Mindrolling with Raghu Markus

In this rich conversation bridging Zen and Jewish mysticism, Rabbi Rami Shapiro and Raghu Markus navigate nonduality, the shadow, and the living experience of the divine.
Grab a copy of Rabbi Rami’s newest book, Zen Mind Jewish Mind, HERE
This time on Mindrolling, Raghu and Rabbi Rami discuss:
Veering off from traditional Judaism and into Jewish mysticism
Nondual awareness as the realm of divine consciousness
Going beyond the dead word and into the living word
Inspiration from Shunryu Suzuki Roshi’s classic Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind and Thich Nhat Hanh’s series on How to Live
Koan: the Zen practice of exhausting the logical mind to provoke direct, intuitive insight into reality and one's own nature
Recognizing our own shadow rather than pretending it does not exist
Holding multiple truths at once: there is no other, we are all part of a whole, and we do have differences
How the Kabbalah expresses the name of God in an embodied way
Seeing the divine in all humans and everything in front of us
Special moments with Ram Dass, accepting silence and accepting the moment for what it is
About Rabbi Rami Shapiro:
Rabbi Rami Shapiro is an award-winning author of over two dozen books on religion and spirituality. He received rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College: Jewish Institute of Religion, and holds a PH.D. from Union Graduate School. A congregational rabbi for 20 years, Rabbi Rami currently co–directs One River Wisdom School, blogs at r writes the foundation’s newsletter, Ask Rabbi Rami, and hosts the foundation’s podcast, Explore Spirituality with Rabbi Rami. Rami is also a contributing editor for Spirituality+Health magazine www.spiritualityhealth.com where he writes the advice column Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler. Rami can be reached at https://www.threads.net/@rabbirami
"The Jewish meditation practices, the spirituality within Judaism, never or at least rarely gets beyond or slips into the nondual to the extent that you drop the labels, that you drop the tribal. You get Saint Paul saying there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, in Christ. To me, that's Christ consciousness, that's Buddha mind. When you reach that level of consciousness, all the labels fall away, your sense of separate self is gone.” –Rabbi Rami Shapiro
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Dakota Wint meets Raghu beyond the veil of normal perception to explore mysticism, altered states, and the fringe of spirituality.
Subscribe to Dakota’s new series, The Flower Heads Show, on your favorite podcast app.
This time on Mindrolling, Raghu and Dakota explore:
The Aghori people of India and the side of Hinduism a lot of people don't know about
Dr. Robert Svoboda’s trilogy on the Aghori people: At the Left Hand of God
Differentiating real prayer from performative rituals
Faith and seeing beyond the veil of our normal perception
Considering the limits of spirituality and how it is expressed across cultures
Dissolving polarities and seeing the universality of all beings
Taking wisdom from Ram Dass through his posthumous book, There is No Other
Realizing that wisdom and spirituality does not require travel or psychedelics
Dakota’s experience with plant medicine in the Amazonian jungle
Faith and remembering the mystery in day-to-day life
The eternal light of the Sadhu and reaching enlightened states without substances
You can find Dakota’s documentary, Aghori: Holy Men Of The Dead, free on YouTube: Click Here To Watch
About Dakota Wint:
Dakota Wint is a documentary filmmaker, vlogger, podcast host, and spiritual teacher from Detroit, Michigan. His films and podcasts revolve around current events, strange spirituality, and taboo traditions. You can subscribe to his podcast, A Place for Humans, HERE. Dakota grew to fame as an internet personality via his popular YouTube channel, Dakota of Earth. Dakota hosts retreats around the world and runs a non-profit focused on cultural and language preservation. Learn more about current happenings on his website
“I am just trying to figure out what spirituality is, what the limits of it are, how it expresses itself, are we all talking about the same thing, what can you show me? I go to these places that have these big practices. What do you have to offer? Especially in India, where all these gurus make these big claims, what can you show me? That's what I've been asking myself and anyone I meet.” –Dakota Wint
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From Tibetan Buddhism to Bhakti Yoga, Raghu and author Vincent Thibault explore reshaping the mind in our chaotic world.
Grab a copy of Vincent’s book: Overflow: A Buddhist Guide to Recovering Sanity in the Age of Information Overload | Vincent Thibault
This time on Mindrolling, Raghu and Vincent journey through:
Vincent’s early exposure to literature and the roots of his interest in Eastern philosophy and contemplative traditions
Navigating digital overwhelm and content overload in the modern age
How busyness and productivity culture can numb us to collective suffering
Parkour: a physical, artistic, and spiritually metaphorical discipline
Suffering as a path to transformation and a deeper connection with God
Drawing connections across many different wisdom traditions
Positive attachment versus attachment that traps us
Those who inspire the trust of our own pure minds
Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the value of learning from multiple teachers
Raghu’s lineage of Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion
The Tibetan translation of devotion: interested humility
Training the mind, training the heart, and learning to relate to both inner and outer phenomena
Learn more about Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche HERE and check out his book on karma
About Vincent Thibault:
A man of ideas and actions, an amazed traveller, and a defender of what could be called lucid optimism, Vincent Thibault is a Quebec writer and screenwriter. Vincent’s writing takes on many forms, including fantasy, psychological or adventure novels, comic or dramatic scenarios, travel stories, literary short stories, philosophical essays, and translations of Buddhist texts. While his work is incredibly diverse, it revolves around the same key themes: integrity, the quest for wisdom, the relationship to uncertainty, the reconciliation between tradition and modernity, and the power of benevolence in a noisy and busy world.
