Hello there and welcome to another episode of Bite-sized Blessings.
This week I get to interview Raja Sohota and his story is an interesting one.
After graduating from high school in India,
He worked a variety of jobs until truly finding the one that made his heart happy.
And that was to go into these remote villages in India and kind of become a mentor,
A teacher,
And a leader for both the kids and the adults in the area.
This work is what defines him and still what calls him.
And so even though he's in Sonoma now in California,
He has all the intentions in the world of going back to India and resuming this incredible and important work.
This episode does come with a trigger warning.
Raja talks about when he was a kid,
They were at a vacation spot and he ran away from his family,
Went down a path into the woods and found himself in front of a decaying mansion,
One that had been abandoned there in the woods.
And unbeknownst to Raja,
He picked something up in that mansion.
And it's a really spooky story.
So for those of you who are sensitive or nervous about hearing this kind of story,
Please take care of yourself.
It does end up all right in the end,
But the story is a little bit of an alarming one.
And after saying all that,
It's time for the episode.
So episode 112 of Bite-Sized Blessings.
So I remember as a kid,
Before it happened,
We were in a place called Gandhinagar.
So there's this little river we play around and there's watermelons growing there.
It's awesome.
So we would go there in summer and I remember this little path going off and I run off into the path to explore and there's a mansion.
A mansion which has got these abandoned completely,
It has barbed wire around it,
Not to go there and it has vultures sitting on it.
I still remember that.
Like haunted vultures.
And I went to explore it.
I've lost all memory after that.
I don't have a memory of how I came out,
What happened.
How would you introduce yourself to a group of people?
Oh,
Wow.
Today,
I would say I'm one of the most confused human beings on earth.
Everything around me has changed.
I'm kind of a dinosaur.
I grew up with that,
Being a Sikh man and everything that you think wrong today is what we were taught as right.
Fighting,
Beating,
Oppressing,
Taking advantage of men,
Women,
Take what you can.
If you want something,
Just take it.
It's your right.
So that doesn't work anymore.
I would say today,
I would say what I stuck to my own over the years is being compassionate,
Being really bothered about what happens around me.
I am very optimistic,
Honestly,
And that's a big feeling for me because I always believe something's going to work.
Even though we are driving off a cliff,
It's like we got time.
I love to actually,
That's what I live for,
Is fighting for causes which are going to lose.
And I love that.
I might have a demon living inside me and that's a different story we'll go over.
But it's because of that,
I think I can survive these years.
The demon kicks over and we come out somehow,
Come out the other side alive.
That's about it.
Have you read Philip Pullman's trilogy?
Oh my God,
It's so beautiful.
He's a famous scientist who wrote this glorious series of books that kind of changed my life,
Along with Lord of the Rings,
Of course,
And other books.
But in the world that he creates,
Children,
Up until they reach adolescence,
Have a demon D-A-E-M-O-N,
Who exists outside of them that take the shape of an animal.
And it's kind of a metaphor for your interior soul,
Your conscience,
That voice that is always talking to you.
It's supposed to give good counsel.
I think sometimes it doesn't give good counsel.
But once you reach adolescence and you mature,
It goes inside your body and becomes a part of you.
And I always thought that image was so amazing,
That when you're a child,
You have this whimsical kind of sweet yet cunning and wily creature living outside of you that can change shape,
By the way.
It can be a rabbit,
It can be a fox,
One minute kangaroo the next,
Depending on how you're feeling.
Maybe that's what's living inside of you instead of what people classically think of as a demon.
I don't know,
Man.
Yeah,
When I was seven or eight,
I think,
I literally got possessed for years,
For two years,
Three.
I don't know if it went away.
I remember talking,
I've been estranged with my sister for many years.
Then I went and met her this year in her house.
Then we kind of patched up again.
And I took Layla with me.
She met her cousins.
And she told me,
She recalls she's older.
She recalled not sleeping all night because my mother would guard the door.
Yeah,
And I would be just screaming.
Because it was possessing me,
It was telling me,
It was trying to not make me breathe.
And it was,
It was a very crazy time.
So I think it's still there.
Okay,
That sounds like a really intense conversation.
I don't know how I've reached this age.
Honestly,
With the things that have happened to me,
I am surprised.
And hence I started,
That's why I have my child later on in life.
I thought I would be dead by then.
But I kind of did not die.
So I'm okay.
Okay,
Well,
I'm curious.
I'm curious,
I mean,
You kind of alluded to it before this.
But it sounds like you grew up in a religious household.
What did that look like for your family?
Okay,
This is where it gets complicated.
