#44: The Bhagavad Gita and the Devotional Path of Bhakti Yoga with Nikunja

Welcome to episode 53 of the MindThatEgo Podcast. Roderick Main is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director in the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex, with a focus on religion, mythology, literature, and, of course, synchronicity. His books include Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal, The Rupture of Time, Breaking the Spell of Disenchantment, and Revelations of Chance. He is also a fellow co-author on the Playful Universe. To honor the purpose of that book, I was keen to approach synchronicity firstly from Roderick’s personal experience, understanding how he interprets and unpacks their meaning, before moving into theoretical explanations. The result is a dialogue that provides practical ways to participate with synchronistic events, such as deciphering symbols and intuitively linking relevant associations. We look at different forms of synchronicity, including the personal, archetypal, and collective, and the nuances of discernment. How do you tell genuine synchronicity from delusions or magical thinking? What are pathologies of meaning or dark synchronicities? What are the religious and philosophical implications? And what truly is the power of myth?  All that, and more, coming up. And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Roderick's Bio The Playful Universe: Synchronicity and the Nature of Consciousness (Amazon).

Welcome to episode 52 of the MindThatEgo Podcast. Jane Clapp returns to the show to explore depression in the context of the alchemical stages of psychological development or individuation. Jane is a distinguished Jungian analyst who formed Jungian somatics from over 20 years of clinical experience. Exploring the interplay of body and psyche, she specializes in developmental and complex trauma through a mythological and embodied lens. Our dialogue covers how developmental trauma blocks the psyche’s self-regulating function, anti-life energy and the collective shadow, the spiritual battle of becoming, self-deceit and identification with suffering, the need for support, anchoring into glimmers of hope, finding positive symbols in dreams and synchronicities, and prayer and surrender as powerful allies in humility, faith, and relationship to a higher power. And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Resources: Jane's Website. Jane's Instagram.

Welcome to Episode 51 of the MindThatEgo Podcast. I’m joined by Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri, Sufi mystic, visionary, and an enlightened master who views spirituality as a science and an art, vitally relevant to our times. Religious scholars and Sufis were part of Shaykh’s formative experiences. His love and understanding of the universality of the Quranic message has imbued him with respect for other religions, spiritual paths and the ability to discern the common elements in our collective journey towards awakening. Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri lectures and writes books and commentaries on the Holy Qur'an and related subjects, with particular emphasis on ethics, self-development and gnosis ('irfan). We discuss misconceptions about Islam, insights from Sufism, the shared essence of all religions, acceptance as a spiritual practice, the power of silence in connecting to God, embracing and transcending the duality of heaven and hell, pleasure and pain, and why we must always respect our human nature, without being limited by it. Resources Shaykh Fadhlalla's Website

To honour the milestone 50th episode, I’m joined by Richard Tarnas, a renowned historian and archetypal cosmologist. August 8th is the peak of the astrological event known as the Lion’s Gate Portal. The Sun (in Leo) aligns with Sirius, Orion’s Belt, and Earth. Simultaneously, Orion’s Belt aligns with the Pyramids of Giza. Ancient Egyptians revered Sirius, the “spiritual star,” and associated it with gods Osiris and Sopdet. Each year the rising of Sirius marked the flooding of the Nile. As author of The Passion of the Western Mind and Cosmos and Psyche, Richard is the ideal guest to mark the occasion. He is the founding director of the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He teaches courses in the history of ideas, archetypal studies, depth psychology, and religious evolution. For ten years he lived and worked at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, studying with the likes of Stanislav Grof, Joseph Campbell, and James Hillman, later serving as Esalen’s director of programs and education. In re-enchanting the Western worldview, Richard traces the historical and cultural roots of the modern mind. Although much was gained, much was lost, including the ensoulment of the cosmos, and a sense of participation with higher forms of intelligence. Is civilisation experiencing a mythological fall from grace due to human hubris? Is global chaos a symbolic manifestation of humanity’s descent into the underworld? How can a new worldview support spiritual transformation, sense-making, and flourishing on a global scale? Before we begin, one more special announcement: Richard is one of a number of contributing authors, including myself, for the new volume by the Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences: The Playful Universe: Synchronicity and the Nature of Consciousness. The book is released late August, with an online symposium scheduled for the 26th or 27th September. Resources Richard’s Website. Article: Introduction to The Playful Universe: Synchronicity and the Nature of Consciousness. Article: Is The Modern Psyche Undergoing a Rite of Passage? Epilogue of Passion of the Western Mind.

