These 3 Practices can Make your Mind Limitless @PalgaRinpoche

One very good way of measuring spiritual growth, doesn't matter which background or spirituality you belong to, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikhism, you know, I think one very good way to measure your spiritual growth is to compare yourself, yourself, to the self of yesterday. I think that's how I measure and how I test it. In Ladakh, as you have seen, it's a very calm place, beautiful place, people are generally very hospitable. You know, I can't measure myself very well here. So I go to the big cities, especially Delhi, which is like my second home. I love Delhi, so I'm not saying bad things about Delhi. But here there is no stress at all. So there's no way of testing it.

You have to find stress. You have to look for stress here. In Delhi, you don't have to look for stress. Stress comes looking for you. Happiness lies within, not outside. So we are conditioned to look for outwards, for sensory pleasures. And we confuse pleasure with happiness. What's the difference between pleasure and happiness? The way I see it, happiness is for ever. Pleasure is momentary. Instead of jealousy, rejoice. Instead of anger, be patient. Instead of attachment, just let go. You know, detachment. So on. So that's the real renunciation, Divya. It's not just, you know, cutting your hair and putting, everybody can do that. Hi, I'm Divya Jain. I'm the founder of Safe Educate. I've been working in the education and the skilling space for the past 15 years.

And I'm really excited to be part of this nonprofit movement called Because She Can, where we're looking at empowering the woman power. So today is very, very exciting. I'm here in Ladakh, and we have an incredible conversation with His Eminence, the 8th Palga Rinpoche. He is a Buddhist monk and a spiritual teacher. And he gives us some beautiful teachings that we can incorporate in our lives. In this podcast today, we talk about the limitless power of the human brain. We talk about our emotions, how can we manage them, even anger, and use them to actually achieve our goals. We talk about how being materialistic isn't necessarily a bad thing. And finally, we get advice on how to fill our lives with love, with happiness, and the success that we want to live and the lives we can only dream of.

Look forward to have you join us on today's podcast. Guruji, a very warm welcome. And thank you so much for inviting us here today. Thank you. Thank you so much. Guruji, I think yesterday was enchanting. After coming to Ladakh, I think there's already this energy that makes you believe that what is this place? And how is such a place even possible on the earth? And that really takes you to a question that resonates in my mind a lot, which is the power of the mind. It's a book, it's a topic that I've researched constantly, read about across authors. But today I would love to get your ideas on what is the mind, what is the power of the mind, what can it do, what can it not?

What are your feelings and thoughts? Thank you so much, Divyaji, for your kind words. Yesterday was indeed a very, it was a special day, but I guess a happy day for many people because they were celebrating my 40th birthday. I guess a sad day for me because it reminded me that I'm one year older and one year closer to death. So I have mixed feeling about yesterday, but what made it really enjoyable that I had people come across from all over Ladakh and also from Delhi, like you and your team and this lovely podcast that we're doing. Mind, Divyaji, this is one of the classic and eternal questions in philosophy. I'll give you a very practical example, the power of the mind.

When you fall in love, okay, when you fall in love with someone and somebody says, I love you and I want to be with you, I want to marry you, I want to get together with you, you feel so happy, you know, and when the person says yes, when the person says yes, I also want to be with you, when he or she accepts your proposal, you feel so happy. Then though, Divyaji, even if somebody gives you sukhiy roti and water, you're fine. Yeah, even if somebody will slap you, you're fine because you're on cloud nine, you just don't care. You just don't care whether it's raining, snowing, kuch bhi hona, you're so happy because your mind is happy.

That's how powerful it is. You feel the whole world is a garden. Right. Then after one week, when the girl or the guy says, I'm so sorry, I was mistaken, maybe, you know, we can be friends and I really like you, you know, but I think my feelings for you are just friendly. We can stay in touch, we can be friends, but no, so sorry, it all comes crashing down. All of a sudden, even if somebody takes you in a very nice car or takes you to a fancy restaurant, gives you a lot of money, you eat good food, you go for a vacation, you're just not happy at all. That happens so much. Ki sab kuch hai, but you're not khush.

