Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Wells s podcast. You are in for an absolute delight today because I have a powerful guest, Madhu, who is a former monk on the podcast today. Let me tell you a bit about Maru. So Maru is a former monk turned holistic health and business lifestyle coach who's helped over 325 health and wellness professionals, coaches and influencers build thriving online businesses through his monk mindset method and conscious closer system. With five years of monastic life in the Bhakti yoga tradition, he studied Vedic arts and sciences under respected teachers while traveling extensively. Today, he blends ancient wisdom with modern strategy, helping people master their mind, grow their wealth and improve their health. He's also the host of the Conscious Success podcast and a musician who performs on international stages. I mean, wow, wow, wow.
Madhu, welcome to the podcast. Super delighted to have you here.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Wouldn't want to be anywhere else than here with you today.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Woohoo. Woohoo. And you know, we're like recording this on a Friday. I don't know when you guys will watch it, but what a way to start the weekend. I'm just so jazzed to be able to talk to you and just learn a little bit about your epic story. I read that you became a monk at 18.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Walk me through how.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: I mean, I think about where I was at 18, and it was, it was not, it was not ready for monk life. I was like, you know, out doing up to no good, doing other things. So how were you? I was just thinking about, like, what drove you to become a monk? What was that process like? And, you know, was there like a moment that you just looked at your life and said, hey, this is exactly what I need to do?
[00:01:47] Speaker A: Yeah. There's a beautiful word, and it might sound counterintuitive when you hear the word everyone listening, because I say that I'm calling this beautiful, but it's called suffering.
There's a way in which, even as a young man in my teens, I'd experienced enough reason to not want to opt too far into some of the things the world had to offer me. And everyone knows exactly what I'm referring to. There's so many things that come in. So what happened was I had read a book called the Bhagavad Gita. For anyone listening that's not familiar, it's one of the oldest written literatures on philosophy in the world.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: It's incredible.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Really illuminating text. And interestingly enough, my father said, I'll give you $100 if you read the Bhagavad Gita. And I was like, I could really use the dough right now.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: That would be my response at 18.
Yeah.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: And even younger, even at this point. Let's see. So I was. I would have been 16. And so, yeah, at that time, that money was like, yes. Yeah, I needed that book, you know, and so I read it and it really opened something in my mind because at that point, I'd only been familiar with Western aspects of philosophy, theology, and it was very intriguing. But I had so many questions, and this one book answered so much about the nature of the mind, the nature of us as living entities, as souls that are inhabiting biomechanical robot bodies. And, you know, we have a mind. We're not a mind. We can perceive and change the mind. And these concepts that I were so elusive and so unfamiliar. And as I started exploring that and I thought, okay, there's got to be something else than me going to school for things I did not want to go for, to do things I did not want to do with my life. And when I. When I was 17, I started visiting different, like, ashrams or like these centers, temples where people are doing these meditation practices. And I thought to myself, okay, I don't know what these weird monk dudes have, but, like, this peace, this. And it not even in a traditional Zen sense, where they're like monotone. Like, they were. No, no one was like that. They were just happy folk. And I thought, whatever they have, give me some of that. And so that's what inclined me when I was 17. I wanted to join. They said, you're a minor. Wait until your 18th birthday. So on my 18th birthday, that's when I shaved my head and moved in that night.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Oh, my word. Let me ask you this. What did your friends say? Like, what did your family say when you were like, hey, listen, I'm going to become a monk?
[00:04:08] Speaker A: Well, it's almost counterintuitive, too, because everyone loved it. Everyone was so happy because I should also set a little bit of a scene. And that is, I'm going to school for construction and, well, pretty much architecture, construction, management. That was like my career pathway, which anyone knows me now, they'd be like, huh, interesting, Madhu, I don't really see you going that direction. But I was going to school for that. And nothing against it, it just. It wasn't my calling. And, you know, I was doing some general contracting work as an apprentice. And, you know, all the.
Everyone I was seeing from psychiatrists and psychologists put me on medicines for adhd, for Anxiety for, you know, they'd give me something to wake me up and they'd give me something to put me to bed, because my whole system was out of whack. And so everyone who knew me knew that not only was I, let's say, unusual, I was a very unusual kind of person. Always interested in that which is kind of unfamiliar, occult of sorts, that which is far out, fascinating ideas.
And so it wasn't maybe to anyone's surprise when I was like, hey, let me try this, Because I was always appealed by military, but I knew for my nature, even though I like combat sports, I was like, I don't see that in my future. But I like discipline. I like the idea of forcing yourself to do what you want to do, not just what your mind wants you to do. And I thought, let's just try this if I can be as happy as these folks.
And so when I joined, also, it wasn't like a lifetime commitment, which a lot of people think when you become a monk, you're in. So it's more or less you go for as long as you need until you graduate.
And so everyone's actually stoked about it. And especially after about a year or so when they started to see me change, they were like this, whatever you're doing, dude, it's working.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: How long were you in the monastery? And walk me through that first week, you rhyme, you shave your head. What. How do you feel? What happens? Are you like, wait, I made a mistake, or did you feel really divinely like where you were supposed to be?
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Well, I was monk for five years and then pretty much what happened, 99% of monks will be student monks. And then we call, we jokingly call them the 1 percenters. Those who go for life, you know, go for gold, stay celibate monks the rest of their life. That's. We jokingly would say you have to be really weird or really pure. And to do that, I was neither.
And so I always knew there was a way in which this was a temporary thing for me to just go in, calibrate my mind, focus on sense control, focus on becoming a sensitive living entity, being conscious of this world, et cetera. And so I was really excited and I was bushy. Was it bushy tailed, bright eyed, Bright eyed, bushy tailed?
