"Self-Deception in Spiritual Life" by Swami Medhananda is a Sunday lecture given at Ramakrishna Monastery located in Trabuco Canyon on January 28th, 2024.
Such a no-fluff, graceful and eye-opening discourse on leading a purely divine-centered spiritual life and expounding the core essence of the practice itself by avoiding and being aware of self-deception. Thank you, Swamiji, from the bottom of my heart for your guidance 🙏💕✨.
❤ This talk is a guide for SELF introspection n Self reflection ... not to judge others! Thank you Swamiji for this one! Very relevant for sadhakas of all paths! Very systematic approach and clarity... 🙏🙏 Karma yoga is toughest! U get reality checks all the time! The ego is no mean a thing to deal with! Prayers- Vivek- Vairagya- ... if loose touch with the very purpose of engaging in KY for a moment, you get a hard kick reminder😊... others are so helpful as they are so experts to point out your faults in real time... and you keep dealing with all that... ! Pretty tough!-- bruised egoes... 😂 but i guess its better than being popular! Your concluding remarks kind resonated with me... the combo is effective n wholesome 🙏... One Question- Does it harm the attitide of a average devotee to listen to Gyan yoga? I read it somewhere Thakur said it... but Maa talks about gyan mixed bhakti- which makes a lot of sense. জয় ঠাকুর 🙏
thank you for talking about Neo Advaita philosophy. Youth today is badly influenced by it. I had a disagreement with a friend who kept talking about how it isn't important to read shastras as we are brahman already. I was one of the Neo-advaitins too. I used to look down on idol worship and pujas and rituals. I became too egoistic and started thinking of myself too much and too highly. Basically, my life went out of control and I lost my job. My father asked me to do puja and offer water to Shiv ji, recite hanuman chalisa. I am so so lucky I followed him. My life has turned around. I am a whole new person. Thanks maharaj for talking about such an important issue. I am now focussing on my work, my karma and cultivating love and devotion to god. This life is such a beautiful opportunity.
What do your job have to do with the supreme reality? You are using religion as a bargaining tool with God. That's nothing to do with true spirituality
I haven't finished this talk but enjoying it so far. I think one of the most dangerous self deceptions we can get in also is that just because we aren't consciously aware of having any of these traits that that means we do not have it. We have to be aware that we can have inner, hidden enemies in our subconscious/unconscious that we haven't dug deep enough to be aware of. So these things can be playing out and we are ignorant that is so.
Great lecture, I really enjoyed it. Thank you Swamiji 🙏 Something from the Bhagavad GIta which always interested me, especially when I was younger and used psychedelic drugs as a 'spiritual shortcut', was the reference to Soma drinkers in Chapter 9, Verse 20. Some translations have changed that reference to "the nectar of bhakti" but others add that it is the "remnant of the yajñas." There is a great debate as to what this Soma actually was but your story about the prasadam THC overdose made me think of that.
The speaker relays very insightful truths. I would say that a good majority of the planet plays this game of deception. "Narrow is the gate that leads to life, and few find it." JESUS, Matthew 7.13-14 Karma yoga is like riding a bicycle. It's perfectly normal to fall in the beginning. A disciplined karma yogi no longer finds it difficult, with the practice of each experience. Raja yoga is essential, for meditation takes you within yourself. It is through meditation that you receive Guidance, in the form of intuition and insight.
Thank you for giving the activity a name: "life dekhano" you called it, Maharaj. That was a most helpful move, to actually name the activity of putting every thought, or action in a Facebook post for its display, for comments and "likes". It seems to be normal these days.
I really enjoyed listening to this discourse Maharaj ….. found it very practical and informative and encourages us to be watchful of the ego that can creep up under the veil of so called ‘spirituality’ !
Brilliant talk by Swamiji. Clearly expounded the following. Swamiji is a blessing to the order Deception Prayer Vichara Combine 4 yogas Ego Commercialization Bhoga vs yoga Complacency Drugs
I’m the gone crazy one I figure. Nonduality and the spiritual path has been the most awful, frustrating, confusing thing I’ve ever invested my time in. I’ve invested more time in the last 10 years in “the spiritual path” than I have in anything in all my 53 years. Plagued by suicidality since I was 9, 35 years of chronic late stage alcoholism and addiction, (10 years sober now) therapists, plant medicine, the most helpful of all, different ideologies and practices and still there is frequent suicidality, hopelessness, helpless despair, frustration, confusion and depression. That’s not to say there haven’t been a handful of amazing, radical realizations and tearful blissed out experiences, those have come through this being. Mostly tho it’s just shit. I practice, although it’s quite natural, love, compassion, kindness etc but Jesus Christ man. I’ve thrown in the towel a few times only to pick up practices and consumption of RU-vid videos and content the next day or even hours later. I’ve seen spiritual ego, spiritual greed and spiritual materialism during meditation hiding in the mind. Spirituality is the most confounding thing ever.
