Fearless Hearts & Saving Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine from the Palisades from the Palisades Fire with the Asad Family [Episode 975]
This Week’s Episode:
In this episode, Kimberly engages with Billy Asad and his children, who heroically saved the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine grounds and temple during the devastating Palisades fire. They discuss the importance of heart-led living, the power of intuition, and the courage it takes to act in times of crisis. The conversation delves into the spiritual significance of Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine, the lessons learned from the experience, and the importance of community and service. Billy shares insights on fire protection and mitigation strategies, emphasizing the need for preparedness and awareness in the face of natural disasters. Billy and his children reflect on their experiences during a devastating fire that threatened the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine, a sacred space for many. They discuss the importance of service, humility, and community support, emphasizing how their actions were driven by a desire to help without seeking recognition. The discussion also touches on the transformative power of meditation, the emotional connection to the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine, and the divine orchestration that guided them through the crisis.
About Billy Asad
Billy Asad is the founder of WDA Fire Protection, and industry expert in the field of fire protection equipment and services. Raised in a family of firefighters, Billy’s lifelong exposure to fire science, evacuation strategies, and emergency response shaped his vision for a comprehensive fire protection company committed to exceeding customer expectations by delivering innovative solutions and fostering a culture of safety, quality and reliability.
About Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine
Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine is an invitation to the spiritual seeker to journey together on a life-transforming discovery of the soul. This journey embraces the “how-to-live” teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, which embody the highest techniques for realizing who we truly are and show how to bring lasting peace, joy, and love into our lives and into the world.
Lake Shrine is part of Self-Realization Fellowship founded by Paramahansa Yogananda. Dedicated in 1950, he envisioned a spiritual environment where people from all over the world could come and experience peace of heart and mind. Today, Lake Shrine offers a lakeside Meditation Garden with shrines and waterfalls, a hilltop Temple with weekly inspirational services and meditations, a retreat for silent renewal, and an ashram for monks of Self-Realization Fellowship. All are welcome to come and experience inner and outer peace, and to discover Raja Yoga (Royal Yoga) through the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda.
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Guest Resources
Billy Asad WDA Fire Protection Service
Episode Chapters
00:00 Embracing the Beauty of Southern California
09:08 The Impact of COVID on Personal Transitions
15:25 Creating Community Spaces
22:01 The Complexity of Relationships
29:08 Finding Balance Between Ambition and Contentment
35:09 Navigating Health Challenges and Personal Growth
41:27 The Science of Health Protocols
52:44 The Future of Humanity and Collaboration
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KIMBERLY’S BOOKS
- Chilla Gorilla & Lanky Lemur Journey to the Heart
- The Beauty Detox Solution
- Beauty Detox Foods
- Beauty Detox Power
- Radical Beauty
- Recipes For Your Perfectly Imperfect Life
- You Are More Than You Think You Are
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Transcript:
(Kimberly Snyder) (00:57.4)
Hi everyone and welcome back to our Monday interview show. I could not be more excited for our very special guests here with us today. I have Billy Assad and his amazing children, Ella and Nikki, who are literally the saviors of Lake Shrine from this recent Palisades fire. They rushed into the fire when everyone else
was evacuating. They have an incredible story of courage and love and overcoming fear and selfless service. And we’ll get into the show today how I really felt so strongly in my heart to connect with this amazing family and how organically we all came connected. And so here we are in person recording and I couldn’t be more honored to have them here on our show.
Billy also is the founder and owner of WTA fire protection He knows so much about fires and all the incredible intelligence it takes to really keep us safe As a society and so we’re going to talk a little bit about that today as well So first Billy, thank you so much for coming here and being here with us today
Thank you so much for having us and the opportunity, like you said, to spread a little bit of service and wellness to our community in times that people are really suffering and in trauma with the fires. And I think our main thing is to really share that Lake Shrine is such a sanctuary to us and everyone is welcome there. And I’m so happy that it’s still standing and it’s there for people to come and retreat and to heal and to have a moment in this really challenging time. So thank you so much for having me. Yeah, it’s an
Speaker 1 (02:57.41)
Well, so let’s reinforce that was this incredible, Lake Try is a spiritual center for anyone new to knowing about it in Los Angeles. You guys have heard me talk about Yogananda so many times. You are more than you think you are. It’s based on Yogananda’s teachings. And it’s really this, it’s this lake, it’s this center right in Palisades. And if you look at the burn map, it’s pretty much the only thing standing.
