Mindrolling – Raghu Markus – Ep. 375 – Grabbing onto Grace with Aubrey Marcus

Aubrey Marcus returns with Raghu to share poetry and dig into topics of navigating collective karma with intuition, the unconditional love of the mother, and the nature of time and free will.

Aubrey Marcus (IG: @aubreymarcus) is the founder of Onnit, a lifestyle brand based on a holistic health philosophy he calls Total Human Optimization. Onnit is an Inc. 500 company and an industry leader with products optimizing millions of lives, including many top professional athletes around the world. Aubrey is the author of the NYT bestseller Own The Day, Own Your Life, with a follow-up Master Your Mind, Master Your Life due out 2021. He currently hosts the Aubrey Marcus Podcast, providing a motivational destination for conversations with the brightest minds in athletics, business, science, relationships, and spirituality. Connect mind, body, and spirit at aubreymarcus.com.

“Perhaps no other teacher has sparked the fires of as many spiritual seekers in the West.” Preorder Being Ram Dass & share what Ram Dass means to you. 

Warrior Poet

Hitting the ground running after finding out about Aubrey’s love for creating expressive poetry, Raghu asks him to share one of his poems. Truly dynamic, Aubrey’s poem invites us all to play and have fun in this intensely beautiful and visceral game of life in a way that every sentient being is loved and taken care of – the pure exemplification of a warrior poet, and what Raghu notes as congruent with Buddhism’s Bodhisattva Vow.

“Let me give you a cheat code to get you started: Forgive yourself mercifully, love yourself ruthlessly, protect the earth fiercely, treat people identically, compliment generously, cultivate community, dance expressively, have gratitude daily, orgasm regularly, forget your history, and live presently.” – Aubrey Marcus

Navigating Karma with Intuition (9:55)

Discussing the massive collective karma we have ripening in the form of the coronavirus pandemic, the fight for racial justice, and the ecological crisis, Raghu and Aubrey share ways to navigate these turbid waters. Harkening to teachers like Be Here Now Network podcasters Baba Ram Dass and Dr. Robert Svoboda, the duo reflects on the nature of karma, naming the inner-compass of our open heart as a guide star of intuition.

“The greatest guidestar is our inner compass–our sense of knowing–that feeling where your heart unlocks and releases…If your heart feels that, and it opens, and you feel presence of the Divine Oneness as you’re doing it, then that’s a pretty damn good indicator.” – Aubrey Marcus

For a conversation about karma with Dr. Svoboda, Raghu, and psychedelic comedian Duncan Trussell, tune into Ep. 321 of Mindrolling

Mother & Unconditional Love (33:06)

Prompted by Raghu’s recollection of their time spent on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast w/ Raghu Markus, he encourages Aubrey to share about the dichotomous relationships he has with his mother and his father. Aubrey explains that many of his challenges of self-doubt and expectations of the masculine archetype were imprinted on him from his father, but through the exemplary guidance of his mother, he was able to learn the true meaning of unconditional love and tune into the divine feminine.

“I can probably not overestimate the importance of having that in my life from the feminine. I think it’s contributed to a lot of beautiful romantic relationships I’ve had, also my relationship to the Earth herself.” – Aubrey Marcus

Time & Free Will, Karma & Grace (49:10)

Raghu’s sharing of a recent mind-blowing Maharajji miracle story sparks inquiry from Aubrey into the nature of time and free will from the perspective of a realized being. Admitting this question is above his pay-grade, Raghu offers India stories involving Ram Dass, Maharajji, and Siddhi Ma to help illuminate this deep philosophical question of time and free will, of karma and grace.

“I’m not sure if we have free will or not, but my life is better if I act like I do.” – Aubrey paraphrasing William James

For more Aubrey and Raghu, dig into a conversation surrounding love, practice, awareness, and honesty, on Ep. 284 of Mindrolling

     

Images via aubreymarcus.com and @degega on Twenty20