Power of the mind. Also, I think one thing that I always keep repeating in all my talks, whenever I give talks to people, is that happiness lies within, not outside. And we are by nature designed, by nature, designed to look outwards. Jisey humari aakhye hai, bahar ko dikti hai. Our skin outwards, our nose outwards, our ears outwards. So we are conditioned to look outwards for sensory pleasures. And we confuse pleasure with happiness. Okay. Yeah. Happiness is something that comes from within. Okay. Yeah, it's quite complex. We can, you know, expand. What's the difference between pleasure and happiness? The way I see it, of course people can give different interpretations according to their experiences and their knowledge.

In my experience and in my knowledge, pleasure is something you go to a restaurant, you eat a nice food, it gives you pleasure. But it doesn't give you happiness, because it doesn't solve your fundamental problem of being sad, being lonely, being anxious, being depressed. Yeah. Right. Happiness is something that removes your sadness. You can say remove, you can say eliminate. It just replaces all these sad feelings of anxiety, loneliness, depression. So that's happiness. It is more long-term, it is more permanent. Pleasure is very momentary. And it's very, very temporary. Pleading. Yes. And pleasure after, if you over, if you overindulge in pleasure, then that maybe becomes pain or it's not pleasurable. What's your favorite food, for example?

Sushi. Sushi. So let's say I give you sushi for one month straight. Right. You will never want to see sushi again. That's it. So if happiness resides in sushi, it should give you happiness forever, but it doesn't. It's pleasure, but it's not happiness. Happiness is forever. Pleasure is momentary. So if you feel that happiness lies in money, if you feel that happiness lies in cars and hotels, when you're going through a big suffering, a big heartbreak, somebody passed away in your family, whatever, even if somebody gives you one crore, you will not be happy. So happiness does not lie in money. If it lies in money, then even to a sad person, money should bring instant happiness.

So these are, yeah, that's why. And some of the happiest, some of the millionaires, billionaires are actually people dealing with mental disorders and distress today. So which brings again, mind, what are the limitations? And how do we really, where is the mind limited? And how can we increase the capabilities of the mind? I think mind is actually limitless. One personal example for you would be back in 2012. You see this belt that I'm wearing? Yes. So this is what we call a yogic belt, a meditation belt. And this is given by our guru, His Holiness the 12th, Gautam Rupa, who is my root guru. He, in our lineage, we practice what we call the six yogas of Naropa.

And they are very secretive, powerful practices. Among one of them is Kundalini practice, Kundalini fire. And what we do is the coldest day of the year, January, mid-January in Ladakh, in Ladakh. I'm not talking in Delhi or Mumbai. It was cold today, yesterday. So next time I'll invite you. And we're in June. Yeah, we're in June. Today's June 29th. January, like the coldest day, usually mid-January. And in the night, 11 p.m., we, in a group, we go out in the mountains. After preparing for a month, we go out in a group just wearing this belt and a thin robe and just one underwear. We go out in the mountains at a high altitude where the temperature must be easily 30 to 35, minus 35 degrees, like freezing cold.

Then we sit in meditation until 7 a.m. So we meditate throughout the night. In the cold, in the freezing. And just focusing on your visualization, just on the power of your faith, your trust in your guru, the blessing of the lineage, the teachings. So basically using your mind as the source of your power. And you sit in meditation and you not only not die, but your actually body heats up and you start steaming. So that's the power of the mind, that I've seen myself with my own eyes. And I'm a modern person and I'm not very superstitious. I like to believe what I see. And this I've felt myself, I've done myself with my colleagues.

And yeah, so I don't think there's any- So you're able to train your body to generate heat. Body heat, yes, yes. With no artificial source of heat. So no chili, no heater, no gumball, nothing. No sauna, it's just internal Kundalini heat coming from your body. And this is an ancient Buddhist teaching and tradition. I think this is an ancient Indian practice. I think they do it across Hinduism and Buddhism. So in Buddhism, at least I know that they've been doing it for a century since the times of Tilopa and Naropa, great masters of the past. And the tradition still exists. You know, so there's Wienhoff, who's very, very famous in the West. And he does these practices in the West where he will do breathing, and then he will take you into the snow, literally in your underwear, and you'll climb up a mountain.