It’s very close. Yeah, there’s a few scattered properties and homes, know, some in the village and whatnot, but around the whole neighborhood, it is pretty much, you know, destroyed. And it is in the center. was in the center. I there were, there were, it’s right around Sunset Boulevard, right off PCH. When you, when you enter from PCH Sunset Boulevard, it loops around and
there were at least maybe 10, 15 cars right next to the fence of Lake Shrine that were melted to the ground. 20, 30 cars abandoned, people running out from the fires that were that close on fire, the trees all around Lake Shrine. it was there. It was right there. And a lot of what may be getting to this in a little while, but a lot of the structures that were in Lake Shrine are older legacy structures built in the 50s.
It was right there.
Speaker 2 (04:13.996)
Yeah. So no clay tile roofs, no nothing like old dry wood roofs.
Yeah. Well, and also, you know, we share the spiritual path of Yogananda and yoga, but Lake Shrine is really a sanctuary for everyone. I think they get hundreds of thousands, if not millions of visitors a year. There’s this part which houses some of Gandhi’s ashes, like a peace memorial. There’s something called the Court of All Religions, which has, you for the five major world religions, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. It’s really this center of
Really just celebrating the oneness and the love and the universality. And it is so, I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it. It’s such a powerful place, like this epicenter for everyone of any faith, of anyone to come, spiritual or not, religious or not, to come and feel peace. And it’s actually one of the reasons that I moved to the area.
And both of my children have been baptized there. My mother’s memorial was there. And I know that your children have also.
We’re baptized in the Windmill Chapel as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:28.824)
So to say how priceless it is is sort of, there’s no words.
Yeah, like, you know, I mentioned before, you know, when you first look at it, the gardens are breathtaking. The numerous amounts of plants and vegetations and trees and rare, rare plants, rare flowers and the lake and the swans and the waterfalls and everything besides just the beauty of it. The energy of the vortex of, like I said, this vortex of healing and serenity and peace and.
and harmony in the lake is just so, special. mean, as you know, you know, there are so many places in the world that are so special that have this, that hold an energy, that hold a vibration. And this is one of them. If you’ve never been there and you can make it up there, please, please.
So now we can’t because of you guys. So having been to India, we were talking about how I did this pilgrimage to India. And I love those temples there. There’s some sacred spots. But to me, truly Lake Shrine has that energy. And many people won’t make it to India, but masters, sometimes people are like, calling a master master of himself is why we say that he was a master of his.
emotions and his humanness, he was able to really feel this divine energy coming through and radiate it. Because he was at Lake Shrine so much, because he lived on that houseboat for several days, because he was there, he left this incredible gift of that energy. And I’m getting goosebumps again. And before, I’d love to hear more about the WDA, just like the really granular information, which I think is really interesting to a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (07:10.52)
But there’s also these soul qualities that Guruji taught. And I feel like you and your kids really embody. And it’s just so inspiring. I think it’s inspiring to all of humanity. The first one I want to bring up is intuition. So Guruji talked a lot about getting out of the headiness and going into the heart, into the true self, and really feeling when there’s divine messages. So I’d like to go back to the moment
When the fire first hit and you guys are not in palisades, you’re elsewhere. And when you started feeling, you know, God and Guruji are like, there’s some, have to help. they’re, they’re working through me or they’re calling me in. Can you talk a little bit about that intuition?
Absolutely, and I’ll back up a little bit before that. So I started doing, and I don’t know if viewers know about the lessons. So it’s the lessons from Master Paramahansa Yogananda, and basically it’s lessons to get initiated into Kriya Yoga, which is the direct highway to self-realization, which is a knowing of.
