April 4, 2025 • 36 mins
What happens when an 18-year-old college student decides to shave his head, drop out, and become a monk? Madhu's extraordinary journey from monastery to millionaire entrepreneur reveals powerful lessons about mind management, spiritual growth, and finding harmony in our hyper-connected world.
After discovering ancient philosophical texts as a teenager, Madhu spent five years in monasteries across India and beyond, waking at 3:30 AM for meditation and dedicating himself to service. His transition back to conventional life wasn't smooth—having never held a professional job or managed more than a few hundred dollars, he describes his first years post-monastery as "precarious." Yet the wisdom he gained became the foundation for building a conscious seven-figure business.
The most transformative insight Madhu shares involves making your mind your best friend rather than your worst enemy. He explains that our inner critic is often a wounded younger version of ourselves needing nurturing, not punishment. Through accepting our true nature and adopting a service mindset, we can retrain negative thought patterns into powerful allies.
Madhu challenges the false dichotomy between spiritual fulfillment and material success, explaining that health, wealth, and happiness are intrinsically connected: "There is no spiritual nourishment without physical nourishment, and no physical nourishment without resources." This holistic approach helps explain how he maintained spiritual integrity while building business success.
With refreshing clarity, Madhu also offers an inclusive perspective on spirituality that transcends religious boundaries. He argues that true divinity must be all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving—creating unique paths for each person's divine connection rather than enforcing rigid dogma.
Ready to apply ancient wisdom to modern challenges? Visit madhulife.com or find Madhu on social media to access his free courses and resources. DM him "upper rooms" to receive special access to his unreleased content on healing core wounds and managing conditioning.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello everyone, this is your host, Keri Logan, at
Master the Upper Rooms, andtoday I have a special guest and
he, which is different thanevery other person I have
interviewed and talked to.
He became a monk and he's goingto share his experience about
that, along with many otherthings, but his expertise lies
(00:24):
in helping clients createbalanced lives by aligning with
their vision and overcomingpersonal and professional
obstacles.
He helps people buildingstructures for lasting
transformation, and Madhu isdeeply committed to his role as
both a teacher and a lifelongstudent and I love how he said
(00:45):
lifelong student which keeps hisguidance fresh, authentic and
grounded in continual learning,and I like to say continual
education.
So, Madhu, with all those greatthings about you, welcome to
the show and how are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm so grateful to be meeting with you because it
takes so much time, energy andeffort to create such a sacred
space like this podcast, wherewe get to talk about practical
tips to actually improve thequality of our life, so I'm
thrilled.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Awesome.
So I'm very curious andfascinated of why did you decide
to become a monk.
What was that calling for you?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So you're telling me most 18 year old men don't want
to shave their head and becomecelibate?
Yeah, it definitely is strangetrajectory, that's for sure.
But what happened when I read abook when I was 16 called the
Bhagavad Gita and for thoseunfamiliar with the text, it's a
multi-thousand year oldliterature from ancient India
and it ultimately talks aboutphilosophical concepts that just
(01:47):
blew my mind and ultimately Istarted to realize, wow, I know
so little about myself, aboutthis world, about the nature of
what's metaphysical beyond thephysical, etc.
And that's what employed mydeep dive into, let's just say,
ancient philosophy and knowledge.
(02:09):
And so for about a year and ahalf, as I was going to college,
I was like I was it wasn'texactly for me.
Let's put it that way.
I was going to school forconstruction management and
architecture for various reasons, and I was like, okay, I could
stay on this trajectory or Icould start to take this time
that I have now and really studyancient knowledge and how to
(02:29):
practically apply it in my life.
And then, on my 18th birthday,I was like, okay, let's do it.
And I dropped out of college,shaved my head, moved to India
to live in a monastery.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
And how long were you there for?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So five years as a monk, practicing on and off from
India for visa purposes, every180 days.
They'd kick me out and I'd comeand stay in different
monasteries in the West, mostlyin the US, but also throughout,
say, europe and some otherplaces, and so on and off for
about five years until Igraduated.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And why was your decision to leave?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, it's kind of like.
It's not exactly like aassociate's, bachelor's or
master's degree or anything likethat, but most monks about 99
of us, student monks willgraduate to become quote-unquote
normal people.
I mean, I don't think anyonewould call me normal, but to to
integrate.
There are what we jokingly callthe one percenters, those who
go for gold, that they take alifelong vow of celibacy, and
(03:24):
that's usually what we jokinglycall the one percenters those
who go for gold and they take alifelong vow of celibacy, and
that's usually what we think ofwhen we think of monk is
somebody like an old man in thewoods, but that's definitely the
minority of those who becomemonks.
And so, usually under theguidance of your teachers, once
you have say, shown enoughunderstanding of the concepts of
(03:46):
the ancient philosophy and waysin which you can integrate it,
then it's like, hey, you feelinggood, it's time to get back to
life.
You know, kind of quote unquotestart life over.
Um, and yeah, after about fiveyears for me that's when it was
time it was like, all right, I'm, I'm ready to uh, start to live
back in this world per se andthat must I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
How was that transition going from that super
peaceful place to boomeverything?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
else.
Back to the quote unquote realworld, yeah, real world, yeah,
yeah, I, I wouldn't call itsmooth, it was uh, maybe
jostling is the word.
There's a way in which, afterspending so many years where
it's, it's I I jokingly call ita spiritual frat house because
(04:39):
you're with other monks and it'sfun, you know there's there's a
taste you get for waking up at3 34 in the morning doing hours
of meditation and you're doingit together, kind of like.
A lot of my friends were in themilitary.
They've expressed a similarkind of experience.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I was just going to say that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, totally yeah, there's a camaraderie with it,
there's a way in which it's likethe discipline almost becomes
fun and you know there's there'sa yeah, there's a taste in it.
And so for years of doing thatand really having the focus on
just self-study and service andreally the service you know,
from breakfast to dinner, prettymuch you're, you're just using
(05:14):
your gifts, your psychophysicalnature, whatever talents you
have, and integrating that toserve others and taking that and
starting to quote unquote builda life if you will.
That means make a little money,find some love, whatever the
case might be.
It was shocking and I'mgrateful to say that because I
have really wonderful teachersand had they made it as smooth
(05:37):
as it could be, but nonethelessit was quite the shocking
transition, to say the least.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It was quite the shocking transition, to say the
least.
Yeah, I would think so, becausethe very first thought that hit
in my head is it's got to be thesame exact experience for when
veterans come back, but for themthey were in the deep dive of
chaos and what we call the realworld is peaceful for them.
(06:10):
But sometimes some of thosepeople are adrenaline junkies.
They crave that, they want that.
You know that dynamic, and soit can be really confusing,
because I've heard some talk toa few veterans too and they say
really confusing because I'veheard some talk to a few
veterans too and they say it'sso hard to connect and relate to
(06:31):
people that have never, youknow, witnessed or or walked in
their shoes and they don't, theycan't talk about it.
It's really hard to talk aboutthose things.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, I mean all glories to our veterans you know
so grateful for their serviceand definitely I would say
there's some overlap in that wayand maybe on the opposite side
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's the opposite.
It is yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
The counter to that, where it's like, okay, going to
a world where everything's veryroutine, disciplined, structure,
yes, and it's a very simplelife.
You know, you have robes, it'sa one-size-fits-all.
You kind of wrap them in aparticular way from top and
bottom and you never have toworry about what color you're
wearing.
Oh, orange again today, cool.
And you know what's my hair dobuzz, all right, cool, and
(07:13):
there's a simplicity to it.
And then kind of coming backinto the world, yeah, it's, it's
on the similarly shocking butdifferent I.
I'm the opposite of adrenalinejunkie, that's for.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So on the other end of that extreme, yeah, no, I get
it so and I like for me gettingmyself so clear and clear and
clear of just emotional stuff.
