My Life Story
by Juan Manuel Ferrera Diaz
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It all began with a cool teacher. I was about 12 years old when he made us do a work of our liking. That was a very revolutionary thing for those times, in Spain. I chose Tibet. Then, with a friend, we embarked on an extensive investigation of paranormal effects, UFOs, etc. We created a group in a small rented office: I.P.U. (Investigación Parapsicologia y Ufologia).
We visited haunted houses, interviewed real witches, and did regressive hipnosis, among 100 more things, like Tarot, Ouija, Astrology, Palm reading, hatha yoga, Graphology, etc. From there we touched yoga, Lobsang Rampa, Rosae Crucis, you name it.
We also went to the first Hare Krishna temple in Spain. Still Franco’s time, so that was the weirdest thing you could do. Then, the drugs time. There was extensive use of drugs of all kinds, so I did fall for it. Spain in the 1970s was a huge drug dealer’s shop everywhere.
Then, at 18, I decided not to be a regular workforce person, and because I was very attracted to being a monk, I joined the Hare Krishnas, living in a temple for eight years. Very happy years, I should say, traveling all over Spain with like-minded peers, selling books, and having only a toothbrush as my possession.
Then I married (in the Hindu style, of course) and opened a Krishna center in the Canary Islands with quite success. My wife left me after six years. We did want children, but we had no success with that, and she asked me to let her go. After a year, I met my sweetheart, with whom I have two boys. But she passed away from cancer very young. She was 29. We went to Australia for a school for the kids, and she passed away there.
After four years, I came back to Spain, homeschooled my boys, and started to publish books. I self-published a small cookbook in 2010 that sold 130.000 copies in less than two years in a very peculiar way.
In 2004, I started my first online venture, having an online academy with hundreds of participants. It was a preliminary course on Vaishnava philosophy and lyfestyle, the same course I took in 1981 to become a regular monk.
My relationship was never good with the big guns of the Hare Krishnas in Spain due to my outspoken nature. After the founder passed away, politics took over, and the whole show, once composed of vibrant, pure-hearted, and committed fellows, turned into a (poorly) organized religion. So I created Centros de Bhakti yoga, a non profit organization (www.bhaktiyoga.es).
Under that umbrella, I published about 29 books, mainly translations or reprintings of my spiritual master Srila Prabhupada. Also a few of my own, like “Productivity for Lazies” or “Arsa Prayoga”, a study on the posthumous changes made to my spiritual master’s books and teachings (sounds familiar, Christian brothers here?)
For the past 30 years, I’ve been selling books and doing all sorts of related activities to promote Vedic culture and philosophy. However, with age, I found it harder to keep up the same level of energy. The pandemic made things even more challenging; conferences, selling books, and in-person meetings were no longer viable options. I also wanted to study Vedic knowledge meaningfully, not just read it, as I did for the last forty years.
The normalized use of credit cards, fear of in-person meetings, and travel restrictions made my job difficult, and I had no income. I ended up living in a van for a while. Fortunately, I received some government assistance, allowing me to start afresh.
Amidst these trials, the internal happiness cultivated through spiritual pursuits, became my source of strength. The power of the higher taste acquired through practicing an effective and genuine spiritual life enabled me to face and overcome all the difficulties.
I began exploring new ways to adapt my work to the changing times and my personal situation. A friend introduced me to Sonke Arehn’s book, which inspired me to implement productivity theories using the Zettelkasten method.
This new approach transformed my study experience, making it enjoyable and productive. It solved one part of my problem: how to study effectively. However, the question of my life mission (to spread Vedic knowledge) remained unanswered.
Excited, using the analog Zettlekasten method, I devised a ’master plan’ involving revising my own past courses, writings, and conferences to create an online teaching platform, Vedalearn Academy “Connecting peers to discover Vedic culture”: https://members.vedalearn.net
This platform allows me to share my experience, learn from intelligent peers, and teach without depending on external institutions. The goal is to offer a curriculum that benefits as many people as possible, in an orthodox yet friendly way.