I mean, I had a friend in HBS who did it, and he actually jumped into a cold sort of freezing lake and they come back. So I think what's very interesting is how the West has also taken so many of our practices, but they've packaged it. Repackaged it, sold it back to us. Sold it back. Through popular apps and books. With the fancy packaging. And then we're very excited about it, but we don't realize this was actually our own culture, our own practices and our own learnings. See, I think our country, the spirituality that comes from our country are very different, very special. And the spirituality that comes from our country always leads towards betterment, not only of ourselves, perfection of self, but also the perfection of others.

And yeah, and we're very humble in the way we pass our teachings, pass our traditions. So sometimes I think, you know, traditions get lost. People lose interest because we don't package it as attractively as it should be. Yeah, as a smart person. So you would have somebody come from the West, attend a few courses, go back, repackage everything, and then sell it to us with a new tagline. And we think this is the new- The technique. The breathing technique. But if you really look behind the teachings and the techniques, you will find the roots either in Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism. Yeah. So Guruji, can you give me some techniques that we can use to expand our mind?

We have so many, Divyaji. You can, wow, where do you begin? You can do meditation. You can do very simple meditation. I think the best way to start would be to start by calming your mind. Okay. Because these days, people have a lot of problem with overthinking, a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety, a lot of deadlines, you know, they're multitasking with almost every aspect in their lives. So the best thing would be to quieten the mind down first. It's like a glass, glass of water. Let's say the glass is the body, the water is the mind, and the thoughts that occur are like the sediments of dust in the glass. So if you keep shaking it, if you keep shaking the glass or the bottle, the sediments will fly around, float around, and the water will not be clear.

The moment you put the bottle down on a table, the sediments slowly start to settle. Then it becomes clear. The sediments settle at the bottom, the water becomes clear. So that's how the body and the mind also function. So the mind cannot do it alone. It has to depend on the body. The body is kind of like the vessel. That is why I'm a big proponent of exercise, diet, you know, keeping yourself healthy. I work out almost every day. I do gymming, I do yoga, I do high intensity interval training. And I watch what I eat. So you take care of your body. But when it comes to the mind, I would suggest first you do calming meditation.

So first you sit down in a meditative posture, cross-legged. Then you, then there's so many different techniques, but one simple one would be to you just watch your breath. You know, you just watch your breath. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Very simple. You watch your breath, yeah? So what this does to you is that, and the mind will get distracted with the sound of, I don't know, somebody walking around, cars. When you realize that your mind has been distracted, bring it back to the breath. Again, focus on the breath. Watch the breath. Be with the breath. And this will help you calm your mind, settle your mind. And this is a technique you can do while you're driving.

When I'm working out, what I do is I don't talk to anyone because you end up talking for 10 minutes and your body really cools down. So I don't talk to anyone. I keep my eyes really low. So I avoid eye contact and I just jump between my sets. And in between, when I rest for the 90 seconds, I just watch my breath. That brings down, the body recovers more, faster, even within those 90 seconds, your heart rate decreases. Because you're breathing. Yeah, because you're calming your mind, the body also relaxes. It stops spasming. Your body's in a state of spasm because you've lifted very heavy weights or you're running really fast. The moment you start sitting and calming and watching your breath, the body stops spasming.

Then it relaxes much faster, two times more. So you gain more recovery in the 90 seconds. Then if you were walking around and talking to someone and cheating chatting. Well, because I'll talk about my personal experience. I think this is after my son, Zahan, and especially during COVID. So I've always been a chubby child. My body family ate everything. Good food. Excellent food. And I was always trying to lose weight or exercise because I wanted to control my weight. I needed to, I was always looking at the weighing scale. But I think after Zahan, and especially during COVID, because you didn't know what to do, I started lifting. And I just started doing it for fitness, for my body.

And through the weighing scale, and I just started building muscle. And I genuinely feel that today I am a better version of myself, I can do more. I've run a half marathon. Now I couldn't have done it 15 years ago. And I'm a better version now. And I try and do the same for meditation. But I'll do it for 10 minutes, five minutes. And here's the two things. You'll do it when it's a good day. And then you'll do it when you're going through some stress. But in the middle, you just forget, because there's no way of measuring spiritual growth. And fitness, I know. I did 40 minutes, 50 minutes, I gained weight, I lifted muscle.

