The Spiritual Context Podcast

Bishal Karna

Dedicated to the Ultimate Realization, this podcast features interviews with long-time spiritual practitioners and teachers, focusing on their spiritual biographies, core practices and perspectives, and approaches to integrating spirituality into everyday life. The host, Bishal Karna, is a professor of religious studies and a long-time spiritual practitioner.

  1. 15h ago

    From Atheist to Monk: The Path of Little Love & Simple Joys | Swami Ishadhyanananda

    From atheist to monk. From chasing happiness to practicing contentment. From spiritual ambition to surrender. Swami Ishadhyanananda, a Ramakrishna monk at the Vedanta Society of Sacramento, keeps arriving back at the ordinary: gratitude for small joys, sipping Darjeeling tea in the morning. A tiny, unimpressive flicker of devotion, held onto because it's real, instead of waiting for an overwhelming love for God. Noticing what is already here rather than pursuing what isn't. Simple, and not at all easy. It means bypassing the ambitions of the ego, which he describes as a secretary you hired long ago and no longer need, forever suggesting new ways to improve yourself. You can't fire it, and you can't replace it with a better one. You can only notice it. Whoever is watching the ego plan and posture and angle for improvement cannot be the ego — who is it, then? Vedanta Society of Sacramento: https://www.vedantasacto.org/ Timestamps 00:00 A Bug Sneaking into the Altar: Atheism to Monasticism 04:44 Trusting the Goodness in Human Hearts 13:25 In Search of True Purpose: For One's Liberation and the World's 17:53 "I thought spiritual progress will be very fast" 19:16 Feelings of Loneliness: An Indian Monk in the US 25:17 A Ramakrishna Monk's Day in Sacramento, California 30:12 Being a Witness of the Mind: Subtle Patterns Reveal Themselves 33:53 Holding on to the Greater Spiritual Context Throughout the Day 35:47 Bhakti Yoga, Not Because It's Natural — Because It'sNeeded 39:07 Hold on to the Little Love You Feel For God & FeelGod's Overwhelming Love For You 44:51 God Exists for Believers 47:10 The Infinite Well: Sourcing Inspiration from All Around You 52:33 A Healthy Body Supports Spiritual Practice 55:55 Preparing for Death Means Preparing for Life 01:01:54 Even Spiritual Ambition is Ego in Disguise 01:08:17 Even the Idea of Duty has to be Let Go 01:12:05 Attention, the Foundation of All Spirituality, is Being Hijacked 01:20:19 Cultivate Contentment Instead of Chasing Happiness 01:28:52 A Series of Miraculous Incidents & True Prayer as Surrender 01:34:33 No Person Without Love, No Problem Without a Solution 01:37:33 Being Established as the Witness & Appreciatingthe Feeling of Love 01:40:20 The Joy of Meditation on God Intro and outro music by Benjamin Bigelow

  2. Jul 29

    "Scraping off the Barnacles of Bullsh*t": Zen, Jazz, and Aikido with Jay Rinsen Weik

