Transforming The Modern Man Through Ancient Spiritual Teachings with Rahul Singh

Ever wondered how ancient spiritual teachings can transform modern man? Rahul Singh, the insightful host of the Bearded Mystic Podcast, joins us to share his remarkable journey from university scepticism to a deep spiritual awakening. Together, we explore how questioning our beliefs can lead to profound stability and purpose. Raul’s personal story, enriched by the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita and non-dual philosophy, offers a blueprint for anyone seeking to align their life with deeper spiritual truths.

We delve into the nature of awareness and the timeless teachings of mystics like Osho, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Ramana Maharshi. Rahul and I discuss the initial confusion between Western religious teachings and Eastern spiritual concepts and how these differences can be harmonized through a living faith. Essential to this journey is the role of a guru, who can guide seekers through the complexities of Vedanta and Hinduism. By fostering an open-minded approach and perceiving spiritual teachings as alive and present, we uncover the essence of non-duality and the boundless nature of awareness.

In our final discussions, we highlight practical techniques for starting a meditation practice, emphasizing the importance of honest self-reflection and the dangers of premature spiritual ego. The conversation touches on the transformative power of continuous awareness and oneness with the divine. We conclude with insights on maintaining this connection and the courage to pursue true oneness with God. Tune in to this enriching episode to discover how to take charge of your spiritual destiny and join a brotherhood dedicated to living a purposeful and awakened life.

Key moments in this episode:
03:26 Existential Crisis and Spiritual Awakening
08:35 Faith and Surrender in Spirituality
15:57 Understanding Non-Duality
22:45 The Bhagavad Gita: A Guide to Life
24:23 The Essence of Krishna's Teachings
27:12 The Four Paths to Liberation
30:27 Mysticism and Personal Spirituality
34:02 Starting a Meditation Practice
39:58 The Importance of Awareness
45:17 Honesty in Spirituality
48:14 Conclusion and Contact Information

How to reach Rahul:
Website: https://www.podpage.com/the-bearded-mystic-podcast/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/The-Bearded-Mystic-Podcast-106118791711117/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeardedmysticpodcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBeardedMysticPodcast
X: https://twitter.com/bearded_mystic 

Chapters

• 0:00 Journey to Spiritual Awakening
• 4:31 The Journey of Faith and Surrender
• 17:02 Exploring Non-Duality and Bhagavad Gita
• 30:26 Unveiling Mysticism in Daily Life
• 41:47 The Power of Awareness and Oneness
• 49:22 Embracing Destiny With the Brotherhood

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

You know, I grew up with God, faith and Sunday Mass. It was part of the culture in my life and for a while I had forgotten the importance of believing in something that was greater than I was, until my decisions brought me to my knees and hands clasped, begging for answers. It was at that moment that I discovered deeper meaning in what I was taught and heard from the altar. This deeper meaning and understanding is because, just as Joseph Campbell describes in the hero's journey, our journey to oneness with the divine, and so today my guest is a mystic in his own right and shares a fresh perspective on spirituality, non-duality and our connection with God.

Speaker 1: 0:38

And before we get into all that, you know, but being a man today has never been more challenging, and so the pain we feel, for many of us, is real. It's a pain of loneliness and it's a pain of unworthiness, and it's masked by our anger and resentment, and it's all because we're uncertain and afraid to take that next step. So if you're tired and fed up with where your life is at, I'm going to encourage you to start your hero's quest, where you can become more, accomplished more and live more than ever before. Just go to memberstheawakenedmannet and start your quest today With that. Let's get on with today's episode.

Speaker 2: 1:14

The average man today is sleepwalking through life, many never reaching their true potential, let alone ever crossing the finish line to living a purposeful life. Yet the hunger still exists, albeit buried amidst his cluttered mind, misguided beliefs and values that no longer serve him. It's time to align yourself for greatness. It's time to become a revolutionary man.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Stay strong my brother, welcome everyone to the Revolutionary man Podcast. I'm the founder of the Awakened man Movement and your host, alan DeMonso. Before we get started, let me ask you a couple of questions. Did you consider yourself to be a man of God and have you ever felt a mystical experience? If we take a moment to contemplate the deeper answer to these questions, I think we're going to find that underneath all of life resides a power and an energy, a thing that is far greater than we are. And once we come to understand this, we can begin to move closer to our true mission in life, and that is to be one with God. And while today my guest shares with us how we can and must make this our mission, so allow me to introduce my guest, rule sing, as a spiritual seeker with an open-minded approach for over 20 years and rules a student of ancient hindu scriptures, including the bhagavad-gita, the panashads and especially the philosophy of non-duality, and he's a host of the bearded mystic podcast. Welcome to the show, raul. How are things, my brother?

