By Swami Padmanabha
The podcast currently has 80 episodes available.
Join Swami Padmanabha and his group of friends as he concludes his pilgrimage in Sri Mayapura Dhama. During this Istagosthi, a conversational exchange where the interaction of both the inquiry and response drive the conversation deeper, the following topics were discussed:
Topics
• 0:00 Introduction
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
Join Swami Padmanabha in Sri Mayapura Dhama as he shares one of his cherished topics: the expansive, profound, and ultimate nature of Gaura-lila. Explore its superlative position among all lilas and tattvas, serving as the ever-evolving and unfolding pinnacle of divine love that is a destination of its own and not simply a bridge to Krishna-lila that is meant to be left behind.
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
Join Swami Padmanabha as he joins with friends, both Christian and Vaishnava, in the message carried by Jesus, “You are already being unconditionally loved by God.” Our spiritual practices, which are ideally and eventually everything we do, are meant to reciprocate with that love and not performed in order to convince God to love us. Both the teachings of Christianity and Gaudiya Vaishnavism are showing us again and again, “You are already the beloved of Him.”
▶ WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/live/Ic1x2iZ-GvM
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
Journey with Swami Padmanabha as he explores prayer not only as a practice but also as a state of being. This pilgrimage of prayer begins at the early stages of prayer, initially fueled by selfish necessity and the perception of oneself as separate from a wish-fulfilling god. This exploration culminates at the highest ideal of being prayer, tadatmya, which involves complete self-forgetfulness in divine love through mystical empathy. This state of being is characterized by putting aside all personal agendas, fully identifying with the needs of the beloved, and being willing to change, be transformed, and sacrifice—dedicated to what is going on in the heart of the beloved.
How can we prepare ourselves right now and right here where we are so we can approach that ideal in a realistic way? How can we actually walk in that direction? How can we pace ourselves with introspection and discernment so our journey is one of sustainable transformation and evolution?
▶ WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/live/MS88S39Thzg
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
Bhakti is relational. At the center of the center of everything is our relationship with Krishna. In the context of that relationship, there is the relationship between the guru and disciple. Ideally, the guru-disciple connection affords one of the most beautiful possibilities of deep affectionate loving friendship, yet, all too often the actualization of such an ideal falls short and sometimes even into the realm of abuse. And as beautiful as the guru-disciple relationship can be when both guru and disciple are working together, honoring their own responsibilities to nourish the ideal of divine love, it can be just as powerfully painful when that sacred bond is betrayed.
Before speaking about healing—healing trauma, healing abuse, healing pain, healing whatever may need to be healed—we first need to acknowledge what it is that actually needs to be healed. In other words, before solving the problem, we have to understand the problem and the misconceptions that support and even nourish the problems.
Join Swami Padmanabha as he navigates through the foundational truths of the guru-disciple relationship as understood and presented in scriptures and how contemporary misconceptions and misapplications of those truths have manifested as dysfunctional and abusive templates in the guise of something holy, and how each of those misconceptions can be redeemed by reconceiving our approach, by changing our angle of vision.
▶ WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/live/QXBtzvRUJvs
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
Join Swami Padmanabha and friends in Sri Mayapura as they explore how to embrace our eternal prospect of bhakti in a way that each step is “sustainable for eternity.” For this, we must develop some expertise in coexisting with our practice, our ideals, and our commitments in a way that is sustainable— normalized, healthy, inspiring—and not dysfunctional—guilt, shame, blame, anxiety, disturbance. trip, and not something in which we end up becoming more dysfunctional than what we were before starting the whole bhakti journey.
The discussion begins with a focus on the necessity to honestly acknowledge our condition in both in its messiness and that messiness in the context of being unconditionally loved by the Sweet Absolute. How we approach this dynamic directly and foundationaly affects our practice, and informs how we conceive other aspects of our spiritual journey, such as individuation, belonging rather than fitting in, and trusting while waiting.
The questions at the end of the class draw out further nuances through honest sharing.
▶ WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/live/oh-yQAqyfB0
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
Join in on the fascinating exploration of the relationship of the material world and Krishna, and how our relationship with each of them impacts our relationship with the other. How are we as Gaudiyas expected to navigate the apparent dichotomy between spirit and matter — if there even is such a divide?
Is there something that we need to reject?
Or can we integrate everything into a higher synthesis, into a higher equation of wholeness?
What are the implications of rejecting and integrating, and how do those implications affect our bhakti journey?
▶ WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/live/jteA5ef4T0o
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
The analogy of the bouquet and the bonsai is one pointing to belonging or fitting in: do we want to merely become a bonsai version of ourselves—a trimmed, clipped, manicured, and miniaturized version of a potential giant? Or do we want to become an individuated flower in a beautiful bouquet of belonging, and offer that to Bhagavan, not having to stop being ourselves in order to fit in but knowing ourselves already fully accepted by the unconditional love of the Sweet Absolute and thus already fully belonging?
Join Swami Padmanabha and friends as they explore the blossoming potential radiating from accepting unconditional love.
▶ WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/live/rT4EBMk-knA
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
Join Swami Padmanabha and friends as they explore the relationship between doubt, faith, certainty, and trust in the context of our faith journey of loving service to the Sweet Absolute.
Are there productive and stifling versions of these? How can we conceive of these so that our approach does not erode or hold back our progress but rather nourishes and calls it forward?
Be prepared to have some certitudes challenged in service to progressive practice on the Journey of Faith.
▶ WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/live/KNEZVmKGKr4
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
Confused or curious by the terms “Polymorphic Monotheism,” “Impersonalism,” “Non-dualism,” “Personalism,” and “Radical Personalism”? Tune in as Swami Padmanabha weaves his way through the landscape of Nondual Vedanta and graspably presents these approaches through this exploration from what is Impersonalism to what is Radical Personalism and the ground of nonduality from which they both emerge. AND what does any of that have to do with Gaudiya conceptions of Reality.
▶ WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/live/7-acCl6m4Pg
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RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.
The podcast currently has 80 episodes available.