RiverGanga Foundation
Open Meetings

Right now, in this moment, just look at yourself briefly with your mind's eye.  See if it is not possible right now, even as you are reading this, to catch just a glimpse out of the corner of your eye of the feeling of you, the you-ness of you, the profound and primal ordinariness of you.  See how certain, how literally unquestionable it is that you are here, and how that presence of you here is certain in a way nothing else can ever be.  See how ordinary you are, how it is you that fills all the space between one thought and the next, one sensation and another, see how little interest you have had in those spaces.

This is what I ask everyone to do: just look at yourself, see if you can find a way to get a brief glimpse of the you-ness of you, the person-ness of you, because if you do this once knowingly, you will without fail do it again... and again... and again... And the day will certainly come, without regard to anything else you are doing or not doing, without regard to anything else that is being done or not being done to you, the day will come when you will notice that the underlying fear of life is dead — an old and false notion about your nature snuffed out by contact with the reality of your nature.

Click here for detailed information about Open Meetings with John Sherman.

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next event
Worldwide Online Meeting

Saturday, March 13 at 1 pm PT (GMT/UTC -8)

People all over the world gather together online with John for a couple of hours. John is available to listen to your questions, and to help you sort out any difficulties you might experience in your own practice of the vichara.

This is very much like a call-in radio show. If you simply want to listen to the meetings, all you need to do is to install the software and have speakers attached to your computer. If you wish to speak with John, then you will need a headset with microphone. You can also use earbuds and a microphone.

Download our 2010 Schedule of Events:

All our events are always free of charge.

All are welcome, with no regard for religious and spiritual beliefs and practices.

Spontaneous donations for the support of our work are always welcome and gratefully accepted.

Featured Letter of the Month
We receive many, many beautiful and useful letters.  Every month we try to feature one here that seems especially valuable and instructive for one reason or another.
Podcast

A Meeting with John Sherman - February 13, 2010

"Self-reliance is not easy. Self-reliance is full of mistakes, stumbling blocks, false trails and premature conclusions. Self-reliance isn't pretty. Self-reliance is hard, it is not easy. It is easy to abandon self-reliance and try to find answers in other people's understandings and experiences. That's easy. Trying to manifest experiences that we have come to believe to be what we need to be in order to be free and happy and satisfied and fulfilled, that's easy. But it is not self-reliance."  John Sherman

Complete, live recording of a Worldwide Meeting with John Sherman broadcast live from Ojai, California on February 13, 2010.

Video Blog

Our Work

First, last, and always, my advice is only to look at the feeling of being you, without the mediation of understanding, the need to resolve paradox, or the requirement that this looking lead to any conclusion. Simply make every effort just to look, and persist in that effort as often as you can. In this effort, understanding is irrelevant, belief is irrelevant, even duration is irrelevant -- the briefest look, repeated over time, does all the work.

A Message from John Sherman, videotaped in Ojai, California on May 15, 2009.

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Our work is to bring the vichara to all who are interested.

The only problem anywhere to be found is the false belief that you are at the mercy of your life, and the only solution is the truth, which is everywhere and always present and self-evident. Ridding oneself of the false is as easy as repeatedly tasting the truth of being here, unmovingly, unchangingly here. This repeated looking directly at oneself is the infallible method of the vichara.

Although our meetings are free of charge, they are certainly not free of cost. The money needed for this work must come entirely from the generosity and compassion of those who, like us, have seen for themselves the immense worth of spreading this good news to all humanity.

Please help provide financial support for the work of making this method more widely available in the world by making a donation or a monthly pledge in any amount now.

All gifts to the RiverGanga Foundation are fully tax-deductible as charitable donations.

newsletters
RiverGanga News is a free email newsletter bringing current information about John Sherman and the RiverGanga Foundation.
volunteering
We need volunteer help in many areas. If you have any talent, skill or calling you'd like to give to this work, please contact us.  You can call us at (805) 649-1600 or email us:    volunteers@riverganga.org
contact us

RiverGanga Foundation
PO Box 1566
Ojai, California 93024-1566
Phone: (805) 649-1600
Email: info@riverganga.org

RiverGanga Foundation is a not-for-profit, 509(a)(2) public charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.

Our Internal Revenue Service Employer ID Number is 77-0561647. All donations are tax deductible for US residents as charitable contributions.

Click to view our letter of determination from the IRS.

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