There was never once where I thought this was a mistake. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't call it comfortable, very simple life. It's like a spiritual frat house, you know, I was obviously with the male monks. And so it was like you know, you're sleeping on cots, you know, simple sleep. You don't have to worry about what you're going to wear. It's oh cool. Orange robes again, one size fits all. And so it's a very simple life. And though it was a big shift from what I was used to, it was so obvious how helpful it would be in my lifetime to learn some of these things for whether it be one year, five years, I didn't know how long at that time, but I knew now is the time. I also, I was, I never really did my own laundry. My mom, I'm grateful, spoiled me. Like I didn't really know how to cook for myself. I was very sheltered in certain ways. Even though I had a very humble upbringing, I was very sheltered. And so I was like, I gotta become an adult somehow figure this out. So even though it wasn't comfortable, I never once regretted one step.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: Amazing. Amazing. Walk me through. I'm so, I mean I've heard so, so much about becoming a monk. I feel like in movies it's depicted a certain way.
Walk me through some of the biggest misconceptions that we have maybe you know, purported through mainstream media, purported through books.
What are those misconceptions based on your experience?
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Usually most people when they think of a monk, they think of what we call a Mayana Buddhist Zen monk. Somebody who kind of goes into the mountains.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: Yes, exactly.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: It goes away from society.
No phones, no almost like an Amish esque lifestyle of like no technology, very simple life.
So there are of course those monks do exist and you know, one certain subset branch of Buddhism. However, there are various types of monks from all the way from Franciscan style monster monks to all types. But ultimately it just means a monastic lifestyle where you're practicing study and celibacy. In other words your full focus. Instead of in either self aggrandizement or even in a healthy way, just building a life, it's fully focused on understanding the nature of self. And so the particular lineage I come from which is very non sectarian, it's very be, whatever, whatever race, gender, ethnicity, financial status, doesn't matter what you look like, doesn't matter what you sound like, doesn't matter what you smell like, just whoever you are, whatever you do, start to control the mind and ultimately bring the mind towards our spiritual higher purpose.
And so the practice I come from which I'm grateful to save my life in so many ways, the way in which we learn to interact in this world is based off of service.
And so service means not just going and sitting in the mountains of the Himalayas all by yourself and not helping, but rather is you take everything you can and you bring it to those who aren't going to shave their head and move into a monastery.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Right, right, right.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: It's all about service. And so the biggest misconception is that they're over there. And don't get me wrong, there are some that.
But the majority that are there, especially the ones that are in practices like Bhakti Yoga, where the lineage I come from that have been doing this for at least thousands of years. The whole idea is integration. Become a light in whatever you learn, you teach it to others, you go out and you serve, as opposed to going, hiding and not doing anything.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: Right, right, right.
What did you learn about service?
You know, I love that word. I feel like it has so many different interpretations, depending on the context, depending on who you are, stage. It means so many things.
What does service mean to you now? And what did you learn, you know, in the monastery, being a monk? About what Service, the essence of service, of what it really actually means.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: Service equals happiness.
And that means that it's actually quite counterintuitive because we think, oh, the more I get, the happier I'll be, the more I consume. But it's. It's actually, we can see either in our own life or in those who have everything we thought we would ever want, that it's not what provides happiness. Accumulation, consumption doesn't. And so rather, service or contribution is what really provides the highest sense of. When I say happiness, I don't just mean a sense of like, that felt good, I got a nice little serotonin, but rather a deep sense of contentment that life is full and life is not only worth living, but is such a blessing.
And so service really provides so much contentment, so much satisfaction, so much purpose, so much happiness in life.
All we have to do is accept that reality, even if we haven't experienced it. We at least theoretically can look the people who have everything, and we could. I have some friends who are very, very successful, multimillionaire, in one case a billionaire. And what do they do with their free time, philanthropic works. Now, why. Why would someone with all the everything you'd imagine go to the street and like, want to feed people? Like, it's so seemingly strange for the material mind, but it's because happiness comes from service.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Couldn't agree more. You know, and it's really interesting to me to see people who have everything materially or, you know, what we would consider to Be great success. But they haven't quite figured that out. And unfortunately I've seen many times again, there's some of the most, should I put it aggravated spiritually individuals, you know, and it's, it's such a. It's really interesting. There's such a dichotomy there.
I love you. You mentioned the word contentment and then also happiness.
Do you think they're one in the same or are they different? And if so, unpack that for me.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: Yeah, What I. What I will say is let's define very clearly, no matter what semantic approach you take to it. I want to maybe clearly define the terms in such a way as the ancient yoga literatures, these bhakti literatures teach. And that is happiness is on the other side of distress. And there's duality in this world, whether we like it or not. The pendulum always swings both sides. In other words, the person who can provide you the most happiness, we have a partner. And no one makes me feel so happy and loved. And that's the same person that no one makes you feel as unhappy or unloved.
It's just the nature of duality, that polarity law of this universe. There's just no way to. There's no way to escape it in this realm that is. And so when we're talking about that happiness, which means it's a swing from unhappiness or distress in Sanskrit, the word sukha, this happiness that we're talking about there is fleeting. And therefore if we chasing just a sense of like, oh, that felt good, which most people think, if it feels good, it makes me happy, which sure, so shall it be. But if that's the happiness we're chasing, we're inevitably going to find so much dissatisfaction at the other end. And so rather, when I define the term contentment, the way in which this is santoshta in Sanskrit, there's a way in which you are complete union with the nature of the self. And really what we mean by that is the self, which is us beyond the body and the mind. It's the thing, the unit of consciousness that watches the body grow in front of us every single day. Our cells are changing every seven years. Every cell in our body has completely regenerated. We've taken on new carne, we've reincarnated every cel seven years, if you look at it that way. And so we watch the body change from our adolescence into our adulthood, from our childhood adolescence to adulthood and to our old age. We see the body changing, but we know we're not the body. We have a body. Just like if I lose an arm, I know I'm not less of a person. I have a body. Same thing with the mind. I could see my mind and I can change it. Therefore I know I have a mind. I'm not a mind. So I'm not my body, I'm not my mind. I'm something divine.
And the way that I perceive that, in other words, the way I can understand that I am something beyond this matter and that unit of consciousness, that self, soul, whatever term we might want to give for it, to the extent that I am in alignment with that true nature, that true essence of life, we're going to feel a sense of contentment as opposed to depending on fluctuating feelings within duality. This good, this bad, this make happy, this make sad, etc.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Right. Right.
