The Bearded Mystic Podcast
Rahul N Singh host of The Bearded Mystic Podcast explores the Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta or Nonduality in a very simple, direct and practical way.
Episodes include discussions into eastern scriptures like The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads etc and discussions about everyday spirituality.
Rahul has been on the spiritual path for over 20 years and has an open-minded approach to spirituality and finds that there is no one size fits all approach.
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The Bearded Mystic Podcast
Happiness Beyond Emotion: A Deep Dive into Ashtavakra Gita
This episode takes a profound look at the teachings of the Ashtavakra Gita, emphasizing the journey toward true happiness and awareness. It reveals how our perception of emotions and life events shapes our inner peace.
• Understanding happiness as a state of awareness rather than an emotional reaction
• The pitfalls of seeking joy through renunciation and attachment
• Embracing all emotions without labeling them to find true happiness
"Embrace the journey of self-discovery with us, and learn how to rest in formless awareness.”
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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded Mystic Podcast, and I'm your host, rahul N Singh. Thank you for taking out the time today to either watch or listen to this podcast episode. Today I'm going to read from the Ashtavakra Gita, and it's on happiness. And you know the reason for picking this is to show how we must transcend our emotions. Now I'm not talking about suppressing our emotions. If whatever comes up for you, whatever arises within you in terms of emotions, I think you should feel them fully and be in awareness of them. Yet we have to go beyond the polarities of emotions. This is the whole point of non-duality. So the most radical text is the Ashtavakra Gita, and I'm reading the Heart of Awareness, which is by Thomas Byram, a very beautiful interpretation of the Ashtavakra Gita.
Speaker 1:And so the 13th chapter is happiness. That's what it's titled. Even if you have nothing, it is hard to find that contentment which comes from renunciation. So even if we renounce something, that doesn't necessarily mean that we'll be happy or we'll find contentment. So it's better to not be so stuck in renouncing and not be so stuck in taking whatever we get. You know so it's. If we're in that space, we'll be constantly tugged with emotions.
Speaker 1:So he says I accept nothing, I reject nothing and I am happy. So one needs to be centered, that's all. When one is in their natural state, which is awareness, this formless awareness, there's only still awareness. There's only stillness here. There's only awareness here. There's only calmness here. There's only peace here. There's only bliss here. There's only happiness here. This is what it means by and I am happy, not happy based on a worldly thing. There's no object for the reason of happiness that Ashtavakra is talking about, reason of happiness that Ashtavakra is talking about. So he continues to say that the body trembles, the tongue falters, the mind is weary, forsaking them all.
Speaker 1:I pursue my purpose happily. Whenever we have a purpose in life, whenever we want to give meaning to our life, we either do it with our body or we do with our tongue, so whatever we speak, and then with our mind, whatever our thoughts may be. So if we go beyond the body and mind, we we actually get to our purpose happily. We pursue it. We don't look for any gain, so to speak, knowing I do nothing. I do whatever comes my way and I am happy. It's simple, right, if you think about it.
Speaker 1:Whatever life brings to you, whatever situations you come across, whatever situations you have to deal with, just be happy, do whatever comes your way and know that you're not the doer. Once you know you're not the doer, you can go into the observing state, you can utilize your discernment much more effectively and this naturally helps you to do whatever comes your way. So, for example, if you have a business and the customer enters the shop, you serve them, but you're not the doer, you're just serving. The serving is happening by itself. The same way, if you have an email that comes in, or you have or you have to, like I have to change diapers, I'm not the doer and I just do whatever comes my way. And actually you know, parenting is a great way actually to see this, because you don't have a choice in how you do things. You just go with whatever the baby wants, obviously mindfully and using our discernment.
