I was born into a Christian family in Georgia. I never felt in tune with Christianity and mostly had a fear based relationship with God and religion as a whole. As a young adult I let go of Christianity and studied various eastern philosophies and religions searching for truth. I practiced meditation and yoga asana. I eventually did a yoga teacher training where I was introduced to various Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist mantras. I was also introduced to the Bhagavad Gita. Reading the Gita caused a huge shift within me, and truly changed the way I lived. Yet, I was not ready to accept Krishna, and continued to study Vedanta as an impersonalist. A little over a year later, I was about to become a parent. Bhakti was a concept that I couldn't stop thinking about. I wanted the personal relationship with the supreme. The lessons of the Bhagavad Gita came back to me. I almost immediately was then made aware of the Srimad Bhagavatam, and discovered the Wisdom of the Sages podcast in January of this year. I have listened and chanted Maha Mantra everyday since. I'm not completely open about my path with my parents and some of my relatives, but I make a point to show them our common values while I slowly let them know more about my spiritual beliefs and practices. Krishna has blessed me with my loving, supportive partner, Sage. Myself and so many others are blessed with the accessable teaching of the Bhagavatam from Kaustubha Das and Raghunath Cappo despite being far from a temple or a local sangha. I was also blessed with my own physical copies of the books of the Bhagavatam thanks to the NYC Harinam. Jai Shri Krishna!
