The Bearded Mystic Podcast
Rahul N Singh is the host of The Bearded Mystic Podcast which explores the Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta or Non-Duality in a very simple, direct and practical way. Episodes include discussions into eastern scriptures like The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads etc, along with discussions on the teachings of Mystics from different traditions and discussions about everyday spirituality. Rahul has been a spiritual seeker for over 20 years and has an open-minded approach to spirituality and finds that there is no one size fits all approach. A new episode is uploaded on every other Wednesday. Subscribe to the channel and don’t miss out on a single episode.
The Bearded Mystic Podcast
Elections and Emptiness: How Spiritual Bankruptcy Elected Trump
In this episode of The Bearded Mystic Podcast, host Rahul N Singh delves into the implications of Donald Trump's recent landslide presidential victory, exploring the reasons behind the electoral outcome and its potential impact on various marginalized communities. Singh critiques the performance of Kamala Harris' campaign and the broader socio-political climate that enabled Trump's success. He highlights the moral and ethical dilemmas voters face, emphasizing the importance of integrating spiritual values with political activism. Drawing from the Bhagavad Gita, Singh discusses the need for societal welfare and encourages active engagement in politics to uphold righteousness and support marginalized groups. The episode concludes with a call for solidarity among progressive voices and a commitment to educate and inform the public on pressing political issues.
00:00 Post-Election Thoughts including spiritual bankruptcy
00:18 Introduction
06:35 What the hell happened?
19:30 Spiritually bankrupt when Humanity disappears
27:11 The Bearded Mystic Podcast is going to get more political
31:22 Spiritual Intellect = 0
36:59 Abandon Trump supports?
43:08 The Left needs to work together
46:07 What's next for the Bearded Mystic?
46:51 Inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita
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Want a one-on-one spiritual discussion with The Bearded Mystic - book here: https://www.thebeardedmysticpodcast.com/p/spiritual-discussion/
Visit my website: https://www.thebeardedmysticpodcast.com/
Buy The Bearded Mystic Podcast Merch: https://thebeardedmysticpodcast.myshopify.com/
Want a one-on-one spiritual discussion with The Bearded Mystic - book here: https://www.thebeardedmysticpodcast.com/p/spiritual-discussion/
Welcome to The Bearded Mystic Podcast where we are waking and growing in oneness and I'm your host Rahul N Singh. I have been a spiritual seeker for over 20 years with a deep interest in non duality. And thank you very much for joining me today. So, uh, as you know from my last episode, we talked about how I was endorsing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to be the next president. And as you know, Trump won big, he was, it is a landslide victory. And, um, unfortunately, it seems that Harris was not able to excite the base enough. A lot of Democrats stayed home and we're going to go into maybe some of the reasons as the data comes out eventually. I don't want to talk about anything prematurely, but from what we do know from initial data, we know that people of color like Latino men, 52 percent of white women, And young men especially felt Trump was the better option for them. For whatever reason they have. And when I go into today's episode, I think I felt anger yesterday. Today I'm, uh, kind of feeling just annoyed. You know, how can this happen? That type of feeling. But even with the anger, even with the annoying, I think the years of just learning the Bhagavad Gita and learning how to incorporate that into my life has kept me balanced, has kept me centered despite the emotions that are there and present within me. Because I don't want to ignore those emotions. They're very genuinely there. And I have to acknowledge that. And, as we know, uh, it seems to be that America is in clear decline. And this is from an intellectual level, an educational level. And I don't mean that. People who voted for Trump aren't college graduates or graduates in general. You could well be a graduate, you could be really smart, you could have a PhD, but there's a few things you need to have that is very important, especially now with social media, where the information can be distorted, where it can But you can be lied to and it'd be fine. There'd be a justification for it. So, America is about to go through Maybe not a decline as some people claim economically, which I think that will happen too. He will mess up the good stuff that Biden has done. And you know, what Biden has done is going to come into effect in the next couple of years. So I want people to remember that when they think everything is good, it's from Biden, but it may be that he will reverse a lot of the things that Biden has done. So that's a possibility. So we will see the effects of what he's going to do. Those people that voted or did not go out to vote because they didn't feel Kamala Harris was strong in her response towards