Speaker 3: 2:46

doing good, thank you, thank you for having me on. That was a nice introduction, very, very beautiful, and a lot of things which are themes in the bhagavad-gita, which was amazing.

Speaker 1: 2:56

So thank you, thank you for having me on I'm really looking forward to this conversation and, as we were saying just before I got on to, we got onto recording today. A friend of mine, a really close friend of mine is a spiritual teacher as well and and he suggested that I read the Mahabharata and I did do that. It is an epic, epic story and maybe we're going to spend some time getting into that today and a bunch of other stuff. There's just so much here to touch on. I really fond of of hinduism and and the teachings within that. But before we get into all that, as I was talking about in the intro, we're all on our own hero's quest, and so tell me about a time in your life when you knew things for you had to change. What did you do about that and how has that that experience shaped you into the man you are today and the work that you're doing?

Speaker 3: 3:44

Very, very wonderful question to contemplate upon, actually, because we all start. You know, I've never actually had to go out seeking for God or anything. You know, it was literally in the house. And when it's in the house, you don't you have the opposite, you don't appreciate it as much as you't. You have the opposite, you don't appreciate it as much as you as you would. And I think it was at a time when maybe I think I finished university and actually just at university I was questioning actually my beliefs in God, actually just my beliefs in general, like where they come from, where they originated from, do they have, can they be everlasting, can they be changeless? How can I get to that place where I'm stable? And so it happened.

Speaker 3: 4:31

At university I went through this, you know, kind of atheist stage where I questioned the existence of God, and I think the reason behind that was growing up in England, you have obviously the aspect of the formless that's talked about in vedanta, in hinduism, and then at school I remember, you know, every morning in the assembly used to be the bible and god is very different there. So I think that created a confusion that didn't come to light until I was at university. So then, you know, I had this what I call an existential crisis, and then I, I read a few mystics, you know, people like osho, jay krishnamurti, ramana marishi, then and then, and isagodatta maraj, then I, then I came across. Then, you know, then the floodgates opened to Advaita Vedanta. Then, you know, in more recent times it's been Swami Silva Priyananda of the Vedanta Society, but the constant in that journey has been the presence of, you know, my own guru.

Speaker 3: 5:37

In my own life that has been, you know, something that's been constant. My guru is very instrumental in keeping me open-minded, so not just following whatever he said, right and now, today, because the guru has changed to what she says, but it's keeping that open-minded approach to spirituality and that has been great. I think it's allowed me to see the oneness. So, yeah, that time was, if I remember it correctly, it was full of anxiety, which I probably recognize today. But back then, you know, I don't know what that was and all I know is that it allowed me to wake up. You know, if you know, it's very easy to when you think you know God, but then when you have that sudden realization that maybe I don't know everything, maybe I don't, and then obviously that triggers a hole in your life. It kind of opens up a void and then from there, I think Advaitaita vidanta. The non-dual philosophy has really helped to bring the formless into existence for me. So now you know I can't escape god, you know it's the only thing that is it's so true.

Speaker 1: 7:02

It truly is that the only thing that is and I think there is so much stuff there to unpack. You talked about having that existential crisis, and I talked in the intro about coming to a point for myself, or being to my knees, and for me that was, you know, getting divorced from my high school sweetheart and losing everything, and and it was at that moment that I realized that, you know, I'm not really in control of anything and if I'm willing to just surrender a little and and look for that guidance and the challenge I think you know you'd also talked about, you know kind of referenced about. You know, really, that that that guru and me as well, right, and that we don't, we in the West here, we're taught that God is this big, hairy, bearded guy in the sky, right, and that is something that we wait for. We just we're just here doing time and we wait for that experience and it's such a separation and I truly believe today.

Speaker 1: 8:03

I believe that that has been a really a misinterpretation of the Bible and how it is, and it took me to go away from it and to get involved with some understanding some of the Hindu scripture and some of the Buddhist scripture to understand, to come back and appreciate the teachings that are. You know that I grew up in, and so I want to talk a little bit about. You know about that and says, like, because you're obviously a man of faith and and you've done lots of work and in really finding yourself and being grounded, how has faith always been that grounding point for you, or was that something that you know in your story sound like you needed to nurture, and how do you continue to do that today?

Speaker 3: 8:45

a very wonderful question, and faith is something that I think people try to shy away from because they try to intellectualize spirituality so much, or intellectualize god or the guru or the devi, the devis and devdas in in in the hindu kind of story or the narrative. What I find is without faith we can't move to surrender. Now I think faith is the first step, a necessary step, in order to surrender. So we have to have faith first in the teachings that we are given. So, regardless of the background whether you're Christian, hindu, sikh, muslim, it doesn't matter First of all have faith in the teachings, that you have the scriptures, that you have the Messiah or the prophet or the guru, that you have have faith in them, them and it considered them to be alive.