My mother is Italian descent and she's Roman Catholic.
My father's complete family is Sikh.
But they're not religious,
But spiritual.
And kind of thing,
My grandmother was very religious.
So there we go.
But my father,
Grandfather kind of rejected it.
He was a very gentlemanly,
Nice person.
One of the kindest human beings I've ever met.
And the last kindest human being in my family I've ever met.
So he wore a suit and he was in the army.
From scratch he became an officer.
He is self-taught.
He read beautiful books.
I still have his signed books over here lying with me.
They're from 1950s,
40s.
They're still original books lying here.
He was an amazing guy.
But my grandmother was the one that taught whatever I learned from religion.
I like Sikhism a lot.
It's very simple.
It talks about embracing where you are and adopting that.
And just living with people and protecting people.
I don't like the rest of it.
Don't like what we've been doing.
In the 80s,
Terrorism was huge in India and Punjab.
We were fighting.
Sponsored by Pakistan.
The typical story which was getting arms from the CIA.
Which was trying to disrupt India.
We were a blah,
Blah story.
That time nobody knew what was happening.
So we've never been the same since.
But I read the book because my father insisted I learn to read the holy book.
So I know what it says.
I do believe a lot in Sufism.
So I listen to only Sufi songs.
So that it's more about people talking about the one big energy.
Which we are all part of.
And we are always away from it until we die.
I don't believe in.
I believe in all these stories of gods and stuff.
It's good lessons.
And it's deeper lessons.
Humanizing certain aspects.
But God having feelings?
I don't believe in that.
If he does or she does or it does.
It's got some cruel sense of humor.
So I don't believe that very much.
I like the teachings.
They're good.
Of all religions.
And I'm so interested to see that there's this one teaching we all have.
And I don't think anybody teaches it.
Is love everyone.
Peace is best.
Respect others.
I don't think they teach that.
I think they teach it.
Or they say it.
But they just don't live it.
Or they don't.
By the way.
You can also love people.
It's very interesting what you said about Sikhism initially.
Because to me that's some of what you said is such a scarcity mindset.
There's a real scarcity mindset in there.
It sounds like.
Where you can just take.
Because you feel like you don't already have.
Is that.
Do you think that's true?
Greed.
It's our generation.
Generation of being landlords.
It's the same as being these land barons in America.
Just take it all.
And don't get.
So they believe like the gangsters in movies believe.
Is if you let even a small thing slide.
Somebody will take a bigger slice.
So destroy it now.
And be cruel about it.
Teach a lesson.
And see how well that has served us.
Does it have a mystical element at all?
I know Sufism is quite mystical.
Yes,
It is mystical.
But is Sikhism.
Yes,
We do.
Because at the time.
The way it was made was from the first guru.
I mean,
He was just a philosopher and amazing dude.
And he won.
It was so impressive.
Hinduism is so impressive.
And we were being invaded by the Muslims who wanted to convert.
These two giant like today in America,
Right?
America,
Muslims and Hindus.
And they're just banded together to just sit alone.
Not to be bothered by anyone.
And just talk about love and living together and sharing food.
And actually being a little community.
Where they're clean living.
Higher education.
And just.
And they're just.
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So there's one motorcycle in India called the Royal Enfield.
It's called the Bullet,
Right?
That's the old school name for it.
It's a 350cc small motorcycle.
Everybody loves it.
It's a sign of like macho-ness.
And every foreigner that comes in,
Comes in,
Wants to ride a Bullet and go across the mountain.
Because you don't need a license there.
So everybody thinks they can just,
Yeah.
You just have to be American and have a license.
They don't give a shit about motorcycle licenses.
And plus,
A hundred rupees can get you out of that.
And so that's a big business.
I was riding when I was in Dharamsala.
And I didn't like mountains and cars.
They don't match.
They're just too bulky to take around.
So I said,
Okay,
I'm going to ride.
We have to ride a lot since,
You know,
Indians ride two-wheelers everywhere.
So I decided to go for the Bullet.
And I bought a beat up old Bullet to just see if I like it.
And I really liked it.
We went everywhere on it.
That was my mode of transport.
Then I started meeting these travelers and these horror stories of theirs,
How they get ripped off,
How they get,
You know,
These travel tours,
All of the travel tours like that.
80% people get ripped off.
Women get exploited.
It's a standard thing.
And so I was like,
Damn,
This is bad.
I said,
We should start one company just to show how it's done.
And that's where we started.
So my plans,
As you will notice,
Are very grand.
They might not be real.
They might not be achievable.
And they are definitely not what you got to put them on paper.
So they are very grand.