Om namah sivaya, Thank you for your satsang. It is always easy to laugh at the people who are living in the world in ignorance of the ultimate truth (or self knowledge) while hidden comfortably in a monastery and boasting self-knowledge...I thought that knowledge was meant to help the poors and needy, not to become arrogant about it!🤔 😊👍🏼🙏🕉️
Very inspiring and sharp poin ters to the faults we make .this is the second time i am listening and will listen again as it is very helpful in my spiritual path. Thank you swami 🙏
Bahunaam janmanaamante gyanvaan maam prapadyate...as Srikrishna says in Geeta. Pranam Maharaj. Clarity is absolutely essential for me. Honesty is the best policy ... It is nowhere more true than in spiritual journey. Thank you from my heart for speaking out these most dangerous excuses that we give to ourselves!! 🙏🕉️
thank you, very informative and enlightening. And I am glad I’ve always been against taking drugs for spiritual insights. I get enough as it is I always felt very suspicious about drug induced enlightenment. I just knew it would be fleeting. maybe I know from my experience in other lives? I am happy with the realisations I continue to get. ☸️🙏🙏🙏🕉️
Covering dung with roses..absolutely..that's how people do it, That’s how I used to do it. It tool almost a decade to realize what I was calling love was nothing but a LUST.
Swamiji I think you are seeing the glass as half empty.perhaps your eyes are colored by the dark glasses you have on. My perspective is quite different. In this dark age where most people are deeply asleep.and sleepwalking through life, “ even a little of this knowledge “ will have great effects. Didn’t Ramakrishna tell a disciple that whether you jump in the river or you are pushed in, either way, you will get wet. So how wonderful it is that the masses are turning to spirituality even a tiny bit. It’s better to do a meditation app than not do one. It’s better to take yoga classes after a long work day than go sit in a bar. The fact that meditation, mindfulness .healthy eating, yoga ,Ayurveda, has filtered into a materialistic society is fantastic. All the power to each person dipping their toes in the water. Over time hey will change priorities. Let’s give our full positive support to this trend .
I don’t see much of a contradiction. He himself said that ultimately everyone will reach the divine. But when we talk about spirituality we cannot take things like hatha yoga classes seriously. It’s basically the same as going to the gym. I don’t know.. I found this video extremely helpful for me personally. As to others, I would prefer to leave them to their own journey and learn as much as I can vicariously from their experience. But them again, we have to examine ourselves pretty harshly at times. But of course there’s no use in forcing our judgements onto others or trying to convince others of anything
@@Victor.Hugo1 very rightly put . discrimination is meant for ME , to filter out not so spiritual trends as far as possible , NOT to impose anything on anyone else .
Unlike the top comment I just want to point out my appreciation that Swamiji talked about drug experiences and usage whether I disagree or not. I’ve done sadhana for 2 years and at the times I’ve put down marijuana I’ve made more rapid spiritual progress. Prolonged drug usage will not be conducive to dharana and meditation.
Hmm, no disrespect, the talk is discouraging 😊Most of us are highly functional people of society, paying taxes and contributing towards the economy and perpetuating of humanity!?! Jesus said: “seek and you’ll find! Knock and it’ll open!! “ Fallow me as my yoke is gentle…” ?! Namastee 🙏
Paying taxes wont help take away individuals inner pain. Spirituality has got something beyond your economy and Taxes.Don't Jesus by his sacrifice teach you to serve humanity bearing pain on ownself on behalf of others?
Yes, indeed! Perhaps you’ve missed understand what I’ve meant! I was referring to the fact that regular people like myself ( working hard to support the economy, shouldn’t be expected to enter a 24 hour meditative state ( “ to be “ pure”..hence I’ve stated from the gospel-wherein, according to Jesus, shouldn’t be as “ difficult “ to enter the KINGDOM ☺️
Swami ji Please place your lecture Asana podium in soothing Calm cream white color background. Otherwise it is so distraction disturbance with hefty material dark colored layout interiors in back wall 🧱.
What a ridiculous comment! Why don't you go and build it yourself or buy them a new place that's specifically cream-white color like you want it to be? geez.
Because Christmas is the day of another avatara to arrive as human form as Jesus to uplift spirituality in human kind... If you can not be able to read new testament...then at least read,Christ the messanger by Swami Vivekananda,and sermon on the mount by Swami prabhavananda... And watch the movie passion of Christ... Then read gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.... Then I think your ignorance will be removed...about the meaning of sanatana Dharma.
OK great, fine, nice lecture, BUT and here is the big BUT..... no matter what religion, philosophy, spirituality, Buddhism, Santana Dharma, Islam, Christianity, grass roots religion, non-religion, or atheism you belong to, would not everything be better if humans simply stopped reproducing ? Then humans would gradually and very naturally disappear and there would be no complex issues to deal with, no need for faith, no need for meditation, no need for anything period...
Easy to see that he's got no personal experience with plant medicine. He's just parroting what he heard. Should he be guiding people in this matter? I think he should show more humility by saying he does not know anything about and move on to something he knows. We have so many"gurus" today. Some hide behind the authority of an orange robe. Chanti, Chanti, Chanti 🙏🏼
@@brandankelly4069 They are referring to his comments on psychedelics and spirituality. Mushrooms and Ayhusaca are often referred to as plant medicines. They are saying he has no experience in using them so his personal experience doesn't qualify him to speak on this. He did say that initial experience with psychedelics may lead someone to the spiritual path, but the continue use of them, as a shortcut to spirituality, is not useful.
