New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast Is the World Real? with Swami Medhananda
Journey to Vedanta Monastic Life
- Swami Medhananda moved from agnosticism to becoming a monk after discovering Ramakrishna and Vivekananda's teachings.
- He joined the Ramakrishna Order in India right after finishing his PhD and began leading their philosophy program.
Vedanta's Broad Scope
- Vedanta is a broad spiritual tradition encompassing many schools beyond Shankara's Advaita.
- Shankara's school is often mistaken as Vedanta itself, though many other interpretations exist.
Shankara's Non-Dual Reality
- Shankara's Advaita Vedanta asserts only non-dual pure consciousness (Brahman) is ultimately real.
- The world, individual selves, and personal God are seen as ultimately unreal (Maya).
Is the World Real? with Swami Medhananda
Swami Medhananda is a monk, philosopher, and Senior Research Fellow at the Vedanta Society of Southern California. He serves as Hindu Chaplain at both UCLA and USC and is Section Editor for the International Journal of Hindu Studies. From 2010 to 2021, he led the Philosophy program at the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute in India. He has authored four books, including Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality and Swami Vivekananda’s Vedāntic Cosmopolitanism, and has edited several academic volumes. Swami Medhananda earned his PhD from UC Berkeley and has been invited to lecture at institutions such as Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford. His current projects include two forthcoming books with Oxford University Press.
Here Swami Medhananda shares his journey into Vedanta and reflects on the living relevance of Hinduism’s philosophical traditions. He explores the distinctions between Shankara’s Advaita and Ramakrishna’s Vijnana Vedanta, the dance between devotion and nonduality, and how the Gita and Upanishads offer practical guidance. With insight into suffering, identity, and spiritual integration, this conversation invites us to embody pure consciousness in everyday life.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:06:22 Understanding Vedanta: Definitions and key texts
00:09:32 Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta: Core concepts
00:15:38 Jnana Yoga: The path of knowledge
00:23:42 Is full liberation even possible while in the physical body?
00:25:25 Vijnana Vedanta: Embodied spirituality and liberation
00:33:57 Eat sugar or become sugar
00:35:53 Pure consciousness, suffering and the duality of names and forms
00:45:52 How does the ultimate reality relate to this world?
00:47:05 Practical applications of the teachings to navigate suffering
01:05:06 All of life is yoga
01:07:44 The secret of life
New Thinking Allowed Guest Host Leanne Whitney, PhD, is a depth psychologist and transformational coach based in Los Angeles, CA. She is the author of Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali and currently serves as Executive Director of Center for Transformation and Integration. Her website is https://leannewhitney.com/
To learn about Leanne Whitney’s Transformational Coaching Certification Course with an emphasis in Somatic Integration Therapy, please visit: https://transformationandintegration.com/courses
Producer: Elena McNally
Editor: John Hartmann
(Recorded on June 6, 2025)
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