For me it's hard to watch TV,it's hard for me to go to the
movies because I lost thatfilter and I have to there's
(07:47):
sometimes I have to remindmyself this is just a movie,
it's not real.
This is just a movie.
It's not real because my bodyis so get so reactive to stuff
and I could see that being thesame way as being in the
monastery and you had this, youknow peaceful energy, and you go
out into the world and it'sjust like whoa.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, yeah, something like that, that's for sure.
And you know, I'm grateful tosay that as my time in amongst.
So everyone's engaged accordingto their nature.
So, for instance, someone wholikes to cook, they cook for us
and they cook for all the.
You know we do public eventsand we distribute lots of food
to anyone who needs it, etcetera.
You know, for myself, I alwaysliked teaching.
I just, for better, for worse,this mouth just talks and talks
(08:31):
and talks, and so we would go touniversities and teach
meditation there, and so therewas a way in which I was
somewhat one foot in, one footout of the quote unquote.
Real world made it a little bitmore easy than, say, some of my
friends who are on the moreintroverted, reclusive side
spent years, yeah, almost like avery sheltered perspective.
But in my case I will say itwas as easy as I think it could
(08:55):
have been, given that I had allthe wonderful support from my
teachers.
But it was hard, especially fromthe financial aspect, because
since I joined on my 18thbirthday, prior to that I was a
life guard and I made eightdollars an hour, I think it was
seven, seven, seven dollars,fifty cents an hour, and that
was just in the summer timeswhen I wasn't going to school
and on the side I would help mydad at the art gallery he
(09:17):
managed.
So I never had, like anyprofessional experience.
I had never had more than maybea max, a few hundred dollars in
my bank account at any giventime.
So for the first two yearsafter graduating it was the word
might be precarious.
It was strange, it was unstable, figuring out how the heck to
(09:39):
make some money, and I'mgrateful that eventually I
figured it out.
But yeah, it was, let's call it, precarious.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Okay, so I'm really curious what are some of your
daily practices to keep the mindas our best friend?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, yeah, there's a saying in the ancient Vedic
literatures, ancient yogaliteratures from India, that the
mind can either become the bestfriend or the worst enemy and
it's all a matter of how wetrain it, and really a better
word might be management, likekind of make.
You're constantly making dealswith the mind, like it's a
relationship, yeah that's yeah,absolutely.
(10:19):
Because we are different thanour mind.
We can perceive the mind, justlike we're different than the
body.
We're in the body, but we cansee the body's constantly
changing.
Every seven years, the cells inthe body completely redevelop.
We're taking on new carnage,new flesh every seven years,
reincarnating, and so, similarly, we can see the body change.
We can also see the mind change.
So we know we're not the mind,we have a mind.
We know we're not the body, wehave a body.
(10:47):
So to your, as you justeloquently expressed it, it's a
relationship Like, it's you, theunit of consciousness, self,
soul, whatever term we want touse perceiving the mind.
How do we make that a cordialrelationship?
And ultimately it comes down tonumber one accepting our true
intrinsic gifts, really gettingin touch with our psychophysical
nature and the way our brainworks and how to work with the
(11:08):
current of our tendencies andour nature and our conditioning,
as opposed to trying to fightagainst it.
Which is really the biggestobstacle for people with working
with their mind is that they'retrying to work against the
training of their mind, theconditioning.
Rather, we want to.
The current is going in thedirection.
Let's figure out how to getthat type of wind behind
(11:30):
ourselves instead of trying togo against it.
And so step number one is,through introspection, through
assistance from others, reallyunderstanding what is our nature
, our gifts, our conditioning,et cetera.
And then step number two is whatI call a service mindset.
The mind is constantly tryingto.
All it does is one thing islet's try to keep us safe.
Every decision it makes is justtry to keep this biology
(11:59):
together, keep our physical bodyalive.
And so how do we start toretrain the brain towards a
sense of giving instead oftaking, because it's just going
to want to forself-preservational purposes.
Keep us safe, keep us safe.
There is a maybe nuance there ofhow do we redefine safety to
the mind, but that's kind of adifferent direction.
Rather, what I would say isadjusting to what I call a
(12:22):
service-based mindset.
That means starting to createnew neural circuitry from
stimuli to response instead ofstimuli.
How can this benefit me?
What does this do for me?
The mind's always scheming.
How can I take this experienceand not just benefit myself but
use it to improve the quality oflife of other individuals?
(12:42):
And these two foundationalprinciples which, of course, is
a lot more nuanced, but thesetwo foundational principles of
understanding and acceptingourself and using the currents
of our nature and retraining orrecalibrating the mind towards
service.
That's generosity as opposed toconsumption.
But, what that does is that putsus in a situation where the
(13:04):
mind actually gets a taste forit.
The mind starts to go oh, wow,this is actually providing us
deep, even more than happiness.
Contentment, purpose,satisfaction and those two
pillars of what I always say notonly have I, they've created so
much peace in my life, butthose are two areas that anyone
can start to do immediately andstart to feel some relief from.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, A hundred percent.
I posted a podcast recentlyabout how to silence the
negative mind.
You know that negative voice inyour mind and I shared the
story of a 16 boy that I wasworking with that was always
struggling with anger, anger,anger, anger, anger, anger.
(13:47):
And I said to him that, well,when you hear that voice in your
head, I want you to close youreyes and see how old you were.
How old were you at that time?
And he was like eight or nineyears old.
I said okay, so that's how oldthat that voice is.
(14:07):
That's a part of you, thatwounded part in you that's
trying to get your attention andit's angry.
And instead of being anurturing, loving, supporting
parent, you're being anauthoritarian parent and you're
telling it shut up, leave mealone, go to your room, I don't
care what you have to say or howyou feel, and you're ignoring
it.
You're actually wounding it andhurting it more.
(14:27):
You need to quiet yourself downand talk to that, like you said
, as if it's your best friend,because it is your best friend.
Stop beating it up.
And I told him.
I said the more you do that andyou build this relationship,
that voice will become quiet.
And then you've transformed itand you've healed it and now
(14:50):
it's your ally, it is your bestfriend, it is in your best
interest, it well, it it.
And and he literally sat thereand started doing that internal
work and I was like yes, yes,yes, yes.
And if more people you know hadthat mindset when we, when we
(15:10):
have anxiety or we have anger orwhatever we're feeling, is,
what are you trying to tell me?
You know there's a message inall of that.
You just have to be quiet andgo within, raise yourself up
vibrationally where you'recontent and satisfied.
You got to be neutral becauseyou might not like what it has
(15:31):
to say.
And, seriously, when the guy didit the young boy did it the
first time the voice reallydidn't take him honest.
He said, well, I want to befriends with you.
And the voice was like well, Idon't know if you want to be
friends with me or you can befriends with me because you're
always yelling at me.
And he was like, whoa, I'm like, see, you got to have this
dialogue with with yourself,cause, um, that voice isn't
(15:55):
going to go away.
It's never going to go away.
Actually, the only way it goesaway is if you heal it and you
make it your best friend.
That's how you silence thatvoice, cause I don't have a
negative critic anymore, and andand I'm so blessed, I'm, I'm so
happy and I want everyone tohave that experience.
So thank you for for sharingthat.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Well, so well said, and I really thank you too,
because what you shared is justsuch a practical point for all
of us, and that is that really,we have all of these what am I
calling it child wounds Likefrom the time that we are, you
know, prior to seven, is we'rejust pretty much a subconscious
mind, just sponge, absorbinginformation, to you know, from
(16:42):
our development years on andtaking all these parts of
ourselves, our younger selvesthat are, say, stunted in
particular areas.
The way that we heal is goingback in that place and, as you
mentioned, becoming a friend,nurturing that aspect so as to
allow it to grow on.
