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
When the World Burns: A Quest for Spiritual Awakening
The Impact of Trumpism and the Importance of Political Spirituality
In this episode of 'The Bearded Mystic Podcast,' host Rahul N Singh discusses the broken promises of Donald Trump regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Gaza situation. Rahul emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and spiritual awareness in political decisions. He critiques the rise of far-right ideologies, including misogynistic views like those of Nick Fuentes, and stresses the need for respect towards women. The episode also explores the role of enlightened beings in society, the danger of ignorance, and the necessity of selflessness in politics. Rahul calls for greater engagement with new media by liberals and reflects on the failures in Kamala Harris's political journey. The host also highlights the significance of Dharma and spiritual practice in achieving a balanced and just society.
00:00 Is The World Burning
01:22 Nick Fuentes
03:24 Clip of Your Body, My Choice
04:29 Commentary on Fuentes' Your Body, My Choice
09:45 Spirituality is about equality
15:00 Are young men being ignored?
19:39 Did Biden ruin Kamala Harris's Chances
21:56 Biden shouldn't have gone for re-election
22:50 Traditional Media should be given the backseat in the future
25:00 a further discussion on spiritual bankruptcy
34:49 The World is Burning
41:59 Verse from the Bhagavad Gita
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Is the world burning in hatred, in greed, and totally in fake news? Following Trump's victory, he said that he would stop the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours. That hasn't been done yet. Still not solved, nowhere near any type of kind of ceasefire or anything like that. So that's one promise that's been broken. The other promise that's been broken is that he will solve Israel and Gaza. That still hasn't happened. And as far as I know, the ceasefire is off the table. So I hope those that voted for Trump and wanted an improvement on the situation in Gaza, understand that. You lost that one chance of getting it sorted. 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. Thank you for joining today. Before we go any further, please do like this video, do comment, do share your views, and do subscribe to this channel. And if you would like to join the membership, please do, as it helps this channel keep running. Now, the first bit that I'm going to be discussing and the reason why I picked this, which is apt, because I feel like the world is burning ever since Trump has been nominated. What I've understood is that people aren't happy and as we know that with Google searches, one thing that has happened is how can I change my vote? That's been one of the most searched things and that tells you that somewhere people aren't happy with what they've done. But, you only have one chance at this and we all have to live with the option that Trump is now our president. Especially when it comes to January. Now, I'm going to be playing a clip of this MAGA guy called Nick Fuentes, which some of you may know he's quite repulsive. Even what he says here is very repulsive and, uh, and I, and I want to say that if you're not comfortable in listening, I will put in the chapter markers where the video finishes. It's on X obviously of all places. And just to let you know, I've deactivated and deleted my, Twitter X account. I want nothing to do with Elon Musk. He's, he's a squirmy, ridiculous person. And I don't think he's that great. And it's always been one of those things where I wanted a Tesla, right? So now I don't want a Tesla because it's associated with Musk. So. But that's one of those things. Now, let's play this clip and also let me know what you think about this clip, because this is what MAGA wanted. This is what Trump wanted. So if anyone wants to divorce Trump from this. That's delusional. But this is what exactly what Trump wanted. And remember just to let you know as well, this Nick Fuentes guy even had dinner with Trump. So if you think he's anything different, you got another thing coming. The feel when you're totally not pressed. The feel when we control your bodies. Hey, bitch, we control your bodies. Guess what? Guys win again. Okay, men win again. And yes, we control your bodies. Hi, I'm your Republican congressman. Hi, I'm your Republican congressman. It's your body, My choice. And men, women again. Men win again. There will never, ever be a female president. Never. There will never be a female president. Ever. It's over. Glass ceiling? Dude, it's a ceiling made of fucking bricks. You will never break it. Your stupid face keeps hitting the brick ceiling. We will keep you down forever. You will never control your own bodies. You will never be the president of the global empire. Never gonna happen, sweetie. Your body, our choice. Now that you've listened to this, um, you can see how deep the misogyny runs when he says, your body, my choice. I mean, that's just absolutely disgusting. How can anyone say that? And let me make one thing clear, a woman's body is a woman's choice, what she wants to do with it. It's got nothing to do with me. I don't see any woman controlling what to do with my body. So who am I to even think, even conceive of the idea that I can control a woman's body and that's been one of the biggest reasons why I voted for Kamala Harris in the election. It was because I wanted women to have body autonomy and it's ridiculous in the 21st century that I have to even think of that as a policy issue and I think people don't really understand that it's ridiculous to have that as something