Episode 2: Direct and Unfiltered with The Bearded Mystic

WEBVTT

00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:10.920
Hello and welcome to this episode of Direct and Unfiltered with the Bearded Mystic, and I'm your host, Rahul N.

00:00:10.920 --> 00:00:11.371
Singh.

00:00:11.997 --> 00:00:27.788
Today, we have another question that has come in and if you do want to submit a question to me, there is a link in the video description and show notes below where you can fill out a short survey and through there ask me a question.

00:00:28.493 --> 00:00:30.353
I have a very interesting question.

00:00:30.571 --> 00:00:39.411
Hello, Rahul will ChatGPT or AI be able to give us spiritual liberation and should gurus be worried?

00:00:39.771 --> 00:00:41.487
This is a very good question.

00:00:41.847 --> 00:01:00.344
And yes, there's been this whole craze of ChatGPT and even now I've heard there's one of the Bhagavad Gita, I shared it in my Instagram stories the other day, and, will it ever get close to replicating, spiritual knowledge?

00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:01.530
Not really.

00:01:01.590 --> 00:01:08.466
I think AI will have the data and will be able to create a, a decent answer.

00:01:08.796 --> 00:01:15.417
But will it be the answer that will be good for your intellect and will be one that will strengthen your intellect?

00:01:15.417 --> 00:01:26.858
Now, the whole purpose of going to a Guru and why I don't think any genuine Guru will be worried is because they know that you have to first build a strong base for the intellect.

00:01:27.231 --> 00:01:49.575
When the intellect is strong, when the intellect is ripe and ready for that little nudge into spiritual intelligence with the knowledge of Brahman or the knowledge of the Ultimate Reality, that is where ChatGPT or any other AI software will not be able to replicate.

00:01:49.935 --> 00:01:52.094
That is the transmission.

00:01:52.100 --> 00:02:08.938
For example, there are times when I, when I do my guided meditations every Saturday and when we meditate as a community,. I have noticed that when I surrender at that moment and I say to Nirguna Brahman that you are now going to lead.

00:02:08.938 --> 00:02:11.399
Awareness, you are going to lead the meditation.

00:02:11.699 --> 00:02:14.848
May there not be any iota of Rahul in this.

00:02:15.299 --> 00:02:29.368
There is times when I'm in the meditation and the mind will try to interfere and will give a suggestion, say this, and I notice how awareness actually stops that from happening.

00:02:31.014 --> 00:02:32.185
I will tell you this now.

00:02:32.185 --> 00:02:35.245
This is something that AI will never be able to replicate.

00:02:36.025 --> 00:02:36.235
Yeah.

00:02:36.235 --> 00:02:37.284
It will not be able to.

00:02:37.284 --> 00:02:39.564
It'll be impossible for it to do so.

00:02:40.818 --> 00:02:43.299
It will never be enough for spiritual liberation.

00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:45.878
For spiritual liberation, you need a teacher.

00:02:45.883 --> 00:02:51.949
You need a friend, a spiritual friend that will really help you go forward in your spiritual journey.

00:02:52.489 --> 00:02:57.002
For example, AI will never be able to make you meditate.

00:02:57.521 --> 00:02:58.602
You have to do that.

00:02:58.778 --> 00:03:08.318
AI actually has no self-awareness, which a Guru has, which a teacher has, which a, a spiritual friend has, which a community has.

00:03:09.699 --> 00:03:17.451
And therefore, if it has no self-awareness, how can it teach you anything of spiritual liberation?

00:03:17.718 --> 00:03:18.718
How can it lead you there?

00:03:18.962 --> 00:03:26.989
Not only that how can it take you to the awareness of awareness itself?

00:03:27.528 --> 00:03:33.229
How can it take you to being aware of being aware?

00:03:35.658 --> 00:03:37.218
That is something you cannot do?

00:03:37.808 --> 00:03:40.519
And that's what I think is not so worrying.

