🔒 Bonus Episode: I see my Guru in this Community

Hello everyone. Welcome to a bonus episode in the Bearded Mystic Podcast. I don't really have an agenda of what to speak about. I've literally just turned on the camera and thought I'll speak about, why today has been an interesting day for me. I've obviously shared on TikTok and on Instagram. , um, and Facebook stories. Uh, you know, today's a birth anniversary of my Guru and and then on Sunday, wisdom of the mystics is dedicated to his teachings. But sometimes I've had questions about the importance of a Guru and why it's very necessary, and I think for me it's more important to share with you my own experience. And why it's benefited me Now, the benefits are plenty in terms of if you have that close association. Now, a lot of people have a Guru and they don't necessarily spend time with that person. They probably watch a YouTube video and they don't get to have that time and in my case, I only saw my Guru maybe once or twice a year. And in that maybe, you know, 10 minutes of a conversation towards the later part of my life. But prior to that, I mean, most people never got a chance. And I always, I always felt. If I had the chance to speak to him, it should be about spirituality. It should be about, you know, connecting with the divine, connecting with actual God. And in later years that's exactly how my relationship, got stronger with him. And, you know, from being more like an uncle to. to then a Guru to then like a father figure and then to a best friend. And I always say that friendship is the best relationship to have with the teacher when One of what I mean by friendship is that there's a certain level of openness, a certain level of vulnerability that you allow yourself to feel in that moment. Without feeling that you are going to be judged or you're going to be, you know, condemned or you know, or you just, yeah, you're just not gonna be understood, but you find that you can be vulnerable. You can show your weaknesses and the guru's job and what my Guru did was always show me the positive, show me my strength. showed me that yes, even if a situation isn't ideal, one shouldn't lose hope one shouldn't lose the audacity to challenge every year, whether it's his birthday or the death anniversary, or more or less everyday I, I always think about him and I always think about the immense blessings, the immense grace, the connection, the love. I think about all those things. I, I do count my blessings when it comes to him, and, and I've never experienced life the same after he passed, and it's maybe after the podcast that I felt there's been more of resurgence in my spirituality myself. It's as if, you know, I remember when I first started the podcast, a friend of mine said that, you know, Baba Ji would be really proud of you. You know, but that you took this initiative and that you, you are spreading, um, you know, the, the teachings of the Upanishads and the Gita and spirituality in general. Now, the other important thing is that I think that by sharing these teachings that I share with you, I feel that I'm also revising and also refining the things that I learned under Babaji. And sometimes, you know, I listen to a discourse of his which were mainly in Hindi and I would and I would just be, I don't know, there's something about his voice and even though I don't think the teachings were incredibly deep for majority of the time because of his audience, I always found that there was something that kept me going. There was something that I was able to get an insight into, and it was something I was able to really feel connected with and that would deepen my spiritual understanding and, and also deepen my spiritual experiences. Uh, and then eventually to the point of where I now know that I'm aware of my experience. Hence, actually there's only awareness and that has come from, even though that understanding may have arisen post my Guru's passing. But the root was there. And it's interesting because for example, uh, on the podcast this Sunday, I, I shared that he said, you know, Formless Consciousness is Formless Awareness, uh, Formless Consciousness is Formless Remembrance. And I was like, that's being aware of being aware. And I never knew it was there for years. I mean, I, I have seen that quote maybe for nine years now and when I was recording it, I realized that he had shared a lot that I probably never grasped. I never fully understood. So having a Guru is all about whether you will take that personal responsibility to be a seeker and to ask those questions, be sincere, be vulnerable, understand that you may not know and be comfortable with not knowing and, and when you do know that you get comfortable in the sense of you can feel settled and you can feel centered and balanced. Even though I, I don't see myself as a Guru, I don't see myself operating in such a role, but in some way I do teach. And personally I know I've guided some of you and, and I know that every word of mine has to be thought out and has to be fully understood and, and comprehended. So that's why, you know, I always ask my Guru for blessings, whether that's before the meditation sessions, before the podcast episodes are recorded, that whatever I do is a, is always going to be a reflection of his teachings. and ultimately you never know when a teaching will change your life or an experience will change your life or a person will change your life. And you know, it's interesting. You know, I, we, we, you know, it's my guru's birthday today, and what's interesting is that I have felt the world isn't the same anymore and ever since he passed away in 2016, a year where a lot of things happened. And then you have 2020. You know, we have that situation for two years, two, three years, still ongoing, and I'm like, those times are pretty dark. And literally I had to search for the light. All I can say to all of you that have subscribed to my Patreon, first of all, thank you for supporting me. But the other thing is, is that whenever I see your messages, whenever I see your questions, whenever I see you in the meditation sessions, whatever it may be, I see my Guru in all of you. When I say Namaskar or I say Namaste I'm really, I am seeing the divine in you, and I think even though I still tear up when I think of my Guru, but I just wanna say thank you that you have filled a void, which I I didn't think was there and I realized it was, and I could do something about it. It didn't have to be empty. I could fill it. And it's interesting, and I think it was maybe during. the second chapter when we were looking at the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, that my, that I started to realize the change . I started to realize how that void was being filled, and it gave me such clarity that I had in 2015, and it built upon it. Like I had never left 2015. I was building that backup. I didn't have to build anything back up to that moment. I was literally walking forward from that moment. So I'm not saying I'm enlightened. Um, and like I said to you always, I will never admit that, um, that that thing, but I just wanna say thank you for being there for me. Thank you for being that connection and I hope and pray that we as a community get stronger. So I'm gonna pretty much leave this unedited and. . You know, I apologize if there's bad sound quality or, well, I'll edit it a little bit, but I just want you to know thank you and thank you for being that light and in you I see my Guru. In you I see Brahman. In you I see this Formless Awareness. And may I always serve you all with love, respect, and humility. Take care, everybody Namaste.