I’m joined by Sanya Manzoor, a spiritual emergence coach and lead steward for the Church of Interbeing, Berlin, a grassroots initiative of community gatherings devoted to reconnection through ritual and holistic enquiry. Sanya supports clients in their mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. She also offers sound journeys, communal ceremonies, talks, meditation practices, and rituals, all to expand the capacity for depth, devotion, and revelation. In this dialogue Sanya shares her experience of ego death, the grief of lost identity, the painful conditioning of cultural worldviews, and the value of faith and surrender. We look at the challenges and gifts of spiritual emergency, from fears of insanity, confusion and disorientation, to the rewards of self-connection, re-enchantment, and an inclusive way of relating to others, and the world. Just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Resources Sanya's Instagram

Marjorie Woollacott is an Emeritus Professor of Human Physiology and member of the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon. She is Research Director for the International Association of Near-Death Studies (IANDS) and President of the Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences (AAPS). Marjorie has published more than 200 scientific articles and written or co-edited eight books. Our conversation centres around her paper, co-authored with scholar Ben Williams, Conceptual Cognition and Awakening: Insights From Non-dual S ́Aivism and Neuroscience. In this lucid synthesis, the pair explore the neural correlations between language, the sense of self, and expanded states of awareness — and how that relates to 10th century Kashmir philosopher Utpaladeva’s Stanzas on the Recognition of Shiva. Marjorie shares how the brain’s filtering system limits awareness, citing fascinating studies from near death experiences, meditation, and psychedelic research. Other topics include Extra-Sensory Perception and quantum entanglement, free will, and how brain activity supports a post-material worldview, where consciousness, not matter, is primary. Just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Resources Marjorie’s website. Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences

I’m joined by Nick Kettles, who returns to the show having previously discussed the Stages of the Spiritual Journey. Nick is also my co-creator for the YouTube series, Archetypes of Awakening. He is a Master Certified Coach and healer with 25 years experience in the human potential movement. He has pursued a meditation practice in the Advaita Vedanta tradition for over 20 years and has worked as a meditation teacher for the last 10 years. I’ve known Nick for some time and I’ve been fortunate to witness his natural gift as a guide. This conversation explores Nick’s coaching model, Threshold of the Soul, which draws from Nick’s wealth of wisdom, including coaching, depth psychology, and spirituality. What are thresholds? How do we embrace our core wounds? What role do rituals and rites of passage play in our becoming? How does the labyrinth symbolize the true self and the chakra system? We cover the full spectrum of personal development, from the mythological to the cognitive, from immersion in introspection to the power of meaningful action, from the root to the crown, and everything between. Just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Resources: Thresholds of the Soul Coaching Nick's website

This episode features my presentation for the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS-US) annual conference in October, 2023. The original title was Metanoia: How Psychosis and Paranoia Ignited My Spiritual Awakening. I completely rewrote the talk a few days before, following a lightning bolt of creative energy that surfaced a structure I’d not previously made conscious. I called this the Psychotics Twofold Call to Adventure. It’s my attempt to contextualize and integrate experiences of paranoia and psychosis across a 12 year period. I suggest the twofold path of cultivating awareness and creating coherence, to re-relate to psychological content, and to understand the language of the soul. Metanoia means spiritual conversion, or the change of mind and heart. I suggest that psychosis, as a process of metanoia, has the potential to be a pathway to what R.D Laing calls “true sanity,” whereby the ego is “in service to the divine and no longer its betrayer.” The stages cover the unconscious tsunami and collapse into chaos, answering the inward call and the ego’s surrender, finding the inner sanctum, the world as meditation, divine emergence, initiation, and individuation, before closing with a note on how this relates to humanity’s current crises.  And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy!

I’m joined by one of the world’s leading experts in the field of forgiveness research, Everett Worthington. Everett is a Commonwealth Professor Emeritus working from the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a licensed clinical psychologist. He has published over 38 books and over 440 articles and scholarly chapters, mostly on forgiveness, humility, positive psychology, marriage, family, and religion and spirituality. He has also developed the REACH Forgiveness model, which is supported by more than 25 randomized trials. Everett generously gives away free self-help workbooks on practices including forgiveness, humility, and patience, which are linked in the show notes. Our conversation explores the overlap of spiritual and scientific approaches to forgiveness, dealing with injustice, overcoming grudges, ruminations and emotional unforgiveness, empathy and cognitive biases, self-forgiveness, discerning genuine forgiveness from self-deceit, plus a Everett’s moving account of applying the wisdom of forgiveness following his mother’s murder. And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Resources Website: https://www.evworthington-forgiveness.com/ Free Workbooks: https://www.evworthington-forgiveness.com/diy-workbooks

I’m joined by Nikunja, a musician and yoga teacher who bridges the creative arts with ancient philosophy. Following a path of devotion — known as Bhakti yoga — Nikunja teaches the embodiment of the Bhagavad Gita as a way of life. Nikunja has reimagined chapters from the Gita as part of a project to illuminate yoga’s sacred nature, which extends far beyond physical postures. In exploring the Gita’s ancient wisdom, we discuss the divine intellect, reading sacred scripture as a spiritual practice, the art of listening, the nuances of yoga philosophy across traditions, single-pointed devotion as a pathway to union with God, the nature of the soul and the supreme self, the overlooked value of the teacher / student dynamic, and much more. In September, Nikunja will be performing at the Bhakti Fest in California. She will be sharing music on the main stage and conducting a workshop. Discounted tickets for the festival can be found at https://www.bhaktifest.com/tickets by entering the code NIKUNJA. And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Nikunja's Resources: Website: https://www.nikunjartistry.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikunja YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC44NFKxo4399zT6byAVOZkA Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/11SfT4EjJa4ObpX8nZJQ7M?si=_Sp4fdglQ4qKGf82Fvv9QA