Ultimately, all of thechallenges, triggers, issues we
(17:06):
have, you know, anger being thebodyguard to sadness, that's
deeper than all of thesefeelings that come up ultimately
come down to those unresolvedfeelings in our childhood from
our caretakers, and notnecessarily blaming them, but
having an understanding of whyit developed that way and then
going back in that place,healing it so that the mind, as
you mentioned, can be the bestfriend, and that's how you do it
(17:28):
in a sustainable way, asopposed to just trying to lock
it in the closet and la, la, la,la, I hear nothing, which is
what most of our minds tend towant to do.
So anyway, very well said,Thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah.
So my next question is how canwe harmonize health, wealth and
happiness in today's fast-pacedworld?
What are your insights?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, I think it's important to define terms and
really what we're talking about,because sometimes there's a way
in which it's like oh, can yoube spiritual and have a lot of
money?
In order to have a lot of money, I have to compromise my health
.
I got to work a bunch.
There's all of these falsepremises behind, let's just say,
the connotations behind thesewords.
So what I'd like to do is stripthese terms and connotations
(18:13):
and really define them Really.
What we're talking about hereis we are a unit of
consciousness, right, we have abody, we have a mind, we can
perceive them and we can seethat they're changing outside of
ourselves, and then we can alsosee that there's resources
outside of us.
So, just defining these threeterms, they're like quote
unquote.
When we talk about spirituals,it doesn't have to be a.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
sometimes people think it's like a woo-woo trip.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It's like no, literally, I know, of spirit,
like a view of consciousness ofthe unit that we are, and then,
beyond that is the health wehave our physical, mental,
emotional health, and beyondthat we have the resources
around us, aka wealth.
And you, nowadays we don'treally barter spices or or or
precious metals as much, orwhatever, so really we're
(18:58):
talking about wealth in the formof cash or any commodities,
whatever it might be.
So so we have the self, thecasing, emotional, mental,
physical, body and the resourcesoutside of that.
The way that we harmonize isnumber one understand that what
each of those affects the othermeans, in order for one to
perceive the self from within,one has to be outside of
(19:19):
survival mode.
In other words, the body has tobe cooperating.
The mind as well as the bodyneeds to cooperate.
Otherwise, if we're constantlyjust fighting in survival mode,
then what happens is wefunctionally become like animals
in society.
We're constantly just fightingin survival mode, then what
happens is we functionallybecome like animals in society.
We're just eating, sleeping,mating, defending.
We're just constantly in themode of survival.
And as a human being which hasthis beautiful prefrontal cortex
(19:42):
which allows us to haverecursive language and ask
questions and say what the heckis the purpose of life and who
am I and what am I here to do?
And we're the only livingentities that we currently know
of in this world I would beremiss to say that we're the
only living entities ever, butat least in this world that we
could perceive, that have thatability to ask these questions
and think beyond, the way inwhich we can understand that the
(20:07):
only way we could acknowledgespirit is to be in a proper
quote unquote vehicle and have amind and a body that cooperate.
And in order to do that we haveto have the proper resources.
We must have, let's say, atleast our quota, a safe place to
be, enough healthy food to eat,et cetera, and all these
resources.
So what I would say is this isreally the foundation of
(20:28):
answering that question isunderstanding that they're all
intrinsically connected.
There is no spiritualnourishment without physical
nourishment, there's no physicalnourishment without having the
resources to nurture etc.
So having that, say, acceptanceof they're all in happiness,
contentment, fulfillment,whatever term I want to give it
means you must have some balanceof all three.
(20:51):
And then the practical way tostart to, let's say, work on
balancing them like that's amental, theoretical aspect of
the practical, physiological wayeven we get into it is starting
from again nourishing the bodyso that it can cooperate, and as
well as nourishing the mind,kind of like you were just
(21:13):
giving such great practicaltools to doing that.
As well as nourishing the body,making sure that you're eating
and sleeping is balanced, makingsure that your body is moving
on a regular basis, that you sitdown and shut up and meditate
sometimes, or whatever needs tohappen to just make sure the
mind and the physical body havewhat it needs to actually not
just survive but thrive.
(21:33):
And then from there we can thenstart to introspect, we can
start to go deeper and deeperand again ask these questions
like who am I?
What's my purpose?
How can I be of service in thislifetime?
What is the lesson the universe,divinity, is trying to teach me
?
What's got my attention?
How do I fix my attention onthe things I actually want, et
(21:54):
cetera.
So understanding they'reintrinsically connected and then
practically making sure thatthe vehicle, the biomechanical
robot, human body and the mindare taken care of.
So as we, so as to spend timeactually using this beautiful
brain, we have to figure out howto go beyond just survival mode
.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, no, that was beautifully said.
Thank you for sharing that, andI like to say why I highly
recommend people working withcoaches like yourself is they'll
hit roadblocks, and I'll give aperfect example of a roadblock.
(22:34):
Roadblocks is let's say yougrew up in a really wealthy home
, wealthy home environment.
Your parents go to look at yourplace and they might not
approve of how you live and eventhough you are a minimalist,
let's say you're living in oneof those small.
And even though you are aminimalist, let's say you're
(23:02):
living in one of those small,tiny little homes, you are so
happy and you are so content andthat's it that works.
Be external factors that willwant you to conform and comply
and that that doesn't work.
Like getting a little personalhere.
(23:23):
I have a family member visiting,you know, for the holidays and
we we saw a movie and he we were, it was heretic and that was
very hard for me to watch,extremely hard for me to watch.
But he wanted to watch it andhad lots of religion and he's a
very strict Christian and westarted talking and he was
(23:45):
trying to convince me to readthe bible, that I cannot be one
with God unless I read the Bibleand I pretty much got to the
point where I'm like I have abeautiful relationship with God.
I am one with God.
I am a kind, caring, forgiving,loving, compassionate person.
I don't need to go to church tobe one with God.
I could be with God right nowand if God really wanted me to
(24:09):
read the Bible then he wouldhave guided me to read the Bible
.
And he hasn't, and I have nodesire at all.
And he's like no, you're stuckin pride.
You're stuck in pride.
That's what a lot of people youknow will say to get out of it.
And I'm just like why can't youaccept that I have?
I am satisfied and content withthe relationship that I have
(24:30):
and that is beautiful.
And if I needed more, I wouldget it more.
But I found God throughspirituality.
I did not find God throughreligion and I think that's the
disconnect.
And he was like well, you'regetting all mad and stuff.
I said no, I'm not, I'm notgetting mad.
I realize that you foundreligion by.
(24:50):
You know all the passages spoketo you and that's what you know
.
That works for you, but thatwouldn't work for me, it
wouldn't.
He's like well, have you triedreading?
And I'm like, yeah, but Ididn't like what it said about
women, so I put it down.
It didn't.
It didn't.
You know, it's an old man, anold person's perspective, and
how do we know how much in thereis factual or truth?
(25:11):
So, yes, people can run intothose scenarios of, well, you
should be making more money, oryou should be living this sort
of lifestyle, or you need thiscertain kind of designer bed or
designer clothes, and we get toa point where it's like is that
really going to make me happy?
Is it going to improve thequality of my life?
(25:32):
I mean, I could be spendingthat money on organic food and
knowing I'm eating clean food,instead of having a designer bag
or a Rolex watch.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah, I like this word you use.
Well, I like his.
I say that loosely, the termshould.
It's like the way in which,always shooting on ourselves and
shooting on everyone.
And yeah, it's a fascinatingpoint that you mentioned.
I appreciate you sharing it.
There's a way in which we, we,the way the mind works it it it
likes black and white, it likesit's this or it's that, it
(26:05):
should be this or it should bethat.
And you know, one thing I'm sograteful to have learned while
being a monk and really studyingall religions and philosophy
and theologies around the worldis, ultimately, there's powers
higher than us.
There's no way to doubt that.
If anyone goes nope, there's nohigher power.
Just step outside in the sun,spend a couple of days in the
sun.