Speaker 1:So, bound to his body, the seeker insists on striving or on sitting still, but I no longer suppose the body is mine or is not mine. The body is mine or not or is not mine, and I am happy. So, for example, we find that people say oh, you know, I'm a spiritual seeker, so I need to do this. I need to do that, I need to. So I need to do this, I need to do that, I need to follow this, I need to do this, this ritual, I must do that ritual, I must do this fast, I must do, I must go to the temple. It's all this thing. We're striving for something because we think the body has to do it. And then another aspect is just sitting still. If I just sit down and meditate, I'll be happy, but there's no interaction going on. So, yes, you will be happy, but it's a very temporary happiness. It's like something can easily irritate that happiness if one just thinks it's sitting still, you know. But you see people, they sit still, they're in samadhi and they think, oh yeah, that's person's enlightened or spiritual, not necessarily. If they're stuck on sitting still to reach awareness, then they've not found the true awareness we're talking about. Right, so it's beyond even sitting still. But he says I no longer suppose the body is mine or is not mine. So it's not a matter for me anymore to say this is my body or this is not my body. And that's why one is happy when one goes again beyond the identification of both. I am the body and I am not the body, even if you say, oh, I'm not the body. That's also another form of identification and with that comes all the emotions. So that's another way to see this. And then I would say I'm doing this on a very quick pace. If I wanted to give more time, I would, but this is good enough.
Speaker 1:Sleeping, sitting, walking, nothing good or bad befalls me. I sleep, I sit, I walk and I'm happy. One just does the actions that are required. You know, one has to sleep, fine. One has to sit, fine. One has to walk here and there, travel here and there, fine, but one doesn't say, oh, you know, because I slept, this is a good thing that happened. One has to walk here and there, travel here and there, fine, but one doesn't say, oh, you know, because I slept, this is a good thing that happened, this is a bad thing that happened. Or I was sitting here and this bad thing happened, or this good thing happened, or I received this news, or that news was good, this news was bad. Walking, you know, one can slip or fall, or one can meet a friend, none of this matters. One is just sitting, sleeping, walking. So every action of life, not just those three, every action of life. You just do the actions. But the actions are just being done and one is happy.
Speaker 1:Struggling or at rest, nothing is won or lost. I have forsaken the joy of winning and the sorrow of losing and I am happy. This is interesting. Struggling or at rest, nothing is won or lost. We gain nothing. If you struggle great, if you rest great, nothing is won or lost. You know, we think that if we struggle then we may win, or we think if we rest, then we will lose.
Speaker 1:No, so he says I've forsaken the joy of winning and the sorrow of losing, given that idea that I will succeed or I will win, or I will fail or I will lose. Those are not my concepts anymore and that's why I'm happy. I'm beyond those things. That's the way an enlightened person sees it. Then he says for pleasures come and go. How often I have watched their inconsistency. But I have forsaken good and bad, and now I am happy. We know that pleasures come and go and we've seen how they are not permanent. And we've seen Some people say desires are good, some desires are bad. Yes, we must utilize desires. We will never get rid of desires. As long as we have a body. Desires are there. As long as we have a functioning mind, desires are there. Desires in itself are not bad. We're not meant to give up the desires or the desires for a certain outcome. We are simply just living life.
Speaker 1:And if there's one message that you can get from spirituality, from non-duality, it's just you live, you're living, that's all. When one is in formless awareness, when one is resting in formless awareness, it's all about living. Then, whatever emotions arise, whatever thoughts arise, we're able to just be the witness, be the awareness and discern whether this emotion is telling me something. You don't need to identify with the emotion. You don't have to say, well, I am feeling anxious, I'm feeling sad. There's't need to identify with the emotion. You don't have to say, well, I am feeling anxious, I'm feeling sad. There's no need to do that. In fact, just be with the emotion, whatever it is that you're feeling, without labeling it, and see if that brings joy, see if that in that awareness, if that emotion even stays. That's all we have to do.
