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
Who Are You When Identity Falls Away?
After returning from a spiritual conference in Switzerland and time with family in England, I reflect on how the guidance from my guru—"even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat"—shaped my approach to spirituality as central to all aspects of life.
• Living with spirituality as the foundation rather than an accessory
• Choosing work that serves spiritual purpose rather than being caught in the rat race
• Focusing on peace, meditation, and family time instead of status and wealth
• Questioning self-identity beyond temporary roles and labels
• Understanding consciousness as our true nature that persists beyond physical existence
• Recognizing liberation (jivan mukti) as possible in this lifetime
Thank you for listening, and I'll see you tomorrow. Namaste.
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hello and welcome to another episode of the bearded mystic podcast, and I am your host, rahul n singh. Thank you for taking out the time today to either watch or listen to this podcast episode. Uh, as usual. You know we're on discord, uh, you know we can get some lively conversations going on there. I'm also on whatsapp and, uh, yeah, anyway, and I'm on social media sites as well, which I need to start promoting a bit more, uh and putting more videos on.
Speaker 1:But, um, today, uh, well, it's been a long time since I've done a podcast it. Obviously. I've been away. I've been on holiday, uh, I was on a vacation. Uh, first I went to switzerland where my guru held a conference, uh, for two days and uh, so I was there, I attended that. It was on being boundless and there's quite a lot that I learned there, and then I spent around, maybe, I think I want to say a good 12 days then in England. Was it 12 days? I don't know, it was, yeah, around 12 days spent in England and just spent time with family and so on. Got to meet a lot of friends, got to attend a few satsangs, which was nice.
Speaker 1:It's always helpful for me when I attend a satsang, especially when you know you visit those that you grew up in and there's something about the close affinity and close connection that you have with those. So you know, I've been relatively very lucky from a very young age to be attending satsangs and having spirituality be part of my life. I can't think of spirituality ever being a different aspect of my life. I've always felt like there's only spirituality and that's what life's about and everything else revolves around spirituality. My work does not revolve around Sorry, my spirituality doesn't check out what my work is doing or whether it can. It's the other way around, where my work serves my spiritual purpose, in the sense of it gives me enough to support a living where I can live a very spiritual life. That does mean keeping desires in check. It means, yes, you know, you may not want to earn as much as everybody else, so you're not in the rat race, which is good, and I think that comes from a very deep idea that was given to me.
Speaker 1:I remember in Glasgow attending a satsang in the presence of my guru at the time was Babaji, so in the presence of Babaji, and I remember him saying right, and this you know, when you're 17 years old and you hear this or 18. I was just about to start university hearing this. It shapes the way you then view life, and maybe this wasn't beneficial for, like my parents, who wanted me to probably go and earn loads of money or whatever at the time. I don't know what they think now, but for me it was this thought really kind of kind of shaped my worldview. He said that even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat and this is no offense to rats, by the way. You know they're living their life, they're doing their thing. Um, you know they're living their life, they're doing their thing, uh, but but the meaning of the statement is you know, obviously you look at america, it's all about the rat race. You know who's got the bigger house, better car, more wealth, who's a millionaire, all this stuff, and you know, and we give people value based on that and it's. It's really idiotic when you think about it, but that's the way we see things and we think that if somebody is successful in their business, it means that they must be really good. They could earn that money through very cunning and very criminal ways even, you know, but, or going around loopholes which normal folk wouldn't do. Now, does that mean that that person should be given great respect? I don't really think so, just because they have a few extra bucks in their pocket? So essentially what my guru was pointing to was you know, you're still a rat even if you're in the rat race.
Speaker 1:And uh and this has been, I think, kind of my world view ever since I heard that was you know, I will enter the race, but I'm not in the rat race. You know, I'm not in the race to be at the top. If the top, if the opportunity to be at the top, comes to me, that's different and I accept it humbly. But that doesn't mean that I will strive for that or I will work for that. I will just do my work and um, do it diligently and as best as possible, and that's it. Leave the rest to um and as best as possible, and that's it. Leave the rest to, and then guard to guard to the formless.
Speaker 1:And that's been the way I viewed life. It's helped me in a lot of ways, because it means I'm more at peace, I'm more calm. Things come to me rather than I'm chasing them. So I think I save a lot of energy and I get to sleep beautifully at night, you know, and I get to read, I get to meditate, I get to think about the divine, I get to write poetry. I get to do so much in my spiritual life. I get to spend time with my son, my wife. These things are valuable to me and they hold more value than anything else.
