She sums up the larger picture as the “shift from unconsciousness to personal consciousness to universal consciousness; from self (i) to Self (I).  It begins with Self empowerment and moves to surrender & non doership; it begins with mind expansion and leads to mindlessness; it begins with claming your Creatorhood and slowly dissolving into all that is.  The larger picture helps in day to day ways too for any true spirituality cannot be cut off from your here and now .So yes the first part is claming your Creatorhood, knowing how you shape your life; understanding the many tools towards this; leading a better life through simple shifts in perception…because by changing the labels one lives by we live a better life! Indeed this macroscopic view emphasizes that the spiritual path is not of running away or holding God/Fate/the other responsible but one of increasing self-responsibility…at tripartite levels- our personal realities, the environment and the world we live in! Though this deepest gnosis we automatically begin to move away from limiting emotions like blame and anger! It also increasingly allows one to make impossible sounding concepts like non judgment and all-inclusive acceptance a natural way of being! And then it moves deeper and we face the paradox of throwing out all that we initially learn -not because it is less important-but because it’s done its all important work in laying the springboard for us to dive deep from! The journey is not literally linear- with different stages juxtaposing –till it all culminates –in different ways for each of us! Yes I would say the move from personal to universal consciousness is tailor made for each one and not some set prescribed path!"

Q: How and when did you start taking interest in the deeper side of life, like “knowing, the self” “inner journey”, “touching theta state of being” etc.

It might sound a paradox, but at one level I was always interested in the deeper side of life; and at another level it all happened suddenly! It was around the year 2001. Life had thrown me a curve, and to be honest I dived more deeply into the spiritual aspect, only to find a quick-fix method out of my pain! I had no idea that this exploration would actually have nothing to do with externally fixing anything but instead lead to a complete inner shift. To a desire for not merely a smoother year but for what I at that stage called enlightenment....! To not only imbibing spiritual truths… but spreading them!

On hindsight, I realize it was not as sudden as it appeared, for I was born into a deeply spiritual (not religious, for we were the very opposite of that!)  large joint family...with my parents, aunts and uncles each resonating to different gurus. I was exposed to the darshan (meeting)  of a wide range of living Masters since the earliest of days.  In fact the spiritual & esoteric was a regular aspect of life ... but in a lighthearted background kind way… becasue inspite of this backdrop we were a very modern family living interestingly full lives! So while I had no formalized spiritual learning ...I read voraciously…western and indian authors... and indeed even as we cousins would hang out together the conversations would often veer to ‘spiritual’ topics and debates...! So I guess all that was the fertile soil… for the ‘sudden’ flowering to happen. It was especially beneficial that I was not exposed to one guru or spiritual belief  but many… for indeed my current reaching out is exactly that- a blend of all into a larger all inclusive universal wisdom or path.

Q: How did you realize that you can be a channel (Medium)? Could you share your personal experiences in channeling?

I did not know anything about ‘channeling’ till 2001, when I read my first channeled book- by American author Jane Roberts channeling an entity called Seth. They were seemingly abstract & complex books to the few I tried to share them with and yet I somehow ‘understood’ their deeper essence almost immediately; almost like a deep recognition within! Indeed it became a 24/7 for me… I would only be thinking, speaking, even dreaming of their truths! And actually, the moment I read the first book, I knew that it was my purpose to be—to channel, to receive spiritual understanding, and spread the word as a modern young woman enjoying a full life, and thus showing by example how the two need not be mutually exclusive states. Yet at that point, I had no idea why I thought so …and how it would happen sitting at home without any idea or cultural environment of channeling !Indeed channeling wasn’t common place and was seen more as being possessed by sprits or talking to the dead!

