No Monopoly on God | Exclusivism and the God Who Withdraws
6/2/202654 min
The moment you think your group owns God is the moment He begins to slip away.understood this. When Bill Wilson, founder of AA and a devout Christian, wrote the program that would help millions get sober, he kept it simple: we have no monopoly on God. We merely have an approach that worked for us. In this episode Raghunath and Kaustubha bring that insight into conversation to it's esoteric pinnacle: the Rāsa Līlā — where the moment the gopīs feel proud of their closeness to Krishna, he disappears. Not as punishment but as mercy. In union you se...
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsRaghunath· Host0:00
And this line is so beautiful, "We have no monopoly on God."
Kostuba Das· Host0:03
Right.
Raghunath· Host0:04
Isn't that great? "We merely have an approach that worked for us. It's personal experience." That's remarkable humility for someone who found something that genuinely saved his life. You know, he's saying, "This worked for me, but God is bigger than my, my- My experience ... experience of him it- through my path. He's bigger than my tradition. He's bigger than my approach." I think devotees need to hear this, too.
Kostuba Das· Host0:28
Okay.
Raghunath· Host0:29
Right? I think this is good for you, [laughs] Kostuba.
Kostuba Das· Host0:32
[laughs] Yeah.
Raghunath· Host0:33
The moment you think- I think you need to hear it. I, I live this thing, man. I was just preaching- I live it. [laughs] I was preaching this this week to somebody.
Kostuba Das· Host0:40
Okay. [laughs] You were preaching. Were you shoving it down their throat?
Raghunath· Host0:44
No. I was just saying- Are you...
Kostuba Das· Host0:46
[laughs] Okay.
Raghunath· Host0:46
No, 'cause the person was s- there's a bunch of details.
Kostuba Das· Host0:49
I, I've seen you on the cover of that No Compromise EP right there.
Raghunath· Host0:53
Yeah, I know.
Kostuba Das· Host0:54
It's brilliant.
Raghunath· Host0:54
I was a fundamentalist at one point. I grew past that.
Kostuba Das· Host0:57
Oh. I'm glad to hear that.
Raghunath· Host0:58
Someone was asking me about some details about bhakti. I said, "You think God is bigger than that? You think God is, you think God is as narrow as that? You think God's love is narrow?" [laughs] Those details of, uh, of rules and regulations are meant to assist our peace of mind. And if we don't follow them, you don't have to. God still loves you, but you're gonna suffer the repercussions of those details. [singing] Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo