670. Robin Chaurasiya

Buddha at the Gas Pump

Rick Archer

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.7 • 695 Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2022

⏱️ 124 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Robin was born and raised in the US with a very religious and schizophrenic mother as well as a violent and atheist father. At 14, Robin started volunteering with various non-profits organizations and traveling the world, two lifelong passions which led her to work with dozens of NGOs and travel to nearly 100 countries. After spending several years in the US Air Force, Robin was kicked out for being lesbian which led to her new life as an activist. At 24, she started Kranti, an NGO that empowers survivors of trafficking and daughters of sex workers from Mumbai's red-light areas, where she lived and worked for a decade. In 2020, Robin moved to a mud hut at 13K feet in the Himalayas without any water, electricity or toilet. For over a year, she wasn't online, didn't read any book and didn't speak with anyone. In July 2021, she started working part time from the mountains and became a certified BatGap addict. She returned to civilization in August 2022. The spiritual routine at Kranti: Our house is a mix of girls who have been raised Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, and Jain. We are extremely mindful of integrating all of these traditions (as well as a few others like Sikhism) into our daily lives as well as our travel experiences. Just to give you an idea, some of the places we make sure to take all Kranti girls are: Golden Temple in Amritsar, Dalai Lama's temple in McLeodganj, Nizamuddin's shrine in Delhi, St. Thomas' basilica in Chennai, Haji Ali's shrine in Mumbai, as well as dozens of famous Hindu temples around India. All of the girls are required to attend 10-day Vipassana courses, either the programs specifically for teens or on their own after age 18, as well as Buddhist philosophy courses at Tushita Meditation center. We are connected to quite a few spiritual leaders here, and the Dalai Lama's translator, as well as Sri M, are regular visitors at the Kranti home. But most importantly, yoga and meditation are the first activities of the day at Kranti School, along with daily journaling and writing gratitude letters every morning. All of the girls have a therapist through a Mumbai-based organization called Inner Space where all therapists and clients are trained in mindfulness based cognitive therapy. Kranti's website: kranti-india.org Kranti's Instagram page Kranti's Facebook page Donating to Kranti: Kranti Home and School Fundraiser savethechild.org Tax exempt for US donors.) Milaap: Help the Survivors of Trafficking (India-based, doesn't deduct fee. Not tax exempt for US donors.) Donating to Happy Feet Home (hospice for terminally ill children) Contact Robin PDF with more info about Robin, her upcoming book, and Kranti Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded November 20, 2022 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:05:40 - The Motivation of Kranti 00:10:15 - Childhood Memories and Spiritual Moments 00:15:03 - Childhood Curiosity and Spiritual Exploration 00:19:28 - The Age of 12: Dreams, Stealing, and Non-Existence 00:24:21 - The Key Players in My Journey 00:29:01 - The Unstoppable Desire 00:33:48 - Overcoming Challenges and Unexpected Help 00:37:57 - A Moment of Realization and Gratitude 00:42:55 - The Impact of Extraordinary Girls and Gender Inequality in India 00:47:49 - Taking in the Kids 00:52:43 - Unexpected Meeting in Glastonbury 00:57:30 - The Neo-Advaita Movement 01:02:28 - The Beauty of Seeing People in Their Perfection 01:07:05 - The Purpose of Life and Finding Happiness 01:11:23 - From Sex Worker to Drum Circle Facilitator 01:15:57 - The Generosity of an Illiterate Sex Worker 01:20:41 - Compassion in the Red Light Area 01:25:10 - Girl's Perception and Plans for the Future 01:29:30 - Supporting Children in Mumbai 01:33:36 - The Value of Love and Support

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Hello and welcome everyone to Budheta Gas Pump. It is my pleasure, honor, joy to introduce Rick Archer, who is the host.
0:35.2	Buda The Gas Pump is an ongoing series of conversations with spiritually awakening people.
0:41.2	And he's done nearly 700 of them now.
0:43.5	And if you are new to this, you can go on the website and under batgap.com, look under
0:49.4	past interviews and you'll find them categorized in a variety of ways and interests according to you.
0:55.6	And most importantly, this beautiful, amazing, lovely show is made possible.
1:00.7	Sorry to sound like PBS from the kind and generous support of viewers like you.
1:06.4	So if you'd like to contribute either one time or regularly, please go on the BatGap website and do that as well.
1:12.9	There is an option for PayPal as well as many other things in case you don't like PayPal.
1:18.2	And if anyone wants to contribute to BatGap on my behalf, that would be really a blessing because
1:23.0	I don't have money of my own to contribute to anything. And Bat Gap has been absolutely life-changing
1:28.2	for me. And I'd like to add to that that I would like a personal award, like a prize for supposedly
1:34.7	having watched the most Bat Gaps by now, besides Irene, of course. But if someone wants to dispute
1:40.1	my prize, then they can do that. But besides that, I think I hold the title.
1:44.6	Actually, Irene's only watched a couple of them. She doesn't watch them. She just hears my end
1:48.5	of the conversation. So I definitely, the word is already mine then. Okay, you got it. Cool.
1:55.0	Okay, so I will introduce myself as well. Rick's guest today is Robin Characcia. What I love about that gap is this
2:04.4	whole idea that it's with ordinary people and awakenings that people, ordinary people are experiencing.
2:11.2	Like I said, it's been life-changing for me to hear all of these interviews. I'll get into it more
2:16.0	in detail later about why it's been so
2:17.7	magnificent and such a special part of my life. But basically just to introduce myself, I was
2:23.1	born and raised in the U.S. spent some time in the U.S. military and was kicked out under the
	...

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