00:03:40.598 --> 00:03:44.378
It's amazing as technology, of course.

00:03:45.383 --> 00:03:50.153
But for spirituality, no, because it has no Consciousness, it has no awareness itself.

00:03:50.183 --> 00:03:54.259
It, it cannot tell you, the vibes you get from somebody.

00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:58.129
It cannot tell you the fragrance in a room.

00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:03.979
It cannot tell you the shade of colors in the room.

00:04:05.300 --> 00:04:07.219
It cannot do any of those things.

00:04:07.219 --> 00:04:14.805
It cannot tell you how you feel when you see something, when you experience something, it's not able to convey that to you.

00:04:14.805 --> 00:04:17.115
And that's something that a person is able to convey to you.

00:04:17.115 --> 00:04:28.314
So for example, if you are with a Guru and you ask a question and that question brings a tear to your eye, will AI ever be aware that you are crying?

00:04:28.978 --> 00:04:30.119
It's not sentient.

00:04:30.482 --> 00:04:37.591
But what I will say is it will get rid of a lot of the nonsense gurus out there.

00:04:37.865 --> 00:04:43.024
So the gurus that tell you there's nothing here, well, AI is literally doing that.

00:04:43.024 --> 00:04:53.841
And I don't think, I don't think any true vedantic teacher will have any worry right now because it will get rid of the neo-advaita teachers.

00:04:53.872 --> 00:05:02.901
It's better to approach an AI machine than to actually approach a neo-advaita teacher in my opinion, it's best to go to them.

00:05:02.961 --> 00:05:09.382
There's nothing there, literally, there is nothing there when you're speaking to ChatGPT or any other AI function.

00:05:09.735 --> 00:05:10.855
I think that's fine.

00:05:10.923 --> 00:05:22.634
it will get rid of the unnecessary teachers but it may also bring about how important it is to have a teacher that is there for you that understands you.

00:05:22.634 --> 00:05:28.997
Now, what I really believe in is that the Guru model needs to change.

00:05:29.165 --> 00:05:31.244
We have to go back to the vedic times.

00:05:31.244 --> 00:05:40.547
We have to go back to where there were only a few hundred devotees, and it wasn't that you had to be loyal to one Guru either.

00:05:41.682 --> 00:05:59.175
Whichever Guru matches your intellect, you go there and either that ashram will create more teachers and therefore,, the, president of the order or the Guru of the order will have, you know, kind of sub gurus to kind of help.

00:06:00.196 --> 00:06:10.988
Or, if you're just gonna have one person for the masses, which, you know, there's many of those teachers around, I don't know what future they have.

00:06:11.228 --> 00:06:13.982
So should Gurus be worried about AI?

00:06:14.012 --> 00:06:21.562
Not so much, but they should be worried about technology and if you can just get standardized answers.

00:06:21.701 --> 00:06:23.091
Well AI does that.

00:06:23.461 --> 00:06:30.891
It's all about giving the individual answer, which can help someone individually and understanding their circumstances.

00:06:31.382 --> 00:06:33.781
So in my opinion, this is gonna do a good job.

00:06:34.752 --> 00:06:39.137
And if it does have an impact.

00:06:39.137 --> 00:06:43.906
I hope it has an impact on that market because that market has become oversaturated.

00:06:44.387 --> 00:06:52.697
Everywhere you go there is a Guru now popping up on YouTube, who just speaks anything and you kind of embrace it.

00:06:52.757 --> 00:06:55.098
And I think that's going to end.

00:06:55.098 --> 00:06:57.798
So I think it's a good thing.

00:06:58.021 --> 00:07:20.089
In the broader vision, a Guru doesn't have to be worried about, ChatGPT or AI because if you are giving something, of a transmission, if you're giving personal advice, if you're there with someone personally intimately, and you are guiding them, you're telling them what mantras to do.

00:07:20.089 --> 00:07:22.670
You're telling them what meditation to do.

00:07:22.872 --> 00:07:25.002
You're guiding them in a meditation.

