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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We continue our series on Vedanta Sara, exploring verses 15-16 which distinguish between the permanent (Brahman/consciousness) and the transient (everything else), a fundamental teaching for true spiritual understanding.
• Discrimination between permanent and transient as essential spiritual practice • Only consciousness/awareness is truly unchanging and permanent • The formless cannot transform into form; forms appear and disappear within formlessness • Renouncing attachment to the fruits of actions as taught in Bhagavad Gita • The six spiritual treasures supporting the path to realization • Making Jivan Mukti (liberation while living) our primary spiritual goal • Importance of surrendering material attachments while continuing worldly activities • Understanding that Brahman alone is permanent, unlimited by time and space • Confronting our mortality as necessary for understanding immortality • Accepting our infinite, formless nature beyond the body
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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded Mystic Podcast, and I'm your host, rahul N Singh. So let's continue on with our series on the Vedanta Sara, which is an important preliminary foundational text that can help us understand the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and even the Bhagavad Gita. Now it's very important that we have particular definitions and that we understand what things mean. So when we come across teachings, our understanding is clear. What can happen when we read text or when we read interpretations? We can sometimes get confused on what they mean. Sometimes some words are translated differently and, for example I'll just give one very quick summary the Bhagavad Gita. Now, the ISKCON version of the Bhagavad Gita is actually different. They change certain words in the Bhagavad Gita, so, as much as they say it's Bhagavad Gita as it is, it really isn't and it's been manipulated with whilst if, and there's evidence of this as well. So when it comes to um, you know that from. In my opinion, the ramakrishna math has the best translations and they are true to the meaning. They don't give their perspectives. Some people accuse them of being left-leaning and so forth, or giving Marxist perspectives, but you don't see that in the translation and that seems to be biases from particular people. So it's very important to understand that translations should be kept as translations or interpretations. That's fine, as long as we know the intention. So in chapter 1, which is obviously the preliminary, and we are on verse 15. We've already discussed the previous 14 verses. If you want to recap them, they're on the playlist on the on youtube, so it's very easy for you to go through them. And then, just in general, I would say that's the best way to to do that.
Speaker 1:
Now. Verse 15 says the means to the attainment of knowledge, or jnana, are discrimination between things permanent and transient, renunciation of the enjoyment of the fruits of actions in this world and, hereafter, the six treasures, such as the control of mind and the desire for spiritual freedom. Now we need to know the difference between nitya and anitya, so that which is permanent and that which is impermanent or is transient. This is very important. Now some people will say well, you know this formless, it's contentless. Therefore, if we imply that that is permanent and then you know, then we are defining it in some way, we are binding it in some way. That's not necessarily the case. You're being pointed to here through words, but the actual experience will be beyond permanence and impermanence, and so that has to be understood. But initially you need to know what is permanent now. What is permanent? That which does not change. So whatever is changeless is essentially only consciousness, it it's only awareness. That's the only thing that is changeless. Same thing with the formless. The formless cannot change. The formless cannot just modify into a form. For that to happen, that means within the formless. If we truly look into the formless, that means that somewhere there is a form in the formless that would imply that it was never formless to begin with. So this needs to be understood. Now, the formless remains formless. Now, because of the formlessness, you can say it gives the room for forms to appear. You can say that that's fine, but remember that will be impermanence, that will be transience, because forms will appear and forms will disappear.
Speaker 1:
Then the renouncing the fruits of actions and any other pleasures that will come by from the world. You know this is a massive thing. In the Bhagavad Gita it's one of the biggest teachings and one of the things that is easy to practice. You know, you do your actions and you don't think about the results. You let the results be as they are your actions and you don't think about the results. You let the results be as they are and you don't need to say whether this result was deserved or undeserved, or you should have done better. No, that's. That's then going into the mind and then getting manipulated by what the mind thinks. So, whatever the fruits of your actions are, just let them be, you know. You don't have to say you know I did this or because of this, I'm enjoying the fruits. That may be the case, but remember to Be as Beyond the fruits of those actions. Good things appear good, bad things appear good. No need to be either way, swayed either way. Yeah, the whole point is to have our mind centered on formless awareness. That's the whole point. Then there's the six treasures. The six treasures will be discussed in a bit, but remember one thing that those are, like you know, the control of the mind, the control of the senses and all, and the diksha, endurance and so on. You know shraddha, faith and so on. So those are the six treasures.
Speaker 1:
And then the desire for spiritual freedom. As I always say, unless we are truly desiring jivan mukti, we are not really ready for the spiritual journey. So to be truly spiritual is to be truly desiring Jivan Mukti. I often say this, you know, whether that's in satsang, whether that's in the podcast, jivan Mukti has to be your number one goal, and it's best if you understand this earlier than later.
Speaker 1:
I, when I was maybe in my 30s, I desired Jeevan Mukti, but I wish that I desired it earlier on. I always wanted to connect with God, you know, connect with the formless, connect with consciousness. That was always there. But to actually be liberated, to be free to be boundless, that was something that came in afterwards. So I wish that I was able to have those feelings, these feelings of Jivan Mukti, when I was earlier, when I was able to have those feelings, these feelings of Jeevan Mukti when I was earlier, when I was, you know, in my university days, you know, to be free, to be truly free, not free from just, you know, the mental construct, not just that, you know, that's one aspect, but to be truly free from even the Idea of Atman and Brahman yeah, where those concepts don't Drive me down.
