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 explores interfaith cooperation and spiritual transformation in turbulent times, examining how a new Pope might influence American faith communities and what this means for Hindu practitioners.
• Updates on the upcoming "Resting in Formless Awareness" course launching in August/September • Course designed to prepare students for ultimate realization with weekly group meetings and one-on-one coaching • Analysis of Pope Leo XIV's selection and what an American Pope means for Catholicism and interfaith relations • Discussion of how political fear inhibits spiritual growth across all faiths • Call for faith communities to unite around shared values rather than competing • Emphasis on creating harmonious societies where spiritual growth flourishes • Reflections on maintaining spiritual integrity when voting and civic participation
Join our "Resting in Formless Awareness" course - launching August/September 2024! Early subscribers will receive a special introductory rate. Let me know in the comments if you're interested.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded Mystic podcast, and I'm your host, rahul N Singh. Thank you for joining today, and we've got quite a few things to talk about. Quite a few things have happened in the world, it seems. So a lot to discuss, a lot to probably unpack, and what does that mean being a Hindu podcaster? And we'll go into that in a minute. So first things first. I mean I wanted to give an update on the resting in formless awareness course. So I've obviously been traveling and the week towards traveling and then traveling and then coming back has been like a total of five weeks and that means I haven't worked on any of the course, the work for the course material, for five weeks, and that's pretty long. So I've started that back up and the plan is to write all the episodes, so or write all the course material. So that will be. I'm hoping it'll get done in June, at least by the end of June, hopefully before that, but that's the target I've set. Then it's going to be obviously editing, uh, the written piece and then recording and then editing, uh, the first five weeks of content, uh, and then posting that. So that means I'm looking at an August, september date of starting the course, and then obviously, once five or six weeks is done, that means we'll do the next batch, and so on. The more details about how the course is going to look like will obviously come out now more frequently, so expect more information about that.
Speaker 1:
The main purpose of the course is one uh, you know I'm not that. The main purpose is that you should, at the end of the course, feel like you are ready. If somebody had to point Brahman, the formless awareness, in front of you, you would get it straight away. So the whole point is the point is that it makes you ready for the ultimate realization, makes you ready for the ultimate realization. Now, personally speaking, you know, I would always say it's a guru that can give you that realization. And I'm not a guru, I'm merely a content creator, helping people as I go along. I can mentor you, that's for sure, and try and facilitate a growth, but when it comes to the ultimate realization, I do believe it's a guru that gives that. Obviously I've been an inquiry follower, so I believe my guru can provide that. There are other gurus who I feel also have that and they can also give you that realization. So all my course does is it gives you the language, it gives you the purpose, it gives you the direction in order to just understand reality as it is, understand truth as it is, understand that you are formless awareness, that you are Brahman, that you are. That that's the whole purpose of the course. And the course does do that.
Speaker 1:
Like if you were, say, if you've had Brahmgyan before, you've had a pointing, you've met a guru, and just say maybe your practice is stagnant. Well, what can you do then? What's next on the list? Maybe this course can really benefit you in that sense that it will give you the tools, the knowledge for you to understand what you have grasped before. So it brings what you've grasped before into the now, into this very moment. And that's the purpose.
Speaker 1:
If you say are a beginner on the journey and you feel like you don't know where to go, I think the course provides you, in my opinion, the brilliant starting place for you to be ready for the ultimate truth. So when it's revealed to you, you just get it. It's that simple and that is the ultimate aim with the course. Or maybe you've got it, Maybe you've understood it and you just want to spend more time with it. The course has, I would say, six, seven weeks of just solid, just being in that awareness and just exploring that awareness, understanding why you are not the body and mind, essentially in a very, you know, kind of delicate but also very carefully curated material to help you understand that, so that when it comes to just understanding that you are awareness, it's something that just flows very easily. Now, alongside the course, obviously, you have the videos that come out on the daily basis.
Speaker 1:
Um, for the course, uh, that's of right now it's like 25 week course, um, with with one week which will probably be like a recess where we um, halfway through, evaluate, see where we are and see where we want to go. So that's also kind of planned out. Um, but the whole point is that, alongside just the course material, there is going to be weekly meetings. So when you meet with me weekly as a group, that's where you can ask questions as a group, so that peer learning is important. Alongside that, there will be the chance for one-to-one coaching too, and and at no extra cost, by the way so whatever you pay monthly right now we're there's going to be a special month offer. The first month will have a special offer and then that will be your monthly rate going forward. But if after the month, after that special price period, the normal price will be $99 per month, or if you want to do the annual one, it will be $990 per year. So obviously you get a bit of a discount if you do the yearly thing, the main point uh of the um. So the price encompasses all of those things happening.