Speaker 3: 9:46

You know, I find it weird when we say there'll be a second arrival of christ, or you know the buddha will come again or sri krishna will come again in as a new avatar in such and such time. Have them alive now. Why do we have to think they have gone? You know if, if their teachings are remembered, they're very much alive, in my opinion, agreed.

Speaker 3: 10:09

So have faith in that and then I think, naturally, then come surrender, then you have to let go of them, in the sense of let go of them becoming a dogmatic thing, and then, only then, can you surrender to that vastness, that formless you know what I say awareness which is, or consciousness which is, god you know, you know. So I think faith is very much needed. It's the building blocks and everyone has their own journey in that. That's the only time anyone has an individual journey in surrender. There's no individual left to have a journey. So faith is the only time and one can turn around and say there's an individual, I have my individual path, but really it's all the same yeah, I completely agree with that and I like the direction that we're going.

Speaker 1: 11:00

You know, a couple thoughts here I want to remember.

Speaker 1: 11:02

I touch to touch on this individuality aspect, but I wanted to go and you talked about faith being that first step and I completely agree and I think part of that journey for us is from faith is to that surrender, to get to a point where I would.

Speaker 1: 11:17

I would suggest that there's spend a good amount of time in your life knowing God is present, knowing that this exists, and I think for the struggle that we have for many men I've done other podcasts and talk about just how dismal attendance in the West is for men to go to church, to men to show up and have any faith in their life and I think it's because of how it's being brought forward, and while there's been a few people that are trying to change, and I think it's because of how it's how it's being brought forward, and while there's been a few, a few people that are trying to change that I think we struggle as men to feel this relationship with God, to feel this connection with something that is so abstract to us because we can't measure it. It's not linear, but that is how it's being. You know, almost taught. I don't know. What do you think about that?

Speaker 3: 12:08

yes, if I understand correctly, yeah, faith is kind of considered somewhat a feminine thing. Yes, if I'm correct, and there is this reluctance to to be, to have the feminine. And I think it's in all cultures. You know, even if people may believe in, like we do in hinduism, we believe in the devis, which are obviously the feminine qualities of that one supreme god, but they, but at the same time, we don't respect the women at home or the, the women. You know, we'll probably be more harsher towards, say, a political candidate that's a woman, than a man, you know. So it is things like that where I think we as a society have considered faith to be a bit, you know it's, you know, we, we consider it to be more of a feminine thing, and I disagree with that.

Speaker 3: 13:04

I think having faith is neither masculine nor feminine, it's the transcendence of that. And if we think we are this body, then automatically the first step of faith is to understand we're not this body and we're not this mind. So if you're not this mind, then even the idea of different types of genders doesn't come into the picture. Yes, the body may feel a particular type of gender, that's fine. But the soul, or the atma, the jiva atma that we refer to in Hinduism, that has no gender. So, yeah, unfortunately it's because we associate faith with our bodies. We have this confusion that's arisen from from there, yeah, and then with that has come the intellectual aspect, which I think is needed in the beginning, like you need to know what you're worshiping, you need to know, you know, you need to know the basics, but that shouldn't be the be all and end all, which is being the case, unfortunately. So it closes off the feminine or the balance of it.

Speaker 1: 14:09

You know, yes, well, and I would. I totally agree with what you're saying there. Well, because I, we, we tend to stay on that and it is, it is the start for all on our spiritual journey. I completely agree with you. I think is the is more of the, you know, of the intellectual aspect of it and really understanding our faith and understanding God through the scripture, through the words that are there, and then going on that path. But, just as in any journey, the true experience of life is leaning into life and experiencing it, and that's where the other side of that coin.

Speaker 1: 14:48

So if we were to because we're just talking about masculine and feminine if we were to think the intellect is more of the masculine aspect of it, but the experience of God, the experience of life, the experience that we have, seeing your child born you're talking about just having a newborn right that experience brings in that nurturing aspect, that that other side of of who, what makes us whole and complete men, and we have that.

Speaker 1: 15:16

We, as fathers, you know we'll be taking care of our sons and our daughters and nurturing them in the way a father would, not necessarily how the mother would. But we need our children in our communities, need both of those. And so thank you so much for you know helping us bring that together, because I think to you know, with our conversation today you know we're it I'm really wanting to hopefully we can get the message across that people can understand some of these, some of this terminology, and really get a different perspective of God, who, whomever, that is for them. And so we talked about at the start of this conversation about being about non-duality and having a non-duality aspect. How would you explain that to somebody of what the idea of non-duality is?