to think about. We have so many other things to worry about in life, yet these ridiculous people, mainly old white men, most likely Christian, seem to think that women cannot control their body. Now, if you are a Christian, and you disagree with the way the world is going with abortion, with these anti abortion stances that Christians are taking. I would like to hear from you. I really want to get to know why you don't agree with MAGA and its approach. Why you don't agree with the overturning of Roe v Wade. I would really like to know. But yeah, I mean, men did not win with this. We didn't win at all. According to Nick Fuentes, we didn't. No we didn't. We took an L on this completely. And any man is taking an L if they think that one, if you voted for Trump, that's, that's an L on its own. Two, it's a double L if you voted also in the ignorance without knowing that abortion was on the table or it wasn't an issue for you, that's a double L. And three is an L if you voted for Trump knowing that abortion may become federal law. So it's, it's an all round L, you know, if I'm honest. So I want this to be really clear that this guy and people like in the MAGA sphere, they do not represent men like me. And there's a lot of men like me out there, trust me. And when more data comes out of how many men voted for Kamala Harris, you can be rest assured that we voted for women's autonomy and for them to have autonomy over their body. But at least it's now out in the open that it's Republicans who believe in this type of ownership of, over women, as he says in there I'm your Republican congressman, he makes it very clear. And that should be enough for us to know that this Republican Party which has been overtaken by Trump and Trumpism and the MAGA ism. We need to understand that the Republican Party of the Mitt Romney, of John McCain, even of Reagan, this is no longer recognisable to them. This is not the same Republican Party where there was at least common decency. And remember conservatism it's very different. What we're seeing now is far right. So that's why I'm really angry about people voting for Trump because you're voting for someone who's on the far right. Yeah, the far right. You know what also annoys me is that Kamala Harris wasn't even left. She didn't even run on the left agenda. It was very moderate right in my opinion. The Democrats did not do enough for the left. And yet we still showed up for them. And I think now the Democrat party needs to understand that this is not going to go on. You're going to have to pander to the left now because going for the moderate right has not made you win elections. Yeah, you need to be progressive. So this guy even further says, I mean, this is why I think it's even more ridiculous because he says it's a brick ceiling and that a woman will never be president. I hope we see a president that is a woman, that is also a person of colour, I would hope we get to see a president that is part of the LGBTQ community that represents America. And that's all I care about, it doesn't matter actually what characteristic you have. I just want a president that will actually look at the majority of the people and take care of them. Yeah, that doesn't pander to the rich, that doesn't pander to the lobbyists. I do hope that when the democrats do go for their next primary, that they don't hesitate with picking another woman and making her go forward. I hope they still consider it. You see in spirituality we believe in equality and oneness, it's not something adverse to us. We believe in ensuring that all men are the same as women. Women and men are one and the same. There's no need to see that they are anything different. The Atman is one and the same. And if anyone harbours such ill feelings towards women, or believes that women should not have the right to do what they want with their body, it's totally insecure in themselves. I just want to make one thing clear, because about abortion, and why I think men should not be talking about it, let's put this in a biological sense. A woman actually is only fertile for a very limited number of hours. In fact, I believe it's actually only 24 hours that a woman is actually fertile, but a man is fertile for all of their life because of the sperm. And also that sperm does not die for five days. So, the very fact that it's women that need to control themselves. Because I hear people say that too, is absolutely dimwitted, that person does not have a strong intellect at all. So, I just really want to be clear, that if there's going to be something in place for abortion, there has to be something in place for men. Now, what people aren't understanding is that contraception will also be on the line. And when contraception is going to be on the line, that means that the that abortion is completely off the table. There is no way. You know, just imagine if there's no condoms. That means there's going to be no safe sex. That means, not only could there be an increase in STDs, but there's definitely going to be unwanted pregnancies and when there's unwanted pregnancies, like teen pregnancies, they do not have the option for abortion. So if they don't have the option for abortion, it means they have to look after the baby and that would be a burden on both mother and father, and if they can't, then that child has to go into the system. And can the system support so many unwanted pregnancies? I don't know. So it's, if you look at it, it's, it's actually taking us back, like where we shouldn't be having to talk about this today. It's actually really silly. But this is where we are today. So people like this Nick Fuentes, they are, they're, they're the type of men that are so insecure