About Vani
(Pronounced: VAH-nee)
Antara Pathways, Inc. was founded by Vani, whose work is rooted in compassionate presence, spiritual clarity, and accompaniment through life’s most profound transitions.
Vani is known simply by this name and works publicly under it.
The vision for Antara Pathways emerged through lived experience, including trauma, healing, and a profound near-death experience, which reshaped Vani’s understanding of life, death, and the nature of care.
What began as a personal awakening became a calling to serve others with gentleness, integrity, and steadiness at moments when certainty falls away.
Walking this path alongside Vani is a devoted service dog, Roxy, whose calm presence supports grounding, safety, and connection, especially in emotionally tender spaces.
Roxy, offering comfort, grounding, and the occasional moment of joy.
To hear Vani speak about this journey in their own words, listen to an interview on the
Philosophical Entertainment podcast
.
What Does “Nirakara Vani” Mean?
Nirakara is a Sanskrit term meaning formless, that which exists beyond shape, role, or identity.
Vani means voice, expression, resonance, or truth carried into the world.
Together, Nirakara Vani can be understood as “the formless voice”,
a symbolic reminder that wisdom, compassion, and love are not owned by an identity, but move through us when we are willing to listen.
Awakening Through Transition
A near-death experience marked a turning point in Vani’s life, not as an ending, but as a reorientation.
In that threshold moment, the familiar structures of identity fell away, revealing a deeper understanding:
that death is not merely loss, but a passage that invites presence, humility, and love.
This insight reframed earlier experiences with fear, trauma, and difficult inner narratives.
Rather than seeing these as failures or flaws, they became teachers, revealing how tightly we suffer when we cling to a single story of who we are.
From Insight to Service
Antara Pathways was created to hold space for others as they encounter similar thresholds,
grief, illness, caregiving, endings, and moments when life asks us to slow down and listen more closely.
The organization’s work is grounded not in ideology, but in presence:
meeting people where they are, honoring their beliefs, and walking beside them with steadiness and care.
A Note from the Founder
“What we experience is shaped by how tightly we hold our stories about who we are.
When we loosen that grip, in grief, in transition, in moments of fear,
something wider becomes visible.Antara Pathways exists to hold space for that widening:
to remind us that even in endings, love remains present,
and that care offered with humility and steadiness can transform how we walk through change.”— Vani, Founder