355. Tom Das

I had my first conscious spiritual awakening aged 18. Everything was seen to be one, the sense of personal self fell away and I had a deep sense that I truly was not the limited being that I commonly took myself to be. This experience was short-lived and further fueled my seeking. I wanted to try to re-experience it. I think because this experience happened in the context of reading a book, I subsequently developed a voracious appetite for reading spiritual texts. I read books on everything such as on Buddhism, Zen, Taoism, Mystic Christianity, Vedanta, Dzogchen, and the core texts of each, as well as many self-help and new-age type books. I also had a keen interest in science and mathematics and my studies took me along this route in school, eventually leading me to study medicine and become a doctor. I later got married and now have two amazing and lovely children. Alongside my studies, career and home life, the spiritual seeking continued for 15-20 years. Now the sense of a ‘me’ living a life and the dissatisfaction that fueled my spiritual seeking have both disappeared, leaving behind an ordinary life ‘being lived’ or living itself. I call it Freedom. Tom is a medical doctor who lives in London UK with his wife and 2 children. He holds regular meetings in London and on Skype to share this wonderful teaching with anyone who is interested. To learn more about him and his teachings see www.tomdas.com. Transcript of this interview Interview recorded July 23, 2016 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Support 00:06:25 - Teenage Interest in Spirituality 00:11:25 - The Relationship between Spirituality and Science 00:17:06 - Awakening and Freedom 00:21:58 - The Fourth State: Turiya 00:26:10 - The Fourth State 00:29:57 - The Continuum of Awareness and the Notion of Doership 00:33:48 - Transformation in His Presence 00:38:05 - Skepticism vs Cynicism in Spiritual Teachings 00:43:27 - Subjective Experience and Suffering in Spirituality 00:48:36 - The Nature of Hypotheses and Possibilities 00:51:46 - The Blurred Lines of Different Functionalities 00:56:09 - The Illusion of Duality and Non-Duality 01:02:39 - The Illusion of Individual Self or Doer 01:08:12 - The Interpretation of Life's Experiences 01:11:32 - Difficulty of Expressing Experiences in Words 01:15:25 - The Complexity of Spiritual Teachings 01:19:07 - The Progression of Enlightenment 01:22:35 - The Potential of Each Individual 01:25:28 - The Concept of the Universal Doer 01:29:18 - The Concept of Self in Eastern Traditions 01:32:46 - Different Ways of Transmitting Knowledge 01:39:15 - The Importance of Developing Clarity 01:43:52 - Understanding the Vasanas 01:47:48 - Devotion and Appreciation 01:51:48 - The World is Brahman 01:56:18 - Realizing Brahman 01:59:27 - The Value of Teaching 02:02:36 - The Key to Experience 02:05:44 - The Balance of Knowledge and Experience 02:10:11 - Music