that they can never be decent human beings. I actually don't, now I'm at the point where I like to believe that everyone has a chance of becoming a better person. But for some reason, I think the world has got so polarized that it's impossible that we're going to start seeing people transform to decent human beings. And that's only going to happen if they take a deep look within and actually educate themselves and not just get the information from social media or like a YouTube short or a TikTok video or even a YouTube video. You have to read and dissect that information. And I feel like even if you're listening to something, there is an element of learning to that, but there has to be critical thinking. And again, like I mentioned in my last episode, strong critical thinking is, is definitely required when it comes to politics and life, but even with spirituality, without a strong intellect, without strong critical thinking, we cannot move to enlightenment. We cannot understand what is reality. So, this is why I've spoken up against even spiritual people who have voted for Trump, because in my opinion, that shows a lack of basic understanding of spirituality, not even deep understanding, just basic understanding. So, and again, I may get called out for it. People may not like it, but that's what I think. And if you have a view that is opposite to mine, then please let me know. I mean, I'm here for the conversation. Someone questioned, In the last video, in the comments, I don't care. I'm ready to have that conversation and I'm doing my learning. So that's the main thing. And what's crazy is that nobody on the right has called this guy out. And this tells you everything about the Republican party, Trump, and the rest of them, like, how can you not call this person out? I've only seen Democrats and people on the left calling this guy out. He has said something rather disgusting and in my opinion that if you don't speak against such statements you're also complicit in this. So, which is why I really wanted to speak about this because it shows the systemic error that we have in our society. That we degrade women and that's disgusting. As I mentioned, the Atman is one. So if you're still seeing gender despite knowing the Atman is one and you are discriminating negatively against women, that's bad. And I know a lot of people want to say, ah, but you know, young men are ignored and, and all that. No, no, no, no, no. I would say they're not ignored. Young men are not ignored. Yes, they're vulnerable. The reason why they're vulnerable is because one, we have allowed these, far right, conspiratorial thinkers, gym bros that have just, you know, without any intellect, they've said half truths and captured them. Now, this alt right mentality. Now, in my opinion, they don't have it the same as a woman of their age. And so if they feel like they're lonely or they are being tortured or, or whatever, I, I think it's more or less they need therapy. And if you do have a young kid who's in their teens, And if you see them going down that path of the alt right, you need to take them to therapy. And I'm being really serious here. Now, women who voted for Trump, I hope you understand that your man thinks of you as a lesser human being, and that's true. People like Nick Fuentes, any conservative person or anyone that voted for Trump, just remember that your man thinks less of you. Or, you know, some people say, well, I only voted for Trump because of the economy. Well, the economy means more than your rights, again, making you less of a human. So, I don't know if you're kind of seeing it because when you're in the whole worldview that, we're being attacked by immigrants, we're being attacked here and there, you can't see what really is here. I just want you to know that that's the case and a lot of kids will see this video of Nick Feuntes and even if they don't believe it initially, that idea is now open to them, which is why I'm saying that if you know that you're, one, make sure your kid is not on Twitter, not on X, and check their social media. See where the algorithm is taking them. And actually the algorithm does take you more towards right wing content because that's what gets more views because it's negative. Yeah. But yeah, and let me tell you young kids, especially young men, Um, let me tell you this personally, uh, you know, respect the women in your life, whether that's your spouse, your partner, your girlfriend, your sister, your mother, respect them because without them, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't have your life sorted. Trust me, if you got rid of the women in your life, you would be empty. And that's why, you know, personally, I have a lot of respect, my wife, she does so much for us. Does so much for me and my son. My mom did so much for me and my mother in law, she does so much for me. So, I have huge respect for women. And I think if you don't have huge respect for women, and you know, actually, it comes from who your idols are. Like, one of my biggest idols is Shah Rukh Khan. He's an Indian actor, and we know that he's very respectful towards women. And we've seen Just, his just mannerisms of respecting women. And when you have decent role models like that it helps. And growing up, I've been told that, to look beyond gender differences and just to see people as one and the same. By doing that, you automatically give people their diverse rights as well. And allow them to express themselves as they are. Because you understand that they're the one and same as you. If I believe in Aham Brahmasmi, that means I also believe everyone else is that same Brahman. If I am that, so are they. But just understand