Yes, please explain again
Speaker 2 (08:24.91)
what we call God, in us a peace, a light, a love, whatever that may be. And there’s lessons that have been passed down from the sages, from thousands and thousands of years. And for many thousands of years, these sacred lessons were held for the higher yogi, if you will. you know, master’s reincarnation, partner’s reincarnation was to bring these teachings to the West and to share Kriya Yoga with, you know, the masses. And that’s…
what he did, that was his mission. His main mission is to bring Kriya Yoga to the teachings of Kriya here. And so to touch on that, I already read the lessons years ago, probably 20 years ago, but then they redid the lessons. And I started reading the lessons about three months before the fire, really getting into the lessons again. there was this mass, there was this area in part of the lessons about being of service and how important it is. like you said, getting out of
Again.
Speaker 2 (09:18.538)
self and and I I’m getting into the big eye and what’s important the soul and eternity and everything else that was with it and so I was just immersed in this and I Daily day that I would in my prayers and meditations master, please use me use me as a tool use me as an instrument to to channel something
Yeah
Speaker 1 (09:38.69)
I you back to the lessons. Was it just something?
I just wanted to redo them and really, really, really in this mind’s eye where I’m at now in my life, reread them and you know, svadhyaya, self study of spiritual scriptures, you know? And that’s where I was. And I started reading the lessons again and diving in really deep and then all of a sudden the fires happened and I had my opportunity to jump to action.
So you have this background, you know, I think you mentioned in one of the other interviews I watched or listened to, like your father was in firefighting and so that’s,
Yeah, that’s right. My father was a fireman for 30 years and I grew up in the Midwest in Ohio. Wow. And so I grew up in the backyard putting out fires, playing, you know, fire trucks, hoses, nozzles, wild, wild land fires, how they burn. Like, I mean, we went through everything, evacuation scenarios with the family, you know, what windows to go out of my whole life. So he loved it. That was his life, his fighting fires. And so I grew up with that.
I I started to get goosebumps again when we think about karma and soul journey and to even think that everything in your life prepared you for this moment of profound service. it’s like, I don’t know, it’s kind of crazy. I’m sure you guys have all contemplated.
Speaker 2 (11:05.288)
It’s funny that you say that because Brother Chidananda, the president of SRF right now, he said the same thing. He said this was when we went and met with him afterwards privately, Gabrielle and Nikki and myself went and met with Brother Chidananda. He said exactly what you just said. He said, your whole life was this one point. Everything that came together was for this moment. And that was getting into WDA fire protection. That’s what I do. I’ve been studying wildfires.
how to fight them and the behavior of them and which way they burn and studying with some great organizations like NFPA and Cal Fire.
Every year, and years. So tell me about the moment when you found out there’s a brush fire in Palisades and my gosh, it’s right in your lake shrine. Tell me just where the decision came to take your kids and get in the car and go there.
So that the fire started on a Tuesday morning. Yeah mid morning and then I was talking which is very Divine as well with brother Tiagananda From Italy he’s great, right? Yeah, so brother Tiagan I were just texting each other because He was going we were trying to set up a little pilgrimages with some of the monks separate to the fires we were
yeah, I love him. He’s from Italy.
Speaker 1 (12:27.192)
separate to the fire. that same day. Same day. my god.
Bill and I were texting each other. We live on a boat in Marina Del Rey and I’m a captain as well, but I like to take people out. So we were trying to put together a little pilgrimage for a few of the monks to come and take a boat ride, just private, right? So we were trying to organize that and he goes, stand by Billy. I think there’s an emergency happening. This is via text. And I’m like, what’s going on there? Then I’m back and forth with him. And then about a half hour later, he’s like, I think there’s a fire up in the mountains. I’m like, what?
And I’m looking and there’s nothing on the news yet. You know, it’s kind of just getting going. And then so he goes, Billy, we got to evacuate. There’s a fire. We’re have to talk later in the week. And I’m thinking a fire like, you know, miles away, maybe a wildfire is coming through. Is that fresh and new? And sure enough, as we all know, it happened so fast. So 48 hours, the iconic Pacific Palisades is pretty much wiped out. know, 48 hours, 7000 homes, 25,000 acres.