Gaza. And, um, I, I totally disagree with that. I think she told you what she was going to do. And the most annoying thing about that was people in that movement never went to a Trump rally to protest. They only went to a Kamala Harris rally. It's like you wanted him to win and, or you knew that he wasn't going to do anything. So that's one thing, it's just that, you know, it just feels like there was so many factors that went into this. So, yeah, I think America is in decline, we've seen the onslaught with the education department which he has said openly that he wants to, get rid of the department of education. That tells you, he knows if people are stupid, if people don't have an intellect, they're gonna vote for him. Because he's a great communicator, I'll give him that. He really knows how to communicate to people. I don't think he makes any sense at all, because when you actually listen to him, without being burdened by how Fox News or CNN manipulates you into thinking, or just in general, the media, or social media, You realize he's not that great in terms of communication either, but he does the job and I can't mock him for that. And he's found ways on how to get his message across. And we'll go into some of those maybe in this episode, but you know, what does a Trump presidency mean for me? And, um, well, it means, uh, that I'm going to have to be engaged in politics a lot more. I'm going to have to be more involved and and that's crucial. And, again, like I mentioned, I've read the Gita many times, really studied it and Sri Krishna, and I'm going to go to that verse at the end of today's episode, that, you know, whenever there is adharma, you need to speak up. Whenever there is going to be harm. You need to speak up and you need to, be there for people when things are going to get tough because there's a lot of marginalized groups that are going to be affected by his presidency and his agenda and you know the whole people saying that Project 2025 was just fear mongering, it isn't. It's absolutely what they have mandated. Their people are saying it openly now and they don't care. Just check out Stephen Miller's recent tweets. So let's just look into what happened. Like I mentioned, Trump won big because his messaging worked. When he was doing the economic message of inflation, he knows nothing about inflation. You think he goes to a supermarket to know what the cost of eggs are, or bacon, or anything like that, or how much cereal costs? He knows nothing. If you asked him how much does milk cost, he wouldn't have a clue. Yeah, so he, he, he doesn't know any of those things in, in reality, but when he tried to do the whole inflation thing, he realized that Kamala Harris had a better messaging. So the thing he did really well was he then pivoted the messaging to anti immigration and that worked. That really worked. Because, you know when you can't afford anything? You would like something to blame, not your own inadequacies to save money or, um, find a better job or learn new skills so you can go up in the world or have a couple of jobs, whatever it may be, instead of doing that, it's just easier to blame immigrants. They're taking our jobs. And there's no evidence for this. Even his whole immigration rhetoric that there's so many people in, in the country. I would like to ask people on a daily basis, is immigration actually affecting you in a negative way? And I bet you it's doing good for you in a positive way. I bet you. There's the odd stories of crimes in the country, but done by immigrants. Aren't there American citizens that also do those crimes? Probably on a larger scale, probably in more numbers. So this whole idea that immigrants are bad is just plain disgusting and racist. I don't care how you want to interpret that, I don't care how you want to claim you're not racist. You are. And there's no, there should be no hiding. When it comes to this, if you have an anti immigrant rhetoric in your mind, just check your own biases. I've had to do that. The other thing that he's done, which has been really effective, is his messaging with being against trans people, it's resonated. People think that men want to play female sports, and females want to play male sports, and there's all this, um, kind of, uh, hyperbole that's going around, this nonsense. Again, it's not happening in my daily life. I, I don't know how that's affecting me. There's this whole idea that school children are going to school and then changing their genders. There's no evidence that that's even happened. And, the crazy thing about this is, and what people don't understand is, that, What you're doing for those people that want to go through gender reassignment, you're making it more difficult for them to come out. You're making it more difficult for them to live. You're suffocating them. And that is wrong. That is causing harm. And that's why, that is pure himsa. That is, that is truly doing harm to people. And so yes, I am against people who have such negative and bigoted views against trans people. I just, I find it disgusting. To think about the campaign itself, Harris only had a hundred days and that's not enough, you know, she's, she's a new face for the American