    Zen training is long. Demanding. But according to Jay Rinsen Weik Roshi, there is a far more difficult path: spending an entire lifetime sleepwalking, pushed and pulled by fear and desire, never realizing your true nature. Rinsen Roshi strips away spirituality as self-improvement, intellectual gymnastics, or feel-good emotionality. Instead, he presents authentic Zen as an embodied path of transformation—a lifelong discipline of scraping away the "barnacles of bullsh*t" that obscure our true nature. Drawing on nearly four decades of Zen practice, alongside a lifetime devoted to Aikido and jazz, Rinsen Roshi reveals what these seemingly different disciplines share: wholehearted presence, disciplined spontaneity, and the freedom to meet the imperative of each moment. Together we explore koan training, the deepening of awakening, "dragon nature," the cultivation of Qi (Ki)—a vital dimension of Zen training he believes has largely been neglected in American Zen—, and why Zen is not about escaping ordinary life, but entering it more fully, more creatively, and more courageously than ever before. About the Guest: Jay Rinsen Weik Roshi is the Founding Abbot and Guiding Teacher, alongside his wife, Karen Do'on Weik Roshi, at the Buddhist Temple of Toledo. He began formal Zen training in 1987 under John Daido Loori Roshi at Zen Mountain Monastery and later received both Denbo (Sōtō Zen Dharma transmission) and Inka Shōmei (Rinzai kōan transmission) from James Myoun Ford Roshi. Rinsen Roshi also founded Shobu Aikido of Ohio and holds the rank of 6th Dan (Rokudan). He is a jazz musician and scholar and teaches music and guitar at the University of Toledo. Buddhist Temple of Toledo Website: https://www.buddhisttempleoftoledo.org/ Rinsen Roshi's YouTube Channel Featuring Buddhist Neigong Series: https://www.youtube.com/@jayrinsenweik3960 Timestamps 00:10 Crash Course on Compassion: Zen Mind and PhysicalAdversity 06:16 "I am here for Zen"/ "Clean theDishes" 09:47 Meeting the Imperative of Your Life: The Importance ofZen Training 15:04 The Heart of Zen Training: Opening the Dharma Eye 24:14 Clear Sight, Skillful Actions 30:38 Spontaneous Samadhi, Jazz, and Aikido Lead to Zen 40:57 Commuter Zen: Bringing the Temple Home 46:04 Individual Awakening and Communal Practice 50:06 Seeing from the Same Eye: Dharma Transmission 52:27 Koan Training: Using Language to Break Free fromLanguage 01:10:38 "You get to live an authentic, true life.  And it's f***** great." 01:20:24 Father Kevin Hunt: A Trappist Monk and Zen Roshi 01:25:41 Transmitting Teacher: "Our Steps FellTogether" 01:30:33 Buddhist Temple of Toledo: A Global Sangha 01:38:08 Zen and Aikido: "The mind leads, the Qifollows, and the body gets dragged along." 01:48:23 The Aiki Principle: "Complementaryantagonistic spiraling" 01:55:31 Holistic Cultivation: Using All of Life to Awaken 01:59:50 Family Life Wrapped Around Dharma Practice 02:04:49 Noble Friends and the Preciousness of Human Life Intro and Outro Music by Benjaim Bigelow

  3. Jul 22

    Joan Tollifson: Awakening Amid Disability, Compulsion, and Cancer

    Have you been trying to fix yourself—to eliminate all your apparent imperfections? Have you been waiting for a final, dramatic enlightenment experience?Our guest in this episode, Joan Tollifson, author of Death: The End of Self-Improvement, suggests that seeking enlightenment as a future event can become the ultimate me-trap. Instead, she points to the radical simplicity of attending to this present moment exactly as it is. In so doing, we discover that reality is already an indivisible whole, and the separate "me" we struggle to perfect is largely a mental construction. Joan invites us beyond the endless project of self-improvement, often fueled by subtle self-rejection, and toward a genuine transformation that comes through recognizing the wholeness already present. Her insights are not abstract philosophy, but are discovered through decades of living with disability, recovering from alcoholism, making peace with a lifelong finger-biting compulsion, and discovering grace within cancer.In every seeming adversity, she has found hidden blessings, and she sees God in the toilet roll and Buddha in the sh*t stick—the sacred shining through even the most ordinary and unlikely places.Joan's Books (Available on Amazon)• Bare-Bones Meditation• Awake in the Heartland• Painting the Sidewalk with Water• Nothing to Grasp• Death: The End of Self-ImprovementLearn More:Website: https://www.joantollifson.comSubstack: Right Now, Just As It Is (https://joantollifson.substack.com/)Timestamps 00:00 Born with a Disability: Starting out with a Deep Senseof Imperfection 04:25 At Peace with "Imperfection," evenAddictions and Compulsions 09:30 "Awareness Feels to Me Like UnconditionalLove" 19:31 Using Her Amputated Arm As a Weapon: TheTransformative Power of Martial Arts 23:29 "A Deep Sense of Something Bigger":Spiritual Aspirations and Inspirations 28:30 Toni Packer: Inquiry and Presence Beyond Traditions 34:11 Is it Possible to Be Curious without Trying to FigureThings Out? 42:12 Nisargadatta, Satsangs, and a Sense of Play 48:15 Radical Non-Duality: One Whole Undivided Presence 58:35 Beyond Seeking: Being Awake in This Moment 01:11:56 "I See God Everywhere": Love, Humor, andBeauty 01:17:49 Caring for Her Mother in Her Final Years 01:23:08 "I really realized when I had cancer how manypeople loved me" 01:28:27 Being Open to Suffering Without Seeking Cure 01:32:41 "Enlightenment is Not Needing to Die A GoodDeath" 01:40:48 "Death: The End of Self-Improvement" 01:46:07 "Whatever is Happening, That is YourPath" Intro and Outro Music by Benjamin Bigelow

  4. Jul 15

    Seeing Beyond the Veil Without a Near-Death Experience | Dr. Eben Alexander III, MD