that, the women in your life, their love and their empathy is what gives us strength to face all, ordeals in life, all kind of difficulties in life. Respect the women in your life. It's her tenderness that smooths out the rough edges of society and its expectations. Whatever you take from this segment, do understand that women are important and women require full respect. So the next segment is, did Biden ruin Kamala Harris's chances? Now, this was a thought that I had when, on Saturday, I went to, um, had to go and get my car serviced And I was wondering, you know, when Biden said that Kamala Harris will be the democratic nominee, I wonder if he knew what he was doing, because you don't really have to look far to see where this could put Kamala Harris actually in a disadvantage. Let me explain. See, in the UK, the Conservative Party, they have selected the Prime Ministers after votes of no confidence. So, for example, Boris Johnson got a vote of no confidence, then it went to Liz Truss, Liz Truss got a vote of no confidence, she crashed the economy completely, and then it went to Rishi Sunak. And then we know that there was a general election and Rishi Sunak lost by a landslide. Now, it was inevitable, they were definitely going to lose. And Labour was going to come in front, but what's happened is that, The people didn't really select Rishi Sunak, and he became the prime minister. So over here, the difference is that Kamala Harris just becomes the kind of nominee for the party, but Rishi Sunak became prime minister, so he got the power and then also remained as the conservative leader. I think Kamala Harris lost because there was no open primary. I think it's one of the reasons I wouldn't say it's the main reason, although it wasn't like a proper landslide, like it was for the conservatives, it was a loss indeed. I know people are saying that in elections, people aren't supporting the incumbents as much, but I kind of disagree, Modi has still stayed on, Macron has still stayed on, and really Kamala Harris should have become the president, because if you look at what the Democrats have done in this four years, it hasn't been bad, but I think we need to look at the actual dynamics here. Now, apart from Harris and Sunak being people of color, I think they were rejected because the general public didn't select them. The Democrat party as a whole, the party never selected Kamala Harris. Ultimately, Biden shouldn't have actually gone for re election, he should have allowed a primary early on, he should have, said that I'm only gonna serve these four years and we're gonna select the next Democratic nominee, but ultimately by throwing Kamala Harris in the race, I know this is now sounding a bit like conspiracy theories, but did he want to end her career? Because if I remember the, one of the, the debates back in 2020 for, for the nomination, Kamala Harris really kind of, uh, Really put Joe Biden in his place. So her winning, her becoming the VP was a bit of a shocker. But it's just really hard to judge what was his ultimate game plan and why didn't he want an open primary. The one thing that Democrats should learn from this is always do a primary. Don't, don't avoid it. Uh, So along with that, It's not just Biden making that wrong choice, it was also the use of traditional media. And I think that really brought her down too, because I think by using the traditional media where the trust for them has, you know, kind of reduced in, in, in the years, Which is not a good thing, you know, I think traditional media has its place. Um, but because they've become so partisan, it hasn't really helped give them credibility. And I think the Washington Post did the worst thing of not endorsing a candidate. I thought that was really weak of them. But what definitely the Democrats need to do now is utilize this new media landscape fully, you know, whether they're elected now or whether they're seeking election or re election, they need to get onto liberal leaning podcasts, progressive political podcasts as soon as possible. They cannot wait on this. Literally, uh, as soon as they can, they need to get on this podcast and need to start getting in front of the public, start relaying that their message, because a lot of people seem to think that the Democrats were talking about woke issues when frankly, the Democrats didn't do that at all. It was the republicans that kept talking about it. It wasn't the democrats. The democrats were pretty much on point with their messaging. I don't think messaging was a problem. I think it was the delivery of the message, how it was delivered was a problem. So she, you know, Harris should have done a lot more podcasts. Tim Waltz should have been on a lot more podcasts. Um, I mean, he has a a much better personality than JD Vance, but people will know JD Vance more because he appeared on podcasts. Um, and it doesn't matter just about being on progressive podcasts, but even, you know, going on the Uh, other side, even with your Rogans, Theo Vons and, and so forth, but I think we need to strengthen the media landscape on the left, and that's very important. So the next thing I want to talk about is one thing that in the last episode I spoke about, which was the spiritual bankruptcy, because, you know, many spiritual people voted for Trump and despite his character. Now, his character is something that we would oppose if it was in the Mahabharata or the Ramayana. We'd be like, how can this character even become the king or be the ruler of a nation? You know, we would be very much against it. So, let's go into this a little bit more. Let's try to understand this. And why having a basic spiritual understanding is necessary when