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
Discovering the Divine Self: You Are That
In this episode of the Bearded Mystic Podcast, host Rahul N Singh delves into the profound Upanishadic teaching 'Tat Tvam Asi' which translates to 'You are That'. He explains this powerful saying, often mentioned in the Chandogya Upanishad, emphasizing the non-separation between the self and the infinite reality, Brahman. Rahul discusses how awareness is fundamental to our true nature and how ignorance of this truth creates the illusion of separateness. He stresses the importance of self-inquiry and guidance from a Satguru to remove this ignorance and realize our formless, divine essence. The episode encourages integrating this awareness into every aspect of life, promoting stability, oneness, and a spiritual way of living beyond mere belief in a distant deity.
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Tatva Masi. You are that. It's one of the most powerful sayings of the Upanishads said often in the Chandogya Upanishad, and it's very important. You are that. What are you? It's not like there's a separate identity. That is you and there's a separate identity. That's the ego. You are simply that which is aware and that is awareness itself. It's not like there is any separation at all. And if we look at it from the Vedantic point of view, as we know, this is one of the four Mahavakyas, the great declarations, the great sayings of the Upanishads. It's very powerful, something you can meditate upon and you can write essays on this. You are that.
Speaker 1:It's very obvious what that means. When it's referring to that, it's referring to Brahman Nirmala, the formless, this individual self you think is separate, actually is none other than infinite reality. Accept this as your true self. This is who you really are. This individuality you're holding onto is actually this vastness. Do not think it's anything less than that. If you just go into your own experience, you cannot say, if you really like, did a deep self-inquiry, you will go back to well, awareness is prior to everything. Before I say, say I am experiencing this, I am thinking this. One is aware that one is thinking, one is aware that one is experiencing. So awareness is always prior and therefore it's that awareness that is truly formless, our true nature. We have to come to terms with that and that can only happen if we really inquire. And the separation we have is just because of ignorance, avidya, because we think we are this body and mind. We do not understand that we are Brahman. We fail to recognize that true nature within us. The whole point is that when we read scripture, it's there to awaken something already there. It's not like it was not present before and then it's present afterwards. No, it's always there. We just fail to recognize it because we live so much in this maya, this appearance of the world, that we forget that our true nature does not belong to this. When death occurs, has anyone that's died ever come back to say there's something afterwards? No, but we can know consciousness never dies. That's what the rishis of the Upanishads elaborated upon.
Speaker 1:Removing avidya is through Brahmgyana, the knowledge of Brahman. When the Satguru shows us what our true nature is through a method which is mostly going to be neti, neti, which is not this, not this, tattvam asi is brilliant, because what that means is it gives an affirmative message to you, say I'm not the body, I'm not the mind, I'm not my thoughts, because I'm aware of the thoughts. I'm aware of the emotions, so I'm not my emotions. I'm aware of my desires, so I'm not my desires. I'm aware of the objects of the world. Therefore, I'm not the objects of the world. Then what are you? You are Brahman.
Speaker 1:Formless awareness, consciousness Through Brahmagyaan. Satguru removes that veil of ignorance and that's why Satguru and scripture is important. Whatever the scriptures declares, you know, satguru says it very directly that this Nankar is your very self. This formless is your very self. Do not think of yourself as anything other than that formless. And, like I said, this requires inquiry but also faith. With that faith we will proceed forward with the inquiry bringing this formless in front of us. If we've been able to have the doshan of the formless, have that direct seeing of the formless, and that's something we can do, if we have received that Brahmagyan and understood the scriptures which will only solidify that realization. So we're not believing in some distant God, but what is present in our awareness right here and now, our true self, and that's all we have to do.
Speaker 1:The practical takeaway is just contemplate the awareness by which you hear these words is already divine. So, when you see everything as divinity, how do you live your life? How do you deal with people? How do you deal with situations? How do you deal with the good things, the bad things? Are you able to be stable? That stability only comes with awareness. So remember, as you're hearing these words, it's already divine because your awareness is present and that awareness is what we both share.
Speaker 1:That's important to know. You do not need to become Nirangar, you don't need to become the formless. You are already that. The more we remember this, the better. That's what Sumiran is remembrance Remembering you are this formless.
Speaker 1:In the beginning there will be a subtle duality, but eventually it will become self-evident to you. Even if the world brought all its wealth together and said you know, whatever you're saying is self-evident. This awareness, this formless, is self-evident. If you give you all the world's wealth, will you deny this? It will be so strong within you that you will say I don't want the world's wealth because this self-evident truth. There's no value that can ever come close.
Speaker 1:Let this insight shift how you live, speak and act. That is the beauty of spiritual life. That's the beauty of being full-time in this. Don't see spirituality as some part-time affair that you do on a Sunday. Let it be your life. If you want to see the impact, if you don't, and you want to be a casual seeker, that's up to you. But if you really want to take things forward, make it your very life.
Speaker 1:When you hear you are that, don't just hear it. Go back to that awareness, sit with it, live with it. Let it dissolve that full sense of separateness that you have. So when you, when you hear that you are that formless, you are that vastness, you are that boundless presence, dissolve every aspect of duality and realize that innate oneness, sit with that. You are that, you are that, and that's all you need to do. Grace will start flowing, naturally. I can attest this has happened in my life and I feel blessed. I pray I can continue to remember this awareness. This remembrance becomes automatic, where you don't have to put in any effort and it's just right here, right now. Nothing can take this away. As we experience this. Brahmadma, this is what we are. Take care. Thank you for tuning in to the Beardy Mystic Podcast. I'm your host, rahul N Singh Namaste.