Speaker 3: 16:02

Yes, non-duality really is the understanding that, in a very simple way, that only God is. You know the very things that we see and perceive through our senses. This existence, which is beautiful, is none other than God itself. It's the manifestation of God. You know. It will exist whether this is here or not here. It's not based on existence or non-existence. So the non-dual aspect is that, I would say, which is beyond existence and non-existence. And non-duality is the understanding that not necessarily something you have to believe in, but something you can directly experience. For example, we've experienced it actually in our own lives. For example, when we have grown from a child to teenager to middle age, to old age.

Speaker 3: 17:02

Every day, even throughout the day, today, there's been something that has watched everything happen and yet not got affected by it all. You know. You know if something went wrong at work, the watcher, when, when recalling all this that's happening in the day, the watcher hasn't changed. So what is that watch and that's what va fight of it on, it goes into, it investigates into. Well, what is the one that is observing? So when you get into that field of observing, then you get to that state of being aware, of being aware. So then you look at that awareness and that awareness then watches back on itself, which is really weird, and that there's a collapse of duality there. There's no longer. Or, as jay krishna murthy will say, the observer becomes the observed. Yes, so when we are aware of that awareness, then we realize we can investigate into it.

Speaker 3: 18:01

This awareness does not have one, is bodiless, therefore formless, it's without color, it's without gender, it's limitless, it's boundless, it's infinite. I do not know the end to it, I do not know the start of it, it has no image. You get to that place and you can go on and on describing it, but what happens is in non-duality, is you have that experience and that can be your experience as you live life. You don't have to separate life from it. If that makes sense, you can have that in the background and in the foreground. You can be. You know we're having this conversation. It's happening when we're at work, when we're going to school, whatever it may be, that we can do whatever we want in the foreground, changing diapers, that can be in the foreground and in the background.

Speaker 3: 18:58

Is that awareness that is always present, whether we are aware of it or not, is there and you know we can literally experience that, and then we realize that is god, and we see it. Then we say, well, if this awareness is everywhere, if there's no limit to it, then this exists, it's, this existence is contained in it, therefore, and it can be nothing but that like, for example uh, it's literally just the contents. The mirror is god and the contents that's presented in the mirror is this world, this universe, and that's all non-duality says. Is that the reality? Um, is, you know, is god itself, and that's in a nutshell.

Speaker 1: 19:44

But you know, I've said, I've said it really simply, but getting there has taken me over 20 years and still going yeah absolutely well and it's and it is a very challenging concept for us to wrap our heads around, because we live our lives, you know, in motion, in action, and we're in it. And so when I hear you explain non-duality, the thought that was going through my mind was it's that part. It's that first voice, that's the judgmental voice that we have. That's not it. And then it's the second voice that catches us and saying hey, I'm been, I was pretty judgmental there, and it's not that voice either. That was pretty judgmental there, and it's not that voice either. And this, that's that quiet one in the back end, it's just observing.

Speaker 1: 20:33

So it's like I did NLP training 20 years ago and I remember doing an exercise of putting yourself in the theater of the mind, it was called, and you're sitting in the theater. They ask you to sit in the theater and watch your life playing on the screen and then, in part of the exercise, you take yourself out of that seat and now you're in where the camera is and you're watching yourself. Watch yourself, oh wow. So when you were describing that, that was the vision I had, that that that's that part I think you were trying to reference. Does that make sense?

Speaker 3: 21:02

yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, and that a popular reference or that is given in, especially in Advaita Vedanta, is the screen example.

Speaker 3: 21:12

So like when you have a movie playing, no matter what has happened in the movie there's been a murder scene, there's a romantic scene, there's so much going on, but the screen does not get cut or shot or kissed or anything. You know, the screen remains as it is and that's what consciousness is. It's contentless and what we are aware of that's just the images and they are meant to be enjoyed. But what happens is we and we have this when we are sitting and watching a movie sometimes we get so engrossed, we think we're in the movie, we jump and we, you know, and that's what's happened to us in in our daily lives is that we, we think we are this body and we've fallen into under, in that trap and really we're just that screen of awareness. But that again can only come, that understanding can only do when you've done the work and that means you know. A lot of meditation, a lot of contemplation. It doesn't happen just by someone revealing god to us you know it's, it has to be taken.

Speaker 3: 22:14

Even if someone did reveal god to us, do we have the capacity or the mind that is fertile enough to understand? You know, you know that's an important thing for us to understand as well yeah, absolutely, there is lots.

Speaker 1: 22:29

You know. I've also heard it described as the mind is that is like a garden and there's lots of weeding that we have to do in the beginning lots of weeding right.

Speaker 1: 22:38

It gets a little less as we get better at it, as you're describing, but we have lots of weeding to do, to tending to that garden. Now I know you have you're the host of the Bearded Mystic podcast, and, and, and in there you really distill a number of lessons by, you know, emerson, ralph Waldo Emerson's favorite book of his, which was the Bhagavad Gita. He really, it really was a profound shift for him in his life. And so, while some of us, or most of us, have probably heard of the gita and have an idea of what it's about, help us understand the, the premise of this, one of the holiest scriptures in hinduism, and how. What does it purport to teach us in living our lives?