Spiritually, I did meditate. How do I measure? Because we love to measure good, bad. And we should measure. Because the point is to improve ourselves. What is the point of stagnating and going backwards? One very good way of measuring spiritual growth, it doesn't matter which background of spirituality you belong to, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikhism, you know. I think one very good way to measure your spiritual growth is to compare yourself, yourself to the self of yesterday, to the self of last month, yourself to the self of last year. So just remember last year, would you have reacted in a more aggressive way? Yes. Today, are you calmer? Yes. Are you more patient? Yes. Are you satisfied with simpler things?

Yes. Are you OK when things don't go work your way? Yes. Are you OK when your flight gets cancelled? Yes. Are you OK when your food doesn't arrive on time? Yes. You know, are you OK when the Zomato delivers the wrong item that you ordered? No problem. You know, so I think that's how I measure. And how I test it. In Ladakh, as you have seen, it's a very calm place, beautiful place. People are generally very hospitable. They're very generous, compassionate. So, you know, I can't measure myself very well here. So I go to the big cities, especially Delhi, which is like my second home. I love Delhi, so I'm not saying bad things about Delhi.

But there is no stress here. So there's no way of testing it. You have to find stress. You have to look for stress here. In Delhi, you don't have to look for stress. Stress comes looking for you. So I drive in Delhi, and I drive because I enjoy it. I like, you know, and I always think, if I can remain calm, I'm going to push it. If you can remain calm between this red light and the next red light, I think you're doing pretty well. If you don't get angry at anyone, you know, to the bike cutting your lane and, you know, somebody shouting at you and whatever. And if you can spend one whole day without getting angry while touring around Delhi, walking, driving, eating and whatever, I think you're doing pretty well, you know, because, see, it's easy to be calm and happy and talk about meditation and all this when things are good.

And the test really comes, the test of your character and your spiritual growth really comes when it's challenging. A small example would be on my flight here a couple of days ago, I think yesterday, when I came back from Delhi, our flight got cancelled. And we had to go back. So we went back to Chandigarh instead of going back to Delhi. People were confused. So, yeah, then people started. Before that, everybody was fine. But as soon as the pilot announced that the flight could cancel, we're going back to Chandigarh, people started shouting. And when we landed, people just literally jumped on the two poor crew members, two lovely ladies. And, yeah, they just started shouting.

And I was like, you know, early they were calm, you know, and if you take them to a good place, if they have enough to eat, if things are on time, they will not be agitated. The real test comes when you go through a difficult situation. So I was looking at myself. Am I getting angry? No. Should I get angry? No. Should I worry? No. Because the world doesn't spin around me. Sometimes good things happen. Sometimes things don't work out. It's okay. It's okay not to be okay. I thought about that. Then, but people were like literally, you know, going crazy. And I stepped up and I told them, just calm down. It's nobody's fault.

This and that and, you know. So I will ask a sneaky question. Do you get angry? Yes, I feel angry. You know, I feel anger because it's a natural emotion. It is an emotion that is spread across all species. It is not exclusive only to us stressful human beings. Even my dog Choco gets angry sometimes when Minnie takes his treat. He gets really upset. He pushes her, uses his big bulky body to push poor Minnie into the corner. So I said, Choco, that's not a good boy. Yeah, I do, you know, get the emotion of anger. But I feel it is like, it's like the clouds, Divyaji. Like when in monsoon, the clouds hover in the sky and they don't go away for many days.

So that's how a normally angry person feels like. The space of consciousness is filled with the clouds of anger. And it doesn't go away. And it rains a lot. It makes everybody very miserable. With me, I used to be short tempered when I was younger, you know, because I had a very difficult childhood. Now I feel like there are some clouds, but it's very thin and it blows away immediately. But there are some clouds. But I don't let it hover for too long. And when it appears, when anger appears, I watch it and I let it stay and I let it go. I don't act upon it. I don't let it use me. I don't let it, you know, take form.