    A rare case of E. coli bacterial meningoencephalitis put Dr. Eben Alexander III, a Harvard neurosurgeon, into a week-long coma with virtually no chance of meaningful recovery. Yet while his neocortex suffered global damage, he underwent a profound near-death experience (NDE)—an encounter with a reality that was "more real than real." This experience completely shattered his former materialist worldview. Since then, Dr. Alexander has devoted his life to integrating the insights of his NDE with cutting-edge developments in science, while also exploring contemplative practices that may open us to the same deeper reality. In this conversation, we move beyond the extraordinary story itself to explore its deepest spiritual implications. We dive into what it means to live with absolute certainty that consciousness is the primary reality and survives death, how to live knowing we are infinitely loved with nothing to fear, and the implications of the life review, reincarnation, and the purpose of suffering. Dr. Alexander also shares how he continues to access and deepen his experience of the transformative reality revealed in NDEs by using the Sacred Acoustics meditation method. Bio: Eben Alexander, MD, was an academic neurosurgeon for over 25 years, including 15 years at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School in Boston. In 2008, he experienced a transcendental Near-Death Experience (NDE) during a week-long coma from an inexplicable brain infection that completely transformed his worldview. A pioneering scientist and modern thought leader in the emerging science that acknowledges the primacy of consciousness in the universe, he is the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Proof of Heaven, The Map of Heaven and Living in a Mindful Universe. See: http://ebenalexander.com/ Other links mentioned in the interview: iands.org https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/ NDEs mentioned:https://www.drmaryneal.com/ https://www.anitamoorjani.com/ Division of Perceptual Studies, University of Virginia: https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/ Reincarnation case of James Leninger: https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2017/04/REI42-Tucker-James-LeiningerPIIS1550830716000331.pdf Timestamps 00:10 A Harvard Neurosurgeon has a Near-Death Experience (NDE) 03:09 Mapping the NDE: Earthworm's Eye View, Gateway Valley, and the Core Realm 04:26 Beyond Socio-Cultural Conditioning: Reincarnation, Life Reviews, & a Mysterious Guide 07:37 The Deepest Lesson is Love & Reductionist Materialism is a False Model 11:29 Memory is not stored in the brain 17:22 One Mind & Simultaneity of Time 22:25 Forms are Expressions of Ideals in Subtler Realms 25:33 Lessons from More than 700 NDE Life Reviews 33:17 "Strange" Phenomena and Other After-Effects of NDE 36:25 The More Evolved a Soul, the Less Ego-centric They Are 40:27 Some of the Greatest Gifts Come in the Form of Trials 46:32 The All is Well Perspective: The Universe Functions Like a Mirror 54:42 Meditation and Prayer are Tools for Healing and Connecting with Our Higher Selves 01:03:00 Meeting His Deceased Adoptive Father in Deep Meditation 01:05:13 Revisiting the Near-Death Experience in Meditation 01:08:02 The Continuous Presence of "The Other Side" 01:14:59 Our Intention, Thoughts, and Actions Impact Emergent Reality 01:19:06 Life is A Gift & Death is a Tremendous Adventure 01:23:38 Reincarnation, Shared Death Experiences, and Death-Bed Visions 01:33:01 Best Practices for Supporting the Dying 01:35:04 Facing Terminal Illness with Hope & Healing Our Baby Wounds 01:40:22 Near-Death Experience Book Recommendations 01:45:51 The Ongoing Journey of Discovery

