Mind Meld 89 | Awakening a Limitless Process with Dada Nabhaniilananda

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Dada Nabhaniilananda is a New Zealand-born Yogic monk of the Ananda Marga tradition. He has appeared on stage with the Dalai Lama, taught or performed in more than 40 countries and has spoken for TEDx, Facebook, Google and more.

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“To claim a limited end to a limitless process, to reduce the infinite to the finite, to draw borders across the borderless, to make measurements of the unfathomable – this is the beginning of the human impulse to create certainty where none exists. It is the birth of pain, of suffering, of delusion.”
― Sadhguru, Adiyogi: The Source of Yoga

There’s really nothing more mysterious and ontologically succulent than moments of initiation. Moments of perceptive inversion, when suddenly existence is injected with sacred sauce as if you were a child all over again.

General fascinations aside, this topic is at the forefront of my mind yet again because it is of deep relevance to this conversation with Dada Nabhaniilananda. Dada is a monk, a full-time holy man who unequivocally credits one breakthrough experience with putting him on his lifelong path. For now, I’ll just say there are some really metaphysically saucy bits involved.

Since he’s the second monk from the Ananda Marga tradition to come on the show (the first being Dada Gunamuktananda a couple of months back) I guess I should make it clear that I’m not affiliated with Ananda Marga directly in any way. However, I do find both Nabaniilananda and Gunamuktananda to be beautiful honest, humble, wise seekers and I have to admit I am intrigued to dig further.

Musings in this mind meld 

• How you go from an atheist to a monk
• Breakthrough psychedelic experiences and reconsidering your life path
• Glossolalia and Dada’s vision of a god-like being
• The Ananda Marga path and why he chose it
• More plenty and a higher quality of life in the western world doesn’t mean we’re becoming better, more enlightened humans
• Do people have destined paths?
• Dada’s criteria for how to choose a guru
• Are there living true, pure gurus?
• EF Schumacher
• Spiritual paths shouldn’t create a religious aristocracy
• Shiva the first yogi

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