I don't let it become verbalized. I don't let it come out in the form of action. So I just let it be. I watch it. I look at it. Oh, that's anger. It's very interesting, very powerful, hot, burning. So inside I can feel two voices, my ego telling me, punch him, punch him, respond. Otherwise, you're a chicken. And then my consciousness telling me, no, no, no, just relax. This is not good. It's going to go away. Yeah. So I rest for a few minutes. It goes away. And then I'm like, so. So yeah, you can. That is amazing. Rinpoche, like anger, there are so many negative emotions that we encounter, you know, and you spoke about it.

And that could be stress. That could be anxiety. That could be overthinking. You know, that could be just jealousy, envy. And what happens is, something negative happens. Work doesn't go well. Someone yells at us. Some relationship breaks. And we go into a negative spiral. And then you don't know. And of course, these are these emotions who are, you know, controlling you. And you're in this spiral and you're just going. They're powerful also. And they're very powerful. So you're stuck in that same cycle. So how do you get out of this? And at this point, how do you transform yourself? How do you channelize these emotions towards positivity? There are so many ways to answer this.

I'll try my best. I'll give a personal example. So when I was young, I was at the age of one. Guruji recognized me as a reincarnation of the previous Pallgarin Puche. And when I was eight, he enthroned me, sent me to the monastery. I went through a very difficult training program. And at eight, you were taken away from your mother, from my father, from my sister. From your sister and in a monastery. To a different state, Himachal. In a small village, Rival Sir, where my monastery is, Dzigar Gumpa. And my teacher was from Tibet, very harsh, very rough. And he disciplined me. And I was quite naughty also. So he disciplined me in a very difficult way.

So I would wake up at five. I would have to read scriptures. I would have to study, meditate until at least 6, 7 p.m. Until dinner. So I had a lot of angry issues because I couldn't understand why it was happening to me. I was eight years old, for God's sake. That's a very small child. And I couldn't understand why this was happening. I was so frustrated. I was so jealous of the monks playing outside. Really, when I used to look out the window, they're playing cricket. They're playing P2. You know, they're playing football. I'm like, oh, wow, you're cheating. So I would just, you know, be reading my scriptures. But you're the precious one.

Yeah. You have the responsibility. So I was, you know, I had a much tougher bringing up than normal monks. They were more free because more is expected from me. So I was jealous of the monks. I was angry at my teacher. And anything that people would offer me, I was very greedy because I had almost nothing. I was very selfish. And I was quite ignorant of the fact that this is for my own good. My teacher, he doesn't hate me. He loves me. And he wants me to become a responsible guru. He doesn't want me to waste my opportunity, waste the blessings of my guru and, you know, the duties that I have to perform.

So I couldn't understand that. Now I understand it when I can sit down for 12 hours straight. So I did have these kind of angry issues, depression, anxiety when I was young. How I overcame them, I think when I was young, obviously it's difficult to channelize things. So I just read a lot. So my thinking was, okay, I have this weird thinking. So I thought he's making me read. This is causing me suffering. I'm going to read even more. And I'm not going to read the text only. I'm going to read English. I'm going to read Hindi. I'm going to read whatever I can find. So I knew a little bit of, you know, English, a little bit of Hindi.

I'd been to school until second grade. We read a few books. So I read a lot of Tintin comics, Asterix comics. That's where I learned my English from. And Hindi comics, Chacha Chaudhary, Amar Chidarkatha, Bank K. Lal, Super Command of the Reveal. So those were your teachers. Those were my Hindi teachers. So I learned Hindi and English a little bit. So I used my... So even many years later, I had some issues, you know, and the way I channelized my anger was I put into my fitness. Instead of blaming somebody else, that's how I do it. So next time, if I feel very frustrated, if there's something, if there's nothing that I can do, maybe I'll just keep writing.

I don't know. Maybe I'll just run. You know, I'll do something that I will emerge stronger than before. So that's my thinking. Maybe everybody can try to find something that they can, you know, channelize their frustration into. Don't just sit down and be miserable because it's going to consume you. And if you do something productive, you're going to... It is going to empower you because it's a very powerful energy. So that's why anger, attachment, etc. We don't really look at it in a good or bad way. We see them for what they are. They are powerful emotions. And if you can channelize them to improve yourself, you can become enlightened faster. You can lift more weights.