How? You know, I think about. You brought up something that's really important. You talked about kind of modern world and I feel like we're pushed in a culture where it's more accumulate. This will make you happy. If you purchase this, it'll make you happy. I'm a marketer, so, you know, guilty as cause a lot of what we do as marketers is, you know, sell products and services sometimes and say, hey, this is the thing that will solve X or Y or Z.
In a world that's constructed as such, how does someone actually find more spiritual discipline? How do they practice contentment or find a path towards contentment? What are some steps that you think anyone can take no matter where they are?
[00:15:31] Speaker A: Yes, step one is you gotta hit the unsubscribe button.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Not to the Wells Us podcast. Sorry.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: Well, that goes to step two, which is you gotta opt into the right thing. And like this podcast, not just the one we're speaking, but you presenting so many valuable gems of knowledge on your podcast is a good example of what we do want to opt into. And so even before we talk about what to opt into, we have to just like we have, everyone knows you have to have a to do list. We also have have a not to do list.
What do I not want to be doing? And so step one is the opt out, say listed. Theoretically, whether I experience it or not, it makes for far more sense to be a contributor than a consumer in this world. And the more free I am from depending on all these things, the more, the less they can weigh me, weigh on me. Whereas the more I'm dependent on, let's say, an aspect of contribution, then it just provides so much endless freedom and Possibilities. And so taking a step back, say, okay, I know that ultimately, even though my tendency is still going to want to do this, no one doesn't want to consume. Like, it's just the nature of life. We have to consume food, we have to consume water, we have to consume light, et cetera.
We have to be consumers to a certain degree, but we have to know what to consume, what to opt out of for our consumption. And then we say, what do I want to put in this cool little computer like brain I have where everything that goes into my five senses, everything I hear, see, smell, taste and touch, which creates conditioning of my mind, what do I want to put in through these senses? What kind of mind do I want? What do I want to subscribe? An example is a podcast like this. I want to put into my eyes and ears practices that are actually going to help me thrive, live a more conscious lifestyle, live in a way where I'm in alignment with my purpose, and consciously pulling out of what we don't want while putting our attention on what we do want to do. And then the third step, once we have a good game plan, is you got, I like to say you got to get a guru.
You got to, if you want to become a great snowboarder, find a great snowboarder. If you want to become a great lawyer, find a great lawyer. You want to become a great fill in the blank, find a great fill in the blank.
And so until we actually have a good example to follow and somebody who understands us and our nature and can guide us accordingly, which is then complemented with association, like minded people to be around without those essential features of life, that theoretical knowledge can only get us so far. So opt out, opt into what you want.
Got to get a guru. And then find other people who are doing this. You know, if you don't, if you look at the five people in your lives and you don't want to be like any of them, cool, opt out.
Go find people you want to be like and hang out with them. Because whether you like it or not, you are a conglomerate of the five people you spend the most time with. So surrounding yourself with people who have the same kind of ambitions, goals, drives, spiritual ambitions, etc. And that's, that's a very simple framework that anyone can use to, when it comes to making a decision, saying, hey, I want to do less of this, I want to do more of this. And then once I know what I do want, then we can get support in accomplishing it.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: I love that you said that. One really hits. I actually had a meeting. I have a mentor in another side of my life that I'm leveraging and helping me to get to a really big, audacious goal.
And he and I were talking and he's like, you're running this other business.
Who your mentors in that business. Who are you looking up to? And I was silent. I was like, no one. He's like, well, that's the problem. If you're not surrounding yourself with people spiritually from an entrepreneurship perspective, from a health perspective, even that are aligned, that are pushing you to do more, it's really difficult to figure out the path. You can figure out the path on your own to some extent. But having a shepherd, I think is so, so key. And it's something that I'm working on in all areas of my life right now. So love that you bring that up. And I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs miss that. And I know you work with a lot of entrepreneurs.
Let me ask you this first. What is the biggest lesson? Because I think of entrepreneurship as a spiritual journey. It has been, for me, it's been the greatest path to self actualization in my life.
What has entrepreneurship taught you about self actualization, about spirituality and, you know, about really connecting to a higher power and purpose?
[00:20:02] Speaker A: Yeah, well said.
I love how you eloquently presented that. And to that point, what I'll share is entrepreneur. I would even say any business owning, but especially entrepreneurialism.
That word, say that three times.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: Entrepreneurialism, that's a tongue twister.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: It really provides a mirror. And an example is when we start to really look at our desires and then take steps in accomplishing our desires, it'll become very evident where what parts of our conditioning work well and which parts of our conditioning maybe can throw a wrench in actually implementing what it is that we're trying to build. And so what it does is when we're acting off our desire, because that's really what entrepreneurialism is, is we are saying, this is what I want to do and I am going to create this thing in reality and I'm going to put all my time, energy, effort, resources into making this thing that I want to exist come into manifestation.
And so what that does is it creates such a beautiful opportunity for us to figure out where are, I don't even want to say flaws, maybe if you want to say shortcomings, if we want to say areas of discomfort, whatever term you might want to give for, it's going to show very obviously, oh, all this stuff Moves smoothly. And as soon as we talk about this, every part of my brain starts to freak out because there's part of me from my childhood conditioning that don't feel safe when I talk about this. So what it does is it. It provides an opportunity to expedite introspection, to really understand ourself and our nature better so as to bring clarity to what needs further attention, further work, further growth, further assistance, further support, further shepherding, as you said.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: Right, right, right. It's so true. Yeah. The biggest lessons I've learned are when I'm stuck in my business, you know, wow. I didn't realize I had such a limiting belief around money or around trusting others or around leadership or around my own ability to create and manifest all things I've had to work through and, you know, shift my thinking and get aligned in a way that I don't think I would have had I not been going through this journey.
And I'm curious because a lot of times I continue to hear people say, you know, as an entrepreneur, the biggest things is goals. You know, focus on goals. Set your goals.
Don't worry about, like the other I've heard people say, don't worry about the personal stuff. Business isn't personal.
