7 - Pursuing self-awareness - Tenzin Priyadarshi on his book – Running toward mystery – a life of leaning into the unknown

Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi speaks about how we can sometimes get trapped in all kinds of labels around us. He speaks about how he has been guided by his curiosity and his quest for spirituality without getting pigeonholed into some box.

Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi speaks about how he took the call to walk out his home into the unknown when he was 10. He speaks about the limitations of the rational mind and how we all tend to take actions and then often subsequently justify our decision using logic. He also speaks about the criticality of parents getting out of the way while bringing up children.

Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi speaks about how he has shaped his path and has made choices along the way. He speaks about how he has handled the various pulls and pressures to move in a certain direction to stay true to his purpose.

Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi speaks about how a lot of people have tried to make the practice of spirituality into a hack. He specifically speaks about how several people have tried to create apps for meditation and how that often goes against the grain of how one is supposed to pursue meditation without any addiction of sorts.

Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi speaks about the notion of curiosity and how we can all be truly aware of what is unfolding in front of us. He speaks about how we all need to embrace effortful meditation and practice it for a period of time before it becomes effortless for us. He also speaks about spiritual discipline as something that ought to permeate every aspect of our life from perception to decision making to choices to every interaction.

Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi speaks about how we sometimes limit the learning opportunities by trying to look “within the box”. He suggests us to surrender to the teacher/coach/guide/mentor and the process to derive the value from it.

Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi makes the link between pursuing self-awareness and building non-transactional relationships. He also speaks about the need for all of us to have virtuous friends (we may not go to the movies with them but they might provide perspectives that might open up new vistas).

Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi speaks about how Covid-19, in some ways, is like a time out that Mother Nature has given human beings so that we could go back to our rooms/homes and reflect on what our priorities in life should be. He shares his perspectives around how could reclaim the fundamental sense of being human rooted in a sense of empathy and in a sense of compassion.