Let me know there's no powerhigher.
(26:26):
Go spend a little time in theocean.
Tell me there's no powershigher than you.
It's, we're certain.
There's obviously powers thatare higher than us.
So really, the question is, whenwe're talking about divinity,
god, the supreme, the source ofspirit, whatever term we want to
give, really just talking aboutthe highest of all, high powers
, and if we're as to kind ofmaybe do the shorthand version,
if we get to what is the highestconceivable version of the
(26:52):
highest of all high powers.
We're really the most powerfulsomething, some entity that is
all powerful but must also beall loving.
Because if you have an entitythat's all powerful but not all
loving, then you're not talkingabout the highest of all high
powers.
Because if you're all powerful,that means you also have the
capacity to be all loving andalso all knowing.
(27:13):
Omniscient.
We call it the triple OG theomniscient, omnibenevolent,
omnipotent, all powerful, whichthen means all knowing, which
then also means all loving.
And would an all loving divinesource restrict their love
simply from somebody's mentaldecisions because they go to
this church instead of that one,this synagogue instead of that
(27:35):
one, this temple instead of thatone?
No, now we're not talking aboutdivinity anymore.
We're talking about a uh,actually someone who's we're
talking like an evil entity here, somebody who through would
smite someone just because ofmental decisions like that.
That's just a very poorconception of the ultimate
Supreme.
Rather, every living entity hasa unique relationship with
(27:55):
divinity because divinity is allpowerful.
That means they can make allopportunities for one's
individual connection becausethey're all loving.
They want to make everyopportunity for each of us to
reconnect because they're allknowing they also can create all
opportunities based off of ourminds, our conditionings and our
free will to give us theopportunity, so that all we have
(28:16):
to do is use our free will tomove in the direction of that
unique, individual, divineconnection.
And sometimes there's a way inwhich we get so.
You know, I'm a, I'm a, this,I'm a, I'm a man, I'm a woman,
I'm a black, white, I'm a Hindu,muslim, jewish, I'm rich, I'm a
this, I'm a man, I'm a woman,I'm a black, white, I'm a Hindu,
muslim, jewish.
I'm rich, I'm poor, I'm pretty.
(28:39):
We have all these labels wethrow on ourself which just put
us in a little box.
No, I am a unit ofconsciousness, I'm a soul, just
like you're a soul.
We are all souls and that'sactually how we're equal.
Even the constitution says howwe don't look alike, we don't
smell like, we don't sound like.
We're equal on the level of thesoul and on that level of the
soul which we are intrinsicallydivine and divinely connected.
That's where we want to connect, beyond these designations.
(29:02):
I'm at this, I'm at that, andthat's where true happiness can
be found.
As opposed to the sectarian,I'm in this, you're that, and
therefore, I'm gonna shoot allover you, which is just, it's
just, uh.
You know what is it?
You know, unsolicited advice islike the stinkiest thing and
anyone could ever smell, and so,anyway, yeah, that's, that's my
(29:23):
no thank you for for sharingthat, because it it is really
true.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
We are all one.
We're cut from the same clothand a lot of people don't
realize that, and we're all hereto learn different lessons on
earth, and so I mean, and wechose the body up there before
we came down.
So if you're, if you needed tolearn something in one area like
(29:51):
for you, you you were guidedtowards, you know, being a monk.
There's people that want to bein South Africa, there's people
that want to be in South America, there's people that want to be
in India or different placesaround here, and all of those
cultures and the community andall that it shapes us.
(30:14):
Like you said, we're a sponge.
We just absorb all thisinformation, but then the real
gift is discovering who you are,your spirit, your authentic
self, what is calling you andand stripping everything away,
(30:35):
everything away and and becomingone with, I would say you know,
our creator and and your higherself and what, what's in the
universe, and having thatbalance, having that flow and
being satisfied and content.
So, like for you, it's a loveof music.
You know I can see all yourguitars and stuff that you love
(30:56):
music, and for me, I love musictoo, but I couldn't even play
the recorder.
I sucked so bad at playing anymusical instrument.
But oh, you get me on a dancefloor and I will just be like
Michael Jackson and just have somuch fun.
And I say you know, I become onewith the music, you know you.
(31:18):
Just you move with it, you flowwith it, the music is you and
you are the music.
And that's how I would actuallyteach men when I was in college
and high school how to dance.
That said, oh, I can't dance.
It said imagine a bubble aroundyou and you close your eyes and
(31:39):
I want you to dance with thatmusic.
How does that music speak toyour body?
What's it saying to you?
And I kid you not, these dudesbecame excellent dancers where
they had no problem meetingwomen.
It was kind of funny.
It was like, yes, because theywere very shy, but that was just
one way of helping someone getout of their head into their
heart and have fun and becreative and just go with the
(32:04):
flow well said yeah, what apractical way.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
And everyone likes.
You know, it's interestingbecause everyone likes music.
No one's like yeah, yeah, anygenre will do, but and then so
many people might not admit it,but everyone likes it.
It's just a matter of steppingout of the brain yeah, yeah,
well, and you can get lost inmusic.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I mean there's, there's sometimes where just the
melody like my son lovesclassical music there and he
loves choir music and opera andstuff and there's some time from
all different countries, likeBalting, there's the one woman
from Baltic that her voice is soamazing that he literally cried
(32:47):
.
He's like, oh, this touched meso deeply and I'm sure with you,
because I know you like to playmusic and stuff that there's
moments that you just become onewith that guitar and there's no
separation.
You're just to me, that's magic.
To me that's just a beautifulexperience that I wish everyone
(33:09):
could find, something thatspeaks to them, where you just
blend with it.
And I mean that's how we getall our hobbies, our talents.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Absolutely yeah, music the language that we all
speak.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Yeah, language that everyone can understand in the
world that we all speak, yeah,language that everyone can
understand in the world.
Sweet, so I know you're anamazing coach and you work with
a lot of people, and I know youwere talking about how you had
very, very little, but you'vedone a lot.
You went from being a monk to amillionaire, building a
conscious seven figure business.
So, kudos, you know to you, andI'm sure there's lots of other
(33:51):
people out there that would liketo learn more about you and
discover how you found you.
And so where do people find you?
Madhu, like, I know that you'reat.
You got YouTube, you gotLinkedIn, you got Instagram, you
got Facebook, you even gotTikTok, but you have a website.
(34:12):
So what's your website?
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Absolutely Well on all platforms, all the ones that
you mentioned and any othersthat are out there, it's
madhulife L-I-F-E.
So madhulife, madhulife on allplatforms.
And you know, thank you foryour kind words and I'm grateful
to say yeah, after all theseyears, to be able to not just
(34:34):
grow our own coaching businessbut really starting the
marketing agency to help othersdo it.
It's just.
I'm every day grateful for that.
And we actually give away allof our courses, all of our
knowledge and templates away forfree.
So you know anyone who's thereason we do that is, I like the
idea of free education, I likejust gifting everything away.
And you know, our business isreally just people who don't
(34:54):
want to have to implement it ontheir own, but it's a.
It's pretty straightforwardthat we like to give everyone as
much opportunity, as muchaccess, as much knowledge as
possible.
And so for anyone who's lookingfor more ways on what we have
it's called the monk mindsets,like understanding the mind and
overcoming it, everything to ouryou know, growing say, your
(35:16):
wellness business, to improvingyour health through holistic
wellness, we have all thesecourses that we give completely
free, and so, on any platformthat anyone wants to reach out,
madhulife, you could DM us?
Actually, let's do this.
We have something we're aboutto come out with it.
It you could dm us.
Actually, let's do this.
Uh, we have something we'reabout to come out with it.
It's new, it's not yet launched, but if if they reach out from
you from this podcast, what I'lldo is I'll gift them that early
(35:40):
access.
So why don't we do this?
If anyone sends me the word,how about upper rooms?
This is where I'll nice fromyou.
