ABOUT GIRI
My name is Giridhari Das, or Giri for short. I am a self-help and spiritual teacher, author, and speaker. I have been practicing bhakti-yoga, the yoga of devotion, and working with self-development for over 25 years. My mission is to present the 3T Path, a transformative process to meet and transcend the challenges of life in the 21st Century, based on the knowledge of yoga found in both ancient Sanskrit texts and the latest research in the fields of positive psychology and neuroscience. The 3T Path can be easily understood and applied as a means of self-improvement and self-realization in the world today.
I was born in Prague in 1969 as Gustavo Dauster, the son of a Brazilian diplomat. A few years later my family and I returned to Brazil, where we stayed until I was 9 years old. Then we moved to London where I lived for the next 8 years and studied at an American High School. Later I spent a year in the USA at Brown University and, after permanently moving back to Brazil, completed my degree in economics.
My career was just beginning when I was introduced to the bhakti path through a business contact. He spoke to me about Krishna consciousness, and his wife gave me a copy of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is. I was impressed with the knowledge I found there and I soon took up the daily practice (sadhana) myself.
In 1993, I met my spiritual master, Hridayananda Das Goswami Acharyadeva, and after developing a close relationship with him as his disciple I took formal initiation in 1998, receiving from him the spiritual name, Giridhari Das.
For many years, I participated actively in ISKCON in various positions of administration and leadership in Brazil. For 10 years I was in charge of the Brazilian branch of the BBT, the publishing house of the Hare Krishna movement, and after that I served for several years as president of the governing body of ISKCON Brazil.
Today I own and run a Yoga Resort called Pandavas Paradise in Chapada dos Veadeiros in the highland plateaus of central Brazil. I live there with my wife, Charana Renu Dasi (Rhiannon Dauster), and our two young sons, Bryn Govardhana and Macsen Krishna. I met Charana in Wales in 2007 while touring with my spiritual master. She has also been practicing and teaching bhakti-yoga since 1999.
I enjoy teaching students and guests at our yoga resort and at other spiritual centers in Brazil and around the world, and for many years I have been teaching and guiding people through email, but more recently I began to feel the need to reach out to a larger audience and in 2014 started a YouTube channel for that purpose. I have also published 4 books on yoga and self-realization.
The focus of my teaching is the 3T Path, a systematic, modern presentation of the ancient path of self-improvement and self-realization in yoga and Krishna consciousness. I developed the 3T Path after many years of dedicated study and practice, to share my experience and realizations in bhakti, and to address the needs and challenges of people today.
Introduction to Bhagavad-gita
JUNE 3-7
Class 1 - What is Bhagavad-gita?
Class 2 - Uncovering our identity, the power of the mind and yoga
Class 3 - Equanimity vs Duality, the battlefront of spirituality
Class 4 - The Triple Path of Yoga: karma-yoga, jnana-yoga and bhakti-yoga
Class 5 - Meditation: dhyana-yoga and japa workshop
Class 6 - The avatar, the 3 aspects of God, and God’s unlimited forms
Class 7 - The Gunas - How material nature affects our mind and the 8 habits of yogi
Class 8 - Bhakti-yoga, the ultimate spiritual practiceMonday