public in terms of speeches and campaigning, so to excite the base a hundred days is not enough, but she did well for 100 days. I don't care what people say. She did an amazing job. Same with Tim Waltz. She did her best with 100 days. And, to To bring joy into the campaign was, was really positive. And I, and I, I'll give her all the credit to that. But the problem was pandering to the moderate Republicans. I don't think that really worked and it didn't work. The data shows that those Republicans still, majority of them voted for Trump. So trying to make ourselves more centered or right wing. Well it's not going to work if someone if the country has moved more to the right And then you try to Give a right wing message. They're going to go for the far right. They're going to go for the populist idea or policy or principle so I feel like maybe She shouldn't have done that and and democrats and even like the Labour party they're really guilty of doing this They have a populist leader, we had Bernie Sanders who could have easily won 2016, who could have easily won 2020, and even now he could have won 2024, because age wasn't a factor. That, that was a pure lie, because if people made Biden step down because of his age, Trump is gonna be the oldest president ever. And he definitely does not have the mental capacity to do the job. And I don't care what people say, he does not. So, you know, you need a populist leader. And in the UK they had Jeremy Corbyn. It's not about whether these people will win the election. It's, it's about support. What happens in the left, and I'm going to talk about this probably more, as I go into this episode. They don't really support their people. You'll find more infighting yet on the right. We've only seen it recently with the Conservative Party in the UK, but we'll see it in the Republican party eventually too. But if you notice, they're all band together. And that's something here we don't do. You will find, uh, if you remember before Pelosi was against AOC, like, that's the type of games that aren't good. And even now, like, when we saw that Cori Bush was taken out of her primary, I mean, that was just ridiculous. If you know someone's a winner, you keep them. And that's something the Democrat Party needs to really look into and really analyze. So Harris lost because It doesn't matter what your background may be, the majority of the 73 million people, they did not want a Black Asian woman to be president. That's frankly it. And there is definitely some hidden racism and sexism within people, which they may not admit to have those feelings, but they do. And it's literally, I remember there was somebody that made, one of the commentators mentioned this that, Kamala Harris has to be flawless while Donald Trump can be lawless. And that is really true. And that was seen. Very openly. He could do the craziest things and he'd be okay. He could say the craziest things. He'd be fine. He could say racist things. He'll be fine. He can say things that are really questionable that you will not be able to get away with in the workplace. Yeah, he got away with it. And yet, if Kamala Harris made one tiny mistake, if she ever did, it would be dangerous. Her career, her campaign would have ended. So we have we have double standards as a society. The other thing was that people genuinely felt that the economy wasn't doing well but the thing is they never really looked into why that was. But obviously they felt that this problem was more immediate for them. And it doesn't matter what the data suggests. It doesn't matter if the interest rates are coming down. It doesn't matter if inflation is coming down. They're feeling the pinch. Now, there's many things we can talk about, about why people are feeling the pinch. Maybe because that federal wage, is only 7 dollars an hour when Kamala Harris wants to bring it up to 15 dollars. Yet, this is where we are. The other guy never mentioned it. But also people don't understand that Biden inherited a Trump economy, along with a pandemic. When the pandemic was in its full swing, he inherited that. Despite that, he turned the economy around. Actually, America's economy came back a lot quicker and a lot stronger than other countries. And that's what people forget and that's the sad part about this. And if I'm honest, I think Biden should have done a lot more. He should have gone further by, you know, even reversing the Trump tax cut. He should have done that. He should have stuck to his guns and done that. And let's be honest, um. Reproductive rights was not an important matter for a lot of people because they don't really see the long term effect or they think that it's not going to affect them. Like, for example, a guy may think, well, an abortion is never going to affect me, but actually it will because it's not just abortion they're going to go after. They're going to go after contraception. They're going to go after every type of way to make sure, to demean your rights. And I have a video that's going to come up about the dangerous aspect about this and why it's steeped in misogyny and the fact that people voted for Trump and, and if they claim that, Oh, you know, I believe in abortion. I believe, her