If anyone listening sends methe word upper rooms on any
platform, from our website tosocial media modded out live, um
, send me the word upper roomsand I'll actually send you not
only access to all our freecontent, but the one that's not
(36:00):
launched yet.
It specifically all has to dowith understanding, conditioning
and what we call core woundsand how to start to unwork those
and manage them going forward.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Well, that's a that's a very generous gift.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I'm sure all the listeners willtruly appreciate that.
So, with that said, I am sohappy we got to finally do this
and and connect, and I I knowyou're going to enjoy the
beautiful weather down there inSouthern California.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
I certainly will and again thank you so much, Carrie,
for creating such a wonderfulspace for us to get to talk
about these transformationaltopics and, on behalf of myself
and all your listeners, thankyou.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, and you have a
wonderful blessed day.
Okay, bye.
Hello everyone, this is your host, Keri Logan, at
Master the Upper Rooms, andtoday I have a special guest and
he, which is different thanevery other person I have
interviewed and talked to.
He became a monk and he's goingto share his experience about
that, along with many otherthings, but his expertise lies
(00:24):
in helping clients createbalanced lives by aligning with
their vision and overcomingpersonal and professional
obstacles.
He helps people buildingstructures for lasting
transformation, and Madhu isdeeply committed to his role as
both a teacher and a lifelongstudent and I love how he said
(00:45):
lifelong student which keeps hisguidance fresh, authentic and
grounded in continual learning,and I like to say continual
education.
So, Madhu, with all those greatthings about you, welcome to
the show and how are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm so grateful to be meeting with you because it
takes so much time, energy andeffort to create such a sacred
space like this podcast, wherewe get to talk about practical
tips to actually improve thequality of our life, so I'm
thrilled.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Awesome.
So I'm very curious andfascinated of why did you decide
to become a monk.
What was that calling for you?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So you're telling me most 18 year old men don't want
to shave their head and becomecelibate?
Yeah, it definitely is strangetrajectory, that's for sure.
But what happened when I read abook when I was 16 called the
Bhagavad Gita and for thoseunfamiliar with the text, it's a
multi-thousand year oldliterature from ancient India
and it ultimately talks aboutphilosophical concepts that just
(01:47):
blew my mind and ultimately Istarted to realize, wow, I know
so little about myself, aboutthis world, about the nature of
what's metaphysical beyond thephysical, etc.
And that's what employed mydeep dive into, let's just say,
ancient philosophy and knowledge.
(02:09):
And so for about a year and ahalf, as I was going to college,
I was like I was it wasn'texactly for me.
Let's put it that way.
I was going to school forconstruction management and
architecture for various reasons, and I was like, okay, I could
stay on this trajectory or Icould start to take this time
that I have now and really studyancient knowledge and how to
(02:29):
practically apply it in my life.
And then, on my 18th birthday,I was like, okay, let's do it.
And I dropped out of college,shaved my head, moved to India
to live in a monastery.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
And how long were you there for?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So five years as a monk, practicing on and off from
India for visa purposes, every180 days.
They'd kick me out and I'd comeand stay in different
monasteries in the West, mostlyin the US, but also throughout,
say, europe and some otherplaces, and so on and off for
about five years until Igraduated.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And why was your decision to leave?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, it's kind of like.
It's not exactly like aassociate's, bachelor's or
master's degree or anything likethat, but most monks about 99
of us, student monks willgraduate to become quote-unquote
normal people.
I mean, I don't think anyonewould call me normal, but to to
integrate.
There are what we jokingly callthe one percenters, those who
go for gold, that they take alifelong vow of celibacy, and
(03:24):
that's usually what we jokinglycall the one percenters those
who go for gold and they take alifelong vow of celibacy, and
that's usually what we think ofwhen we think of monk is
somebody like an old man in thewoods, but that's definitely the
minority of those who becomemonks.
And so, usually under theguidance of your teachers, once
you have say, shown enoughunderstanding of the concepts of
(03:46):
the ancient philosophy and waysin which you can integrate it,
then it's like, hey, you feelinggood, it's time to get back to
life.
You know, kind of quote unquotestart life over.
Um, and yeah, after about fiveyears for me that's when it was
time it was like, all right, I'm, I'm ready to uh, start to live
back in this world per se andthat must I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
How was that transition going from that super
peaceful place to boomeverything?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
else.
Back to the quote unquote realworld, yeah, real world, yeah,
yeah, I, I wouldn't call itsmooth, it was uh, maybe
jostling is the word.
There's a way in which, afterspending so many years where
it's, it's I I jokingly call ita spiritual frat house because
(04:39):
you're with other monks and it'sfun, you know there's there's a
taste you get for waking up at3 34 in the morning doing hours
of meditation and you're doingit together, kind of like.
A lot of my friends were in themilitary.
They've expressed a similarkind of experience.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I was just going to say that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, totally yeah, there's a camaraderie with it,
there's a way in which it's likethe discipline almost becomes
fun and you know there's there'sa yeah, there's a taste in it.
And so for years of doing thatand really having the focus on
just self-study and service andreally the service you know,
from breakfast to dinner, prettymuch you're, you're just using
(05:14):
your gifts, your psychophysicalnature, whatever talents you
have, and integrating that toserve others and taking that and
starting to quote unquote builda life if you will.
That means make a little money,find some love, whatever the
case might be.
It was shocking and I'mgrateful to say that because I
have really wonderful teachersand had they made it as smooth
(05:37):
as it could be, but nonethelessit was quite the shocking
transition, to say the least.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It was quite the shocking transition, to say the
least.
Yeah, I would think so, becausethe very first thought that hit
in my head is it's got to be thesame exact experience for when
veterans come back, but for themthey were in the deep dive of
chaos and what we call the realworld is peaceful for them.
(06:10):
But sometimes some of thosepeople are adrenaline junkies.
They crave that, they want that.
You know that dynamic, and soit can be really confusing,
because I've heard some talk toa few veterans too and they say
really confusing because I'veheard some talk to a few
veterans too and they say it'sso hard to connect and relate to
(06:31):
people that have never, youknow, witnessed or or walked in
their shoes and they don't, theycan't talk about it.
It's really hard to talk aboutthose things.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, I mean all glories to our veterans you know
so grateful for their serviceand definitely I would say
there's some overlap in that wayand maybe on the opposite side
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's the opposite.
It is yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
The counter to that, where it's like, okay, going to
a world where everything's veryroutine, disciplined, structure,
yes, and it's a very simplelife.
You know, you have robes, it'sa one-size-fits-all.
You kind of wrap them in aparticular way from top and
bottom and you never have toworry about what color you're
wearing.
Oh, orange again today, cool.
And you know what's my hair dobuzz, all right, cool, and
(07:13):
there's a simplicity to it.
And then kind of coming backinto the world, yeah, it's, it's
on the similarly shocking butdifferent I.
I'm the opposite of adrenalinejunkie, that's for.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So on the other end of that extreme, yeah, no, I get
it so and I like for me gettingmyself so clear and clear and
clear of just emotional stuff.
For me it's hard to watch TV,it's hard for me to go to the
movies because I lost thatfilter and I have to there's
(07:47):
sometimes I have to remindmyself this is just a movie,
it's not real.
This is just a movie.
It's not real because my bodyis so get so reactive to stuff
and I could see that being thesame way as being in the
monastery and you had this, youknow peaceful energy, and you go
out into the world and it'sjust like whoa.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, yeah, something like that, that's for sure.
And you know, I'm grateful tosay that as my time in amongst.
So everyone's engaged accordingto their nature.
So, for instance, someone wholikes to cook, they cook for us
and they cook for all the.
You know we do public eventsand we distribute lots of food
to anyone who needs it, etcetera.
You know, for myself, I alwaysliked teaching.