However even as I began speaking to friends about all that I had understood, they increasingly got interested and the circle grew… and in order to explain it better to them I started writing all that I had grasped…but somewhere in this process I realized that what I was writing was beyond not only the Seth material, but far beyond what I as Divyaa knew….! Even then I did not think that I was ‘channeling’! But it was all so fascinating that I just went along for the ride!  After that, it was paradoxically both a completely uncanny and a completely natural process. I started sitting in ‘meditation’- without any guidance or teacher or systems indeed. Initially ‘Seth’ would be so palpably present… almost downloading stuff into me; and then other Masters started appearing; even sleep became about learning on some inner plane for I awoke with so much ‘gyan’….that sometimes I thought I was going mad …but as this continued and I shared with friends and they were enabled…my doubts slowly decreased and confidence slowly grew! Initially I required the external validation- and when someone quoted or came across what I had got from within- in spiritual texts or the words of revered Masters- I would feel somewhat assuaged. I started to feel ok maybe I am somehow on the right track! Not coincidentally, I unexpectedly met a channeling group right here in Mumbai- the Jade Fire group where its two main mediums channeled universal wisdom and Master energies publicly. Soon after I started attending their public meetings the Masters asked me to become one of their channels! Again doubts had assailed, for receiving wisdom within...in  my meditations... and sharing through my writing was one thing, but sitting up there on a platform and channeling in public was quite another…(I am still shy of public speaking) and yet it ‘happened’. I focused firmly on where all this seemed to be going; how right it somehow felt; the feedback from those I could visibly see as deeply impacted … and somehow the words came, energies built up, confidence developed, the flow became easier and the energies so very palpapable that I just couldn’t doubt self.  After that, it all just became more and more automatic. I channeled as part of the Jade Fire group, reaching out to hundreds…which then led to my own energy work, healing, tarot, theta and higher states of meditation and eventually to giving discourses, without the need to ‘channel’ anymore. I realize that the ‘channeling’ part of the journey was a sort of opening within me…a triggering of subconscious knowledge and now with the gyan (wisdom) more consciously a part of me, the channeling has taken a back seat. I reach out through informal discourses, classes, meditation sessions and even personal sessions for people.

Q: Have you tried Seance? We would like to hear your comments on that.

Actually there is a subtle difference between medium ship and channeling-though different people use these terms in different ways! To me, as a medium, one connects with the deceased through séances. As channels, we focus on receiving universal wisdom by linking with universal consciousness and the many aspects within it. Of course there are no clear divining lines, and I have on occasion connected with those who have passed on … but my focus was so very clear on being a receptacle for ‘gyan’ and spreading that grace…thus this is what unraveled.  A séance is group of people who meet to connect with those have passed on. A channeling session is more like a satsang- like-minded people gather to hear universal truths!

Q: Can you briefly describe channeling for our readers?

Channeling, simply put, is connecting to a higher or vaster source of ‘knowing’ than your currently conscious one! It is not as exotic as it appears, for anyone can do it, indeed everyone does it at some level… everyone ‘channels’ at different points in their life: inspired books, art, movies, even inspired day-to-day decisions, or the surprising strength and motivation to deal with situations is often what we could call ‘channeled’. These people are unconsciously connected to their higher aspects- operating from beyond their ego/mind-due to some trigger! The only difference as ‘channels’ is that we do it on call, with a specific purpose- to receive and spread gyan, healing or universal  energy frequencies.! Over time as you expand your energy field and merge with this universal aspect of self…the knowing becomes more conscious and the need to ‘link’ or channel falls away and we speak as self! In Vedic terms, as you expand from (or remove the boundaries between) manas and buddhi and aham and chitta, it is channeling! It can be said that many of our ancient scriptures are channeled… when the rishi’s heard it within them… it was channeling!  I still receive a lot of my knowing like a sort of capsule…either in meditation or when I mull on a subject…and as I sit to write or speak… it somehow unravels and clarifies itself!

Q; How did you grow spiritually?

Ah, you want me to answer that in a few lines!! I shall try! Tapas, clarity, awareness and contemplation is what I would say -today! Tomorrow I might change this!

I refer not the tapas as in sacrifice or hard work, but tapas as in passion. When there is passion, it becomes effortless effort! Where there is passion, there is focus! The root word of discipline is ‘disciple’- and when you are disciple to something, a person or goal, or self growth, discipline is automatic and not enforced! With this passion and focus and discipline, the right tools come along; the combination works like a life force! One doesn’t ‘do’ much …things happen! In my case, I did not have an outer teacher, but the inner legion just unfurled and my pretty undisciplined life just developed a passionate focus!

The second word I would emphasize is clarity! Clarity at many levels- but the most startling was the clarity that arose when I realized what I/life could be; of what I need not be any more; the clarity that oh yes this is what I choose as my life experience!  The clarity that I could become self sufficient rather than dependant on the outside world; and find happiness in self rather than get a temporary fix through another!  And why I count clarity as an important step in my journey is because in this clarity- choices suddenly became so very clear! Anything that didn’t fit in with this goal just fell off without effort!  Let me give you an analogy…if you know that you are going to the best 5-star restaurant for lunch, you wont eat the bhelpuri (junk food) on the way; you won’t be tempted to  stop for a sandwich you wont have to ‘stop’ yourself because you know that you are going to that great place! There will just be no desire to… It will be no sacrifice! I would like to add that I was not the sacrifice/disciplined type…so the clarity was an important trigger!