Speaker 3: 23:22

wonderful. Yeah, you know, the bhagavad-gita is one text which I would say across the board, every Hindu has either read or heard or listened to or hopefully come across, but only a few ever really study it. And it is a text to be studied. And the Gita gives this amazing kind of beginning. It has this brilliant beginning actually, where you have Arjuna totally in despair, confused, almost like kind of suicidal, and to kind of kind of bring that down a little, he says, oh, he'll be a monk, you know, he's trying to run away from life and he's, you know, kind of defeated in life. He's given up. All the juice of life has been taken out of him. Literally he's, he's, you know, having literally, I would say, a mental breakdown on he's having his own existential crisis, yeah yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 24:23

And shri krishna's there again, the whole imagery is beautiful. He's the charioteer, he's driving, and what's always driving us is that true essence, consciousness, and I think. I think if you look at their metaphors it's beautiful. And then sri krishna, in a very he starts off in the, you know, I guess, as a friend, kind of like prodding him, like you know, this is not very manlike of you. You're meant to be a warrior, that's what who you are and think about who you're leaving behind. And you know there's a bit of to and fro. And then ojran, then he does one thing which I think changes the gita from being what would have been just a book for everyday living, like just a normal motivational book, to a book towards liberation, towards freedom, because he then asks Sri Krishna, can I be your student, can you be my guru? When that happens, then the floodgates open in terms of the wisdom that Sri Krishna gives is amazing.

Speaker 3: 25:29

And a lot of people they don't give Arjuna a lot of credit. You know, in the Indian kind of communities we kind of look down on him. We're like, oh, he asked too many questions, he had, you know, he had too many doubts. But with that I mean I would ask would we be courageous enough to ask? It's very easy to say you know how dare he ask? You know he should have listened and followed whatever shri krishna said. But if he didn't ask those questions we wouldn't have the text. And yes, you know, some people say, oh, but there's uh, and I'm going off a tangent a little, but I'll bring it back. But you know, people sometimes say you know, there's temples of hanuman he was the devotee of shri ram but there's no temple of urjan. But guess what? Urjan is on every, in every household in india or in whoever has the bhagavad-gita. He's in, he's in my kindle and many other kindles out there. So he is present. You know, and but.

Speaker 3: 26:27

And now going back to and what shri krishna does in a very beautiful way is he first addresses the psychological angst and then he says, okay, we've dealt with that now, but still, that's not everything. You want something beyond this and in order to go beyond this, you need to understand you're not this body and mind and the people you're killing one, they're already dead and you know and but, and you have to understand that they're going to come back again and this cycle is going to continue, so there's no need to grieve over them. It's like changing your clothes, the clothes that I wore 10 years ago. I'm not crying about it, you know, I have to let go of them.

Speaker 3: 27:12

So then he goes into four paths that we can choose in order to get to liberation. Now those four paths, in a very kind of very simple way to explain, is one is the Gyan path. So he starts off with Sankha Yog. He tells you what the atma is, he tells you that that changeless essence within you, that is who you are. So he starts with that, the gyan yog, the intellectual route, trying to understand.

Speaker 3: 27:38

And then there is bhakti, devotion, the path of devotion. You know, having someone to, having someone to look up to, is very important and to receive knowledge from having devotion to that brings in love, and and love can change. You know, I say love doesn't move mountains, it moves the universe. And then you've got karma. Your say in every action, surrender the fruits of the action, surrender the action itself to god, and no need to take it upon yourself that you did it so. And then there's raj yog, meditate, contemplating upon the divine, and he gives his four things.

Speaker 3: 28:22

Now, depending on our own nature, we can choose either or four and or interplay each one, or we may find one works for us, like for me. Although I always say this, my mind is of the gyan, the intellectual route, the knowledge, but my heart is a devotee. I am in complete devotion and I guess that's why I started off today in a devotional sense rather than an intellectual sense. And yeah, that's what the bhagavad-gita does it. And then it takes you to freedom, where you understand you were never born, you will never die and you are this eternal pure consciousness. And that's what shri krishna does and gives us many ways and techniques in order to do that. But there's four main groups, I would say it can be compartmentalized into yeah, I love you.

Speaker 1: 29:13

Thank you so much for bringing that up. I was hoping we're going to to get to those four paths, because I think they're so critical to you. Know that scripture and how, how it unfolds for us, and so I and you absolutely right. The entire story is so full of metaphor, even from the chariot itself, the, the, the horses in front, the entire piece. And I agree with you, I think it's a, it's a, it's a book to be studied and to be and to come back to over and over again.