body, her choice, they really don't because you wouldn't put that person back into the government when you know that he wants to bring a federal ban. He's talked about it. So let's be honest that people are defined more by theology and that matters more. And remember that theology is something they've made up in their churches. Jesus never spoke about it and it's not in the Bible. Immigration, obviously was a big matter like I discussed before, even though it doesn't affect them on a personal level, but again, it just helps with the narrative that the economy is being bad, you blame the immigrants, give someone a scapegoat, make them a scapegoat, it's just a lot easier, but again, nobody was willing to check the facts, so it was an easier thing to blame. Like for example, people said 10 million people are in the country, where are they getting that fact or data from? I don't know. Just because he plucks a number out of thin air, people just go with that narrative. But there's no evidence that that many people are in and and that's something that needs to be looked into. But people feel that immigration is big. There's a crisis at the border and they wanted that dealt with. Now, Democracy hanging by a thread didn't move the electorate either, which is really strange. Like people voted for our democracy to be in danger. Um, and that also may show that people are disengaged with the democratic process. Maybe people don't want a democracy. Maybe they want an autocracy. Losing the Senate and most likely we'll probably lose the House and the presidency means that progressive voices need to be a lot louder because America is about to lose its strong foundation. I'm going to talk about that later but this is the reason why people on the left need to, we need to get together and we need to be louder. Because the right are really loud, extremely loud, and I'm going to talk about this later, so we need to really band together, but more on that later. But before we go any further, if you are a woman, And you're worried about your reproductive rights? If you're gay, lesbian or bisexual, and you're worried about your rights? If you're trans and worried about your safety? If you're a person of color and you're worried about your life? Whoever you are, whatever marginalized group you may belong to, because you will feel that the next four years may not be very safe for you. Know one thing. That I love you, and I am here for you, and that's my promise, and if I ever stray away, you bring this video to me, and you clip this bit, because I'm telling you that, I'm there for you. I've worked on my biases, and I have a lot more biases within me that I need to work upon, and trust me, I'm going to work on myself, but I am here for you, I'm really here for you. Now, um, the biggest question that I'm dealing with, that I've had to really really think about is how can we have spirituality whilst humanity faces a crisis, that feeling of humanity. Because, the fact is, the many people who voted for Trump, they don't realize that they've just voted for an agenda that will bring more harm to them and their loved ones project 2025 is literally going to take us backwards, extremely backwards. And so why is that? Why do people do this? Why have people allowed that agenda, those policies, to matter more than Harris's very moderate agenda. It's not far left, it's very moderate. And if people think that's left, or liberal policies, you do not know politics at all. You do not know what conservative values are and liberal values. You really don't. It's very centred economic policies, every policy was just moderate. And America really has to accept that the lack of education in this country, meaning low information voting, is with the majority. People do not question, people do not care because they are not thinking, they're just being fed information and they're not thinking about it. They're not thinking about what is that trying to tell me? Why is that person giving me their opinion? Like I'm giving you my opinion. You got to think about why I'm giving you this. You got to think. So this continuous push to reduce the intellect has really led to misinformation to be a lived reality for many. And we're going to see the consequences of that. That we're about to put RFK Jr. who is a pure anti vaxxer, who's a grifter. And we're going to be putting him in charge of the CDC, our health service, the FDA. Do you know how crazy this is going to be? That guy should not be near any office. And Trump has promised that he will be. And people who voted for Trump, you voted for that. But anyway, spiritual values like love and compassion are really not the way people vote and even if they claim to be spiritual, and I know this is gonna maybe offend people, but more money in their pockets matters more. That's more important than actually love and compassion. And caring about other people's rights. Because they don't see their own privilege. And that is a problem. That I have with spiritual people. And I'll say this very openly. I listened to a podcast by some Hare Krishnas where they spoke about the election and one of them is they called him Maharaj. So I'm assuming he's a teacher of some kind. And