it comes to navigating life, especially when it comes to our political choices that we have to make, you know, that's very, very important. So ignorance occurs when, you know, our view of the truth and false is blurred. You know, we do not understand what ignorance is, nor do we understand what truth is. And when this happens, you know, ignorance does not disappear because part of our worldview, the way we discern the world is on a false notion. So once we know the truth, ignorance disappears. And that's why it's very important to really have critical thinking, really to see the world as it is, and to ensure that you're not seeing it in a particular way that you want to see it. We have to understand what the truth is, we need to understand what reality is. If I know that this reality is ultimately Brahman, and then I understand that this world is a manifestation, it's a relative reality, how I respond to things is how I relate to it, and whatever I do has an effect. So when I understand that, I am more mindful about what I do, what I vote for, what I want in the nation. Because spirituality is not just about a revolution within ourselves. It's also about bringing the revolution around us. And that's what spirituality is really about and what it empowers us to do. Now, truth sees the world, not just on an individual level, like I mentioned, it first sees the whole, the complete picture and then it goes into the granular detail. Then it goes into the details of the individual. So what happens is that you see how every choice of yours has an impact on the whole, if I vote for somebody who's going to cause harm, I will understand the whole picture that, okay, this vote that I'm going to do is going to cause more harm than good. Yeah. And then if that's going to cause more harm than good, maybe I will benefit from it personally, but will my conscience be able to deal with it? Will I be able to sleep at night? And some people may be able to. And they have to live with that. But karma always comes back to us. That's for sure. And the values of an enlightened being is the same as the ignorant being. Values are the same. It's just that the values of an enlightened being is first seen from the complete picture before the individual embodiment. Now what I mean by values is, we all want to be loving, we all want to care for other people, we all think we're doing the best for others, and that's why I don't doubt even people on the far right, in their own warped view, because they see things from the individual embodiment first, rather than their complete picture, they They think they're doing what is best but an enlightened being sees the complete picture then sees things from the individual level, from the individual embodiment and that changes the way they view the world, what they do. So that's, that's what I mean. So the value of wanting what's best for others is skewed depending on how we view things. So again, but even for us to see things as a complete picture before the individual embodiment, we need a very strong intellect. We need to know what is real and what is unreal. We need to know what is truth, what is false. We need to know how to have even mindedness, how to be in awareness. We need to know all those things in order to do the right thing. So, being spiritual is not as easy as it's made out to be, but if you put a bit of work, it becomes more smooth sailing, I would say. You will know how to adjust the sails. Now, an intellect that is able to see between the transient and the permanent, that's a strong intellect. So, if I'm able to look to the political field. Politics is transient. Ideas change. They evolve and sometimes they invert onto themselves and bring us to destruction. So what is permanent in politics? That one thing that's permanent is our true being. Whatever happens in politics is going to happen to our being. Our being is the one that is in awareness and is therefore the same. Now so, when we bring our intellect to the level of the enlightened sage, then we can see from an observer level. We are able to detach ourselves, and we're, so this is Vairagya, so by being an observer, when we separate for that moment, we see that idea, that political idea, that political viewpoint, from several different sides. And then we discern whether this will be for the greater good. And if it is, then we push forward with that idea. If we see that it's going to cause harm, then we speak against that idea. And that's how a spiritual person views politics. How they should view politics. Likewise, for a politician to do their job properly, in my opinion, they need selflessness. And that would be for the greater good. If we see them being selfless, we see good being done. Now if it's for selfishness, then we see this causing harm in society. I remember in the UK, there was a time when the MPs had an expenses scandal. So all we hear about politicians that invest in stocks, which they know is going to do really well, due to insider information. That selfishness, that causes harm, that makes you look at people outside of your field as less, and lesser than you, and that's not good. Yeah, that's not, that's not positive. So, even for a politician to do their job properly, they actually have, the first quality has to be selflessness. Without selflessness, they can't do that. So two qualities, selflessness and also the practice of Ahimsa. That practice of doing the least amount of harm to others and to themselves. Now the witness within, that observer, the sakshi, sees the greater good at all times. So, whatever behaviour brings the greater good, that should be adopted. And whatever behaviour brings the worst in us, should be avoided. And