745. Swami Sarvapriyananda – Enlightenment, AI, and Advaita Vedanta

Buddha at the Gas Pump

Rick Archer

Spirituality, Society & Culture, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 695 Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2026

⏱️ 120 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Swami Sarvapriyananda has been the Minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York since January 2017. He joined the Ramakrishna Math in 1994 and received sannyasa in 2004. He served as an acharya (teacher) of the monastic probationers’ training center at Belur Math, India. He also served in various capacities in different educational institutes of the Ramakrishna Mission in India and as the Assistant Minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California. During 2019-2020 he was a Nagral Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School. Swami Sarvapriyananda is a well-known speaker on Vedanta and his talks are extremely popular globally via the internet. He has been a speaker on various prestigious forums such as TEDx, SAND, Google Talk etc. He has also been invited to speak at several universities across the world, including Harvard University. The swami has engaged in dialogue with many eminent thinkers such as Deepak Chopra, Rupert Spira, Rick Archer, David Chalmers and Sam Harris. He has played a prominent role in organizing and participating in various interfaith panels and seminars, including speaking at the World Parliament of Religions in Toronto in 2018, and at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Learn more in Conversations. Swami Sarvapriyananda is a prolific writer and speaker whose works make the insights of Advaita Vedanta accessible to modern audiences. His publications include Mahavakya: The Essence of Vedanta, Fullness & Emptiness: Vedanta and Buddhism, and From Illusion to Infinity: Discovering the Self. The more recent book Conversations on Vedanta in Practice is a curated collection of question and answer sessions with the Swami, on topics of practical importance. The wide range of his writings reflect his deep engagement with comparative philosophy and the application of Vedantic wisdom in daily life. He has also contributed essays and research papers on the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the philosophy of consciousness. Mentioned during the interview: Consciousness Across Three Worldviews - Central concepts in three different domains — Hindu tradition, computer science and quantum physics — Paper by Swami Sarvapriyananda, Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Carlo Rovelli Website: vedantany.org YouTube channel Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group First BatGap interview with Swami Sarvapriyananda Swami Sarvapriyananda on Ethical Foundations of Nondual Spirituality Interview recorded December 18, 2025

Transcript

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0:00.0	This correction is enlightenment.
0:01.7	Enlightenment is the removal of ignorance, is the correction of error.
0:05.9	Enlightenment does not make you Brahman, does not make you Atman,
0:09.8	does not make you pure being or pure consciousness, which you already are.
0:13.7	So there is no beginning and end to your reality, which is pure being, pure consciousness,
0:19.3	Atman, Brahman.
0:27.1	Thank you. reality which is pure being, pure consciousness, Atman, Brahman. Welcome to Buddha at the gas pump. My name is Rick Archer. Buddha at the gas pump is an ongoing
0:34.4	series of conversations with spiritually awakening people.
0:39.1	We're just about to enter our 17th season of doing this,
0:42.6	and we have recorded nearly 750 interviews now.
0:47.1	This show is made possible through the support of appreciative listeners and viewers,
0:51.6	so if you would like to help support it,
0:54.0	there's a PayPal
0:54.7	button on every page of the website and a page suggesting alternatives to PayPal. And also,
1:01.1	another way of supporting it is, you know how YouTube's algorithm works. If you like it and you
1:07.5	subscribe and things like that, the algorithm takes notice and recommends it to more people.
1:14.4	So if you enjoy this, go ahead and click the subscribe button or at least the like button.
1:19.8	My guest today is Swami Sarvapri Ananda.
1:23.8	He is the minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of New York, post once held by
1:29.6	Swami Vivekananda, who was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He joined the Ramakrishna Moth in
1:35.8	1994 and took Sinyasa, monastic vows, in 2004. In 2019 and 20, he was a Nagraal fellow at Harvard Divinity School.
1:47.7	Swami G is a popular Vedanta teacher. He's spoken at various forums such as TEDx and Sand and
	...

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