Exp. #29, Chapter 2: Asking Questions About Enlightenment, Freewill, and Destiny to Swami Nityananda
This is me putting my thoughts on the M.O.N.K.E.Y. B.A.R.S. by practicing "S" for "Serve While Connected"
If reading time is hard to come by or you’re interested in a more human experience, there is a “Read-to-You” version of this article.
If you’re new here, welcome! The “M.O.N.K.E.Y. B.A.R.S.” part of Monkey Bars for the Monkey Mind is my acronym for the system I use to create and maintain a happy life, which I introduce in Experiment #1.
“S” is for "Serve While Connected," which I introduce in Experiment #11. You can see all of my “S” experiments so far by clicking here.
If you struggle with monkey mind or negative self-talk as I did (or know someone who does), consider subscribing. This stuff works and I am living proof. Though everyone’s “M.O.N.K.E.Y. B.A.R.S.” will look a little different, I write this weekly newsletter to show how it CAN look and how this method continues to pour happiness into my life—especially when I need it most.
I got an email from Swami Nityananda, my spiritual teacher, on Monday. She had received some spiritually honest questions from someone halfway around the world and thought they would be great to explore during our Satsang tonight.
I read through the questions and couldn’t have agreed more.
They were questions about enlightenment and freewill and destiny. I found myself feeling awe at how universal these questions are for humans—how foundational.
Satsangs, again, are essentially public Q&As or “AMAs” (ask-me-anythings) where one can ask sincere spiritual questions to a spiritual leader. On a deeper level, satsang means “gathering in the company of truth.”
So, in keeping with Experiment #29: Sharing My Spiritual Questions for Swami Nityananda Publicly and In Advance of our Live-Streamed Q&A Dialogues, I am excited to share what we’ll be discussing tonight:
I have searched for enlightenment for 40 years and not a single glimpse. Is it actually possible? How does one achieve it?
I just listened to previous masters in the Awake Yoga Meditation line of teachers. Is this path in line with nonduality? If yes, then, the masters speak as if we have freewill and choice. But doesn’t nonduality say that we have no freewill or choice and that stuff just happens—by God, in a way, if God is defined as everything that exists. Do we have freewill?
What is initiation? In what way will it help?
Are all events—down to the tiniest detail—already predetermined?
We may get to all four or we may only discuss a couple.
If the questions are of interest to you, you might enjoy joining us live. It’s at 7:30pm EST and it’s free. It can be live streamed on Zoom or YouTube. If you’re not able to make it, a replay is published the following day on AYM’s Substack newsletter, Feel Love Now with Swami Nityananda (for paid subscribers only).
As I mentioned in Experiment #29, my hope is that it is of service to share what I love (see Experiment #12) and show works-in-progress (see Experiment #13). In my journey, I have found that it’s nice to know there is a place where I can ask my deep spiritual questions about the universe and engage in sincere conversations.
I have also found Swami Nityananda to be an incredibly loving, compassionate, wise, and approachable spiritual leader to explore such topics with. If you’re interested on more about her, I wrote about what it’s like to be her student in Experiment #22: Celebrating a Holiday Called Guru Purnima.
Have you had any spiritual questions this past week? Month? What were they? How have you tried to find answers for those questions? I’m always happy to ask something on your behalf at AYM’s next Satsang. Or, if you’d like, you can leave a question in the comments below or ask something tonight on Zoom via the Q&A chat. Time permitting, we’ll discuss it!
As always, thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a very happy day.
With love,
Jonathan