I just, for better, for worse,this mouth just talks and talks
(08:31):
and talks, and so we would go touniversities and teach
meditation there, and so therewas a way in which I was
somewhat one foot in, one footout of the quote unquote.
Real world made it a little bitmore easy than, say, some of my
friends who are on the moreintroverted, reclusive side
spent years, yeah, almost like avery sheltered perspective.
But in my case I will say itwas as easy as I think it could
(08:55):
have been, given that I had allthe wonderful support from my
teachers.
But it was hard, especially fromthe financial aspect, because
since I joined on my 18thbirthday, prior to that I was a
life guard and I made eightdollars an hour, I think it was
seven, seven, seven dollars,fifty cents an hour, and that
was just in the summer timeswhen I wasn't going to school
and on the side I would help mydad at the art gallery he
(09:17):
managed.
So I never had, like anyprofessional experience.
I had never had more than maybea max, a few hundred dollars in
my bank account at any giventime.
So for the first two yearsafter graduating it was the word
might be precarious.
It was strange, it was unstable, figuring out how the heck to
(09:39):
make some money, and I'mgrateful that eventually I
figured it out.
But yeah, it was, let's call it, precarious.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Okay, so I'm really curious what are some of your
daily practices to keep the mindas our best friend?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, yeah, there's a saying in the ancient Vedic
literatures, ancient yogaliteratures from India, that the
mind can either become the bestfriend or the worst enemy and
it's all a matter of how wetrain it, and really a better
word might be management, likekind of make.
You're constantly making dealswith the mind, like it's a
relationship, yeah that's yeah,absolutely.
(10:19):
Because we are different thanour mind.
We can perceive the mind, justlike we're different than the
body.
We're in the body, but we cansee the body's constantly
changing.
Every seven years, the cells inthe body completely redevelop.
We're taking on new carnage,new flesh every seven years,
reincarnating, and so, similarly, we can see the body change.
We can also see the mind change.
So we know we're not the mind,we have a mind.
We know we're not the body, wehave a body.
(10:47):
So to your, as you justeloquently expressed it, it's a
relationship Like, it's you, theunit of consciousness, self,
soul, whatever term we want touse perceiving the mind.
How do we make that a cordialrelationship?
And ultimately it comes down tonumber one accepting our true
intrinsic gifts, really gettingin touch with our psychophysical
nature and the way our brainworks and how to work with the
(11:08):
current of our tendencies andour nature and our conditioning,
as opposed to trying to fightagainst it.
Which is really the biggestobstacle for people with working
with their mind is that they'retrying to work against the
training of their mind, theconditioning.
Rather, we want to.
The current is going in thedirection.
Let's figure out how to getthat type of wind behind
(11:30):
ourselves instead of trying togo against it.
And so step number one is,through introspection, through
assistance from others, reallyunderstanding what is our nature
, our gifts, our conditioning,et cetera.
And then step number two is whatI call a service mindset.
The mind is constantly tryingto.
All it does is one thing islet's try to keep us safe.
Every decision it makes is justtry to keep this biology
(11:59):
together, keep our physical bodyalive.
And so how do we start toretrain the brain towards a
sense of giving instead oftaking, because it's just going
to want to forself-preservational purposes.
Keep us safe, keep us safe.
There is a maybe nuance there ofhow do we redefine safety to
the mind, but that's kind of adifferent direction.
Rather, what I would say isadjusting to what I call a
(12:22):
service-based mindset.
That means starting to createnew neural circuitry from
stimuli to response instead ofstimuli.
How can this benefit me?
What does this do for me?
The mind's always scheming.
How can I take this experienceand not just benefit myself but
use it to improve the quality oflife of other individuals?
(12:42):
And these two foundationalprinciples which, of course, is
a lot more nuanced, but thesetwo foundational principles of
understanding and acceptingourself and using the currents
of our nature and retraining orrecalibrating the mind towards
service.
That's generosity as opposed toconsumption.
But, what that does is that putsus in a situation where the
(13:04):
mind actually gets a taste forit.
The mind starts to go oh, wow,this is actually providing us
deep, even more than happiness.
Contentment, purpose,satisfaction and those two
pillars of what I always say notonly have I, they've created so
much peace in my life, butthose are two areas that anyone
can start to do immediately andstart to feel some relief from.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, A hundred percent.
I posted a podcast recentlyabout how to silence the
negative mind.
You know that negative voice inyour mind and I shared the
story of a 16 boy that I wasworking with that was always
struggling with anger, anger,anger, anger, anger, anger.
(13:47):
And I said to him that, well,when you hear that voice in your
head, I want you to close youreyes and see how old you were.
How old were you at that time?
And he was like eight or nineyears old.
I said okay, so that's how oldthat that voice is.
(14:07):
That's a part of you, thatwounded part in you that's
trying to get your attention andit's angry.
And instead of being anurturing, loving, supporting
parent, you're being anauthoritarian parent and you're
telling it shut up, leave mealone, go to your room, I don't
care what you have to say or howyou feel, and you're ignoring
it.
You're actually wounding it andhurting it more.
(14:27):
You need to quiet yourself downand talk to that, like you said
, as if it's your best friend,because it is your best friend.
Stop beating it up.
And I told him.
I said the more you do that andyou build this relationship,
that voice will become quiet.
And then you've transformed itand you've healed it and now
(14:50):
it's your ally, it is your bestfriend, it is in your best
interest, it well, it it.
And and he literally sat thereand started doing that internal
work and I was like yes, yes,yes, yes.
And if more people you know hadthat mindset when we, when we
(15:10):
have anxiety or we have anger orwhatever we're feeling, is,
what are you trying to tell me?
You know there's a message inall of that.
You just have to be quiet andgo within, raise yourself up
vibrationally where you'recontent and satisfied.
You got to be neutral becauseyou might not like what it has
(15:31):
to say.
And, seriously, when the guy didit the young boy did it the
first time the voice reallydidn't take him honest.
He said, well, I want to befriends with you.
And the voice was like well, Idon't know if you want to be
friends with me or you can befriends with me because you're
always yelling at me.
And he was like, whoa, I'm like, see, you got to have this
dialogue with with yourself,cause, um, that voice isn't
(15:55):
going to go away.
It's never going to go away.
Actually, the only way it goesaway is if you heal it and you
make it your best friend.
That's how you silence thatvoice, cause I don't have a
negative critic anymore, and andand I'm so blessed, I'm, I'm so
happy and I want everyone tohave that experience.
So thank you for for sharingthat.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Well, so well said, and I really thank you too,
because what you shared is justsuch a practical point for all
of us, and that is that really,we have all of these what am I
calling it child wounds Likefrom the time that we are, you
know, prior to seven, is we'rejust pretty much a subconscious
mind, just sponge, absorbinginformation, to you know, from
(16:42):
our development years on andtaking all these parts of
ourselves, our younger selvesthat are, say, stunted in
particular areas.
The way that we heal is goingback in that place and, as you
mentioned, becoming a friend,nurturing that aspect so as to
allow it to grow on.
Ultimately, all of thechallenges, triggers, issues we
(17:06):
have, you know, anger being thebodyguard to sadness, that's
deeper than all of thesefeelings that come up ultimately
come down to those unresolvedfeelings in our childhood from
our caretakers, and notnecessarily blaming them, but
having an understanding of whyit developed that way and then
going back in that place,healing it so that the mind, as
you mentioned, can be the bestfriend, and that's how you do it
(17:28):
in a sustainable way, asopposed to just trying to lock
it in the closet and la, la, la,la, I hear nothing, which is
what most of our minds tend towant to do.
So anyway, very well said,Thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah.
So my next question is how canwe harmonize health, wealth and
happiness in today's fast-pacedworld?
What are your insights?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, I think it's important to define terms and
really what we're talking about,because sometimes there's a way
in which it's like oh, can yoube spiritual and have a lot of
money?
In order to have a lot of money, I have to compromise my health
.
I got to work a bunch.