Speaker 1:
So you have that one-to-one opportunity to ask questions. Uh, obviously they get recorded. They will only be posted. The one-to-ones will only be posted, obviously with permission to the group itself. So it's not something that will go outside of um, the uh, the community page. But what will happen is the group meetings may have questions which we may use for youtube going forward, or we may have guided meditations that go out, um, that were done in the group setting. So a number of things are going to be, you know, going to be done.
Speaker 1:
Then, once that main course is kind of resting, formless awareness, once that course is established, then obviously you will also have access to other courses that will be created as a response. So we may do a Vedanta Sara kind of beginning, so where we go into the foundational bits. Then we'll do an Ashtavakra or Gita, where we explore the Ashtavakra Gita together as a course, and again, that would be something. The whole point is that that becomes a school of learning for you, and it's not necessarily, um, just about me creating content like I do on youtube, but it's more of like, okay, we're working together for a cause where we can explore the divine together, explore our true nature together and be connected to the supreme and remain in that oneness. So that's ultimately what the course is going to do. So that's a nice little introduction to the course and what's going to happen. Let me know if you're interested, let me know in the comments, and, and obviously, more information will be shared shortly when we start gearing up for publishing it.
Speaker 1:
And just wanted to do a massive shout out to Sunny Sharma of the Self Inquiry School, who gave me the idea. We talked about it and it's because of him I'm going forward with that. So, uh, so yes, um, obviously the big news is we have a new pope, and the new pope is an american um, interestingly from chicago. And uh, obviously is um not friendly towards the mega crowd, or shall we say the mega crowd is not friendly towards him? I think he operates on a different wavelength. But what does this mean for american spirituality? I mean, this is the big um thing for me, is that? The big thing for me is that Christianity in America is very, very different. I've had conversations with friends who are Christians and they've talked about how some of them have even changed churches because their pastor was MAGA and, you know, was Trumpian and a fan of Trump, and they didn't like that. Uh, they probably gave it a go and then realized how dangerous it was, especially when it came to um, the vaccine and and so and so on and public health information and as well as the racial dynamics that play with Trumpian kind of ideology. So this new Pope, pope Leo XIV interesting.
Speaker 1:
He has been against the current administration, it seems through his tweets. Very interesting, even though he's more you know, kind of. I don't think he's going to make much headway in terms of accepting the LGBTQ community or anything like that. I don't know how he's going to approach certain marginalized groups, but he's certainly against the current administration's migration policy and I think that's a breath of fresh air. What that also tells us on the global level, america is no longer the superpower or the country that people look up to, the fact that before, the whole point of never voting for an american pope was because america would be seen as a superpower and it'd be highly influential. But I think now I think with what trump has done in his second term, has actually destroyed america's kind of power ranking in the world. Um, you know, you have countries now that kind of know how to play with Trump's ego and get what they want and therefore you know he may think he's getting a great deal from them. Really, it's probably a big loss for the American consumers.
Speaker 1:
I'm not going to lie, like even for me. I've said that if there's an opportunity to move from the us, I'm not going to say no to it. I mean, obviously a lot of factors go in, because we have a wife and a son, so those things will have to be considered. But you can kind of understand the kind of importance that this moment plays.
Speaker 1:
One thing that I love about Pope Leo XIV is that he wanted gun reform, and I think this is the one thing as a British person I will never understand is the need to have a gun, possess a gun, the Second Amendment, and the thing is like right, right now, the government is a tyranny. So, if you know. So, it's just strange that the second amendment doesn't apply in this situation. Um, but I'm just against the possession of guns. I don don't know why we need it. I don't know why people individually need those things. Whether you live in a rural town, I get told that you know it may take an hour for police to come. That's not a reason for you to have a gun and shoot someone. So I do feel the fact that the Pope is for gun reform, but most likely for climate change and addressing the climate crisis is for migrants and certain marginalized groups, for Gaza, positive. Uh, we need such, uh, great leaders. Um, and I hope that this resets the.