So just set goals and hustle through, and you'll be fine. You'll make your million dollars or do whatever you want to do.
What are your thoughts on that? What are your thoughts on goals? First of all, do you think that, you know, traditional goal setting is the path forward to success, or do you approach it in a different way?
[00:22:47] Speaker A: Well, the first thing to look at is whenever somebody gives advice like that, the first question to ask yourself is, do I want to be like this person? Because if the answer is no, then we can immediately say, thank you very much. Have a great day, and we turn around and we walk away.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: Facts.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: Yeah, everyone has an opinion. You know, we're riddled with everyone's opinion, especially social media. Every third video is, hey, at a discounted rate, you know, yeah, here's your 1. Funnel away to a billion gazillion. Sounds like Dr. Evil. It's like 1 billion.
And. And it's. We. No one falls for it, but some, like, we see through it somehow. We still wind up taking action in certain ways, but we only want to take advice from those who live the life we want to live. And if somebody's not doing, if we're looking, yeah, you got to hustle your way to the top. And if you look at their life and you're like, yeah, I want to live them, then fine, fine, consider it. If not, let's then contemplate the suggestions, ideas from those who do live life I want. And one aspect of that is goal setting. However, I would say even more important than goal setting is character building. Because you are not what you accomplish. You are the way you show up in this world. And I mean, sure, we can take one layer deeper to say, you know, you are who you are even behind closed doors, but the way in which our character really makes a difference in contribution to society is how we're showing up in front of others. Which the reason I make that distinction is we all have things we need to work on in certain areas that aren't necessarily conducive for our greatest good or the greatest good for others. However, we can act greater than our conditioning with others.
We can respond to others and respond to circumstances even outside of what our base level conditioning might have the tendency to do. So that's why I make this distinction. It's our character and how we're showing up in this world. How do I decide to engage with others? What kind of values do I want to portray? What type of person do I want to become? Is ultimately going to become more important than any one goal we set? Because a goal in this life, there's really no such thing as one goal. And I hit it. Now I'm done.
Every goal is just the next start to another one. And, you know, I'm preaching the choir here, because obviously this is your, you know, you know this stuff like the back of your hand, and you share it regularly. And I'm sure maybe listeners are resonating with this idea too. And just to really emphasize one point, and that is in Sanskrit, there's this term sad acharya. It literally means the way in which you hold yourself to the standard of who you want to be.
And we can have.
We have the choice. It's our decision to show up being the person we want to be. You got to know who that is. You got like, okay, what values does the person I want to become have? How do they show up? How do they communicate? How do they dress, how do they speak, how do they act in this world, etc.
And it's our choice to do that. Sometimes it's so easy to fall into the ludicrous idea that permeates this world of victimhood, and, oh, you're just stuck. These are your conditioning. Oh, good luck. Better luck next life.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: And it's like, this is just me. This is just Me. This is who I am. No, this is not just you. This is who you are today. And you have full permission and ability and prerogative to do what you want, to say what you want, to change what you want. I'm not saying what, going to bat a thousand. But that's okay because in baseball, what is it? I think if you bat 300, you're great if you, if you hit three of every 10 balls. So it's like we don't have. We're not trying to aim for perfection, but we do want to have a crystal clear idea of like, who do I want to become?
And one might argue that is a type of goal itself. Sure, so shall it be. But like, character itself is so important. And then at the same time, I would say good goal setting is essential. And really what that means is instead of having generic random goals, which a lot of people do on January 1st every year, hey, this year I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose weight. I'm going to what people say, you know, I want to, I want, I don't want to feel as bad this year. I don't want to do this. I don't. It's like, first off, we got to figure out what we do want, what do I want to do? And we got to be very specific with those goals. Very specific with those goals. And then we could talk about what do I know I would need to do to achieve this goal. And I mean, it's a very oversimplified version. We actually have a whole breakdown of the monk mindset with, which is what we call like, efficient goal setting. In other words, how do we align your goals with your values and character in such a way as to achieve what you want without compromising your integrity? But that's a conversation maybe for another.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Time we'll have to have you back on so you can go into even more detail on monk mindset and, you know, kind of all the cool things you're doing.
I just want to. Before I lose this, thought I wanted to ask you about hustle culture. And you were talking about, you know, seeing those videos on YouTube and people are like, yeah, you just gotta, like, you know, if you didn't work 9 to 5am or so, you know, whatever. Like, I see these all the time or. Yeah, so when I saw someone, there was a great one. They're like, oh, Yeah, I worked 80 hours. And then it said, yeah, I remember my first part time job saying that working 80 hours is part time. I know, I feel ultra cringe by this like, to me, that's like not the life. I just find it so off putting, but it's so pervasive. I'm just curious, what do you, what drives that and what do you feel like is, you know, driving this hustle culture and this hustle mentality?
[00:28:15] Speaker A: Well, we have to identify first and foremost the reality of it. And that is, is it true? Is there any evidence to prove that more working automatically equals more pay? Because all these people that are talking about hustle culture, it's for accomplishments, it's to climb the ladder, it's to make more money, et cetera. So then we can look. Is it true that if I spend eight hours of work, I will make more money? And certainly not. I mean, if we just look at any consensus report, it'll be very obvious that on the contrary, some of the most successful people, if you look at the top 1%, they work far less than everyone below.
There are some exceptions, of course. There's some people who are really ambitious, don't get me wrong. But like for the most part, you know, certain construction workers who are working eight hours a week, just because they work 80 hours doesn't automatically equate to more money. So it's important to make that bifurcation of the idea because it does permeate society, that you got to work hard to do it. And I would say that working smart is maybe a more appropriate term for us to slowly but surely adjust our, let's say, mindset to. And that is, if I love something, if I get to work at something that brings me so much happiness and satisfaction in my life, then of course I'm going to spend as much time as I can doing it. But it doesn't feel extraneous. It's not going to feel cumbersome or miserable. It's going to feel enlivening. And therefore we want to first and foremost figure out what am I meant to be doing in this world, how shall I be spending my time? And not that everyone has to do exactly that. Not everyone should run their own business. Not everyone should do only like there's such thing as hobbies and spending your free time, of course, but as much as we can. How do I spend my time doing stuff that's within alignment to my nature and my desires and goals and put in an amount of time that I know is practical for my body.