There's all of these falsepremises behind, let's just say,
the connotations behind thesewords.
So what I'd like to do is stripthese terms and connotations
(18:13):
and really define them Really.
What we're talking about hereis we are a unit of
consciousness, right, we have abody, we have a mind, we can
perceive them and we can seethat they're changing outside of
ourselves, and then we can alsosee that there's resources
outside of us.
So, just defining these threeterms, they're like quote
unquote.
When we talk about spirituals,it doesn't have to be a.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
sometimes people think it's like a woo-woo trip.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It's like no, literally, I know, of spirit,
like a view of consciousness ofthe unit that we are, and then,
beyond that is the health wehave our physical, mental,
emotional health, and beyondthat we have the resources
around us, aka wealth.
And you, nowadays we don'treally barter spices or or or
precious metals as much, orwhatever, so really we're
(18:58):
talking about wealth in the formof cash or any commodities,
whatever it might be.
So so we have the self, thecasing, emotional, mental,
physical, body and the resourcesoutside of that.
The way that we harmonize isnumber one understand that what
each of those affects the othermeans, in order for one to
perceive the self from within,one has to be outside of
(19:19):
survival mode.
In other words, the body has tobe cooperating.
The mind as well as the bodyneeds to cooperate.
Otherwise, if we're constantlyjust fighting in survival mode,
then what happens is wefunctionally become like animals
in society.
We're constantly just fightingin survival mode, then what
happens is we functionallybecome like animals in society.
We're just eating, sleeping,mating, defending.
We're just constantly in themode of survival.
And as a human being which hasthis beautiful prefrontal cortex
(19:42):
which allows us to haverecursive language and ask
questions and say what the heckis the purpose of life and who
am I and what am I here to do?
And we're the only livingentities that we currently know
of in this world I would beremiss to say that we're the
only living entities ever, butat least in this world that we
could perceive, that have thatability to ask these questions
and think beyond, the way inwhich we can understand that the
(20:07):
only way we could acknowledgespirit is to be in a proper
quote unquote vehicle and have amind and a body that cooperate.
And in order to do that we haveto have the proper resources.
We must have, let's say, atleast our quota, a safe place to
be, enough healthy food to eat,et cetera, and all these
resources.
So what I would say is this isreally the foundation of
(20:28):
answering that question isunderstanding that they're all
intrinsically connected.
There is no spiritualnourishment without physical
nourishment, there's no physicalnourishment without having the
resources to nurture etc.
So having that, say, acceptanceof they're all in happiness,
contentment, fulfillment,whatever term I want to give it
means you must have some balanceof all three.
(20:51):
And then the practical way tostart to, let's say, work on
balancing them like that's amental, theoretical aspect of
the practical, physiological wayeven we get into it is starting
from again nourishing the bodyso that it can cooperate, and as
well as nourishing the mind,kind of like you were just
(21:13):
giving such great practicaltools to doing that.
As well as nourishing the body,making sure that you're eating
and sleeping is balanced, makingsure that your body is moving
on a regular basis, that you sitdown and shut up and meditate
sometimes, or whatever needs tohappen to just make sure the
mind and the physical body havewhat it needs to actually not
just survive but thrive.
(21:33):
And then from there we can thenstart to introspect, we can
start to go deeper and deeperand again ask these questions
like who am I?
What's my purpose?
How can I be of service in thislifetime?
What is the lesson the universe,divinity, is trying to teach me
?
What's got my attention?
How do I fix my attention onthe things I actually want, et
(21:54):
cetera.
So understanding they'reintrinsically connected and then
practically making sure thatthe vehicle, the biomechanical
robot, human body and the mindare taken care of.
So as we, so as to spend timeactually using this beautiful
brain, we have to figure out howto go beyond just survival mode
.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, no, that was beautifully said.
Thank you for sharing that, andI like to say why I highly
recommend people working withcoaches like yourself is they'll
hit roadblocks, and I'll give aperfect example of a roadblock.
(22:34):
Roadblocks is let's say yougrew up in a really wealthy home
, wealthy home environment.
Your parents go to look at yourplace and they might not
approve of how you live and eventhough you are a minimalist,
let's say you're living in oneof those small.
And even though you are aminimalist, let's say you're
(23:02):
living in one of those small,tiny little homes, you are so
happy and you are so content andthat's it that works.
Be external factors that willwant you to conform and comply
and that that doesn't work.
Like getting a little personalhere.
(23:23):
I have a family member visiting,you know, for the holidays and
we we saw a movie and he we were, it was heretic and that was
very hard for me to watch,extremely hard for me to watch.
But he wanted to watch it andhad lots of religion and he's a
very strict Christian and westarted talking and he was
(23:45):
trying to convince me to readthe bible, that I cannot be one
with God unless I read the Bibleand I pretty much got to the
point where I'm like I have abeautiful relationship with God.
I am one with God.
I am a kind, caring, forgiving,loving, compassionate person.
I don't need to go to church tobe one with God.
I could be with God right nowand if God really wanted me to
(24:09):
read the Bible then he wouldhave guided me to read the Bible
.
And he hasn't, and I have nodesire at all.
And he's like no, you're stuckin pride.
You're stuck in pride.
That's what a lot of people youknow will say to get out of it.
And I'm just like why can't youaccept that I have?
I am satisfied and content withthe relationship that I have
(24:30):
and that is beautiful.
And if I needed more, I wouldget it more.
But I found God throughspirituality.
I did not find God throughreligion and I think that's the
disconnect.
And he was like well, you'regetting all mad and stuff.
I said no, I'm not, I'm notgetting mad.
I realize that you foundreligion by.
(24:50):
You know all the passages spoketo you and that's what you know
.
That works for you, but thatwouldn't work for me, it
wouldn't.
He's like well, have you triedreading?
And I'm like, yeah, but Ididn't like what it said about
women, so I put it down.
It didn't.
It didn't.
You know, it's an old man, anold person's perspective, and
how do we know how much in thereis factual or truth?
(25:11):
So, yes, people can run intothose scenarios of, well, you
should be making more money, oryou should be living this sort
of lifestyle, or you need thiscertain kind of designer bed or
designer clothes, and we get toa point where it's like is that
really going to make me happy?
Is it going to improve thequality of my life?
(25:32):
I mean, I could be spendingthat money on organic food and
knowing I'm eating clean food,instead of having a designer bag
or a Rolex watch.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah, I like this word you use.
Well, I like his.
I say that loosely, the termshould.
It's like the way in which,always shooting on ourselves and
shooting on everyone.
And yeah, it's a fascinatingpoint that you mentioned.
I appreciate you sharing it.
There's a way in which we, we,the way the mind works it it it
likes black and white, it likesit's this or it's that, it
(26:05):
should be this or it should bethat.
And you know, one thing I'm sograteful to have learned while
being a monk and really studyingall religions and philosophy
and theologies around the worldis, ultimately, there's powers
higher than us.
There's no way to doubt that.
If anyone goes nope, there's nohigher power.
Just step outside in the sun,spend a couple of days in the
sun.
Let me know there's no powerhigher.
(26:26):
Go spend a little time in theocean.
Tell me there's no powershigher than you.
It's, we're certain.
There's obviously powers thatare higher than us.
So really, the question is, whenwe're talking about divinity,
god, the supreme, the source ofspirit, whatever term we want to
give, really just talking aboutthe highest of all, high powers
, and if we're as to kind ofmaybe do the shorthand version,
if we get to what is the highestconceivable version of the
(26:52):
highest of all high powers.
We're really the most powerfulsomething, some entity that is
all powerful but must also beall loving.
Because if you have an entitythat's all powerful but not all
loving, then you're not talkingabout the highest of all high
powers.
Because if you're all powerful,that means you also have the
capacity to be all loving andalso all knowing.
(27:13):
Omniscient.