00:07:25.392 --> 00:07:39.379
You are giving them the knowledge of Brahman with your own intellect and your own understanding, your own interpretation, and then you are guiding them to grow their intellect and their intelligence and their insights into Brahman, into the ultimate reality.

00:07:39.769 --> 00:07:42.649
I don't think a Guru that does that has any worries.

00:07:42.875 --> 00:07:45.845
AI will be able to download all the scriptures.

00:07:46.095 --> 00:07:47.701
It's done one for the Bhagavad Gita.

00:07:47.732 --> 00:07:58.052
It may do it for the Upanishads, but what a Guru does, which this AI will not do, is understand the culture of the time.

00:07:58.232 --> 00:08:04.502
Human issues are only gonna be solved by human beings, yet AI will get close.

00:08:05.031 --> 00:08:08.781
But for that finishing touch, you need a human being.

00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:28.990
And I think even for spiritual liberation, if you think you're a human being, getting liberated, well then, yeah, I dunno if AI will help you to understand the reality behind what liberation really is.

00:08:29.596 --> 00:08:39.370
For that you need a teacher and a teacher to guide you to the experience so that you actually feel that freedom for the first time.

00:08:39.429 --> 00:08:49.106
And it's not just about feeling the freedom for the first time and just and, and just, and going off on, and then just hopping onto, life again.

00:08:49.856 --> 00:08:55.407
It's actually about stabilizing yourself in that freedom and then living life accordingly.

00:08:56.517 --> 00:08:59.206
That's something a Guru does.

00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:13.049
. So my hope is that these AI software will bring out more honest gurus, gurus that will actually help people and will have smaller communities.

00:09:14.183 --> 00:09:20.844
I do believe that now the time of the mass Guru, the Guru of the masses is over.

00:09:21.537 --> 00:09:32.744
The internet probably helped a lot of people with YouTube and social media, but, I don't see, I don't see them lasting a lot.

00:09:32.744 --> 00:09:39.734
When, for example, you can make an AI out of Sadhguru, and it's easy to do.

00:09:40.153 --> 00:09:44.250
I mean, I think it will be easier to do for him.

00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:48.450
Could you do a ChatGPT or an AI of Osho?

00:09:49.169 --> 00:09:56.309
It would've been more difficult because Osho was very much, he would give you an answer according to the moment.

00:09:58.474 --> 00:10:03.634
And the same with people like Acharya Prashant or Swami Sarvapriyananda or Rupert Spira.

00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:14.719
They give something which is of the moment, and their answers are always, they have a, they have a subtle change in their answers.

00:10:15.219 --> 00:10:24.889
Although the base may be the same, but there's a subtle change and that subtle change is what AI will never be able to pick up because that requires the human touch.

00:10:25.533 --> 00:10:29.110
It's something I welcome, it's something I actually embrace.

00:10:29.110 --> 00:10:42.691
I think it's a good thing but it can never replicate a human being because a human being has awareness that self-awareness will never be able to be replicated.

00:10:43.051 --> 00:10:56.801
How we have this self-awareness is beyond our understanding, but the fact is, we have it, we are aware of the voice that you're listening to or the TV screen that you're watching or the device screen that you're watching.

00:10:57.018 --> 00:11:00.138
You are aware of awareness itself of being aware.

00:11:01.561 --> 00:11:03.600
Can AI ever do that?

00:11:04.447 --> 00:11:23.581
AI is only literally telling you what data it has, even if it ends up saying that it is aware of being aware, would it be able to actually understand what that feels like on a human body mind level?

00:11:23.971 --> 00:11:27.691
Because remember that this understanding.

00:11:29.620 --> 00:11:36.235
it is integrated into the whole being into the body and mind and the heart.

00:11:37.288 --> 00:11:47.788
So yeah, these AI's will never be able to replicate, say a Nisargadatta Maharaj or a Ramana Maharshi or a Swami Vivekananda.