I have some friends, 12 hour days. It's just not like one of my friends who's a, you know, seven figure entrepreneur, very, very wildly successful, 1600 employees.
And the dude just loves to wake up. Do we now have him doing an hour, about 45 minutes meditation. But he likes to wake up, do some different stuff, and then he gets right into work and he just like the idea of not working 8 hour days, it's just, it's crazy. Him, he's just, he needs that and like, he has to like force himself to stop after eight hours. Some people are built out. I'm not Madhu in no universe is built like I hit six hours, I'm like, good night, good morning.
[00:30:51] Speaker B: No, no, no mercy.
[00:30:53] Speaker A: Yeah. And so each their own, right? Like for those like ourselves, it's like cool. As long as we accept the reality of our nature, like this is, this is how I operate optimally, then we can, we could craft our schedule because we're the boss of our own life. We can say, cool, I'm going to do this then, and I'm gonna do this then. And we, to the extent that we have control over our schedule and our responsibilities, we mold our life in such a way as to accommodate our natures. And so, you know, some people, a lot of these household people, like, let them, they're gonna work like that regardless of better. Let them work on things that provide them a sense of achievement, happiness. But we have to bifurcate the idea that the work itself automatically equates. Because I could tell you having, I mean, working less than I've ever done pretty much in my entire life, today I make a lot more than I ever did when I was working a lot more.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: Yeah, See, I think, yeah, it's so weird. I think that there's, there's. Do you think that it comes from a limiting belief in culture that you know, hey, you, the only way to make money is to work hard. And then I want to follow that up quickly and ask you about financial abundance. You know, people are always asking me, how do I get financial abundance? I want to make more money. You know, what are the things that you think someone could objectively do to start moving on a path towards financial freedom and abundance?
[00:32:09] Speaker A: Yeah, well, the, the term abundance perfectly, let's say, indicates the scarcity we're referring to that causes a sense of this kind of grind culture, hustle culture, because the scarcity being the opposite of abundance and just to define the term. So scarcity is a misconception. There's not enough of something. Now, don't get me wrong, there are certain there is level of scarcity in the world that, you know, there's only a certain amount of those Purses, whatever. So there is certainly some element of scarcity, but in a grander sense of things, there only is abundance. Which means there's more than enough of whatever you can possibly conceive of. Because everything in this universe comes from an all abundant, all loving, all powerful and all knowing source of existence. And if you guys can conceive of a greater of all high powers, by all means, the burden of proof is on you to find something better than all powerful, all loving and all knowing. But anyway, happy to get into philosophical aspects of this, but what I really mean to say is everything comes from an abundant source, therefore there is abundance and there's no limits in this world. But to the extent that we think there's limits, that it's a competition, I have to beat you, there's not enough. That's what drives this almost animalistic, primal survival mode basis of grind culture that, oh, I got to, I got to. In order for me to have my needs met, I have to beat you. Do more than you, do better than you. And it's a very unfortunate conception of life. It's a very exhaustive and frankly not well thought through philosophy to live by. And so rather to your second point, because if we understand that's what drives scarcity, drives hustle culture, then we can understand, okay, abundance frees us from those misconceptions. And so how do I first philosophically understand that there is abundance? And just for a very simple thought experiment for anyone listening, if anything I said, you're like, I don't know, you're jumping a couple conclusions. I just want to be very explicit here. We can perceive there's higher powers of us in this world. If you don't believe me, go stand out in the sun all day. You'll come in, you'll tell me there's definitely powers higher than you.
Go swimming the ocean. I just took my wife jet skiing from here in Southern California to Catalina Island. 60 miles back and forth, we saw a shark. I'll tell you, I've never felt less in control.
Yeah, dolphin pods were nice, the shark anyway. And you think, we think we're in control, then all of a sudden there's so many powers greater than us. And so the only question is if there's powers lower than us and higher, we can understand there's conceivably, logically must be a highest of all high powers. What is the highest power we can conceive of? Simply an entity that's all loving, all knowing and all powerful triple OG as we like to say.
[00:34:54] Speaker B: I love triple OG that's right.
[00:34:56] Speaker A: Omniscient, Omni Benevolent and omnipotent. And so if we. If we walk this through. And again, the burden of proof is on anyone who. If you can find a better conception, I welcome it with open arms. But I don't know that one would be able to. And so if that's the truth, that this universe is an expansion of an abundant source, then of course, there's no limit. And that's why, for instance, all the gold can be locked up today and buried into a vault to never be seen again, dropped in the middle of the ocean, and then tomorrow, twice as much gets mined like it's theoretically possible.
And therefore, we just have to accept that reality. Because the mind always finds evidence for what we believe. Therefore, if we believe there's not enough, it will find evidence to prove there's not enough. If we believe there's more than enough, it will find evidence for why there's more than enough. So that's why, coming back, we have to unsubscribe for the thoughts that don't serve us. Then we have to say, what do I want out of this? If I know I don't want this, what is it that I do? Okay, I do want a better philosophy, which is accept the reality that everything in this universe is expanding every second. Even science proves that the universe is ever expansive. So then why, if everything in our perception is ever expanding, then why would it just be limited to this one tiny little universe?
[00:36:04] Speaker B: Right? Facts. So many facts. Oh, my God. I love that. I love that. I love that. I love that. What I want to do. I could literally talk to you for hours. I said so many questions. But I want to actually move on to our true or false, because there's some. There's some juicy ones that I want you to answer. So let's start with this one. Stress can be a tool for growth.
[00:36:25] Speaker A: Absolutely.
Truth with all caps.
[00:36:29] Speaker B: Wait, can you unpack this? Because I. You know, when we first were going through the true or false, I was conflicted. So I'm actually curious on your take on this.