  5. Jul 8

    Listening, Letting Go, & Attitudinal Healing | Geralyn Russell

    A life devoted to finding peace regardless of circumstance, external or internal: sitting in a cancer center, her heart fills with gratitude; at the bedsides of the dying, her heart swells with love; even in a season of failing health, arriving at a training by wheelchair, she found wholeness and oneness; and in the depths of meditation, she settles into an infinite love beyond time and space. Geralyn Russell's journey began with the certitude of God's existence, and has carried her into deep study of the teachings of yoga, contemplative Christianity, Dr. David R. Hawkins, Attitudinal Healing, and A Course in Miracles. In this conversation, she discusses the practices of listening without judgment or advice-giving, "letting go," forgiveness, returning to coherence, and facing illness, loss, anxiety, and death with an open heart.Geralyn Russell is the founder of The Sense8 Studio, an Attitudinal Healing Facilitator and Trainer, Certified Somatic Yoga Educator, and Certified Forgiveness Facilitator. She is the co-developer of Path2Green, an award-winning emotional resilience program that has trained more than 3,000 healthcare professionals, medical students, and community members in practices for cultivating resilience and well-being. Learn more: Geralyn Russell's work: https://www.thesense8studio.com/ Dr. David R. Hawkins: https://veritaspub.com/ Attitudinal Healing International: https://www.ahinternational.org/ A Course in Miracles: https://acim.org/ Fred Luskin's work on forgiveness: https://learningtoforgive.com/about/ Timestamps 00:10 Attending the First Attitudinal Healing Group in a Wheelchair 05:19 "I just knew there was a God" 09:30 Centering Prayer, Yoga, and Dr. David R. Hawkins 13:41 Beyond Linear Causality 15:29 A Course in Miracles 17:53 Letting Go of Blocks to Love: Love is Listening 24:47 Attitudinal Healing Groups: Listening for Feeling,Meaning, and Value 32:45 Heart-Centered Communication: The Practice of DeepListening in Daily Life 36:54 Healing is Wholeness, Oneness, and Love 44:09 Gratitude and Wholeness at a Cancer Center 48:02 Choosing Inner Peace Amidst External Chaos 56:25 The Power of Loving Intention & Living the Life IHave 01:01:17 Giving and Receiving are the Same 01:04:56 Learning from Each Other and Forgiving Each Other 01:14:23 Geralyn's Studio and Emotional Resilience Training 01:20:09 Ways to Return to Coherence 01:22:15 Dissolving the Ego & Growing in Awareness of Our True Nature 01:27:34 My Marriage is a Prayer, My Home is a Temple 01:29:05 How You Live Is How You Die 01:36:37 Experiences Beyond Time, Space, and Duality 01:39:32 To See Through Christ's Eyes 01:43:45 Letting Go and Staying on the Crest of the Passing Moment 01:45:11 We Heal Together: One Life's Contribution to the Whole Music for this episode by Benjamin Bigelow

  6. Jul 1

    "God, Rid Me of God": Celtic Spirituality, Bede Griffiths, and the Cosmic Christ | David Cassian Cole

    A mystical experience at nineteen changed David Cassian Cole's life forever — setting him on a journey through Celtic spirituality, Christian mysticism, Eastern Orthodox hesychasm, twenty years inside a dispersed new monastic order, and now the teaching of Fr. Bede Griffiths and a recontextualization of Christianity through the Upanishads. David's is a life devoted to truth, wherever it leads. We talk about the Cosmic Christ, panentheism and the sacredness of nature, the Jesus Prayer and Sanskrit mantra, suffering and spiritual dryness, and what it means, in his words, to "release the divine from all of our concepts." David Cassian Cole is the founder of Waymark Ministries and author of The Celtic Year, Celtic Prayers & Practices, The Mystic Path of Meditation, and The Art of Peace: Life Lessons from Christian Mystics. Visit: www.waymarkministries.org Chapters 00:10 The Mystical Experience: Encountering the Cosmic Christ 11:58 Living in the Mystery, Not in the Knowing 15:48 Celtic Spirituality: Seeing and Experiencing the Divine in and through Nature 21:27 Understandings of Nature: Reductionist, Pantheism, & Panentheism 27:53 New Monasticism: A Structure for Spiritual Freedom 33:29 New Monastic Vows: Simplicity, Purity, and Obedience 38:05 Rhythms of Spiritual Practice 44:15 Created to Be in Community: Individuation & Belonging 48:10 Bede Griffiths and Christianity Through an Upanishadic Lens 54:01 Devotion to Truth Over Tradition 59:29 Bede Griffiths as Guru: The Marriage of East and West 01:06:07 Shantivanam Ashram & Sanskrit Hymns and Chants 01:10:31 The Jesus Prayer and Hesychasm 01:14:39 Recontextualizing Sin as Deviation or False Belief 01:18:44 Living from Higher Consciousness 01:22:16 "God, rid me of God": Mystical Experience and Understanding of God 01:28:57 Any Experience of Love is a Divine Experience 01:31:30 Spirituality in Family Life 01:36:12 Acceptance, Compassionate Response, and Suffering as an Opportunity for Spiritual Growth 01:42:44 Dry Periods as Periods of Spiritual Transition 01:46:23 "Words Aren't Always Necessary When You Are Praying" 01:47:16 Balance between Action and Surrender 01:53:36 Waymark Ministries, Forest Church, and Community Engagement Music for this episode by Benjamin Bigelow

