LISTEN TO THIS if you follow Radical Nonduality in 2025!

0:00 Hello, welcome to another episode of the Bearded Mystic podcast, and I'm your host, rahul N Singh. Thank you for taking out the time today to either watch or listen to this podcast episode Another one of those spontaneous talks that I wanted to do. Recently there's been YouTube drama. I love YouTube drama, especially in the non-dual circles, because it's a highlight of what's going wrong in spirituality. Like you hear buzzwords and certain words when you're like, okay, when somebody claims they've had a non-dual realization, a non-dual awakening.

0:48 How do we go back from that Now? Obviously, as we know, in Advaita Vedanta the reality is seen in two ways. Reality is seen in two ways. So the first reality, well, the only reality that really is, is the non-dual state, which is Aham brahmastmi. There is only Brahman. So you know that experience, that you know I am pure consciousness, there is only this pure consciousness. That's the ultimate reality. Then we obviously have this world, which is pretty much a transactional reality, a relative reality.

1:36 So in that domain, awareness remains. Nothing changes of the I am Brahman state, the I am Brahmasmi state, the non-dual state does not change at all. It's still there, still right here, and all you have as a result is the relativity of name and form. So for me and you to relate, we kind of need body and mind, and that's how we relate. For me to record this YouTube video or podcast episode, for me to speak in a mic, for you to listen to this, for you to have internet access and all that stuff a relative reality, a transactional reality, is needed.

2:25 So when somebody has a non-dual realization, they operate on that level that they know there's this. You know two different. There's obviously three, but I'm only talking about two right now. Um, we operate from those two states of reality. So let me put it this way Someone in a non-dual realization operates only from the ultimate reality and the relative reality. This world is literally like an add-on on a smartphone, you know, like an app on the phone. So it's not the operating system of the phone but just an app on the phone. So that's the operating system of the phone, but just an app on the phone.

3:06 So that's the way to look at this world and and everything else that goes along with that. So what happens is when a lot of people in the neo-advaita circles talk about non-duality and they talk about oh, I've had this non-dual realization. There's nobody here, there's no doer, there's no one here to get it, there's nothing to seek, there is no seeker. All that stuff is said. And you know, when you do that negation, so to speak, that more or less I wouldn't call it a self-inquiry, because with the self-inquiry you kind of need to go back to I am pure consciousness or I am formless consciousness.

3:51 That's the the main point of atma vichara, which is self-inquiry. But what they do in the non-dual circles, they even say there's no consciousness there, there's no awareness, there's nobody here to get it, there's nobody home, so to speak. So when that happens, when somebody gets an insight of that formlessness which has no stability because the intellect isn't used Remember, neo Advaita is Advaita without the Vedant. Now Vedant is needed. If you don't have the Vedant, you don't have the intellect, intellectual understanding which stabilizes this relative reality when you go into, when you transcend to the ultimate reality.

4:41 This is the whole point. So what we have is people get that non-dual realisation, these neo-Advitans. So you know, you've seen a lot of them where they probably cancelled the channel, deleted the channel, sorry, and they've stopped podcasting, they've stopped talking. There's only a few now that operate and new ones churn out, obviously when they get an awakening experience. So they have this non-dual realization, but it's not stable. So how can they relate to the world if there's nobody here, there's nothing here?

5:22 Then they start talking this language called and I've been hearing this word a lot energetically, and I don't know what that means. It doesn't make any sense because from a purely non-dual realization on Advaita Vedanta side I don't know what you mean by energetically things are happening. Do you see the disconnect that's there when you, when you're in Neo Advaita and you have to defend what's happening in the world, even though you say this spontaneous action which may be true, spontaneously happening right now, considering the circumstances, it appears to be spontaneous, but really is it?

6:08 If we just turn, well, it's just energy playing around. Well, you've already accepted duality then, because at one point you say there's nothing here and then you say, well, energetically speaking. Another aspect is that people go into the whole masculine and feminine. Again, if it's a non-dual realisation you have, where's the masculine and feminine in that? Somebody who's really had a non-dual realisation? Sorry about that car. I live on the main road, so it's a busy road.

