I recently spoke to Gadadhara Pandit Dasa, also known as the‘Urban Monk’, about his incredible life journey and the incredible life wisdom he picked up along the way. Today, he speaks to industry captains and inspires countless people to live better, more rewarding and positive lives, but it took him 15 years to discover his real purpose in life. I urge you to listen to this insightful and really instructive conversation I had with Pandit Dasa.
What is more important – breathing or thinking?
You would think breathing, right? But actually it’s thinking! If you’ve tried to close your eyes and empty out your mind, you realize how difficult it is simply to not think! You can hold your breath for longer! As Pandit says, it takes about all of three seconds for an idea or thought to enter the mind; just sneak in without us having even realized it! That is why it is important to train the mind and to channel it, and to harness its incredible power.
It is important to choose positivity when the mind seems to veer so automatically towards negativity. Pandit gives me this brilliant analogy of the fly and the bumblebee in a garden. Where the bumblebee chooses to visit all the hundred roses in that garden, the fly finds and decides to go where all the filth is! Be the bumblebee and not the fly, he says. It isn’t easy, of course, and the mind tends to remember hurt more than happiness. We may have met great people and had many positive experiences in school, but we are most likely to remember that one kid who made us feel bad, who ran us down or took our lunch money away.
Looking after the inner self.
Pandit poses a valid question: How good is it for you to be able to run 26 miles when your mind is like a fly. And our culture does in fact promote this mindset where we are encouraged to look good and be physically fit while our mental fitness may well be neglected. He uses the car analogy for the sort of societal expectations there are of us: if we look after the engine of a car it will run really well for years even if we don’t keep cleaning it from the outside. And yet, we tend to take our cars to the carwash more frequently than for oil changes! The way we are expected to look good and well turned out rather than to take care of our inner self, is similar to this.
Gratitude is another powerful thing for that inner wellbeing – Pandit points out that there is so much around us that we can give thanks for – just the fact that there is an abundance of food and running water. He also speaks about how it’s both humbling and elevating to be able to just be able to say Sorry, he says. Don’t miss this inspiring and uplifting conversation with the‘Urban Monk’. I learned a lot and I am sure you will too!