when I listened to that episode, I realized that spirituality today, the spiritual institutions that we're part of, they're, they're bankrupt. They're morally and ethically bankrupt. They are in crisis mode without knowing they're in crisis mode. And I'm not saying that I'm leaving spiritual practice. I'm still going to have spiritual practice that's got nothing to do with this. But I am going to be putting most of my spiritual reading to the side because I realize I don't know a lot. I haven't educated myself on the cultural issues that we face today that seem to be defining politics today. I don't know. I feel like I have a lot of biases that I need to deal with. I need to educate myself more about why women should have the choice to do what they want with their body. I need to know why people of color, especially black Americans, need their rights. Not the obvious reasons, but the more nuanced reasons, you know. Um, And so on, LGBTQ, the different, the spectrum of gender. I need to know all of that. I need to educate myself and, and most of all, educate myself on the plight of young men. That, why are they flocking to the right? Why are they being red pilled? That's something I need to look into. I need to understand why that's happening. Because for me to speak about it, I need to learn more. So yeah. It means I have to sacrifice my spiritual reading somewhat, but that's okay. Because if we're okay to vote for more dollars in our pockets over basic human rights, then there's no point of this podcast even being a spiritual one, you know, and that's, that's, that's the thought I'm having. You know, what is the point? Really, what is the point of spirituality if it's so divorced from our life? So divorced that we can't even see how we have separated spiritual life. I'll go into this more. There's a lot to say. Um, you know, for example, if we have immigrants who are going to be forced to go back to their countries, where their lives are going to be in danger. This is pure violence. This is himsa. It's not Ahimsa. It's not the path of least harm. It's not the path that anybody that's read the Gita, the Bhagavad Gita, can turn around and say, this is what Sri Krishna would go for. Or this is what my Guru would go for. No way. In fact, the whole Mahabharata, the whole Gita is about having a positive character. Because without a positive character, the policies that person has would be just as harmful because it's a representative of their character. So their character matters. But I'll go into that a bit more. So yeah, from now on, I am going to be speaking more on politics. I'm going to be talking about what I'm learning. And it may be that you may unsubscribe from my podcast. That's fine. I'm okay with that. It may be that eventually when you see the reels and the TikToks you may unfriend me and unfollow me. That's fine too. But I'm not gonna back down. I'm not gonna give up.\ If I can be a positive voice, I'm going to do it. You know, Trump is dangerous. And we have really seen on this campaign, how unhinged he has become over the past year. We've really seen it. I mean, he talks about immigrants, Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating cats and dogs, that level of misinformation. Have you seen him go into a garbage truck? Well, attempt to. I mean, and he, and he, and he, he speaks a load of nonsense and then calls it the weave. Nah. It's weird, and, uh, he's dangerous. And he has said so many racist things, he has said so many misogynistic things, you just have to search it up. You really just have to search it up. It's right there in the open. And so, this means that I cannot consciously live with the idea knowing that, I can separate my spiritual life while the world around me just burns. It just doesn't sit right with me. I can't pretend to be spiritual and I'm going to call it a pretense because that's what it is. While I allow and vote for the worst of humanity to run the highest office. I don't know how you can divorce the two. I really don't. I think it's because I'm not a casual spiritual seeker. I'm, I'm, you know, and it is something that's embedded into my life. And I know it's going to be dangerous to speak against Trump because he's talked about, you know, the whole, you know, branding of the enemy within. But I'm going to follow dharma, which is the path of righteousness. That's about causing the least amount of harm that cares about others. That's compassionate and most of all, defends the rights of those marginalized in our community. I'm going to do it. And whatever he may want to do, he will do. That's fine. But I cannot live with the fact that in 20 years time my son will ask me, Dad, what did you do? And I'll be like, I didn't do anything because I was more interested in being spiritual than actually helping people. I don't think, I don't think that's going to fly. No, that's not going to fly. Oh dad, you read about all this, you said this in your podcast, but then, but when Trump came in with his rhetoric, what did you do? And I'd be like, oh, I was more interested in reading spiritual texts and just talking about spirituality because I thought that would change people. But, trust me, we will be analysing