Sharing Maharaj-ji’s lessons on love and desire, Anasuya Weil interviews Mirabai Bush on her many memorable moments in India, including her pregnancy, wedding, and more.
This time on Be There Now, Mirabai and Anasuya explore:
- A rooftop moment with Ram Dass and Mirabai
- The convergence of three sacred rivers in India
- Mirabai’s memorable moments with Maharaj-ji in Kainchi
- Advice from Maharaj-ji: Stay with satsang
- Mirabai’s story of being named by Maharaj-ji
- Living in the Bay of Bengal, trying to eat clean and be celibate
- How Mirabai and Anasuya each told Maharaj-ji they were pregnant
- Becoming like a lotus above the mud
- The simple practice of saying ‘Ram’
- Being wed by Maharaj-ji in India
- The last time Mirabai saw Maharaj-ji in the body
“We thought that the desire for a baby was outside those other desires. We thought it’s in a different category. She said, ‘What about the desire to have a baby?’ We were all pretty sure he was going to say that was different. He said ‘desire for a baby is just another desire.’ Stunning.” –Mirabai Bush
About Mirabai Bush:
Mirabai is an author, social entrepreneur, teacher, and spiritual leader. She is recognized for her pioneering role in integrating mindfulness and contemplative practices into secular sectors of American life, including business, higher education, law, and social activism. Mirabai’s contributions include co-founding influential organizations such as the Center for Contemplative Mind in Societyand the Seva Foundation and co-developing Google’s Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. She is also a longtime board member of the Love Serve Remember Foundation. Her latest book, Almost Home, is a memoir published in 2025.
“I’ve done a lot of things, but at the heart of it is always how can I be loving everyone and serving everyone? Of course, you don’t do it all at once, but it’s a great guiding question. It takes different forms all the time and it keeps you on the path. If you genuinely keep asking that question, you don’t go too far wrong.” –Mirabai Bush
About Anasuya Weil:
Anasuya Weil travelled overland solo at the age of 19 and was with Maharaji for 9 months in 1971, whom she met just after her first Buddhist meditation retreat. Since then, she has returned to India and Nepal several times continuing her Buddhist practice with Maharaji’s blessing. She has studied with many wonderful teachers, but considers Neem Karoli Baba her Root Guru. Anasuya spent the last half century raising her children, both biological and chosen, as well as her numerous grandchildren. After starting and running the Tibetan Resettlement Project in New Mexico for 3 years, she returned to the East Coast where she finished her graduate degree and later went on to become Menpa (Doctor of Tibetan Medicine). As there is renewed interest in who Maharaji was and what he said, this podcast can serve as a place for people to access as many direct accounts as possible. Many of Maharaji’s original Western devotees are getting old and dying. Anasuya is just one of many Maharaji’s devotees and hopes this podcast will collect, document, and make available these precious stories in order to share Maharaji’s blessings.