this is just the basic spiritual intellect. Now, where this can get a bit tricky, is that frankly, if you hold views that, for example, in my opinion, if you use the word or the phrase illegal immigrants, in my opinion, that's xenophobic, that's racist, no matter the way you look at it. The reason for that is because you actually see those people as wrong. You don't know their story. You don't know, you just see them as a number, not as human beings. And I believe you should use the word undocumented immigrants. I'm reading now a book on immigration and it's just opening my eyes how, there can be so much bias within us, even in our language. But anyway, I digress. Without a solid ethical understanding we cannot be spiritual beings ready for mukti, for liberation. So what I mean to say is that strengthening our intellect is the first thing we learn in spirituality. The first thing. Discernment - viveka. In fact, we learn in this moment to use our critical thinking skills. It's from this understanding we make proper decisions and that's why the proper decision at the time to vote for Kamala Harris was because she would do the least amount of harm and she would bring a lot more benefit to the greater population. Yeah, and that's the way we saw, I saw things and that's the reason why I endorsed Kamala Harris. Not that I agreed with all of her policies, but I knew her policies, at least she had them. Yeah, Trump didn't really have really any solid policy apart from the ones he's always had, which is tax cuts and let's get rid of the immigrants, which is ridiculous and we will discuss that at a later point. So when we vote due to selfishness, that causes more harm. For example, we vote for tax cuts because we want to be richer, or we know that Trump will apparently help the stock market. So we will get more money on our investment. All those are selfish reasons. But when we vote due to selflessness. It'd be a path where there's more benefits to others, so, and to ourselves, where people have more chance to increase their wealth, they could buy a home, all those things were on offer, actual proper immigration reform, all those things were on offer, but we didn't take that. Now I want to link this to something I remember hearing a phrase I kept hearing when I was growing up, and why it feels so apt today, and the saying is, Sant na hote jagat mein, jal marta sansaar. So what that means is that without enlightened beings, this world would be burning right now. And the thing is, I feel like right now, this world is starting to burn. and there is there is a lack of spiritual people, like true spiritual people, which is why I'm sounding the alarm bells, which is why in the last episode was that this spiritual bankruptcy, I mean, I know it's provocative and it's meant to be provocative because I think the world is burning now and with spiritual people becoming so becoming so enamored by Maya, by this illusion of the world. They have failed to see how the world can help others instead of just helping themselves. So, it's the number one reason why I'm also disappointed with people like Deepak Chopra who didn't pick a side, didn't say who he was endorsing. Because he didn't want to alienate his audience. Now why wouldn't he alienate his audience? Think about it. And I always say this, look back and you'll see, he was being selfish. He wanted to keep money for himself. He didn't want to upset half of his audience because he wants their money. But if he had a backbone, if he was willing to be honest and be a true humanitarian, he would have voted for a side. I mean, Oprah did it, why couldn't he? And so, this is one thing we see is that now there are some people who are charlatans. We have people like Bernardo Kastrup, who's a philosopher. He said for people to vote for Kamala Harris. So you see, this is what we need more of. So I'm not saying that I'm enlightened, by the way, and that's why I endorse someone. But I can say at least dharma does guide me and I think for anyone, whether you're enlightened or not enlightened, dharma does guide you. You want to do what is best for everyone. You want to do the path of righteousness. And that's what's really important. Now, when I looked at the policies between the two candidates, I honestly saw that Kamala Harris had the greater good in mind. That was her intention. When it comes to character Harris wins by a thousand miles, you know, like it's not even a question. Yeah, when it comes to character. Plus if we vote for someone who we know is a liar, who lacks empathy, who lacks compassion, and then we expect our children to be truthful, compassionate, to have empathy, to be understanding, that's not going to happen because we voted for someone who doesn't have that. We're saying by voting for Trump, we are literally saying it's okay if you lie, it's okay if you harm women, it's okay if you're toxic, it's okay if you're racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic, because you know what, we elected for such a person and therefore you're okay with that. If you're okay with that person having the highest office, you're okay with that in your home. And if you're not okay with that in your home, why the hell did you vote for someone like that in the highest, for the highest office in the nation? To become the most powerful person in the world, you know, make it make sense because it doesn't, truly doesn't. See in 2016, even though there were signs there with Trump, still society took that chance, but in 2024 that's no longer the whole, I, we want to see what Trump is like. Let's see how a businessman does. And we went through four years of his presidency and we saw how bad he was with COVID. But you know, he was disastrous with COVID. He was telling people to inject bleach, telling them to take alternative medicines. He, he, he just, he could have stopped it spreading, he could have been more forceful with his lockdown but he didn't do a lockdown. He left it to the states to do and we know what happened there. He could have reduced the amount of deaths we had with COVID. He incited an insurrection on January 6th, we've seen him go to court and be liable for atrocious acts like sexual assault and people still voted for such a person. And that's why I say it's a clear suspension of our intellect in 2024. 