Yeah, I mean it was.
Speaker 1 (13:29.772)
I mean, our kids go to school or went to school right near Lake Shrine. And so I remember being down here where we’re speaking and getting a call from the school and I can’t see the sky. And I remember they were like, there’s ash. I ran upstairs and it was like the whole, it was like World War III. And so we grabbed the kids, but it was like one of those moments that, you can’t really plan for except to have, this is where we really call on our spiritual practices.
But so amazing that you were actually talking. So I wanted the head. And my.
It’s a brother Tiagananda. There’s so many little things that were happening like that divine plan that were happening this entire time. So then he’s like, we got to go, we got to evacuate. So I’m like, oh, there might be a fire coming down. Maybe I should start getting prepared. From a job that I was working on, I actually had like 20 or 30 extra fire extinguishers in my storage unit that would never be there.
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (14:25.806)
So I threw those all in the back of my truck. threw some PPE gear, which is personal protection equipment, gloves, goggles, glasses, masks, everything in the truck. We kind of got ready. We waited to see what was going on and then it happened. We ended up leaving the next morning, Wednesday morning, picked up the kids, went up through the palisades, but there was blocks everywhere, showed my credentials. We got in and there was still so scattered fire crews.
that it felt like it was empty. The whole place felt like it was empty. It was so overwhelming that when we driving down Sunset, there was 50 hundred foot flames on both sides of us. Pops is burning, telephone poles falling in front of us.
So what made you decide to go Wednesday morning? Was there an intuition inside? You need to help.
Oh, 100%. This needs, we need to do this. This is what we’re ready for and what we’re, you know, made for. And not only that, I service all the fire extinguishers for all of SRF, Mother Center, Lake Shrine, and Senneas. Yeah, for years. So I take care of all their fires. I said, you know, let’s go. We’re going, we’re going to get into the lake. I’m picking you up. And so they got all ready and we picked them up and we went through.
So what did you say to your kids?
Speaker 1 (15:37.23)
And then with the same, you know, yes, no hesitation.
Yeah, so if anyone knows how when you’re coming in the lake shrine on sunset not from PCH But from sunset like right village you can see like shrine the temple the top temple About a hundred feet from us. We could even make it there on sunset because homes were falling So we had to reverse back it up go down Bellar Bakelum out through PCH and down that way around Through burning neighborhoods and it was really intense
Yeah, yeah
Speaker 2 (16:08.77)
But like my son said earlier, he said, not one time did I feel any fear or I was, we knew we were protected in the prayers of so many people from around the world. We could feel that energy happening to us. We knew we were protected.
I don’t even know what to say. it’s just, you know, it’s, I don’t have words because when I saw the fire in the distance, my instinct was run and it’s, know, miles away. You guys are right in it.
Talk to me about this other quality that Guruji talks about, which is the fearlessness, right? There’s this physical, like I think there’s this instinct as humans of, there’s a tiger, a lion, we go into fight or flight, our nervous systems are sort of geared to keep us safe. So there’s literally fire.
How does it even feel like what were you praying like what what’s going on? That you’re going into yeah, like which seems like sheer terror and danger absolutely and with your kids
Yeah, and with my kids as well. of course, like I said, this, you know, to repeat is, you know, it’s like been a, it’s been a buildup for my whole life. So I don’t think someone who wasn’t exposed from a young child with fires and their data firefighter and then in the fire industry and, and everything else, what was going on that, you know, we could have made it up there because it was, it was fearful. was scary.
Speaker 2 (17:51.882)
It was scary. then there’s that line obviously between putting your family at risk and fearlessness. And I had to really keep my wits about me and say, I putting my kids in danger right now? And how bad is this? where, so.
And your works with you.
My son works with me and they’ve been trained in how to use fire extinguishers with, the PASS acronym and put out live fires and we had our gear. wasn’t, we weren’t just being… Exactly. We weren’t just being, you know, reckless. Right. You know, and we did what we had to do and we got up there and we had everything ready and we got to the lake and I mean, could touch on that if you want right now what it was like when we walked in the lake.