[00:36:40] Speaker A: Yeah, well, again, I always like to define terms because there's just so. So many directions we could take this in. But we're talking about stress. We're talking about a physiological stress response or an autonomic nervous system response. We're really talking about our body being in a stimulated situation. Our body and in terms of our mind being in a stimulated situation, there's a way that we have to use all the functions of the mind and the body to expedite our progress. Because if we pretend like there's no stress, we're still going to feel stressed. Like we can pretend all the way until the cows come home that, oh, I'm never going to deal with stress, but rather as we learn to manage it. So we don't want stress to consume us. But there are times in our life where this, the way that stress becomes present in our mind and our body is very helpful. I mean, there's times in which, I mean, we give a long example.
If our body didn't have that response, say, well, a woman was giving birth, we had a lot of problems. If our body didn't have that when there was a dangerous threat coming nearby. I mean, there's just a long list of examples where our body needs to have a stress response. So our job is to not pretend like we can become stress free. Which is the only version of that is if you're a sociopath with issues of the brain that's not firing and functioning, but it's like no one actually wants to be that. Therefore, the goal actually is to manage stress so that you can utilize it. And let's say control.
I don't love that word. Yeah, let's go with utilize it to function in a way that we beneficial as opposed to in a way that will limit our ability and freedom. So it certainly can be used. It's just a question of how to manage that stress in a way that's more put in our control.
[00:38:25] Speaker B: Interesting. Fascinating, fascinating. Let me ask you the second one. Digital life makes inner peace impossible.
[00:38:32] Speaker A: Also false.
Yeah. And so this is, this goes back to that idea of so many people think monks, you got to get away from everything, get back to nature. And don't get me wrong, get back to nature, people. Get your feet on ground, get in the sun, drink real water right out of spring if you can. Like, obviously nature has developed in such a way. We're social mammals. We have to be integrated with nature.
The more removed we become, the more suffering comes. So don't get me wrong, we do want to do that. However, there's a term that we learn. It's called yukta vairagya. Literally means legitimate renunciation. In other words, we take everything in this world and we use it to be engaged in service. So a device just like I love my podcasts, just like the Wells Us podcast. And I love listening on my phone. And what a beautiful opportunity that I could literally just pull out my phone at any given time and listen to apoc. Listen to some mantras chanting for inner peace. Listen to classes that teach whatever it might be. I read books on my phone. There's a way in which everything can be used for good. It's not inherently good or bad. Just like a knife can be used to stab and take a life, it can also be used by a surgeon to save someone's life. Things aren't inherently good or bad. Our job is to use them for growth.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: Mmm, amazing. Let me ask you about this one. Wealth is only about money.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: Hell no.
You know, Bob Marley has this video from, I don't know what year it was, but it's old video now. And somebody said, you know, are you a wealthy man? And he says, you know, what wealth? What kind of wealth? What wealth are you talking about? And he said, well, you know, money. He says, no, I don't have wealth like that. And interesting even did. But like, he could, you know, he's like, whatever. Like, I have a real wealth, which is a sense of like loving connection and relationships and like that.
We want, we want real wealth. Even though money helps, I will say for sure.
[00:40:28] Speaker B: Let me ask you this. Other monks are naturally better at business because of focus training.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: Yeah, Actually, yes. Really? Yeah. And I could say only from personal experience as well as I've helped now at least a few other dozen monks that transitioned and graduated from the monkhood into starting business. And I currently, as we speak of the many, many, many, many clients we have probably about.
I can think of four off the top of my five off the top of my head who were monks, some of which I knew then, some much after, and yet everything pops off a lot quicker. I can think that's just five male monks. I can also now think of three women who lived at a nun like, even though that term's kind of outdated. It's like a nun like model where they are operating high level, very successful businesses, even some solopreneurs. And it's because, as you know, better than most, our ability to control our senses and focused on the things that are in front of us that we actually want to be doing is what allows a business to thrive. And therefore a lot of myself included, but a lot of people I've worked with and seen can be so success. One of my friends, a lot of people know Jay Shetty, he was a monk. I met him, we were a monk when I was crossing through the UK where he lived, this is now more than 10 years, maybe 12 years ago. And you know, he had this, he has this great book Called think like a monk. That came out. And anyway, I have a long list of people who crush it now. It's not, it's not a prerequisite, but it helps, that's for sure.
[00:41:57] Speaker B: There's gonna be like, instead of mba, like, now people are gonna be like, okay, I need to be a monk first.
Then I'll go start a business.
[00:42:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Hey, the new mba, it's, it's a worthwhile content that I can see. I love it.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: I love it. I want to jam into our rapid fire section because I've got a couple questions I, I that are contentious. I gotta ask you. So let me ask you this one.
What is one daily ritual you would never skip, no matter how busy your.
[00:42:25] Speaker A: Life gets, spending quality time with God in the form of divine sound, Divinity is absolute. Therefore, there's unlimited names of the divinity. And therefore, if we say the name of the divine, we have direct connection, communion with divinity because it's not bound by time and space. And therefore, when we're chanting the names of divinity on a daily basis and we're having that direct connection, just like if you want to cultivate a relationship with someone, you got to call them every day, speak with them every day. We do that with divinity and life becomes easier.
[00:42:52] Speaker B: Beautiful. Beautiful. How about this? What is one modern health trend? You think that ancient wisdom predicted.
[00:43:01] Speaker A: The expansion of accessible knowledge, and the whole principles of the ancient Vedic texts from 5,000 years ago teach about the expansion of knowledge, and that's really, that's the proof of advanced civilization, readily available knowledge. So what's the big of AI or even just what we can access on our phones?
This is a dream come true, that's for certain, to have knowledge available at all of our fingertips.
[00:43:28] Speaker B: This next one, the ancient practice that you actually think will explode in popularity next.
