When Vatican Meets Washington: A Hindu's Perspective on Faith in Challenging Times

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.

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Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Speaker 1 0:00

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

Course Updates and Launch Plans

Speaker 1 0:30

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 2:08

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 3:56

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 4:36

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 5:47

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 7:24

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 8:05

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

Purpose of the Formless Awareness Course

Speaker 1 8:30

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 9:26

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 ,

New Pope and American Spirituality

Speaker 1 9:50

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 11:14

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 12:36

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 13:06

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 14:29

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 ,

Hindu Perspective on Current Events

Speaker 1 15:00

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 16:03

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 18:16

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 .

Call for Interfaith Cooperation

Speaker 1 19:30

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 21:59

Uh , so I'm going to leave it there . Uh , I was hoping to do the vedanta series , but for some reason

Closing Thoughts

Speaker 1 22:05

, 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 .