Speaker 1: 29:41

And in one of the things that I I'm a big fan of Paramahansa Yogananda's work and his two-volume series on the second coming of Jesus Christ, and because it comes from more of a metaphysical aspect, I'm just finding so much depth now that I didn't have before, now than I didn't have before, and so that's why I think the world is so blessed to have you know the Hindu teaching, and for us to start to really understand how we in the west can start to inter, inter, marry these, these faiths and these traditions, to come to our own set of devotion, our own place in life.

Speaker 1: 30:20

And so thank you for much, so much for that beautiful description of it. Yes, we also talk about mystics and mysticism right with with your work, and it appears that so much for that beautiful description of it. We also talk about mystics and mysticism right with your work, and it appears that this is starting to gain a bit more momentum here in the West, and so I think most of religions have a mystical aspect to their teaching. How is the work that you're doing right now shining a light on mysticism and how we can look to embody this more in our daily lives?

Speaker 3: 30:50

Beautiful, you know, I think. Yeah, I don't know if I would consider myself a mystic, even though it's my podcast name, but it had a good ring to it. So I was like, ok, that's my aim, I want to be a mystic one day, know, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna use the podcast as a, as a spiritual tool to get me there and and. But generally, I do believe all of us are mystics in the making, at least if, even if someone doesn't consider themselves to be well, at least in the making. I remember years ago I'd written a poem where I said you know this at the time, there's seven billion people in the world. So there was 7 billion people in the world. So there's 7 billion religions in the world. You know, and we should embrace, each person is scripture. Each person is is a religion in itself, an institution in itself. And the important thing about mysticism that I think is kind of that we don't look, look at when we are kind of part of a religious institution or any type of institution, is the, the first-hand experience of godliness or god. And what mysticism does is it brings your own relationship into god, a, a very living relationship. So it's not just about connecting to God because of what you've heard in the church or the Hindu temple or in a mandir or anywhere else. It's because you can actually experience that oneness.

Speaker 3: 32:22

And there's many mystics in the past, whether it's Master Eckhart from the Christian tradition, whether it's Rumi from the Islamic tradition, there's many Kabiji in the Hindu tradition and even possibly Islamic tradition too, and there's been mystics in more or less every mainstream religion. So I think the job of the mystic is at least at least, is to be that shining light that will say you know what's in your scriptures, what's in your religion is true. You just used to be that shining light that would say you know what's in your scriptures, what's in your religion is true, you just have to find it. And they will never give you the answer. They will point you in the direction, say look over there, maybe there's something for you, you know, type of thing. So a myst is, in my opinion, the light that shines or is a reflection that shows you where the light is. So it gives you a sense of direction. But yeah, I think we're all mystics in the making for sure.

Speaker 1: 33:21

Yeah, I love that. I completely agree as well. I love that idea of it being that shining light or pointing to something Right and and I think we spend too much time looking at our finger doing the pointing, as opposed to the death, the destination of what that is pointing towards. And so the more that we can learn to you know, really uncover the hidden meanings in whatever scripture it is that resonates with us, I think the better, the better we become as individuals and as human beings, we become much more powerful. So I love how you describe that. You know, obviously there's lots of different techniques and different practices that we can do, and meditation is becoming we talked about that as being one of the paths, for sure. How would you describe or help somebody who's you know heard of meditation, maybe hasn't practiced it? How, what would be a way that you would help somebody start up meditation practice?

Speaker 3: 34:19

right. Yes, meditation there's. Obviously there's not apps for it. There's guided meditations. There's some that are free on youtube. I think I have a few as well, and I even hold meditation sessions once a month as well, but there's many techniques. I think guided is definitely very good for a beginner when you need the words of somebody to kind of guide you into the experience of what they're trying to get you there for. Or there is chanting meditation. You know, chanting has a lot of power and a lot of kind of when we are chanting we are invoking something, whatever divinity we're invoking. So I think chanting meditation has something. But the meditation which I feel is the strongest for me, that's worked a lot for me has been just simply being aware of being aware and you know, just you know, just sitting back and just being aware of awareness itself, and it takes you directly there.

Speaker 3: 35:23

Now I will say it's not, this will come at a later stage. You know, and I think first it's best, best to do like a mantra job, or chanting meditation, or we do breathing meditation, just you know, on the inhale and exhale, or we do guided, before we get to that point the only reason for that is this direct experience can easily give you the subtle spiritual ego that, oh, I've attained it, oh, I have become self-realized.