the things Trump says on this channel. And on this podcast, um, we will talk about all the things his administration will bring and the dangers of that too. And we definitely will look at the spiritual effect of what Trump says. And that is where my analysis will be unique. That's where it's going to be different. And we will always end the podcast with a verse from one of the spiritual texts to remind us about the oneness of spiritual and worldly life. Where we can look at it for guidance in these very tough times that are going to happen. I think we can see it. These dark times need light and we need to be with the light as much as possible. And like I mentioned earlier, many have a worldly intellect divorced from the spiritual intellect. I guess with me now, the spiritual intellect is kind of interwined with the worldly intellect. So I didn't realize how people have suspended their spiritual intellect when they voted for Trump because he is the antithesis of all the spiritual teachings that I grew up with. Literally, he's, he is, he's the embodiment of everything against it. So, you know, I grew up learning about unity and diversity, and this is a candidate, now a president elect, who used diversity to destroy the unity. He got immigrants to be against immigrants because, yeah, I may be a citizen, but I was an immigrant. I moved from the UK to the US. He's got the poor to do the bidding for the rich, so they can get tax cuts and get even richer while these poor people will get more poor because yeah, they may get a bit of a tax cut, but they're going to have to pay higher prices because of the tariffs, because it's going to come onto the consumer. And today in the news, there's been so many stories about how companies are getting ready for this. So that means it's going to happen. So, the poor even go against their own self interests, so the rich can get richer. How crazy, but he's done it. I grew up learning about, it's all about peace, not pieces, and this is a guy who has literally, and still is, destroying the peace of society, and is scattering it in different pieces. His MAGAism, it's destroyed the fabric of unity. So I can't divorce myself away from these spiritual teachings to what he is and who I vote for and who I represent. I can't divorce the two. I can't separate the two. I don't know how you can. I really don't. And loving everyone is a big one. I was told this constantly. And Trump's rhetoric is all about hatred towards others because they're different to you. And the only thing you need to do is love Trump. Love MAGA. That's all you need to do. That's their mentality. So if you really cared about humanity and you voted for Trump, I can't see the humanity. All I see is self interest. All I see is ego. I don't see humanity. At all. Because like I said, you cannot separate the character to the policies. You can't. And we're going to go into character, trust me. So, what I notice is that, since the people have completely divorced politics from their spiritual values, I can only assume two different things. That either people are ignorant and have cognitive dissonance, or spirituality is just something they need to do, that they need to show, but not something they need to be. It's, it's, there's a difference. So, you know, spirituality can also make us feel good that we're doing something, you know, spiritual. I'm doing it. Yeah, it's good. It makes me feel happy. I'm connecting to God. Yet with God's creation you're creating a mess. You're allowing mess to occur. It it's really really crazy. So it doesn't matter if you have read and you remember the Bhagavad Gita, if you love Sri Krishna or any spiritual figure or any spiritual text or you listen to spiritual podcasts. We have to put that to the side right now. Because when we hear hatred being spoken about immigrants, and we agree with it, just openly, without checking once, to see, how would Sri Krishna see this? How would Sri Krishna respond to that? What would he actually do? If there is zero spiritual intellect implemented in our daily lives, then we are spiritually bankrupt. And this is scary for anyone who leads a spiritual community that your people Or your community or the people in my community that's part of The Bearded Mystic Podcast. If they harbor these views, I am scared. I And even young men who may have spiritual leanings are getting trapped with Andrew Tate and the like. And Trump speaks to that base, you know, with his toxic masculinity. And we have to try our best to show how dangerous their rhetoric is, we really do. But at the same time, we need to create a space for them in our community. So we need to get the message across to them is what I'm trying to say, is at least we should create content. And then when they're willing to learn, and this is what I mean, like when they're willing to learn, we have to embrace them. So the next big thing is, do we abandon those that voted for Trump? No. I'm going to have to first say that. No, we We do not abandon our relationships or friendships, even if someone we consider as friends or their family, and if they voted for Trump. I don't believe we should abandon the relationship. And really note my words here. I'm talking