Unscripted, exploratory, and refreshingly honest, the Free Radical Podcast invites listeners into real conversations that bridge spirituality and everyday life. With a mix of insight, humor, and heartfelt questioning, Swami Padmanabha and his guests explore what it means to live with depth, courage, and sacred curiosity.
Airing 10 am (edt)
1st and 3rd Wednesdays
of each month on YouTube

The Free Radical Podcast is a creative encounter among like-minded and like-hearted spirits, regardless of their background or affiliation—or even non-affiliation. Following the call of our 21st Century spirituality, we embrace a trans-institutional commitment to spirituality rather than an institutionalized version of it. It is not so much about the demarkation of buildings but the exploration of hearts, not so much about fitting in but about deeply belonging—not so much about mere holiness but about wholeness as well. And it is the freedom born in the fire of these shared hearts who deeply belong to a process of becoming fully whole, fully persons, that creates the sacred space to step into new ways of being, deeper ways of being, radical—to the core—ways of being….and being what?….Being fully integrated individuals, whose humanity contextualizes their spirituality.Swami Padmanabha is an author, monk, and spiritual mentor who has just published his second book, called “Radical Personalism: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion.”
The format of the podcast is not an interview as much as spontaneous exploration in dialogue, encouraging a multi-trait interdisciplinary method of approaching how we understand something—of looking at it from different angles and perspectives. We don’t expect to agree on everything with each person, but we do expect to use our differences as a way to approach each other, rather than an excuse for further distancing. The time has come to let down the draw bridges and learn how to deeply relate with ourselves, each other, and the world in meaningful ways. This experience of mutual enlightenment can be also called “Collective Introspection.” This joint reflection is probably “the highest form of worship and communion. Restricted to the individual, this power of reflection remains limited and rudimentary. It is only in connection to kindred spirits that we can discover our own depth and wholeness. In other words, the deepest form of reflection can be developed only in communion with others. It is essentially a social phenomenon.” (excerpt from Radical Personalism: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion”).
The Free Radical Podcast attempts to invoke sacred space and sacred conversation through deep expressive exchanges with like-minded souls with whom we share one same purpose in mind and heart, that purpose being to align our lives with the loving will of the Sweet Absolute, and to compassionately point to those things that need to be addressed for that miracle to continue happening in each of us.
Please join the conversation. It won’t be the same without you.
In this heart-opening episode of the Free Radical Podcast, Swami Padmanabha sits in warm, searching dialogue with renowned Vaishnava musician, author, and sincere seeker Bali Rico.
Born in the United States to Colombian parents and raised partly in the sacred atmosphere of Mayapur, Bali’s formative years unfolded amidst ashram life, devotional sound, and the living rhythms of ancient India. As co-founder of the kirtan collective Mayapuris, his innovative mridanga playing helped shape what many now recognize as the “Mayapur sound”—dynamic, immersive, and communal at heart.
But Bali’s artistry does not end in kirtan.
A lyricist and multi-instrumentalist, his hip hop expression carries the pulse of a born percussionist—intricate in rhythm, philosophical in depth, and confessional in tone. His music becomes a space where protest and prayer meet… where social critique reveals hidden layers of grief, longing, and sacred vulnerability.
In this rich exchange, Swami Padmanabha and Bali explore:
✨ Kirtan as a social and spiritual phenomenon
✨ The necessity of communion—and the realizations we cannot reach alone✨ Growing up in a religious family while meeting the outer world
✨ Fatherhood and the inner shifts it awakens
✨ Hip hop as sacred confession and emotional truth-telling
✨ The dialogue between science and spirituality
✨ Building a mature, relatable, and sustainable spiritual life informed by multiple disciplines
What unfolds is more than conversation—it is a meeting of hearts, a weaving of sound, philosophy, culture, and lived experience into a shared inquiry on what it means to be human in devotion.
Thank you for being part of this ongoing conversation.
👉 Connect Further with Bali
FB / balirico
IG @bali.rico
https://youtu.be/r6OdEsUcNmw?si=QN9NlyXTBbmaTjoi
▶ CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION: Gaudiya Reform Forum on Facebook .
~ Swami Padmanabha’s Channels
▶ YOUTUBE
▶ WEBSITE
▶ PURCHASE RADICAL PERSONALISM: Revival Manifesto for Proactive Devotion in hardcover, paperback, and/or Kindle formats on Amazon
▶ WRITE your REVIEW of RADICAL PERSONALISM
~ Tadatmya Sangha’s Channels
▶ WEBSITE
▶ YOUTUBE

Poets, Protest & the Power of Sacred Song | Free Radical Podcast 64 | Bali Rico - 2/18/26
The Neurobiology of Wholeness | Free Radical Podcast 63 | Shaleen Kendrick 2/4/26
THE STORIES THAT SHAPE US: Myth, Memory, and Meaning | Free Radical Podcast 62—Ravi Chambers 1/21/26
The Soil of Sacred Service | Free Radical Podcast 61—Sanan Reid 1/7/26
Dharma Rebellion: A Vision of Spiritual Resistance | Free Radical Podcast 60—Hari-kirtana 12/17/2025
TRADITIONALISM & THE PERENNIAL WISDOM | Free Radical Podcast #59 | Kenneth Oldmeadow, Dec. 3, 2025
Rebooting Bhakti: The Plateau, the Reset, and the Hard Work | FRP #58 — Giri Govardhana 11/19/25
Everything Belongs: Contemplation at the Edges of Love and Mystery | FRP#57 — Mike Petrow 11/5/25
Does Hinduism Really Exist? | The Free Radical Podcast #56 — Arjuna | October, 15, 2025