Speaker 3: 35:59

And normally we'll find, if you ask the family, that person is far from self-realization. And there's lots of people who go to non-duality. They experience this at a retreat and they I call them this pseudo non-dualist, or some people call them the neo-advitants. They then just have one experience and they think that's everything, and they go down this really weird tangent of saying there's no one here, there's nothing to get and no scripture to read, and they go down this rabbit hole, in my opinion, of woo-woo land of non-duality, as if they could be, but there is. And so that's why I think that being aware of being aware has to come from first preparing the mind to be ready for this, so that an ego doesn't come in. Because, yes, in that state there is no ego, right, absolutely. But that doesn't mean that the ego will not reappear, reappear, and it has to reappear in order to function in the world. So how it will reappear, that work has to be done beforehand. You know, some people call that shadow work and they've called it all sorts, but I just call that the preparation you know, just preparing you for that major experience, and what I do in my meditation that we do on a monthly basis I used to do weekly but obviously with the newborn I've had to kind of rework some of my calendar is we start off with actually visualizing everything and then we take everything away, so that whole process of neti, neti and invidanta that we have, which means not this, not this, and then we then I asked them to concentrate on the. Actually, at the same time I asked them to concentrate on the ishtipta, so a divine form, divine manifestation that they worship, that they something that they really have a lot of faith and devotion towards and love. So I asked them to do that and then and then I go into the whole kind of resting in that awareness and then at the end of that, once that stage is done, which is the final, then the final stage is chant a mantra, because what has to happen is I don't want someone to go with just being being aware, of being aware or being aware of formless awareness.

Speaker 3: 38:24

There. There has to be something that can kind of guide them in the world and that is the mantra or the ish they've done. When I asked him. You know you're bringing everything back, but all of this is the divine manifestation. So, yeah, I mean I've given the meditation technique. But I think, to answer your question broadly is it's best to do preparation before we get to the higher level meditation which, which will get you the direct experience. For sure, it's a nice little shortcut, but again, with shortcuts, there's danger to that as well. So that's the caveat I want to give.

Speaker 1: 39:00

Yeah, I completely agree with you. I like that. You talked about having you know me, you know doing, going through the stage of preparation. It's no different than learning any skill right. You don't start with the with the most difficult task or the most one that has. That needs a lot more experience to start with the basic of fundamentals and build yourself up to that opportunity. And I think, for for many of us I were, I get us.

Speaker 1: 39:23

I feel strongly that the idea of contemplation, that's through prayer, through meditation, through different journaling, these are becoming much more prevalent for men now, today, in order for us to be able to finally really get in touch with this entity, this thing, the thing itself, as some people refer to, that is so much greater than us but yet is keeping us and guiding us, and when we can surrender to that, I think we can make such great changes in the world today. So I thank you so much for that. You know, obviously you've done tons of work very well on yourself and you continue to do all this work for others. But if you were to think back on a piece of advice in your journey so far, what would be the best piece of advice you've been given, and how has that served you?

Speaker 3: 40:16

This is a very beautiful one. I was talking to my wife earlier about this and so my guru, he gave me this advice. So, you know, once I was, you know, did the meditation and I was practicing meditation for a while and then I went to my guru and I said, you know, babaji, I'm, you know, I'm connecting to the formless, and it feels really good. And he just turned around to me and this was the advice, and he gave it very nonchalantly, like he was very like, chilled out, and he said, oh good, although we need to be in awareness 24 7, and I was like, how's that possible, you know? And I didn't even get you know, I thought he'll be really happy, I'll be like, you know, well done for doing it. None of that, it was, you know, he then, but that is, I would say, a big turning point in my life in the sense of deepening my meditation. So then I was like, well, what is this awareness that he's talking about? And you know. Then, you know, the weird thing is I've been reading about this but I only started capturing what it meant, so I had to restudy everything, basically afterwards, after my guru said that. So, you know, so that that piece of advice has been the one that has stayed with me even to today. I remind myself, you know, I need to be in awareness 24 7 and I think the confusing thing that happened for me was, yes, you connect to a formless, but there's still a duality and there can be a disconnect too. And what my guru was telling me was there needs to be a place where there's no disconnect here. And how can you get to that disc to make sure there's no disconnect and permanent connection? That is to be in awareness and in that awareness, actually, what I found is that's where oneness happens.

Speaker 3: 42:20

And if you go back on the question you mentioned about mystics as well, that's been the number one thing you must find in a mystic. They always talk about onenesseness. Every single one of them has every single one. Not one of them has talked about being still dualistic with god. There's a thing about being one with god and god being the only thing there is. Like master eckhart says, it's the same eye that you know beholds god based god's eye. You know it's crazy and it's mind-blowing, but that's truly what it is.

Speaker 3: 42:52

So that being in awareness 24 7 meant I had to dissolve myself, the sense of small self that I had, and for that time, in meditation and, when needed, even throughout the world, you know when, whenever the ego likes to try and be a monkey again and jump from here and there, I have to say you know, let's get back to awareness and keep it calm.

Speaker 3: 43:16

But if all all that fails don't?