about abandoning our relationships. Um, now, I'm going to talk about something that's Some people have spoken about, but I'm gonna speak about it now and I want people to pay attention. I know that there've been cringe posts shared, like we can still be friends of family despite our political beliefs. Let me speak to you directly about this. See, the political beliefs, like how the economy should be run, controlling our borders, how healthcare should be addressed, gun control, improving our education system, all these are fine, as you can support republican senators or representatives in your local area, in your state. I am not mad about that. I am not mad about that. What I am mad about Or should I say mainly disturbed by is that you have literally said that the following are not deal breakers for you because you voted for Trump who is convicted of sexual assault, he has felonies, he's a fraud, he has said racist slurs, he has mocked disabled people, He has homophobia, misogyny and transphobia and it's all on record. It's all out there. There's evidence of it and you are literally telling people that it's okay to have this lack of morals and still be president of the country. That is freaking disturbing. Morals and ethics are less important for you than the price of your gas or groceries. This is what disturbs me and a lot of other people too, because I really couldn't give two shits about your political beliefs. I don't really care about that. I don't care if you're a Republican, but there's a difference between Trump and being a Republican and believing in their policies. You know, Mitt Romney's, those type of people. So I'm sorry, but you can't escape that accountability. Since I have a functioning intellect, I am discerning your character for sure. And if I choose to be distant, it's because I want to keep myself and my family safe. I hope you understand that this is why I may unfollow or unfriend you because those ethics, those morals that I have are non negotiable for me. Right now, I'm trying to move past it, and you bet, it's emotionally challenging for me. This is a battle I've been fighting since the election campaign began, and I knew that people were voting for Trump, because people was ignoring his lack of character, his lack of morals, and lack of ethics, and they did not care. They were still going to vote for him. And they did. So you, you gotta understand why I'm, I'm, I'm not too happy. However, even though these people may have voted for the worst of our human nature, I'm only gonna do my level best not to abandon you. Because we may be the only light in what would definitely be a dark time for you when you realize how harmful Trump and his cronies are. And you will, that day will come. And I don't really want to be one of those people that will say told you so, but maybe I am gonna feel petty enough to do so. Because you got the warning, you just didn't pay heed to it. One day, uh, you will realise that you voted for someone that is against the goodness of your heart. And when that day comes, you want to be that person with the open heart. And you know, one day, those people are going to realise it. And they're going to realise that they voted for someone that is against the goodness of their heart. And when that day does come, just remember, that those of us that voted for Harris, that voted for strong morals and character and strong ethics. You want to be that person with an open heart because they will need your love and compassion and that's really important and that's what makes us different. And even though it's going to be annoying until January seeing people claim how great Trump's presidency is going to be and seeing all that, patience is going to be needed for us. So, I'm asking you not to let go of those that voted for Trump, because you never know when that one post you share, one TikTok that you repost, may make them question things. So we need to do that. The other biggest thing is that the left needs to work together. And the left does not have the same media ecosystem as the right. On the right, they have. You know, Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, Russell Brand, Theo Von, Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, and so on. They're strong, and they're relentless in their messaging. On the left, we just have The Daily and Pod Save America. I would add a few more on that list, there's Brian Tyler Cohen, there's um, I think Secular Talks, there's Rational National, um, there's David Pakman, there's so many good ones, but we need more. Even on TikTok, there's Gen Z kids, Parker and Dean, and many more. We all need to get together and fight that good fight. We need to support each other. We need to go on to each other's channels. We need to, we need to broaden ourselves. The Democrat party also needs to learn from what Trump did right. And he, he did do something right, which was go on podcasts and YouTube channels and get the message across. No moderate Republican will join us, but a progressive message is what people need to see. This is a fact. We can't be pandering to the centre. It's not going to work. It never works. Because we've seen that when progressive measures are on