You have all this experience.
Reckless.
Speaker 1 (18:38.286)
Okay, yeah, I mean, I’m just trying to imagine in my mind how intense it must have been. Smoke. mean, unpredictability.
Well, add it all. Put it all to, yeah, then you can document all you like of war zones with pictures and videos, but when you’re there and you have all the elements, all the smell, taste, sight, you wearing masks? We had masks. Yeah, we had masks on. But we had, I mean, when you’re at 50, 60 mile an hour winds, warm winds, the sun is blotted out, deep orange. You can barely see with the smoke. You can smell the smoke. You can smell the fires.
You can hear the crackling of the fire. And then you just hear these distant sirens and no one around. It’s life changing. It’s something that we’ll never see again.
Wait, so you get there and there’s no fire other firemen?
Well, we get fighters. Well, there there was, but they weren’t fighting there. So we get to the lake. We’re at lake level. Now we’re at the lake shrine. We’re on Sunset Lake Shrine, right? No, the fight, was one pumper truck inside the lake, but they were fighting the. Yeah, so they were just there trying to keep that from basically erupting even more. So they were fighting the apartment building and then we just basically got to action from there. We just unloaded the truck.
Speaker 1 (19:38.872)
And do they try to stop you getting in there? No.
Speaker 1 (19:44.984)
Department build
Speaker 2 (19:56.75)
Other things like this, there was a landscaping cart that we have that SRF owns, that Lake Shrine owns. had the keys in it in the parking lot. Yeah, like a little landscaping cart, people cart that you drive around the lake. had the keys in it. When they left, they left the keys in there. So we had all that to put all the fire extinguishers on the cart to drive around the lake and drop them all off at the spots. My daughter, Gabriella, who you’ll hear from, she volunteers at the garden department.
What was it? A landscape?
Speaker 2 (20:24.354)
So she knew where all the hose bibs were that were hidden in the tree. It kept going on and on and on on. know, Bill Lackner from maintenance and Brother Bolananda who both work at Lake Shrine, they installed a fire pump on the barge.
A more divine place.
Speaker 1 (20:44.142)
What is a fire pump? Is it like a high powered hose?
It’s a temporary, so it’s an engine basically. It’s a generator engine. it sucks water from a water source through a three inch suction hose and it puts it into a one and a half inch fire hose. So it does like 300 GPM, it’s called gallons per minute, and 125 PSI, which is stronger than a fire hydrant. So we had the lake water. So we jumped on that, we started that up. And then later they said, how did you guys know how to work then? I said, well, we captain boats. My son works with me as a deckhand. knew how boats.
handle and how an upward engine works and how fire homes work.
So if you didn’t know how to do it, never be able to. Oh my God. So on top of the fire skills, there’s boating skills. Is this not insane? No, it’s all. It’s beyond what, again, this is the, when you go into energy. Sure. And when you go beyond the physical, mean, there’s a miracle, The linear mind could never comprehend. You couldn’t plan for this stuff. Only spirit.
Probably never
Speaker 2 (21:47.374)
And you know, that’s one thing I wanted to add to is, know, like my father was a first responder firefighter, you know, and mad respect, mad respect for everyone who did what they could. were, it was just overwhelming. So, you know, this wasn’t just us. This was like a divine intervention. This was, this was prayers and energy and doing what we had to do, you know, to help. And like something that Brother Chidananda said, that was very important is, you know, our heart goes out to everyone who has lost their home.
Yes.
Sound and it’s not just like, look at us. We’re still standing. You know, there’s a reason. And like I said earlier, that reason hopefully is for people to have somewhere to go in times like this and to retreat and to see something that’s here. You know, that’s very important for us to say.
rate of
Speaker 1 (22:34.474)
Yes, it was definitely part of the message of SRF not to say like, look at us, we’re so much better or special. because it is a sanctuary as truly this place for everyone to come and gather and to feel peace. Wow.
you
Speaker 1 (23:01.998)
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