And that grandness was me being the beacon of showing how we can clean up this mess.
And we had fun.
We had a lot of fun.
We had people coming in just asking us,
Please take us on tours.
And I was like,
I never asked enough money for them.
I should have.
Damn,
Now that I think about it.
You know,
Of course,
I also watched movies over the years that feature the Himalayas.
And they show the mountains,
But you don't really understand until you're there.
Until you're there,
Man.
It's just,
They're so grand.
They're just so big.
It's like the perfect place for,
I don't know what,
A Yeti to live,
I think.
Someone who doesn't mind the cold.
I don't know.
It's got some connection to somewhere.
I think that parts of the Himalayas still have some energy centers there which are connected to another world altogether.
They're still there.
Of course.
I do,
Too.
Absolutely.
I've always been amazed by the stories of those holy men who can go out with just a cloth over their body and sit in the snow.
With no shoes on,
No hat,
No coat,
Nothing.
They're in the snow and they are fine for hours.
Because they're doing something to their body.
They're using this breath,
I understand,
To stay warm.
To keep themselves warm.
We would look at it from a Western perspective and say,
That's a miracle.
But no,
It is a miracle,
But they've also learned how to channel energy in their bodies and to use the breath to keep themselves alive and to keep themselves warm.
Yeah.
They have a monastery in Zanskar,
Which they're passing out.
The acolytes have to go out and stay the night in the snow with just underwear on.
And then they have to melt the snow around them.
And they pass their meditation there.
Yeah,
I would freeze my nuts off,
But it is so cold.
It's so cold.
It's brilliantly cold.
I need to start meditating more often,
I think.
I tried.
My mind is a rabid monkey.
It is a rabid monkey on steroids.
I'm not even kidding.
It wants to bust someone out of that prison.
Ah.
So I have two big stories amongst the little stories.
One is of my possession when I was eight years old.
And I don't think it got fixed.
I still remember having this person sitting on my chest and squeezing the life out of me every night.
It would start at night and it would finish as soon as the light came up.
And I remember this happening for almost a year.
Finally,
They tried to purify the house a couple of times by many different methods.
That thing was super powerful.
So I remember as a kid,
Before it happened,
We were in a place called Gandhinagar.
So there's this little river we play around,
And there's watermelons growing there.
It's awesome.
So we would go there in summer,
And I remember this little path going off,
And I run off into the path to explore,
And there's a mansion.
A mansion which is got these abandoned completely.
It has barbed wire around it not to go there,
And it has vultures sitting on it.
I still remember that.
Like haunted vultures.
And I went to explore it.
I've lost all memory after that.
I don't have a memory of how I came out,
What happened.
And after that,
This thing happened.
And this incident kept happening until I remember faintly my mother found this guy in the middle of nowhere.
He's under this huge banyan tree where they use it as the root for the exorcism and such,
And they have a bunch of people there.
And then he did something to me in which it calmed it down.
But I don't know if it's gone.
Because I remember going back to Jalandhar and living there,
And then I remember getting up every night for a period of time outside the house.
I didn't know how I got out there.
I was sweating,
I remember,
And I would just go into the bathroom and pour water on myself to just cool myself.
So that's one story,
And I don't know how it affected my life.
I was going to ask you,
When you were a kid and you saw this mansion,
I assume you crept through the barbed wire to get to it,
But you weren't scared of it,
Even though it looked strange?
I think I was being an idiot.
Most kids are like,
Oh,
I'm not scared.
To my sister,
Who was like,
Oh,
No,
No,
No,
No,
I'm doing it anyway,
Because I'll get to see something awesome.
And I did.
I had a nice little friend that lives with me,
Probably.
I mean,
I would imagine as a child,
This whole experience was terrifying.
Yes,
No doubt about it.
I remember all that screaming and stuff.
And your family must have just been beside themselves.
Yeah,
My mom was really trying.
So she's Christian,
So she would get her rosary out and pray all night.
And that's how it kind of stayed away.
But then she had these local exorcism people come in with the Hindu way and the blah,
Blah,
Blah.
I don't know what they did.
They were roaming around with lots of smoke everywhere and muttering all sorts of stuff and making me very uncomfortable all the time.
I mean,
It sounds like you had to actually travel to go find this kind of medicine man.
Yeah,
They exiled in the black arts.
And they kind of keep their between the light and dark.
Right.
And so they kind of they know where to send what happens.
Wow.
It's weird to find those people,
Which is probably why you had to travel so far.
And that kind of work is not easy nor fun,
Because,
You know,
I've interviewed many people on my podcast.
And certainly we've talked about,
You know,
Medicine work and healing work.