[00:43:33] Speaker A: Yeah, mantra meditation, it's already happening. So 5,000 years ago, there was a revolution which pretty much took these ancient practices out of the Vedic literatures and expanded them for people who weren't of the highest caste, who had access to the knowledge and learned them from a young age and had to memorize them. Now this stuff again, it's at our fingertips. And therefore all around the world, you know, many hundreds of millions of people get to engage in mantra meditation. Kirtan, Japa. It's called japa if we do it by ourself, mantra meditation, if we're doing it in groups, musical meditation, we call that kirtan. It's already booming. But I mean, over the course of our lifetime, we're Going to see this become popularized. It already has been. Willow Smith, you know, recently created a whole mantra album. I mean, so many. There's a long list of people what to speak of back in the day, George Harrison doing mantras and his songs and whatnot. And so it's just going to continue to expand and to our. To our benefit, that's for sure. Okay.
[00:44:28] Speaker B: I love that. And what is one thing you think that people should stop doing for their mental health?
[00:44:38] Speaker A: How long do you have? No, I'm joking.
No, the number one thing is trying to recreate the wheel.
Yeah.
There's just no need.
Got to get a guru. I always like that. It's like, just find somebody who's not the thing you want.
And then. And submissively, with gratitude and the right mood come up and say, you know, how can I serve you? How can I help? And how can I learn from you? And there's just no need to try to figure everything. Life is so short. We were here for a couple of decades, you know, hardly a century.
Why. Why do that? Let's dedicate our life to our purpose, to fulfillment, to actual service, and find somebody who does it. And then, as if magically, just by spending time around them, through osmosis, you'll develop those qualities. And no need to recreate the wheel, that's for sure.
[00:45:28] Speaker B: I tell you, I.
That was so. To me, I think about where I am now, and that's been one of the biggest lessons is, like, how do I make sure that I align myself? And. And it's something, as I mentioned, I'm still working on. But so important, why struggle? Why fight? If there's someone that can show you the way, go for it. There's no nobility and causing yourself stress and suffering. Just to say, like, I figured it out on my own. No one gets a prize for that, I don't think.
Yeah, exactly.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: For those who can't see, I just pulled out an easy button. It's a big red. It's a big red button that says easy on it. And here's what it says. Hopefully, this isn't copyright.
That was easy.
[00:46:08] Speaker B: Yes. I love that button.
I love that.
So good. So good. I'm gonna have you break down a few quick, wild trends. So this one, I mean, is everywhere. And I have to say, I do love this one. So I'm gonna call myself out.
1111. The 1111 manifestation. I know that I see 1111. I'm like, oh, yay. You know, what are your thoughts on this?
[00:46:36] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you know, the brain is so cool. The brain is so cool that whatever we, where attention goes, energy flows. That's why, for instance, when, whenever we got, we can think of our last car that we purchased or rented or whatever it might be, as soon as you started driving around, you started to see everyone else that had that same.
[00:46:54] Speaker B: Car and you're like, system is like boom, boom, boom. Yeah, exactly.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: And, and so whatever we bring into our awareness, we're going to find more. And so really, whatever it might be, be it through numerology or be it whatever process or practice that might be out there, it really just comes down into like, what do I want to train my attention to seek and to find?
[00:47:18] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:47:19] Speaker A: Because if, if it's top of mind. 11. 11 for sure. We'll say sometimes people like, yeah, it's my, it's my number. I see it everywhere. And there could. It could be that it's manifest. Like, I'm totally open to saying that those numbers manifest in unusual, abundant quantities is possible. It could also be that my attention is simply attuned to that. It's top of mind and therefore I'm more aware of it. It's always there, but I'm more aware of it. And so using that as a great example of how do I attune myself to the things I actually want to give my attention to versus the things that just my default conditioning will drive me to.
[00:47:56] Speaker B: Yes, so true. How about the rise of dopamine detox days? I've been seeing this a lot on TikTok. What are your thoughts on that?
[00:48:03] Speaker A: Well, it's the cool thing is it's.
Everyone has the ability to do this. And really what that means is just give our, frankly our nervous system what to speak of, our neuromodulators a break and minimize things that give us rewards without out the, let's just say rewards we didn't frankly deserve. And so a lot of the dopamine we experience from the digital phenomena, it. It doesn't take any effort, but we still get a reward. And what happens, it does deplete. It depletes our, our reserves, to put it in oversimplified terminology. And obviously I know you know this, but just if anyone that's like me that likes to keep these things real simple, we, we have a certain capacity of attention. I mean, actually that's the most important thing. There's, there's nothing we'll be able to find more than our attention because whatever we put our attention on, we become. And that's what we are. Like what are You. You're really. Whatever you're putting your attention on at any given second.
[00:49:02] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:49:02] Speaker A: And so if we're just spending our time almost aimlessly or whimsically giving our attention to things that are giving us feelings that, frankly, ones that we didn't deserve, then not only does it cause a sense of dysregulation mentally, but what it does is it trains us to look for easy, easy feelings that we don't deserve. And you can't live an easy life and become a great person. I say that to be a little risque because sure, theoretically you could, but it's like in order to become a great person, you have to go through challenging times. You have to be. You don't become strong unless you lift a heavy weight. And in the same way, you have to deal with hard things in life. And when I say hard, let's just say uncomfortable things. And you have to grow through them. And that's where character is developed. And so to the extent that we become attuned to addictions, you know, so many intoxications, we get a feeling without doing the work to get that feeling.
And so rather, let's practice putting ourself in control. Otherwise, we become dependent and we lose our control.
And sometimes it's counterintuitive. It's like, wait, you're telling me if I free myself from addictions, then I'm restricting myself? No, you're freeing yourself. Because now you can think consciously, act deliberately, be conscientious in this world. So ultimately, that's the meditation I would offer. Those who are ready, just pick something and just do one minute less a day, two minutes, five minutes, ten. Slowly but surely, you'll feel the difference. You deserve to feel the difference.
[00:50:35] Speaker B: I love that. Beautiful. Beautiful. I'm going to ask you one last one, because this is a hot one that everyone keeps talking about using AI for guided meditation. What do you think about this?