You can be more disciplined with your food. Really, they can be very strong motivators. So you have to find your own way of channelizing these negative emotions. So you could actually take something that's very negative. You could actually take a tragedy and use it for the positive in your life. And, you know, the way you want to... And emerge stronger. And emerge stronger. You know, I'd love to talk about this concept of, you know, what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong. We always... Every time in life, we're always making decisions. We have to wake up in the morning, work out, go to work, go to work for hours, watch the kids, watch our friends.

You're always making decisions of right, wrong, good, bad. And a lot of times, you know, you get confused. How do you make these decisions? What's a good way of deciding between the right and the wrong? There are decisions and then there are responsibilities. So responsibilities mean that there's no space for right and wrong. You have to do them. You have to look after your children because they depend on you. You brought them into this life. You have responsibility. And... But then other decisions. Should I do this? Should I do that? You know, that is above your responsibilities, you know. Then I think you have to see whether your actions will lead towards the happiness of yourself and happiness of others, towards the betterment of yourself and for the betterment of others.

And if it's going to cause suffering, so I would say don't do it. If it's going to benefit someone, I would say you do it. That's how usually I measure things. It is going to be helpful. Is it a good use of my time? Is it going to benefit me? Is it going to benefit others? So I usually think that way. But is it okay? I mean, trick question. Is it okay to lie if it makes someone feel better? I would say yes. So in Buddhism, even though the Buddha said that, you know, lying is not good and killing is not good, etc. Buddha himself killed somebody when he was on the path. He killed somebody who was planning to kill 999 bodhisattvas.

And Buddha tried to speak reason to him. He was not complete Buddha yet. And he tried his best. He couldn't change the person's mind. His karma was way too twisted, way too entangled. Then the Buddha, out of ultimate compassion, he thought even if I go to hell, I don't care. I will not let this person go to hell by killing 999 bodhisattvas. I will also not let 999 bodhisattvas be killed. So he killed that person out of compassion. But we don't kill out of compassion. We kill out of vengeance. We kill out of jealousy. We kill out of anger, out of, you know, attachment. But the Buddha killed out of compassion. So then he briefly just bounced in hell and he was reborn again in human realm.

So that's a good example. Wow. So let's say you have to lie to somebody in order to save the lives of 10 people. I think this, you know, that's a good, the result is good. If you say like, I'm so rigid, my religion prohibits me from lying at all. Yes, the people that you want to kill, they're hiding in the room behind. So that's not a good way of life. The world is moving so fast. There are new ideas. There are same sex marriages. The idea of marriage itself, people are questioning. How you live, you know, there is a sea change of ideas. And there are certain religions and certain dictates that say, this is right, this is wrong.

You know, what are your views on how do you adopt to change and how do you adapt to new ideas? And how do we look at what kind of lens do we put around them to study them? Are they right? Are they wrong? Or that's okay. Is that relative? But how do we see it? How do we think about it? And more importantly, how do we not be afraid of all these changes that are coming them, but accept it with joy and happiness? That word that you use acceptance, it's very important. And that is something that people are very not, they're not willing to. To do this thing, acceptance. Yeah, I follow the news. I'm quite up to date with what's happening in the world.

What kind of policies people are talking about? What is the new law? What has been overruled? You know, what is illegal anymore? What is not illegal anymore? So I get it. And the thing is, my personal view, this is completely my personal view is that you have to look at whether it is causing suffering or not to some section of the people. Whether it's same sex marriage, whether it's, I don't know, I mean, so many things, so many issues that people talk about. Is it the question of marriage? You know, the fundamental question of marriage. Is it viable anymore? Is it necessary anymore? So I think you have to look at how society itself is moving forward and how the majority are feeling.

And I think these old traditions and stereotypes and bad habits that we've formed by constantly telling each other that, oh, you know, gays and lesbians are not good and you know, you have to be straight. But then we all have different karmas. I have some homosexual friends, gays, lesbians. And I look at them and they're the same human being as we are. You know, and we all have different karmas. So it is not my fault that I've been born in a different way, that my preference is in a different way. But then why should it cause me unhappiness? You know, if my friend is, his or her preference is different. So it's just, you're, I mean, it just doesn't make any sense to me.