  7. Jun 24

    Visions of Christ, Surrender, and the True Meaning of Love | Sherry Ritley

    Dr. David R. Hawkins | Christ | Mystical Experience | Forgiveness | Love | Death | Devotion | Meditation | Silence | Prayer | Visions To mark the 25th episode of The Spiritual Context Podcast, I'm releasing a very special interview—one of the very first conversations I recorded when this podcast was still just an idea. My guest today is Sherry Ritley, a dear friend and someone who has deeply influenced my own spiritual journey. She is a private and ordinary person with an extraordinary inner life and a remarkable depth of devotion. Spirituality permeates every aspect of her life. Her life has become a prayer. Whether she is speaking about mystical visions, meditation, forgiveness, death, or simply caring for a garden, everything seems to arise from the same source, a profound trust in God and an ever-deepening understanding of love. I hope you'll enjoy this conversation as much as I did. May it bring you closer to your own True Self. Chapters 00:00 25th Episode Gratitude 01:40 Love of Christ and Spiritual Experiences During Childhood 08:23 Journey Through the Stages of Spiritual Growth 12:16 Deep Surrender to God During Delivery 15:08 Leaving Home and Family to Meditate 19:23 Longing for God Gets Mixed Up with Approval from Other Humans 21:21 The True Teacher: Dr. David R. Hawkins (Doc) 25:54 Surrender and the Divine Visions of Jesus Christ 36:55 Being in the Presence of a True Teacher 45:58 Wandering No More: A Poem by Sherry 50:12 Coming to Know True Love 55:39 Forgiveness: Do Onto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You 01:03:44 Living Life As a Prayer 01:13:22 The Mind is Mostly Silent 01:22:08 Blissful Experiences Surrounding Death 01:27:43 Spiritual Energy: "Truth Juice" 01:31:27 Handling Health Challenges 01:35:08 The Vision of Jesus, Buddha, and Dr. David R. Hawkins Dancing Together 01:37:06Bereft of Love, We Perish Music for this episode by Benjamin Bigelow

  8. Jun 16

    Wooed By The Spirit: A Quaker Mystic on Hearing God, Silence, and Oneness | Patricia McBee

    Is there within us a Presence that knows what we need before we do? How do we hear its guidance, and how do we trust it when it asks us to abandon what we thought we wanted? At eight years old, Patricia McBee felt an overwhelming Divine Presence, and she has followed its leadings since. A Quaker mystic and elder, she has spent a lifetime learning to recognize its guidance in all its forms. The fully formed verbal instruction. The way opening that arrives without warning. The way closing that refuses to budge. The bait-and-switch that has taken her places she never intended to go. Even the laziness that, in hindsight, brought her exactly where she needed to be. The Presence also communicates in visions. One showed her that she is absolutely safe even when wild beasts that could tear her limb from limb lurk in the forest. Through these leadings, her understanding of the Divine Presence has been completely transformed—from the traditional God of the Sistine Chapel with his flowing beard, through God as love, to a vision of Oneness. She calls her life "Wooed by the Spirit." This episode is an invitation into what such a courtship with the Divine Presence within each of us. Timestamps 00:00 Spiritual Guidance: A Voice Told Me To Change My Major 04:47 Testing Spiritual Guidance: Waiting, Journaling, and Sharing with Elders 09:04 Mystical Experience at 8: The Divine in First Communion 16:49 Finding Elders, Spiritual Companions, and QuakerMystics 19:48 Can Laziness Be a Form of Guidance? : First QuakerMeeting 26:01 Way Opening, Way Closing: Living Inside QuakerDiscernment 28:42 Cultivating and Expressing Spiritual Life 33:01 Silence, Hymns, and the Vision of Perfect Safety 37:36 Core Quaker Belief: That of God in Each Person 43:31 Silence, Sleepiness, and Being Present to Friends 48:06 Universal Truth Across Different Religions 52:10 Evolving Understanding of God: Love, All-That-Is, and Oneness 01:08:57 The Psychological Impact of Theology: Accepting All of Oneself 01:15:10 All-That-Is, Oneness, and Perceptual Appearance 01:21:23 Hard Work and Intelligence Alone Aren't Sufficient 01:36:01 Returning to Love as All-That-Is and Oneness 01:39:23 Bait-and-Switch Guidance: Life's Unexpected Turns 01:49:19 Marriage as a Spiritual Discipline 01:52:13 Death, Safety, and What Comes Next 01:58:23 Prayer After Oneness   Music for this episode by Benjamin Bigelow

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Dedicated to the Ultimate Realization, this podcast features interviews with long-time spiritual practitioners and teachers, focusing on their spiritual biographies, core practices and perspectives, and approaches to integrating spirituality into everyday life. The host, Bishal Karna, is a professor of religious studies and a long-time spiritual practitioner.

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