[00:50:45] Speaker A: Yeah. As again, the knife isn't good or bad. Right. It could be used to save a life, could be used to take a Life. And so 100%, everyone should be utilizing technology in the name of service. And really what that means is consuming knowledge, research, getting support, like by hook or by crook, meditate. And so whether that's using AI, whether that's using fill in the blank to meditate, anything that specifically where you're not depending on a substance or something that's going to modulate your. Your brain's functions, by all means, and I encourage people to do it, especially if you're a Little bashful like me, you're like, I don't even know where to start. Cool.
Excuse me, chatgpt sir, could you please just give me a guided meditation? Yeah. Hey Madhu, here's a great meditation for you to follow today. Just sit back, relax.
[00:51:36] Speaker B: I love your ChatGPT voice. This is a bit on point.
Love it, love it, love it, love it.
Now we've got our final segment. I'm super excited. This is one of my favorites, always. It's time for what's in the Bag. So Maru, show us what you've got in your bag.
[00:51:56] Speaker A: Alright, so here's a farm.
[00:51:58] Speaker B: Drum roll.
[00:51:59] Speaker A: So my bag includes my pocket because just the nature of having been a monk for so many years.
I like simplicity. I like things to just be straightforward, efficient, etc.
My bag at any given day consists of two, technically three things. So everyone that's watching, you see I'm holding up my phone with a magnetic wallet attached to it.
[00:52:20] Speaker B: Oh, nifty.
[00:52:21] Speaker A: And then another cool thing which is a counterclick. And I'll explain that in just a second. So the phone's obvious. Honestly, I run my business pretty much for phone. I obviously have this desktop, but I do far more from my phone than anything. You know, chatting with my employees from it, you know, making plans. Everything's from my phone.
Honestly, sometimes I don't even need my wallet. I wouldn't carry if I didn't need to have my driver's license for it. Because everything you can pretty much pay.
[00:52:44] Speaker B: Online anyway, you know, with Apple pay.
[00:52:46] Speaker A: Exactly. But you gotta have some way to pay. Those ones are pretty straightforward and simple. Now this other one of a clicker. So traditionally when we were chanting mantras or for meditation, which is one of the oldest meditations the world knows, is there's a mala. Many people have seen this, are familiar. It's 108 beads strung together where you chant a mantra per bead.
It's nice, but it's a little cumbersome to carry around throughout the day. So nowadays you have all these cool clickers. I've got a couple different. My waterproof one when I want to do it in the ocean. Oh, no way. Yeah. And so it's a clicker counter where you get to meditate. So whether you're sitting at home or whether you're out and about, instead of grabbing your phone, instead of having small talk about something you don't want, neither you guys want to talk about. It's nice, just take a breath. And my wife and I do this pretty Much all day. And instead of going to this, that, the other distraction, we just take a minute and you could chant a mantra like Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya and click, press. Or another. The most famous mantra, the Maha Mantra, you just sit. You don't even have to have your clock. You could just sit and go walk into nature and just chant a mantra like Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Hare Click. And this way you can count them. And just like anything, if you want to become strong, you got to count your reps and you got to be diligent. Similarly, we gotta, we gotta do something where say I'm gonna do my at least 108 mantras today for inner peace or whatever it might be. Those are. That's what's in my bag at any given time.
[00:54:08] Speaker B: Amazing. Where did you get that from? If you don't mind me asking, how do you find that?
[00:54:11] Speaker A: Is it where we get everything?
[00:54:13] Speaker B: Every Amazon, Amazon.
[00:54:17] Speaker A: When I'm in India, I buy them in bulk too. But yeah, there's literally if anyone looks up, clicker counter. I just like, I've got quite a handful. I mean just two for those who are watching. Literally you just click it and the cool thing is they light up, you know, and you can see the numbers and, and it's just nice for keeping track. And the thing is, it's nice to have on your hand because instead of grabbing your phone or whatever other distractions there, you say, let me just take a pause. And even if you don't say it out loud, even if it's just in your mind, you just repeat a mantra calms the nervous system, it resets, then you, you know what to speak of managing decision fatigue. It helps everything.
[00:54:47] Speaker B: Amazing, Amazing, Madhu. Thank you so much. Before we end here, where can we find you? What are we, what are you working on? Just give us all the details before we end.
[00:54:58] Speaker A: Well, I believe in service, which means we give everything away for free. So all of our course content material, that's everything for growing sustainable businesses.
The monk mindset method for inner peace, Mantra meditation itself, holistic health and wellness. From the ancient perspective, we actually give all our courses away completely for free for anyone who wants to learn, and we just sell the implementation for people who don't want to do it themselves. It's that simple. So for anyone who wants all of our free resources, we have the Conscious Success community. If anyone looks up Google's Conscious Success, you'll find it. But all the more efficient is I want to. There's something we're working on, which is specifically take a wellness kit which includes like everything we're talking about holistically, and it'll be launched by the time this podcast is like. So if anyone messages me on any platform, the word well zest, I'll know they came from you. In which case I'll give you early access. I'll gift you access to that as well. All you have to do is find me. If you look up Madhumadhu Life, I'll.
[00:55:55] Speaker B: Link to it in the show notes.
[00:55:57] Speaker A: You just go to any platform. That's our website name, that's our social media. That's anywhere Madhu Life, and you just send me the word well zest, I'll know you came from this podcast. I'll give you not only access to all our free stuff, but as well as this one that we haven't even launched yet. Give you early access to everyone.
[00:56:12] Speaker B: Take advantage of this. We'll link up to everything in the show notes and then we'll include it in our Wells s Scoop, our newsletter that goes out to our community. So, Maru, you are just such a gift. Thank you for sharing your energy, your presence, your wisdom, and just being a delight. Literally. I said at the beginning that this would be a delight. It has been beyond a delight and I couldn't be more grateful. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
Just best of luck with everything we've got to have you back on because, I mean, there's just so much more stuff I'd like to pick your brain on, but I'm just eternally grateful. Thank you.
[00:56:43] Speaker A: Feeling is so mutual. It's such a beautiful service you offer. With this podcast, I can speak on behalf of every listener by saying, we are so blessed and so grateful for all of your consistent dedication to making this a reality. Thank you.
[00:56:57] Speaker B: Thank you, seriously, thank you. Take care.