Speaker 1:So spirituality is not something complicated, it's very easy. But to do so we have to let go of these polarities and just rest in the centered aspect of ourselves, of our true self, of this awareness where you don't have to mention a word on this self, and that's what you have to do. So, whatever emotions you feel, feel them. Whatever thoughts arise, think them, but you don't have to label them. And by refusing to label them, you are simply remaining in awareness. And right now, even listening to these words, you can be in awareness. Right now we are in awareness. As I'm speaking to you, I'm in awareness. There's no separation here. There's only oneness. Here we're all one and that's all we have to remember. So whenever we feel down, whenever we feel too high and up in the clouds, we need to come back to our center of the heart and just be yeah, that's all. So that's really what I wanted to share today.
Speaker 1:I know I didn't post at the weekend. I was rather busy, had a few things to do but the one thing that I will say is yes, once you have the knowledge of the self, you know that you are formless awareness. It's important to then remain in awareness and you know, the more and more I've been working on the course, the more I realize how the subtlest of the subtle, which is this awareness, is easily lost when we identify something, and the last identification we have is oh, I'm enlightened and you're not enlightened, or you are 50% enlightened and I am 99% enlightened, or I'm 100% and suffering does not happen to me. My friend, the moment you say suffering does not happen to me, game's over. Suffering is there, and only clear insight sees this when one doesn't.
Speaker 1:One thing I will say is that, you know, we constantly hear about how one needs to be in the company of a realized being and it's true, there's much to gain from being in the presence of a realized being. There's a lot of things that they can show, a lot of things that they can show, a lot of things they can help you with. That's understandable. But the most important thing is is how ready are you and whether that realized being is even ready for you. I've seen some people who.
Speaker 1:I saw one interaction and I'm not going to name names, but I saw one interaction last week between a so-called enlightened teacher and somebody who right now is going through a tough time, and this person asked a question to the so-called enlightened teacher and the enlightened teacher literally just laughed at him, mocked him for the question and just kept laughing and the laughing was just off-putting. Then I realized, you know, not feeling suffering is also a bad thing. Because how are you meant to empathize when somebody asks a question? They're asking from the sincerity of their heart, especially if it's recorded and you know it's on YouTube. Even worse, like that's imprinted. You know that's on the internet now.
Speaker 1:So compassion that arises from happiness and compassion is the opposite of it, wouldn't be the opposite of suffering. But once you have true compassion, suffering doesn't touch you then. But compassion knows that if the other person is suffering still, even if they don't think they are, I cannot mock them. My laughter cannot mock them. I must mock them. My laughter cannot mock them. I must bring them to peace. I mustn't tell them that they are not enlightened.
Speaker 1:Then one is missing the point. So Ashtavakra doesn't want us to be Raja Janak, they don't want us to be in the polarities. In the whole, I am enlightened, I am free and you're not. No, even between the master and disciple there is an underlying oneness, an underlying respect which never gets crossed, and this is very important to realize and know. So that's how you can tell. Compassion is number one. So the Guru never abandons your emotions. In fact they embrace them because they know that with that compassion, you will pull through, and that's what we can do. All we have to do is literally give our heart to that understanding and rest in formless awareness and then, whatever arises, the Guru will, will catch us, the guru will protect us, and that's the whole point.
Speaker 1:I have noticed that some people do ask me questions privately or in a group, and then sometimes I don't hear back. I'm more than happy if you want to set up a zoom call to discuss things, so there is options for that. Um, in the show notes and video description. You can join my discord server and all that. You know. All that information is down in the show notes and video description.
Speaker 1:But one thing I want to say is that if you ask a question, sometimes speaking is a lot easier for me, because typing is just sometimes a bit, takes a bit of time and you know I can make typos a lot of times. But it'd be really important to to have those meetings or sometimes shooting an email is even better, because that's like a true correspondence or even a private message, but I prefer to discuss things Just so that it can help. But, yeah, other than that, take care, stay safe and be at peace with your understanding, be at peace with who you are, be at peace with who you are, and may you always be blessed with the centered awareness. This formless awareness may always be there, present in your heart, or at least you should be aware of it. Okay, thank you. Take care, namaste.