Speaker 1:
The church of america, uh, the catholics that kind of, were magified that they understand that their new pope is not one of those. Um, he's berated, uh, jd vance a number of times, but specifically he's mentioned him once in the five tweets that he's written, which tells you a lot about what he thinks. Uh and um, and yeah, jd, please stay away from our current pope. Uh, we don't want you anywhere near him. But what does this mean for, uh, like even indian spirituality? Um, as you can see, my authority is giving away again um, so what? What does that mean for me as a Hindu, or you as a Hindu or Sikh, or? Or maybe you don't associate with any religion. What does that mean for us? I think the meaning is this, very simply, that this is a moment in time where we also have to assess our views and assess how we want the conversation to go forward. When you have a Pope that's going to be vocal on certain issues against the current administration, we as a minority group, what are we going to do as a response?
Speaker 1:
Now, it's scary to know that, especially during the election, it was scary to see so many people that I know, who claim to be spiritual, vote for someone who is the antithesis of our spiritual values and and, in my opinion, if you vote for the economy more than your values of spirituality, that means spirituality is not everything for you. Yeah, you can be conservative fiscally, but you've got to remember the president isn't just defined by that and as we see, one, he's made a mess of the economy. That's one thing right now, but two, he's making a mess of the social fabric of America, and I don't think a lot of people are seeing what that's going to lead to, and you know, when people live in fear, that means they cannot grow. Now, for any church or for any spiritual place of worship, growth is important. When I say growth, I don't mean numbers, I mean the actual growth of spiritual values. That can only happen when fear is pushed to the side. Is pushed to the side, but right now, fear is being installed because there could be a fear of a recession, fear of losing your job, fear of the economy tanking, fear of you losing your 401k there's so many things that can be, uh, that will affect you, so that fear cripples us. It stops us from growing spiritually. We don't turn to god, we don't turn to spirituality for help in these situations, and we may turn to prayer, we may turn to meditation, possibly, but it's to deal with our fear, not for our growth towards spiritual salvation or liberation. So the whole point is that we've got to grow spiritually.
Speaker 1:
So, as a hindu, in this current moment when a new pope is created, I think the number one thing is interfaith needs to take. You know the the a major place in discussion we need to talk about. You know there is a de-churching going on and now, if you think about it, this is now going to be a battle between the church and it's these evangelicals not every evangelical, obviously, but majority of them that are tearing the line for the destruction of our education, health care system and economic the economic agenda, where it's more about the rich, not the poor, which is again against the current new pope's um kind of agenda. So we as uh, hindus, or anyone for that matter I think this is a moment where we get together and we help the poor, we help the people that need us. We make sure that everyone has a voice. We can even push the agenda that even the where the catholic church has to start accepting the lgbtq community, that we push the government to accept as many genders, because it is a spectrum and there's no need to shy away from basic biology. You know, and most of all, you know how can we work together to create a society where spiritual growth is in harmony with each other rather than against each other. It's not about the church having more, the um for islam having more, for hinduism having more or buddhism having more. It's not about that. It's about how can we collectively get together and make sure things just work better for the society and when we have that bigger goal in mind. The quality of our teachings also improves the quality of our communities, the smaller communities that we're part of, how they prosper and grow. So my hope is that this will, this moment, will create something beautiful. You know, I congratulate the Catholics for their new Pope and I think it's an interesting choice. Obviously, as we go forward, there may be views that we disagree on, and we can voice those disagreements. But most of all, when it comes to fighting against this authoritarian tyrant that is in the White House and his government and his administration, I think it's very necessary that we raise our voices and you know, whenever the new pope does that, I'll be more than happy to amplify with that and work together to make a more um, graceful society, a more harmonious and wonderful society, because that's what matters in the end.
Speaker 1:
Uh, so I'm going to leave it there. Uh, I was hoping to do the vedanta series, but for some reason, um vedanta sarah series, but my, uh, my kindle didn't want to open up today, so I accepted. Whatever happened anyway, take care. Uh, hopefully I may see you tomorrow. I may not, I'm not sure if I'm gonna record something, but if I do, um, I'll see you tomorrow. I may not, I'm not sure if I'm going to record something, but if I do, I'll see you tomorrow. Otherwise, have a great weekend. Take care, namaste.