We call it the triple OG theomniscient, omnibenevolent,
omnipotent, all powerful, whichthen means all knowing, which
then also means all loving.
And would an all loving divinesource restrict their love
simply from somebody's mentaldecisions because they go to
this church instead of that one,this synagogue instead of that
(27:35):
one, this temple instead of thatone?
No, now we're not talking aboutdivinity anymore.
We're talking about a uh,actually someone who's we're
talking like an evil entity here, somebody who through would
smite someone just because ofmental decisions like that.
That's just a very poorconception of the ultimate
Supreme.
Rather, every living entity hasa unique relationship with
(27:55):
divinity because divinity is allpowerful.
That means they can make allopportunities for one's
individual connection becausethey're all loving.
They want to make everyopportunity for each of us to
reconnect because they're allknowing they also can create all
opportunities based off of ourminds, our conditionings and our
free will to give us theopportunity, so that all we have
(28:16):
to do is use our free will tomove in the direction of that
unique, individual, divineconnection.
And sometimes there's a way inwhich we get so.
You know, I'm a, I'm a, this,I'm a, I'm a man, I'm a woman,
I'm a black, white, I'm a Hindu,muslim, jewish, I'm rich, I'm a
this, I'm a man, I'm a woman,I'm a black, white, I'm a Hindu,
muslim, jewish.
I'm rich, I'm poor, I'm pretty.
(28:39):
We have all these labels wethrow on ourself which just put
us in a little box.
No, I am a unit ofconsciousness, I'm a soul, just
like you're a soul.
We are all souls and that'sactually how we're equal.
Even the constitution says howwe don't look alike, we don't
smell like, we don't sound like.
We're equal on the level of thesoul and on that level of the
soul which we are intrinsicallydivine and divinely connected.
That's where we want to connect, beyond these designations.
(29:02):
I'm at this, I'm at that, andthat's where true happiness can
be found.
As opposed to the sectarian,I'm in this, you're that, and
therefore, I'm gonna shoot allover you, which is just, it's
just, uh.
You know what is it?
You know, unsolicited advice islike the stinkiest thing and
anyone could ever smell, and so,anyway, yeah, that's, that's my
(29:23):
no thank you for for sharingthat, because it it is really
true.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
We are all one.
We're cut from the same clothand a lot of people don't
realize that, and we're all hereto learn different lessons on
earth, and so I mean, and wechose the body up there before
we came down.
So if you're, if you needed tolearn something in one area like
(29:51):
for you, you you were guidedtowards, you know, being a monk.
There's people that want to bein South Africa, there's people
that want to be in South America, there's people that want to be
in India or different placesaround here, and all of those
cultures and the community andall that it shapes us.
(30:14):
Like you said, we're a sponge.
We just absorb all thisinformation, but then the real
gift is discovering who you are,your spirit, your authentic
self, what is calling you andand stripping everything away,
(30:35):
everything away and and becomingone with, I would say you know,
our creator and and your higherself and what, what's in the
universe, and having thatbalance, having that flow and
being satisfied and content.
So, like for you, it's a loveof music.
You know I can see all yourguitars and stuff that you love
(30:56):
music, and for me, I love musictoo, but I couldn't even play
the recorder.
I sucked so bad at playing anymusical instrument.
But oh, you get me on a dancefloor and I will just be like
Michael Jackson and just have somuch fun.
And I say you know, I become onewith the music, you know you.
(31:18):
Just you move with it, you flowwith it, the music is you and
you are the music.
And that's how I would actuallyteach men when I was in college
and high school how to dance.
That said, oh, I can't dance.
It said imagine a bubble aroundyou and you close your eyes and
(31:39):
I want you to dance with thatmusic.
How does that music speak toyour body?
What's it saying to you?
And I kid you not, these dudesbecame excellent dancers where
they had no problem meetingwomen.
It was kind of funny.
It was like, yes, because theywere very shy, but that was just
one way of helping someone getout of their head into their
heart and have fun and becreative and just go with the
(32:04):
flow well said yeah, what apractical way.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
And everyone likes.
You know, it's interestingbecause everyone likes music.
No one's like yeah, yeah, anygenre will do, but and then so
many people might not admit it,but everyone likes it.
It's just a matter of steppingout of the brain yeah, yeah,
well, and you can get lost inmusic.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I mean there's, there's sometimes where just the
melody like my son lovesclassical music there and he
loves choir music and opera andstuff and there's some time from
all different countries, likeBalting, there's the one woman
from Baltic that her voice is soamazing that he literally cried
(32:47):
.
He's like, oh, this touched meso deeply and I'm sure with you,
because I know you like to playmusic and stuff that there's
moments that you just become onewith that guitar and there's no
separation.
You're just to me, that's magic.
To me that's just a beautifulexperience that I wish everyone
(33:09):
could find, something thatspeaks to them, where you just
blend with it.
And I mean that's how we getall our hobbies, our talents.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Absolutely yeah, music the language that we all
speak.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Yeah, language that everyone can understand in the
world that we all speak, yeah,language that everyone can
understand in the world.
Sweet, so I know you're anamazing coach and you work with
a lot of people, and I know youwere talking about how you had
very, very little, but you'vedone a lot.
You went from being a monk to amillionaire, building a
conscious seven figure business.
So, kudos, you know to you, andI'm sure there's lots of other
(33:51):
people out there that would liketo learn more about you and
discover how you found you.
And so where do people find you?
Madhu, like, I know that you'reat.
You got YouTube, you gotLinkedIn, you got Instagram, you
got Facebook, you even gotTikTok, but you have a website.
(34:12):
So what's your website?
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Absolutely Well on all platforms, all the ones that
you mentioned and any othersthat are out there, it's
madhulife L-I-F-E.
So madhulife, madhulife on allplatforms.
And you know, thank you foryour kind words and I'm grateful
to say yeah, after all theseyears, to be able to not just
(34:34):
grow our own coaching businessbut really starting the
marketing agency to help othersdo it.
It's just.
I'm every day grateful for that.
And we actually give away allof our courses, all of our
knowledge and templates away forfree.
So you know anyone who's thereason we do that is, I like the
idea of free education, I likejust gifting everything away.
And you know, our business isreally just people who don't
(34:54):
want to have to implement it ontheir own, but it's a.
It's pretty straightforwardthat we like to give everyone as
much opportunity, as muchaccess, as much knowledge as
possible.
And so for anyone who's lookingfor more ways on what we have
it's called the monk mindsets,like understanding the mind and
overcoming it, everything to ouryou know, growing say, your
(35:16):
wellness business, to improvingyour health through holistic
wellness, we have all thesecourses that we give completely
free, and so, on any platformthat anyone wants to reach out,
madhulife, you could DM us?
Actually, let's do this.
We have something we're aboutto come out with it.
It you could dm us.
Actually, let's do this.
Uh, we have something we'reabout to come out with it.
It's new, it's not yet launched, but if if they reach out from
you from this podcast, what I'lldo is I'll gift them that early
(35:40):
access.
So why don't we do this?
If anyone sends me the word,how about upper rooms?
This is where I'll nice fromyou.
If anyone listening sends methe word upper rooms on any
platform, from our website tosocial media modded out live, um
, send me the word upper roomsand I'll actually send you not
only access to all our freecontent, but the one that's not
(36:00):
launched yet.
It specifically all has to dowith understanding, conditioning
and what we call core woundsand how to start to unwork those
and manage them going forward.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Well, that's a that's a very generous gift.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I'm sure all the listeners willtruly appreciate that.
So, with that said, I am sohappy we got to finally do this
and and connect, and I I knowyou're going to enjoy the
beautiful weather down there inSouthern California.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
I certainly will and again thank you so much, Carrie,
for creating such a wonderfulspace for us to get to talk
about these transformationaltopics and, on behalf of myself
and all your listeners, thankyou.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, and you have a
wonderful blessed day.
Okay, bye.
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