1631: Western Souls, Eastern Roads: The Spiritual Migration to India
Wisdom of the Sages
David Ramella
5 • 970 Ratings
🗓️ 21 June 2025
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Westerners are booking flights to India—not for the Taj Mahal or butter chicken, but to chant Sanskrit mantras in rice fields, live in ashrams, and wake up at 4 a.m. for kirtan. What’s really going on here?
In this eye-opening episode, Raghunath sit down with anthropology PhD student Keli Lalita to explore a striking modern phenomenon: why so many people from the West are adopting spiritual practices rooted in ancient India. What begins as a yoga class in a Brooklyn studio often leads to life-changing pilgrimages and a search for something deeper than downward dog.
With warmth and wit, they dig into the cultural exchange between East and West, the rise of postural yoga, and the unexpected spiritual longing that’s drawing thousands toward Bhakti Yoga.
Key Highlights:
• Why a yoga retreat can feel more real than your “real life”
• The anthropology of coffee dates, family structures, and spiritual community
• How the Hare Krishnas—and other Eastern paths—captured Western hearts
• Modern yoga: more global remix than ancient export
• “It’s not just a vacation—it’s a return to something we forgot we were looking for.”
🎧 Subscribe now and discover why a growing number of Western seekers are trading their passports for prayer beads.
#BhaktiYoga #YogaPilgrimage #AnthropologyOfReligion #EastMeetsWest #SpiritualLonging #WisdomOfTheSages #ModernYoga #KirtanRevolution
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Namaste everybody, it's Raganath, and I want to announce my autumn pilgrimage 2025 to sacred India. |
| 0:08.6 | Tons of Kirtan, tons of Bhakti. |
| 0:11.1 | It is my great passion and pleasure to take people to sacred cities, sacred rivers, sacred people, |
| 0:18.8 | and of course, amazing vegetarian and vegan food prepared with love. |
| 0:25.2 | If India's been calling you, this could be the trip. |
| 0:28.6 | Go to my website, ragunov.orgia.orgia,000-J-N-A-T-H-U-N-A-T-H-E-H-D-H-E-H-N-A-T-H-E-H-N-A-T-H-E-H-E-T-H-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-L-E-R-E-E-L-E-R-E-E-L-E- pilgrimage is not just about what will happen. |
| 0:59.2 | It's about this infinite possibility of what could happen. |
| 1:01.9 | You have, you don't know. |
| 1:08.0 | And that's one of the sort of elements of what makes it a pilgrimage is that, you know, |
| 1:30.3 | you know, like if you're home, you know, you're going to go to work from this time to this time. And it's like Monday night is the time to take out the trash. And then you have to like go to the DMV and turn your plates in. You know what, you know what the end result, you know action and then the risk, what it's going to happen. And on pilgrimage, one of the things is this infinite potentiality of having no idea what will happen. And on pilgrimage, one of the things is this infinite potentiality of having no idea what will happen and being open to that space of infinite. |
| 1:36.3 | Oh, no, baghabetha, ba-shed-va-a-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-tah. Bhagavati Vasudevaia Oh no |
| 1:46.0 | Bhagavati |
| 1:48.0 | Basque de |
| 1:49.0 | Baháah |
| 1:50.0 | Oh |
| 1:51.0 | Abha |
| 1:52.0 | Bhagavati |
| 1:53.0 | Vasude |
| 1:54.0 | Bahia |
| 1:55.0 | Ah |
| 1:56.0 | Oh |
| 1:58.0 | Oh |
... |
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