00:11:49.009 --> 00:11:58.402
It can download all the books, read the books, and given answers that Swami Vivekananda would've given but that's something you cannot guarantee.

00:11:59.359 --> 00:12:10.001
You can even the same thing with the Bhagavad Gita, it was right for the time of Arjuna, but to understand it today, you need someone who understands the culture of today.

00:12:11.142 --> 00:12:24.701
So there is something that is of eternity, which AI will never be able to touch, and that eternity is self-awareness.

00:12:25.211 --> 00:12:27.011
This awareness of formlessness.

00:12:27.642 --> 00:12:32.231
And in a way it's so close yet.

00:12:32.501 --> 00:12:34.331
It's so far too.

00:12:35.351 --> 00:12:37.282
So I hope that answers the question.

00:12:37.287 --> 00:12:51.889
It's a rather broad one that I wanted to answer, but yeah, I hope it does, make the neo-advaitin teachers scared, the pseudo non dual teachers scared because basically their job is now redundant.

00:12:52.504 --> 00:12:55.354
Because I think AI can easily say, there's nothing here.

00:12:55.354 --> 00:13:01.537
There's nobody here, there's nothing you're experiencing because that's literally what the AI is experiencing.

00:13:02.017 --> 00:13:04.177
So, and it'd be true to what they're saying.

00:13:04.629 --> 00:13:14.159
While for true, non-dual teachers, integrated spiritual teachers, I think for them there is no worry.

00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:16.157
There's nothing to be worried about.

00:13:17.769 --> 00:13:19.000
there's no challenge here.

00:13:20.057 --> 00:13:39.197
But one thing I have forgotten to mention that yes, your, the people that you have in the spiritual circles that just read the, the Mahabharata or the Ramayana, the katha, speakers, even the Pandits, if it's all about reciting mantras for a wedding, AI could easily take over.

00:13:39.961 --> 00:13:45.649
I think the people that recite the kathas they should be worried, for sure.

00:13:45.649 --> 00:13:47.389
So that's, there's a, that's a lot of them.

00:13:48.182 --> 00:13:54.272
because if you're just reading the katha, if you're just reading the Ramayana or Mahabharata, we don't really need you.

00:13:55.052 --> 00:14:04.851
And for the Pandits, if all you're doing is rituals and just chanting mantras at a function, well, an AI could easily replace you.

00:14:05.631 --> 00:14:11.302
The only way that can be saved, and this is not just in Hinduism, this expands everywhere.

00:14:11.302 --> 00:14:15.231
Like the priest can easily be replaced if all you're doing is reading from the Bible.

00:14:16.373 --> 00:14:19.035
or the Qu'ran or any other scripture.

00:14:20.369 --> 00:14:36.528
But if it's about, but if you are going to be invoking the Devas, the spirits, the ancestors, then that's where Pandits will save themselves.

00:14:37.428 --> 00:14:46.109
So it's, it's an unknown territory, I'm making guesses and it's rather cool to make these guesses.

00:14:46.109 --> 00:14:56.471
So, if anyone has any follow up to what I've just said, You can ask a question, the details to ask the questions are in the show notes and video description below.

00:14:56.530 --> 00:14:59.421
You literally just fill in this Survey Monkey.

00:14:59.760 --> 00:15:05.716
If you have any other questions, anything you want to ask there's no, no question is silly.

00:15:06.111 --> 00:15:07.642
Every question is welcome.

00:15:08.221 --> 00:15:11.160
It's all about being direct and unfiltered.

00:15:11.160 --> 00:15:13.947
So thank you very much for listening to this episode.

00:15:14.724 --> 00:15:19.746
If you would like to support the Bearded Mystic Podcast, you can support me on Patreon.

00:15:20.017 --> 00:15:22.866
The details are in the show notes and video description below.

00:15:23.124 --> 00:15:24.114
Thank you very much.

00:15:24.197 --> 00:15:24.787
Take care.

00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:25.600
Bye.