the ballot, people vote for that. So that means we can be progressive. And that's what people need to see. And so let that define the vision for the new generational leaders that will come forward. And I've noticed this, that it's very easy for the left to be very individualistic, but we really have to let go of our individual egos. It's the same thing in Hinduism where it's like, my version of Hinduism is better than yours. And then there's infighting and other religions take advantage of that. Same thing, if there's infighting on the left, the right is gonna, um, gonna mock us for it, and trust me, the right have shown that they have solidarity. You see the ecosystem, you see how Rogan is supporting all those other people, you see it. So we need to do the same. So instead of attacking our people on the left due to some self righteous reasons, we need to keep those conversations off the air, and most of all, allow the whole spectrum of left thinking, of liberal thinking, to be part of it. We don't have to agree on everything, but there's no need to just disagree and put someone down. And trust me, I will Um, I'll ask you to look at the list of great content creators on the left below, please do follow them and support them. And I am open to having all voices of the left to come onto my podcast. This is an open invitation, an absolute open one for you. So please do get in contact with me and we'll make it happen. So what is next? I will be spending most of my time in reading and learning about the political issues that we will be facing. And like I mentioned those things where I need to educate myself more on so that means there may be more episodes as a result because there'd be so much going on and there's so many things to talk about. So that could be a good thing. And I'm positive that Trump is only going to keep on bragging and doing crazy things so we can talk about it. The main thing is educating myself, that's the most important thing, and sharing what I've learned, that's just as important, and like I mentioned, I've noticed that I have my own biases, I have knowledge gaps, and I have to address those, and that's what I will be doing. So, uh, we'll come to the last bit, where we're going to talk about the Bhagavad Gita, and the the verse from there, and the verses, King Janaka and others, so knower kings, enlightened kings, have attained spiritual perfection by performing action alone. Seeing the need for societal welfare also, you deserve to be active. These are Sri Krishna's words to Arjuna. And you can see how important it is. We need to awaken that spiritual knowledge within us. We need to understand that we have that spiritual perfection, that strong intellect of knowing the Real. And trust me, when I talk about the Real, I'm talking about facts, the truth, the Reality that is there of this world. So, to do that, we need to perform activity alone. That's what Sri Krishna says, and what that means is that we need to act when there is wrong things happening. We need to act when things aren't correct. We need to remember our true nature, which is this Atma, and perform our actions accordingly. We need to keep even mindedness. You know, regardless of the emotions that are coming in, regardless of the thoughts that are coming in, we need to be centered within. We must never lose that center. That must always be there for us. And we must perform actions that cause happiness and joy. And as I mentioned, that causes the least amount of harm. That's really important. And think of what is good for society. Perform those actions that will help others, that will bring people up, that the people that are marginalized, that we bring them up, we strengthen them, we give them hope, we give them courage, we support them. So we need to think of what is good for society and we need to act upon it. We must do those things because that's what Sri Krishna is guiding us to do. Because if Arjuna abandoned the fight, the war, the kingdom would be at a loss, the people in the kingdom would be at a loss. And likewise, if I just give up and think that Trump is now the president and I can't fight against that ideology, I need to. There's a lot that I've said in this episode and I understand that it could offend, I understand that it may hurt people, I understand they may not like what I've said, but it is what it is. You can't, you know, politics, unfortunately, or fortunately plays an important role in our lives. And the only time you don't think about politics is when things are going well. And the fact that when you have to think about politics, it means things aren't going well. And one thing I've also noticed, and I was speaking to my wife about this, that I remember when Biden won and there was celebration on the streets, there were fireworks. And when Trump won, it's been rather quiet. Because I know. If people are putting those memes up, and I call them memes, you know, that we can still be friends or family even if we disagree on political beliefs. We can disagree on political beliefs but we cannot disagree on basic human nature, basic human character, basic human values. That's what I gotta say. But, it'll be more from me, take care, namaste everyone.