The 3rd word I would use and actually emphasize is awareness, because really it’s all about awareness. Indeed I call my workshops “The larger picture”, for when you expand your awareness from the microcosm to the macrocosm; you see things from a larger perspective. You literally change the way you think, feel, act- automatically. As word count is important for your interview, let me explain this through a simple analogy: if you fall in my house on the way to an important meeting and fracture your leg, you will be angry; but when you become aware that your car blew up even while you broke your leg… the anger will automatically go and indeed turn to thankfulness. If you are driving by and see a man drag a young girl off the street, you will be upset; but if you walked into the hut and saw it was a movie-set, then there will be no anger to control!  In the same manner- when you become aware of the larger picture behind your life- events and people- and see your personal scenarios through the macroscopic view of the soul, it all changes automatically. As you expand your lens, you expand the way you look at self, the other, life and god. This leads not only to a better life here and now, but to claiming your ‘Godself’/Universality! You realize that you are creator and your thoughts create your world; by changing them you can improve life. And it keeps building, for you then move into the complete trust that all is perfect in the now- in this life becomes restful even in action! But awareness of all these is required or how can it become yours? Again an analogy will simplify the importance of awareness: if your neighbor was giving away gold for free, and you did not know about it, you could not be recipient. Yet someone who heard about it from another part of the city or even world could come and receive this abundance, purely because they were aware of it!

Last but not least is contemplation. Reading, hearing etc can take you only so far. Till something resonates as your very frequency -it’s only intellectual understanding and not your truth. Contemplation is internalizing it… making it part of your energy fields, your vibration! As it becomes your frequency…your energy field increasingly expands to merge with universal consciousness - and its joy, bliss, wisdom, love, devotion become a part of you. But these states- love, devotion, divine focus etc  are not ‘steps’ you have to take… they are actually descriptions of what happens …so one should not fret that you cant ‘do’ it… for they will happen in their own time! If you want to make tea, yes you take the first few steps-of filling the kettle, lighting the stove, placing it there…but when we describe the water boiling, the steam emanating, the kettle whistling- we describe what transpires rather than what you have to ‘do’! Sometimes people try to feel the yearning; try to feel the fulfillment…and that comes in the way! Ask me! When someone use to speak about unconditional love, surrender and 24/7 divinity I thought these to be impossible states -with those claming it using it as a cop out because that lacked a full personal life- now I know how natural and easily attainable these states are! And life becomes a paradoxical blend of divine yearning and divine fulfillment at the same time! My unfolding has all been through my meditations...which were/are spontaneous.... indeed all that i write ,share, or follow for my self is all recieved in meditation... though increasingly i find that now even without 'sitting' in meditation...i am tapping into some inner font of knowing...

One sure fire clue: if you are enjoying the journey you are on the right track! When people ask me whether they try this path or that…go to this or that teacher …I tell them to do whatever draws them in the now for that is what they require in the now! You will desire what you need - so trust that! Even if it leads to a temporary non productive experience or  dead end- for that 'seeming mistake' was what we needed to meet, face, get out of the way...and in this understanding...there are no wrong choices! This frees you to follow your bliss!

Q: Who is your Guru?

Clichéd as it might sound- life and every master, book, email I have come across has been a guru. As a child, having the grace to meet many masters close up, I used to yearn for one of them to be ‘my’ guru! I received tremendous grace from some - but initiation never happened. I think I actually used to feel bad- and rejected- but now I realize  my guru was supposed to be an internal awakening. Many a time new comers ask me which Gurus system /path I  express forth…and some are open to the fact that there is none …some prefer to not come!

Q: How did you become a spiritual facilitator? How do you balance your family life with this seva?

Well firstly I am not doing any seva! Honestly I am doing what I am purely because it’s what comes naturally to me; it fulfills me deeply; and the day it doesn’t I will cease to continue. Believe me, I never dreamt of being a spiritual teacher of any sort- it just happened- one fine day I find myself with this tag! My biggest challenge has been public speaking and till today when I face a class or audience I wonder how I landed here! However I also know this isn’t a forever thing, and as and when my part is over, I know I will be led into other things and am open to whatever transpires!

Moreover I have led a very full life- large family’s; close friends, love, fulfilling relationships, travel, abundance, creativity (I ran a ceramic studio for almost 20 years before I switched tracks into this)- and thus it was very easy for me to make this shift- for nothing else could have added to what life was  -other than this divine grace! Yes I do feel grace is at work! Sometimes I feel some larger force orchestrated the timing perfectly- a full life to be followed by this! And just as my spiritual life deepened, my daughter moved to the U.S to study and with my husband traveling on business some 20 days month -yes, I must confess- that living on my own probably gave me the ‘space’ to focus wholly and completely on my spiritual self. It became a single minded passion or focus, call it what you may, and for a few years everything and I mean everything else took second place. Someone who would awake at 9 am starting getting up at 3.30 am! Hours would go in meditation! Then everything comes back to how it was and yet everything has completely changed!  As for balancing, I firmly believe there are no two compartments for me to balance as it is one beautiful whole- I lead a full if somewhat understated life! Most of my day goes in meditation, writing, personal sessions, classes or discourses- with the evening for some ‘me’ time- absolutely no phone calls- and then I go to bed very early! Yet the family and friends are palpably there. They truly are the wind beneath my wings.