Check out more of Vincent’s writing on his website which includes both a French and English section. You can also keep up with Vincent on Facebook.
“Be it just on the cushion for a few minutes a day, if you find a way to make that switch and see difficulties as opportunities, then you can slowly learn to turn everything into the path of enlightenment.” –Vincent Thibault
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Continuing their discussion on Tibetan Buddhism and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's lineage, David Silver and Raghu Markus chat about carrying forward the wisdom of great masters.
Check out part 1 of this conversation on Ep. 627 of the Mindrolling Podcast and grab a copy of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s memoirs, Blazing Splendor, for a deeper look into his magnificent life.
In this episode, Raghu and David chat about:
Being guided toward unconditional love, selflessness, and devotion to the Divine Mother
The role of lineage holders and treasure revealers in Tibetan Buddhism
Tulku Urgyen’s unique style of teaching
Deep humility as an essential spiritual practice
How ‘being here now’ becomes a gateway to embodied wisdom
Releasing skepticism and misunderstanding around the concept of a guru
Honoring great spiritual masters and transmitting their wisdom across generations
The powerful film, Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
Reaching a state of deathlessness and timeless awareness
Starting our day with compassion for ourselves and others
“As soon as I wake up in the morning, I remind myself that nothing exists as it appears. Then I think about sentient beings who want happiness, but experience suffering. I generate compassion for them, determined to help them as much as I can to eliminate their negative emotions.” –The Dalai Lama

About David Silver:
David Silver is the former co-host of the Mindrolling podcast. He is a filmmaker and director, most recently coming out with Brilliant Disguise. Brilliant Disguise tells the unique story of a group of inspired Western spiritual seekers from the 60s, who in meeting the great American teacher, Ram Dass, followed him to India to meet his Guru, Neem Karoli Baba, familiarly known as Maharaj-ji. Two days before he left his body, Maharaj-ji instructed K.C. Tewari to take care of the Westerners, which he did resolutely until the day he died in 1997. Silver’s #1 charting MGM/UA/Warners film, “The Compleat Beatles” is the critically acclaimed biopic movie about history’s most famous band. The term ‘rockumentary’ was first applied to this two-hour movie. Rolling Stone recently described the film as a “masterwork.” Silver’s Warner Brothers’ feature film, “No Nukes” also started the whole trend of music/activism feature documentaries.
“‘Be Here Now’ is not only Ram Dass’s precept of just be in the present, it’s saying, ‘Be here now, and you’re everywhere. Be here now, and you’re in wisdom.’ If you’re not here now, you’re veering away from wisdom.” — David Silver
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Tracing her path from sharp-minded scholar to seasoned devotee, Mirabai Bush shares intimate stories of her personal evolution and enduring devotion to Maharaj-ji.
Check out Mirabai's latest book, Almost Home: Dharma, Social Change, and the Power of Love
In this episode, Raghu and Mirabai chat about:
Mirabai’s leap of faith: leaving her PhD program, going to India, and becoming a devotee of Maharaj-ji
The mystery of timing and how a single moment can quietly change the course of a life
A silent meditation retreat that unexpectedly prepared Mirabai to meet Maharaj-ji
How one moment with Maharaj-ji expanded Mirabai’s sense of being alive and transformed her inner world
Surrendering control: how Maharaj-ji taught Ram Dass to release the need to manage reality
The sacred symbolism and devotional practice of touching a guru’s feet
The miracle of childbirth and Mirabai’s profound experiences with home birth
Check out Mirabai’s archived podcast series on the Be Here Now Network.
About Mirabai Bush:
In addition to being one of Love Serve Remember Foundation’s respected board members, Mirabai Bush is a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba and spent time with him in India from 1971 to 1972. Along with Ram Dass, she is the co-author of Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service and Walking Each Other Home. Mirabai is Senior Fellow and founder of the Center on Contemplative Mind in Society, which encourages contemplative practice and perspective in American life in order to create a more just, compassionate and reflective society. Mirabai has also worked with Google on a workplace course called ‘Search Inside Yourself’ and with the US Army on a program for chaplains and medics. She is editor of Contemplation Nation: How Ancient Practices are Changing the Way We Live, co-author of Contemplative Practices in Higher Education: Powerful Methods To Transform Teaching and Learning, and author of Working with Mindfulness. Keep up with Mirabai on her website and don’t forget to grab her latest book, Almost Home.
“I just fell down at his feet. I never thought I would bow to a guru, but it wasn’t a decision; I was just there. In those first moments, he just expanded my sense of what it could mean to be human, to be on this planet. There is so much more to it than I had thought.” –Mirabai Bush
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