Speaker 3: 43:17

You know, I have a wife that would be perfectly will tell me when I'm going wrong, and I'm sure my little one will also tell me.

Speaker 3: 43:25

But yeah, you know, and and that that feeling of awareness, I will say it it brings in this tremendous amount of love, and but that love I only, that unconditional love I experienced when my son was born.

Speaker 3: 43:41

That's when I felt I can't see where this love is beginning or ending, and so that's why I want, what I want, to say here is, yes, as much as meditation or someone's words may have an impact on you, you will find that life will be teaching you so much as you go on this journey and just be aware of it, just be alert enough to see the lessons that are there. You know, and and yeah, so that just one piece of advice has opened me up to it's open pandora's box, shall I say, in terms of what I can sense from the world. I don't normally talk about it much because in the sense of what I experience on a day-to-day basis, but because I find that then people kind of put you on a higher pedestal and I don't like any of that. But in my opinion all it does is make you more human and just more grounded in who you are.

Speaker 1: 44:36

And yeah, it's that never ending yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 44:40

Yeah, absolutely Just the never ending or the, you know the, the onion that continues to forever be peeled. We never seem to get to the core of it, and I really feel that that's part of our life's journey is to continue to uncover and reveal more and more of ourselves and getting into that constant connection with God spirit, whatever it is that you feel comfortable in relating to. You know of everything that we spoke about today, and maybe there was something we didn't get a chance to touch on because there's so much stuff there that we could have unpacked. What would be the one lesson you want our listeners to remember?

Speaker 3: 45:21

The one lesson is that, whatever it is, today is the time that you can put into your spirituality. Today is that moment when you can truly introspect and find the path that will take you to that oneness, to that experience of pure consciousness and that oneness with god. Whatever we worship, whatever name you want to give it, today is that time and we can put that into motion. And you know, whether it's reading the bhagavad gita or any spiritual text, just be honest. One thing I didn't get to talk about, but one thing I'm a strong believer in is spirituality. If there's no honesty about your own journey, about where you are, you can put up the facade. You know, we can all do the facade and pretend to be spiritual.

Speaker 3: 46:13

I can start wearing all t-shirts, and you know I can do. You know I can put on the tilak, and I can do. You know I can look like a regular hindu if I wanted to. But that is not what it's about. You know, and we, we have to understand that it's not the outer appearances, the inner work. So, you know, just be courageous, be like Arjun, ask the questions, find someone that you trust and just really, you know, just dive in, I would say, and just be brutally honest. If you've not experienced god right now and you listen to the podcast, just be honest. That that would be the best step you can take, and I think that's what's majorly lacking today is, you know, because of social media, everyone's trying to like sell their religion as if they are getting paid by the religion, and what I would say is they need to be honest and ask has that religion really changed my life? It's good to say on the tiktok live or youtube live or whatever, but has it really changed my life? Have I really adopted the teachings?

Speaker 3: 47:25

right you know, I remember today that a few weeks ago that I don't know how true it is, but it's kind of just funny they said that if the one day they were reading the sermon on the bound in the church and the congregation got up and left and said what kind of nonsense is this? Left and but this is what's happened we are not reading, we're not seeing things what they are and we're trying to, we're being dishonest with our faith and the teachings and the teacher that we have, regardless of who it is. So yeah, honesty is massive. That would be a good first step and then I think, naturally, everything else follows from that honesty.

Speaker 1: 48:10

Wow, love that. What a great way to wrap up our episode today. Really appreciated, darul, having you on the show today. You're giving us an idea of showing us how the power of faith, and something that is greater than we are, really can shape us into the men that we aspire to become, and so if men are interested in getting a hold of you participating in your work, what would be the best way for them to do that?

Speaker 3: 48:33

yeah, I mean we. There's a number of ways. Obviously I'm I'm on social media, my, I have a website, wwwthebeautymysticpodcastcom. I even have a whatsapp community group where I answer questions and I encourage also members of the community to share their you know, whatever they come across and you know, everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student at the same time. Yeah, so that's something we encourage and yeah, but yeah, whatever way I'm accessible, then one thing I do do is I do respond to every message I get, because you never know what someone needs to hear.

Speaker 1: 49:14

Man, I love that. I'm going to make sure all of your information's in our show notes today, your website, your socials, wherever it is that we can find you on the internet. I will thank you once again so much for being on the show. I'd love to have you come back. There's so many things that we just didn't even get a chance to talk about or just or just scratch the surface. So thank you, my friend, really appreciated having you on the show.

Speaker 3: 49:33

Thank you, thank you very much, thank you.

Speaker 2: 49:43

Thank you for listening to the Revolutionary man podcast. Are you ready to own your destiny, to become more the man you are destined to be? Join the brotherhood that is the Awakened man at theawakenedmannet and start forging a new destiny today.