Q: Please tell us how to inculcate optimism in a person, when he feels let down or feels depressed.

I could give you a variety of tools, but they are all mere tools! Very useful and needed only initially...because once you expand your thinking and beliefs, once you expand your energy field & consciousness, you don’t need tools. Tools like positive thinking are like instructions to energy and yes they work; but positive beliefs are like a power of attorney and work 24/7 without the need to instruct energy, as your focus is innately positive! If you observe- doing positive thinking or affirmations actually implies you don’t have a positive belief in what you are doing it about! For example, as a woman, you would not need to say an affirmation ‘I am woman I am woman I am woman’….for you know you are! Yet you may need to say ‘I am  rich I am rich…’ and this positive affirmation can work, yes, but in the longer run you use it only to move into a innate sense of abundance or it becomes a block to authentic  growth!  In the longer run as your entire belief system changes- these tools become redundant!

However here are some quick tools: The best starting point is to remain in thankfulness. When you feel thankful and appreciative, your focus is on the positive in a heartfelt way. You will attract further, because energy works on the principle “like attracts like”. At   a deeper level, it also implies that energy resists its opposite, so as you create a positive joyful energy field, it resists the opposite. Sorrow and depression cannot come your way! Discover new aspects to appreciate in the usual and customary around you. This is true value addition!  Try viewing the gift of each day before you go to sleep. Begin and end each day, with a focus on all that you have to be thankful about; as you keep doing, the list will become longer. Visualization is another good tool: Build up an inner collection of feel good DVDs and your personal ‘dreams come true’ visualizations. These are effective homing devices for those moments, when things seem askew and you wonder how to switch your focus to something positive! Insert one of these into your inner DVD and achieve the double benefit of shifting your focus and its attracting power from unconstructive thoughts, to your highest visions of self!

Q: What are Tuesday sessions about?

You may call them discourses/satsangs or sharing! The word satsang in India has preconceived notions attached to it- of a guru and disciples format- so we often just call it a class!  We meet in an informal, at-home, lighthearted ambience discussing a range of such topics. Usually I choose a subject, sometimes its more question & answers!  The feel good factor is palpably present and all those who attend swear it has changed their life or beingness. Its almost like the movie ‘If it’s Tuesday it must be Belgium’…only thing being if it’s Tuesday it must be our lovely gathering! The group is eclectic, ranging from teenagers to those of us in our prime and to senior citizens. Those who participate change the labels and laws they live by…viewing life afresh…creating new pathways and unleashing their genie within! Naturally continuity aids you…and old timers view ‘repetition’ in terms of their tilled soil being able to take the same words deeper; in terms of the many contradictions being wordlessly addressed within over time; in terms of the larger picture endlessly opening up its nuances and unveiling its secrets…till it all somehow ‘fits’…and something beyond words and concepts unravels in them! Tuesdays are changing over the years of course... as it first started out with me reaching out while i traveled my own path- and those who came in then- traveled the entire path with me….each step in detail even as I traveled that part! Now it’s flexible, we sometimes jump into the deeepr end; sometimes take the newcomers through all that we explored to reach here! Sometimes we read Rumi! Meditation has become a force of its own -usually post or before the session! I have increasingly started feeling I have nothing left to say…but then I am reminded that its all these words that got me here and till there is someone who seeks this I will be there doing my  little bit.

Q:What kind of participant do you reach out to?

These meetings help both, those who are currently ‘seeking’ due to problematic lives for which they find no lasting ways towards redressing their issues; and/or the many who are seeking to complement their already full lives! Also there are many looking to combine our spiritual heritage with a fresher approach-  a path or understanding that is more universal and  fits in with  modern east-west synchronized lifestyles and mindsets! Especially in India, we need to expand our understanding of customary spiritual concepts like karma, destiny, god, desire, devotion, sacrifice etc which sub-consciously rule so much of our lives.  The magic of ancient wisdom and texts is how its wisdom can be interpreted in every era in a current context; thereby coming alive (and user friendly) for the modern man of every era! Indeed as humanity spiritually evolves, customary concepts unravel in increasingly expanded and freeing ways-taking us towards a more universal spirituality and joyous lives!