Speaker 1:
Or the concept, that Of non-duality, you know, sometimes people can get stuck on. Well, if it's not non-dual, then I don't want to know it. And what they don't realise, that very thought Brings you back into duality. Yeah, yeah, and this is an important teaching to remember. So one should really desire, jivan Mukti, that in this life, I want to be free.
Speaker 1:
The problem with this now becomes that you then have to reduce or remove the desire for worldly things. Now, some people may want to be millionaires, you may want to be self-sufficient. I want to be self-sufficient, but does that desire appeal to me more than Jiva Mukti? No, jiva Mukti has to be something I can't compromise with. So that has to be the approach of the devotee.
Speaker 1:
That's how, you know, in my approach to spirituality today is that I've surrendered everything that is material to my Guru, now to Narankara, to the formless. None of what I have is mine, and that is freedom. You know, just even practicing letting go of that, that's freedom. But, yes, does that mean that I stop working? No, does that mean I stop focusing on my job? No, does that mean that I don't work on my course, that I'm creating, that I don't work on my course, that I'm creating? No, yes, the course that I'm creating is there not just to make people ready for Brahm Gyan and ready for the wisdom, but it's also there to help me create a secondary income which will eventually become a primary income, and that's very clear, because there's going to be a cost to it.
Speaker 1:
So I can do things like this that I enjoy, yeah, and there's no need for me to Pretend otherwise. Yeah, the authenticity has to be there. So this happens when we are Truly connected to spirituality. We then become very clear in what we want, and that can only happen if we are desiring the ultimate freedom, which is to be in the. To understand that our true nature Is formless consciousness, it is Nirakar, it is God. To understand that our true nature is formless consciousness, it is Nirakar, it is God. And not to shy away from that. Yes, I acknowledge that. You know, I'm initially a soul and what I didn't realize was that this soul was actually God itself, that the Atman is Brahman itself, and that only occurs when we have truly understood what spirituality is.
Speaker 1:
Now, yes, so the next verse, verse 16, discrimination or discernment between things permanent and transient. This consists of the discrimination that Brahman alone is the permanent substance and that or things other than it are transient. So basically, what does it mean by permanent? It's unlimited by time and space, etc. Nothing can limit it. That's what's permanent. So if we know consciousness does not belong to space. It's not limited by space, it's not limited by time, it's not limited by name or form or anything like that. Consciousness can remain as limitless as it wants, anything like that. Consciousness can remain as limitless as it wants. And transient is that which is contained in some way, limited in some way. Time erodes it. Space contains it. Space limits it. You know, that is a thing. The span of control is less so.
Speaker 1:
Here we have to understand that Brahman alone is permanent. Nothing else is permanent, just Brahman, just your Atma, just consciousness, just awareness. That alone is permanent. Do not accept anything else. The different energies of the universe although, yes, this is controlled by Ishvara, but it is not Brahman. Ishvara also is temporary. Yes, so everything other than Brahman is transient. Your job is transient. This life is transient. Tomorrow you may die.
Speaker 1:
Are we comfortable with our own death? Are we comfortable that tomorrow could be our last day, or today could be our last day? This could be the last podcast I record. This could be the last podcast you hear. Are you comfortable with that?
Speaker 1:
If we're not comfortable by our own mortality, how can we get to immortality when we haven't dealt with mortality? You know, when we think that death is the end. That means we do not know what the beginning is. If we know what the beginning is, we know death is never the end. But this only happens when we've truly experienced what Brahman is, when we understand what the permanent is, and this makes us strong. For this we have to spend time thinking about death, unless you have faced death in in a one to one battle where you fully understand what it is. Until then life cannot be lived.
Speaker 1:
To be Jivan Mukti, to have Jivan Mukti understand what it is, until then life cannot be lived. To be Jivan Mukti, to have Jivan Mukti, one has to embrace death, and for that you have to devour it. The infinite has to devour the finite. For that to happen, you have to accept your infinite nature. You have to accept your infinite nature, you have to accept your timeless nature. So that is very important. So this is, uh, what we'll keep with today.
Speaker 1:
My, for some reason my throat is not letting me continue on. You can probably hear it through my voice, but if there's one thing to understand in today's episode is that you are Brahman, nothing less. So tonight, when you go to sleep, remember that you are this formless consciousness, and that is permanent. This body is. This body will dissolve away, it will die. Nothing remains, only this Brahman remains. So with those few words, I take your leave. Do follow me on social media, do follow me on Discord. You can have conversations with me there. Do like this video, do comment. If you want to support me on Patreon, you can. If you want to support me on YouTube membership, you can. And look, I've started working on the course again. So back to the writing. So that's happening, uh, and more updates will be given in the future. Okay, take care, everybody, stay safe. Namaste.