And,
You know,
When you engage with whatever you're engaging with,
That's inside the other person's body,
Whether it's a story or a little gremlin or whatever.
Trying to get rid of it,
A lot of times they say that that thing goes into themselves.
And so then they afterwards have to for several hours.
Get rid of that.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Well,
Somehow it seems that you've made a sort of maybe uneasy peace with it,
Which you say that's true.
I think so.
And I think it kept me alive all these years to all that stuff that I've been through.
I'm most scaredy cat of this world.
But when I'm in those situations,
I come out always on top.
I can't tell you I have had a crash at 110 miles an hour on a friggin highway.
I crashed.
I bounced off the asphalt.
I haven't broken a bone in my body in my life.
I have fallen out of planes.
I have been shot at.
I have been trampled,
Beaten,
Raped,
Everything in my life,
But not broken a single thing.
I don't know.
So it's like this really powerful and.
Semi benevolent entity.
It's it sounds like it's protecting you now.
The second story actually ties into this because it was in 1990.
Maybe I was younger.
I just stopped my stint in the army.
I got my job and I.
So I go.
I'm in Delhi.
My father is a full on drunk.
He's a general in the air force,
Really high position,
But he's sloshed all day in his uniform.
I'm picking up on streets.
I'm fighting for him and getting back home.
And this fool one day I get sick with a car gone to work.
I didn't know I'd eaten something outside.
So apparently this is I found later I'd gotten typhoid.
So the the fever was high up.
Hundred and five or six.
I didn't know that I come home dying and my father's drunk.
And he's like,
He was leaving for my hometown.
And he said,
You better be ready tomorrow to go.
He didn't give a shit.
He left.
That's when I got type.
So three days I was passed out in a house without food or water.
And I somehow dragged myself to a doctor.
Who is a friggin quack.
And he says,
Because my eyes were bloodshot.
He said,
Oh,
You got the eye flu.
And he starts giving me drops on my eyes.
So another two days I'm dying there.
I have just sip of water,
Maybe in my in.
I'm like just lost my weight and everything.
So this is Delhi one side.
This is about 10 kilometers away from maybe more from the bus station.
I know I'm going to if I have to live after someone make it.
So like a hobo,
I'm walking across Delhi in my flip flops,
Half open shirt,
My soiled pants like a beggar.
I've walked across somehow to the bus station.
To the bus going to my hometown.
I pass out there for a couple of hours.
And the guy wakes me up.
What are you doing?
I said,
This is my scene and this is my name.
And he's like,
Shit,
You're dying.
He's a nice man.
He puts me in the back of the bus free of charge and drops me off at Jalandhar.
On the way,
He gave me two packets of juices.
That was so sweet.
He was trying to be nice and he didn't know what the hell was happening.
Anywho,
I reached there.
I got on a rickshaw,
Reached home and I collapsed in my house.
And that's when I remember waking up after about three days.
My mother said I was blue.
And she was shaking me.
I thought I was in the best beautiful place in the world.
But I'm afraid of heights.
So I had to make this one step.
Just one step.
It was a little jump.
And that's it.
So peaceful.
I mean,
The feeling was,
I can't even describe it.
And then my mom freaking woke me up.
I was like,
Damn it.
So I believe I did pass over for a couple of hours.
And hence,
The world looks pretty bland.
Yeah,
I mean,
Once you have those experiences and you go to those places,
It's like,
How does this reality even compete?
There's no competition.
It's impossible.
It's impossible.
You cannot feel that love anywhere else.
Did I forget to mention that Raja also takes people on motorcycle tours through the Himalayan mountains?
What does he not do?
This man does everything.
I swear,
It is so hard to kind of distill down into one episode just what makes a human being who they are.
But I try.
I try in my own little way.
I need to thank Raja for telling me his stories and for also sharing this really vulnerable and personal story from when he was a child.
I need to thank the creators of the music used in this episode.
Winnie the Moog,
Henritt,
Music Elfiles,
Frank Schroeder,
Alexander Naccarata and Sasha End.
For complete attribution,
Please see the Bite-Sized Blessings website at bite-sized-blessings.
Com.
On the website,
You'll find links to books,
Music,
Changemakers and art I think will lighten and brighten your day.
Thank you for listening.
And here's my one request.
Be like Raja.
Find peace with your past.
Find peace with what haunts you,
No matter what it is.
Do the work,
Maybe get some therapy,
Maybe talk to a friend.
But find peace with those stories that you formerly used to define you.
Find peace with them and I guarantee,
I guarantee,
You'll be able to sleep better at night.
Thank you.
