THE COURAGE TO BE REAL
An online (Zoom) symposium that will explore issues rarely discussed in Vaishnava circles that are foundationally important to our material and spiritual well-being.
Mahatma Das
Punishing Ourselves for Being Ourselves
Passionate about self-care and Learn how to balance and deal with the paradoxical reality of wanting to be someone much better than who we presently are.
Swami Padmanabha
Self-love in Bhakti: The Root of All Belonging
Explore how a deep sense of belonging emerges, not from earning love, but from realizing we are already loved—fully and unconditionally—by the Divine.
Dhanya Dasi
Emotional Fluency: Authentic Communication as a Path to Connection
Weaving together ancient spiritual wisdom and contemporary findings, we explore ways in which language, emotion and relationship are intimately related.
Sukhavaha Dasi
Some Truth About the Lies We Tell Ourselves
Discover what keeps us from being TRUE to ourselves and how to live in alignment with our spiritual essence.
Each presentation will include an exercise, followed by questions and answers, and a panel discussion with all the presenters.
event details
date
September 13th and 14th
time
9:00AM – 12:30pm EDT
Cost
Offered on a donation basis
meet the presenters
who is mahatma das?
Mahatma Das was born in Los Angeles, California in 1950. In 1969, at the age of 19, he first met Srila Prabhupada through The Bhagavad Gita As It Is, and then later that year met Srila Prabhupada personally in Los Angeles. In January of 1970 he moved into the temple in Berkeley, California and shortly after received first and second initiation.
He went on to do a variety of services including book distribution, sankirtan leader, temple president, college preaching, congregational development, and various educational projects. This has culminated in the work he does today developing workshops, social media, online courses and books both for devotees as well as the general public through his company Sattva Life (https://sattva-life.mn.co). He practically shows the many ways that Krishna consciousness offers solutions to today’s challenges and writes and teaches in a way that resonates with devotees and people in general by helping them see life as a spiritual practice.
Mahatma Prabhu is well known in ISKCON for his recorded and live music, most notably his recording of Brahma Samhita, but also for his workshops on such essential topics as Japa, Forgiveness, Humility, Vows and Marriage.
He is based in Alachua, Florida where he lives with his wife Jahnava and daughter Syamamandali, and travels about four months a year.
About His Talk
Every devotee, indeed every human being, is confronted with a paradox: we anxiously aspire for something that resonates deeply within us, but simultaneously our conditioned nature aspires for the opposite. We want to be humble, but we like praise; we want to live simply, but we like stuff; we want this, but we like that. Intellectually, we may acknowledge something is good for us, but often our humanness wants something else. We want it, yet we don’t want it. We discuss how to deal with this reality in a way that honors and harmonizes both our aspirations and human needs. We will also discuss how to know when our aspirations, however strong they may be, are beyond our current capabilities.
who is danya dasi?
Dhanya is a musician, traveling kirtaniya, and educator on topics of personal and relationship wellness. She holds a Master’s degree in Counselor Education and a Specialist’s degree in Couples and Family Therapy. For over a decade, Dhanya has helped empower individuals and relationships to thrive with authentic spiritual and relational practices at the core of transformational experiences.
Dhanya facilitates workshops and pilgrimages around the world, guiding and supporting participants on the path of devotion.
About Her Talk
In this session, we will weave together ancient spiritual wisdom and contemporary findings in the field of personal and relationship development to address the need for a vocabulary of emotion.
We will explore the ways in which language, emotion and relationship are intimately related, and how, ultimately, our capacity for love can be expanded and amplified using the gift of authentic communication.
Who is sukhavaha dasi?
Born and raised a Protestant minister’s daughter, Sukhavaha graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Welfare from Pennsylvania State University in 1974. In 1975 at age 21 she accepted initiation from her guru, Srila Prabhupada. She was ordained an Interfaith Minister in January of 1992.
With decades of training in various healing and coaching modalities, she empowers spiritual seekers to address their buried emotions in order to assist in their relationships and spiritual development.
She leads workshops on compassionate communication, emotional healing and relationships, as well as engaging in one-on-one sessions.
Dedicated to showing the profound, yet simple power of emotional maturity, of choosing words carefully, she has authored four books:
Revealing the Heart: The Practice of Compassion;
Finding the GAP, Some Truth About the Lies We Tell Ourselves;
Entering the GAP, More Truth About the Lies We Tell Ourselves;
What to Do About Sue, a memoir of her deprogramming at age 22.
She is currently a Chaplain and course facilitator with Karuna Care.
She is a mother of three and grandmother of three and lives near New Vrindaban, West Virginia in a house personally built by her children and her.
About Her Talk
In this lecture, Self-love in Bhakti: The Root of All Belonging, we’ll explore how a deep sense of belonging emerges not from earning love but from realizing we are already loved—fully and unconditionally—by the Divine. Drawing from the bhakti tradition, we’ll reflect on how Krishna’s loving gaze becomes a sacred mirror in which we learn to recognize our own worth. Rather than bypassing our humanity, this path invites us to embrace it—allowing divine love to soften our shame, heal our self-rejection, and teach us how to belong to ourselves, to each other, and to the Beloved.
who is swami padmanabha?
Swami Padmanabha is a Gaudiya Vaishnava monk, spiritual teacher, and student of contemplative theology whose work explores the intersections of devotion, love, and inner transformation. He has authored three books and numerous essays, translated into several languages, and engages in ongoing dialogue across traditions and disciplines.
He is the founder of the Tadatmya Alliance (tadatmya.org) and host of The Free Radical Podcast, a platform for interspiritual conversation and shared inquiry. Fluent in both English and Spanish, Swami offers talks and teachings at universities, spiritual communities, and interfaith gatherings internationally.
For over twenty-five years, he has traveled widely, accompanying others on their inner journey through retreats, mentorship, and spiritual study. He is also a Certified Professional Coach, drawing from this training to support personal and collective growth. His offerings—available at swamipadmanabha.com—invite reflection, inner stillness, and relationship with the sacred.
About His Talk
In this lecture, Self-love in Bhakti: The Root of All Belonging, we’ll explore how a deep sense of belonging emerges not from earning love but from realizing we are already loved—fully and unconditionally—by the Divine. Drawing from the bhakti tradition, we’ll reflect on how Krishna’s loving gaze becomes a sacred mirror in which we learn to recognize our own worth. Rather than bypassing our humanity, this path invites us to embrace it—allowing divine love to soften our shame, heal our self-rejection, and teach us how to belong to ourselves, to each other, and to the Beloved.