone
Register now for Gurudev Shri Amritji’s 94th Birthday