Speaker 1:So, sorry, I'm also unwell. I'm just recovering from A mild sickness that I got on this trip On the latter part of it, which was also the annoying thing, but that's the body right. So, essentially, I think, the whole point of just, you know, coming back to America and coming back home, you know, I just realized that the choices that I've made since I've moved to America and choosing not to be part of the rat race, choosing to just be to work on my spirituality, has been the right one. To not get invested into, um, the, the silly conversations that happen in america, like and this is happening now weirdly globally, but and because I I heard moments of this conversation even in england but like people are worried about how many genders there are, sexual identity, all this type of stuff, and I'm just not for it. I'm just like you know what, I do not care how many genders there are. I do not care what sexual orientation someone is. I don't care if someone is transgender. I just want people to live harmoniously. I don't care if someone is transgender, I just want people to live harmoniously, with love and respect, and let people identify with whatever they want to identify with.
Speaker 1:Because, as a spiritual person, we understand that any identity that's formed becomes the ahamkara. It creates more of the I. So essentially, we have to let go of these labels and these identities. But if somebody holds dear to it, because right now they feel that they're trying to master themselves, then let them do that and there will be a time when they will let go of the identity. And unfortunately, what happens is the more you tell people not to identify something, they're going to identify with it more, because you're then putting who they are on the line and that's what they feel and and that's what people don't understand. So you know, you get all these fools that will blow up on social media saying you know there's only two genders. But essentially you're causing more harm than you're proving, than anything else. And also, from a hindu perspective, there's not just two genders.
Speaker 1:So, just saying so, any hindus that follow that particular line of thinking you, you need to, like, read the scriptures a bit more uh, so, uh, yeah, anyway, um, and who are we? Essentially? This is the point that I'm coming to, that I'm alluding to, and this is why desiring things doesn't make any sense, and that's why having detachment makes more sense, and that is that, yes, you have your body, your mind, and you have that. You see the world through that. Yes, you function your life through that. Yes, but who are you? You know, have we ever asked that question? Who am I? And essentially, until we ask that question of who am I, we're not going to go further in our spiritual journey.
Speaker 1:For me, it was important for me to know who am I? Okay, am I the father role that I have? Am I the husband? Am I the fiance? Am I the boyfriend? Am I the son? Am I the brother? Am I the friend? Am I the brother? Am I the friend? Am I a male? Are these things going to last?
Speaker 1:So, when I die, is it called a male body or a female body? Actually, it's just called the body. The body will be cremated or turn into ashes. So that can't be me, because once I'm ashes, how is anyone going to identify me, as you know, it's not going to be. Those ashes will become part of the earth. You know, obviously my ashes will be thrown in the river. So um are poured into the river and you'll enter into the ocean. Very, look at the metaphor.
Speaker 1:So if death proves that I am not any of the identities that I cling on to today, then who am I? What makes me me, what makes me feel like me? I've gone through all these changes. I'm a witness that witness consciousness that is. I'm a witness that witness consciousness that, even like I know that physically and mentally I won't, there will not be the limitation of consciousness in those things. I can recognize that. Yet I recognize also that consciousness seems to go beyond that.
Speaker 1:And so if consciousness is what I am, as the scriptures tell me, that I'm formless, boundless, beyond form, beyond image, beyond color, beyond definition, beyond quality, then can I experience that right now? And yes, you can. You see, the body and mind does not inhibit you from doing so. The idea that we think that the body and mind is the biggest obstacle. It's only there because we make it the obstacle Really. It can be used to make us feel what we really are. It can be used to make us feel what we really are. Once you're able to feel it, then you're able to then go into that feeling and then seek is it actually a feeling that comes and goes, or is it something that's actually present, that you're now just being aware of? The feeling that you are awareness, that you're consciousness? But actually the consciousness and awareness is your every moment experience and, ultimately, that is jivan mukti, that is liberation whilst you're alive. That's what the scriptures point us towards.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to speak for much longer Because my throat will give in. I'm happy that I've been able to speak For so long, but it's been really great To get back to recording, to being here, and I'll see you tomorrow for sure, but, like I said, remember who you are, and that has to be be the most important thing. Okay, thank you, and I'll see you tomorrow, namaste.
