Already That Which You Seek

What if the finish line you’re chasing has been inside you the whole time? We dive into spiritual empowerment through the lens of the Upanishads and the radical pointer “Thou art that,” reframing growth from a linear quest into a lived recognition. Instead of pushing from point A to point B, we look at how attention itself can relax back into its source—what many traditions call God, awareness, or consciousness—and how that simple pivot reveals the peace and quiet joy we try to earn through effort.

We unpack why conventional models of success don’t translate to inner life, and how the identity that hustles for worth can soften when you stop outsourcing wholeness to outcomes. You’ll hear a clear explanation of Atman and Brahman in everyday language, along with the paradox that you already are what you’re seeking. Then we get practical. We guide a short attention exercise—starting from an external focus and moving inward to breath, thoughts, and the sense of spacious awareness—so you can taste the stillness that doesn’t depend on perfect circumstances.

This conversation is for anyone navigating modern noise—careers, kids, stress—who suspects that fulfillment can’t be chased like a credential. We explore practice, effort, and grace; what it means to peel the onion of identity; and how to make this recognition useful in real relationships and work. Expect grounded, compassionate guidance that respects both the depth of Vedantic insight and the realities of everyday life.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a breather, and leave a quick review so more people can find it. Turn your attention within, try the exercise, and tell us what shifted for you.

Chapters

• 0:06 Setting The Stage For Spirituality
• 1:44 From Point A To Being Itself
• 2:32 Thou Art That: Core Teaching
• 5:29 Practice, Ego, And Grace
• 7:31 Guided Attention Exercise
• 10:30 Peace, Bliss, And Integration
• 11:36 Closing Reflection And Next Steps

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:06

Hello everyone. Welcome to the episode 7 of Spirit X podcast. My name is Nicola, and we are exploring modern day spirituality, or at least we are exploring life from a spiritual standpoint. We are slightly using my first book, Spirit X, as a slide guide for this process. I'm excited about today's episode because when I was writing this book, this chapter was really kind of standing out compared to other chapters. The book consists of 69 principles for modern-day spiritual life. And I remembered the day and I remember where I was when I wrote this chapter. It was kind of really a good download. And the contemplation that inspired writing this chapter was I realized that at the beginning of the book, where I'm trying to inspire people to practice spirituality and live spiritual life in the modern-day world, did I need to empower actually people to do it? And the question was for this section, so what would be spiritual empowerment be like? And I realized that spiritual empowerment is very different than empowerment in some other areas. In some other areas, let's say in education, when I was working on my PhD, you're traveling from point A to point B. It's very simple. So I enter the graduate studies, I do the coursework, I write a dissertation, and I become a PhD candidate and student, and I get my PhD, and then I'm a professor. So I went from student to professor to the process. So I moved from point A to point B, and that was a success. If you want to be an athlete, and if you've been a journalist, if you want to uh heal yourself, whatever it is, always that movement from the state A to state B. However, in spirituality, it's very, very, very different. On a certain level, we are already that which we are seeking, and it's it's way more trickier than in some other areas. And uh I want to read you uh uh a paragraph uh that that kind of explains everything. Uh so there is a Hindu text which is called Upanishads, which is alongside Bhagavad Gita, probably the most important text in the in the Hindu discourse, uh in the discourse of Hindu spirituality. And Upanishads are kind of collection of uh really deep spiritual instructions uh for spiritual life, and one of them that really resonated with me, and that's probably the most profound and the viest thing I ever read, and I read a lot of books, is the instruction thou art or you are dead. So let me explain that, but let me read the paragraph from the book. One of the most important and effective spiritual pointers and instructions can be found in the Upanishads within the Hindu tradition. Thou art dead, you are dead. What you are seeking you already are. Atman, the individual essence is identical to Brahman, the essence of reality. You are already that what you are seeking, wanting and striving. For the matter is only to shift your attention and realize that and indeed be that. Spiritual empowerment is not about achieving something but rather rediscovering that you already are. So the whole trick about spiritual search is, and that's the biggest paradox of it, is that you already are that which you're seeking. You just need to kind of relax your attention into the source. So what I'm saying here, and what you punishers are pointing out to is that if you want to use a little bit more religious terminology, you are already one with God. You just need to realize that. And that's the gift of Hinduism, that's the gift of Eastern religion. So the God or the source or the spirit is dwelling within us, it's not some transcendent God like in Christianity. Uh the God can be rediscovered, our true nature can be remembered, and it's all about shifting our attention to the deeper dimension, our being, and the problem is solved. Uh one may ask, but how do we do that? You know, there is life, there is kids, there is problems, there are other people that are irritating me. I just want to read something about that. Another paragraph from the chapter. Of course, the momentum of egoic condition is strong, and a simple pointer like this is often not enough. It takes effort, practice, and grace to realize that the self. But this pointer is a powerful spiritual encouragement too. You are already dead. One just needs to peel the onion on one's being and realize be and express that. And in the present day and age, with all the spiritual techniques available to us today, it it is not it is not as difficult a task as it used to be. So the game we are playing in spirituality is not that we are seeking something outside of ourselves. The game we are playing with spirituality and life in that regard is are we able to relax enough and to find full fulfillment there? So that's why I call that you peel this onion on your being and you discover and rediscover a deeper dimension of our being. But it's not like you go to from point A to point B. The game we are playing with ultimate spirituality is that are we able to relax moment to moment, but we re-relax moment to moment into the source of our attention and to live from there. In some traditions, that source is called God, and in many other traditions it's called awareness or consciousness or bliss or peace or whatever. So that's why spiritual practice is important. But spiritual empowerment is not that you're going to achieve something, it's not that you're going to change yourself, it's that you're going to rediscover your essence which is already present within yourself. And in that regard, spirituality is a game like no other game we play in the human realm. As you know, in this podcast we talk about stuff, but one of the distinctive features of this podcast is that we do some experiential stuff. So I want to offer you one practice that kind of really uh will help you uh tasting what I was talking about, and it's short, so just bear with me. So I invite you to assume the comfortable position. So we are going to play a little bit with your attention, and we are going by doing that, we're going to drop deeper. So I'm going to ask you to pay attention to this finger of mine, and I'm going to do it with you. So my attention is on my finger, and one point the attention actually relaxes me. And we're going to pay attention to this finger of mine. So we are training and recognizing our attention. So I'm going to invite you to pay attention to my nose. And I'm going to invite you now to gently close your eyes and to pay attention to your breath. So we are shifting towards our inner being. So we are following your breath and everything changes. We are now in the inner universe. So pay attention to your thoughts and just allow them to come and go. You don't need to grab on each thought. So there is this thought and it's gone. There is this image, it's gone. But me as a water kind of stand firmly in the background. So thoughts are coming and going. And I'm inviting you to pay your attention to what might be called inner spaciousness. So just acknowledge that there is inner universe too. It's very, very, very vast. So internally we are really really really huge beings. So inner spaciousness. And within that inner spaciousness, there is peace. And there is bliss, like the ultimate happiness. So the inherent qualities of that inner spaciousness are peace and bliss. And peace and bliss is ultimately what we want. And we do that by turning our attention within and going deeper. And we gently open our eyes. So thanks for practicing with me. So from a spiritual standpoint, what you want, you already are. You just need to train your attention and turn your attention within, and the problem is solved. And that's the promise of spirituality, and that's why I think that uh spiritual growth and unfolding and more spirituality in the world is necessary in the present day world. Thank you so much for your attention. Next episode is coming soon, and in the meantime, just turn to it in and find that inner peace and happiness. Thank you very much. Bye bye.