2016, I can understand. But in 2020 and 2024, if you still voted for him, it's a clear suspension of our intellect and our values, clearly. So even if someone claims to be enlightened and voted for Trump, or claims to even be spiritual and voted for Trump, I personally just can't see how a spiritual person could do it. I really can't. Like, in my mind, I've not been able to come up with a strong reason that isn't selfish, like, I'm trying to look for a selfless reason for voting for Trump, and I can't find a single one, and that's saying something. Now, hence why I feel like my content today, and going forward, has to be about educating, so we can avoid tyranny. So, I'm making it clear that it may appear that I'm getting engrossed in Maya, if I'm speaking on politics, But no, that's not the case. I still have my spiritual practice. I will still link this back to spirituality as I've done today. Because spirituality is in my blood. It's how I function, how I see the world. But I want you to know that I am seeing the world as an observer and then discerning what is best for dharma. And that's how I'm doing this. I'm not at all getting engrossed in maya. So if anyone believes that or perceives that, please put that to rest. If for me, I am on that path towards enlightenment, maybe I've achieved enlightenment, I don't know. But all I know is that I can see things clearly as they are. And I see the nuance, I see the gray area. And what I do believe is that for me to have voted for Trump, if I, if I did, which I didn't, I would have to suspend my intellect and my values. And there's no two ways about that. And if I think Money is more valuable to me than values. I can't even call myself a human being. I really can't. Now, let's look at a verse from the Bhagavad Gita which is, Men without faith in this dharma do not attain me, our dreaded Arjuna, but return to the path of the world fraught with death. It's interesting. Let me look at another translation for this. So it says, O scorcher of foes, which is Arjuna, those humans who are inattentive and averse to the pursuit of yoga sadhana, unable to reach me, return to the worldly path of recurring deaths. One, he says, scorcher of foes to Arjuna, because anyone that goes on to the path of truth, they destroy what is seen as the enemy, which is untruth, which is ignorance. And it says those humans who are inattentive. You see, this is interesting. For anyone to have let Trump be the president again, you've had to be inattentive because if you were attentive, if you were seeing the world as it is, if you were seeing the words as it is, as he was presenting them, you will see that this guy is not right for the country. His policies will only bring us down. His values are going to bring this country down. You know, society will crumble under him and this is what is seen. And it's, and he says, averse to the pursuit of yoga sadhana. What is yoga sadhana? Yoga sadhana is unity with Brahman, unity with the One. And they cannot reach the Supreme if, if, if you're inattentive and you're averse to spiritual practice. And what I mean by that is spiritual practice is the one thing done in awareness. It's not something that you just do as a ritual. Yeah. You do it consciously. So if you're doing your spiritual practice consciously, you have to be attentive. And to be attentive is to see things as they are. To see the world as it is. To hear things as they are heard. To see things as you see them. Otherwise, what happens, we return back to the world. We return to the world, we keep going through the process of life and death and we are not able to get liberated. So it's really important to understand first that the essence of all life is Brahman and to remove the fear of death, meaning anything that comes to an end will cause fear. So if we feel that we will lose our money, that's fear. So we operated from fear. If I voted for Kamala Harris not for the fear of a Trump presidency, but for the love of people, that I want them to progress in life. That's where things go right. That's different. But if I'm voting because I'm scared that the woke are going to take over, or wokeness is going to take over and infiltrate the systems, then that's fear, and Trump operated on fear, and Kamala Harris definitely operated on joy. In order to maintain our joy, what do we need to do is to ensure that fear is destroyed, and that's what we're doing with this podcast. So, in this pursuit for union with the divine, we have to ensure that we are attentive. Yeah. We are conscious, we are fully aware, fully alert. Right now I'm reading On Tyranny, which is an eye opening book, really eye opening. It's incredible. And we will do a podcast on some of the important points in that book have really inspired me so that'd be a future episode so do look forward to that. And tell me what you would like me to discuss on this podcast because we need to navigate the next four years and let me know what you, what you want to see and I'll try and make it happen. Okay, take care everybody. See you in the next episode. Namaste.