6:49 For some reason, where I live I haven't got this room soundproofed. It's pretty difficult to do so, but anyway, um, energetically it's happening. Jokes aside, you can see, you can see what I'm pointing to. Now for me to say, oh yeah, for me, on an Advaita Vedanta level, I can actually turn around and function with the body and mind with no problem, because I know that's not my true identity, all that's happening. I'm not disassociating from the ahamkara, the ego or the mind.

7:34 I understand their function. So what happens here is that the identification, the attachment to identification, is removed, but the association to the name and form still continues, because I still have, probably, karma to live out. So it's not hard for me to reconcile living in a non-dual state and living in the world, because I can see all as Brahman, you know all as the Atma. So when you can do that, it's not so challenging. But if you say that there's nothing here, there's no awareness, there's no consciousness, what you're doing there is you're saying there's, there's really no world and there's nothing here to get.

8:21 So how are people meant to relate back to the world? So that's the biggest fallacy with neo-advaita. And they defend it by saying, energetically, things are happening or things just happen, things spontaneously occur. That's just pure nonsense. It's, it means nothing. So, like I said. You know these words that are used when you start hearing a non-dual teacher speaking on those levels where they talk about energetically things happening or manifestation. In my opinion they're not being very truthful about their own realization. They probably had a little glimpse, and I and I'm being rather liberal with my words here they've had a glimpse and they think that is everything.

9:12 What they've done is they've touched the periphery but they've not gone deep into that non-dual realisation. And the whole point is to, when you first become aware of awareness of that formlessness, you will notice that there's kind of like a merging, but the merging is that there's a dissolution, there's a dissolving that occurs, so dissolving of the egoic attachment that is dissolved and what remains is just this formless awareness.

9:54 And because the intellect has been trained, the intellect has been studying the scriptures, following what the Guru has been saying has controlled the senses, control the mind, the flow of thoughts and all of that stuff, they then can function in the world without any worry. So really, this is my warning to anyone that has a non-dual teacher in non-duality or in neo-advaita that if you start hearing these words like masculine, feminine, christ consciousness, manifestation, law of attraction, energetically things are happening and all that stuff, I would start questioning, start inquiring into how that relates to the non-dual realization, because the worst thing that can happen to you is you can think you've had a glimpse and then you live in the idea of that glimpse going forward.

11:02 Now there is a particular person on YouTube who apparently had a non-dual realization, a non-dual awakening. I don't know which one, but they were a pretty okay teacher and I'm trying my best to keep the gender neutral. So it's not clear who it is. But now, but that person, like others before that person, have now started saying they're like the second coming of Christ. And this is the natural tendency for people who have a neo-advaitic realization that's without the, for people who have a neo-Advaitic realization that's without the foundation of the Vedantic knowledge.

11:54 So my warning is if you do not have someone teaching you the Vedantic knowledge as the foundation, you ought to be careful and tread very carefully, because you may get a glimpse, but there'll be nothing to protect you. There'll be no mind, no intellect to protect you, and that is dangerous because what is revealed is formlessness and you will have to try and find an identity to live in this world in that formlessness. But you don't know how to.

12:36 You're not being trained on how to, and that's why following the traditional methods works. I'm not saying there should not be evolution of the methods, but there are certain things that remain true. So that's really my view, what I wanted to share today, and you know. If you want to discuss more of this, you know I have my discord channel and the link to that is in the show notes below. You know, support this podcast if you can. I appreciate it. It keeps the podcast running. There's costs related to it and soon enough there will be a formal course where we'll have a formal kind of community where we go deeper into self-inquiry and we go deeper into this non-dual realization through the traditional methods that are being provided.

13:30 So I hope that will be probably the end of the year, and if you want to buy merch, there's that. That's all in the show notes below, but I just want to thank you for your support and I hope to see you again soon. Take care, namaste.