Why don't you just live and let live? Nobody's forcing you to become gay. So why are you forcing a gay to become a straight that is against his or her nature? But so many people suffer, sadly, because they're the minorities, you know. The majority believe that it is not right and it shouldn't be allowed. So I'm, you know, being a Buddhist, we're quite progressive. Yes, I see. And we try to see the reality, reality changes, relative reality changes. Relative reality? Relative reality changes. Ultimate reality is the same, obviously. Like the sky is blue, that is the same. The sky was blue 2500 years ago when Buddha was alive. The sky is still blue. The clouds formation, however, they change.

The weather changes. So that is ultimate reality. Yeah, kind of. You can just say it's a simple analogy. The relative reality and what people believe, what is what should be considered right and wrong, that changes over time, you know. Even in some of the very conservative societies, women didn't enjoy any freedom at all. But now changes are happening. Women are enjoying more rights, which is very good. You know, my Guruji, for example, he doesn't take any monks. He takes nuns. He started this 20 years ago. And His Holiness, Gyalong Rupa said that in the Himalayas, it's a much more patriarchal society than the rest of the country. So women were suffering a great deal. So he said, I'm not going to take any monks.

I'm going to empower women. I'm going to take these daughters around me. And he now has what he calls the Kung Fu nuns. Of course. Yeah, they're very famous. They're very famous. They, we are like, they can do electrician to plumbing, to masonry, to fighting, everything, to chanting, to meditation. They're the most powerful people on earth. These are women. You should definitely meet them. So that's a great inspiration for us, for his followers. Of moving forward and embracing change. I think for us, for you to be happy having this conversation with me on Instagram, of knowing that, you know, you are so much into fitness. There is a connect that makes me believe that, you know, if Rinpoche can do this, and if he's saying this, then maybe even I have a chance.

Even I can follow it and transform myself in my life. When I see kids who go to the US to study, who have the opportunity to study in big institutions in India or UK, I tell them they're so fortunate. If I had gotten the opportunity, right now I'll be on, I'll be building a base on moon. I didn't have those opportunities. I just had Chachi Chaudhary and Nagraj. Yes, and from there we got to the Maserati. So I think, you know, people are not very grateful sometimes and they take things for granted. I don't think you should take things for granted. That's one of the reasons why I post my workout videos and photos on Instagram.

Not to show off. I really, I really don't like to show off. The purpose is to inspire people. That me, a reincarnation, a guru, whatever you want to call it, who lives in the Himalayas, who teaches and travels, who goes to all the remote villages of Ladakh and to all the remote cities and villages of our nation, who's always busy. If he can find time, two hours a day. Whether it's like my sister told yesterday. At 11 o'clock after traveling for nine hours, you will still come back and you will go to... 11 p.m. I work out until 12.31 a.m. And your dumbbells will carry with... will travel with you to your remote villages. That's one condition, you know.

You can invite me anywhere. My dumbbells come with me. I love that. So I find time. Time is always there. We say that there's no time. There is time. It was there before 24 hours, it still is. But you have to find time. So I find time for my workouts. So after this podcast, I'm going to go straight to my gym. I'm going to workout. I love that. I'll join you. Rinpoche, you've seen that, seen everything. You know, you've been a mog. You've done, you know, incredible penance. Three years, three months in a small room. You've then gone to Europe. You've created a fortune. You know, had a Maserati. And then you sold it and then you've come back.

And now my question is, I mean, is materialism bad? Is it bad to wear fancy clothes, earn money, want to earn money, have that successful business, that work in bag? How do you, it's a dichotomy in both places. How do you manage that? And how do you think about that? Your questions are very relatable. They're very intelligent and they're very modern. And they're exactly the questions that people ask a lot. So I don't think materialism itself is bad. In the olden days, maybe there was materialism. People used to own things, palaces, horses, you know, camels, I don't know what not. Tigers, they had their own zoos, they had slaves. You know, they had everything. There was materialism then.

There is still now. Materialism will never change. As long as you have phenomena, there is materialism and there will be materialism. Even in the, I guess, in the age of a stone man, you know, the Stone Age, people would have, somebody would have a fancy spear. Those are also materialism. I managed to hunt a saber-toothed tiger. So now I have warmer clothes. We managed to hunt down a woolly mammoth. Now we have his tusk, you know, we have his, I don't know. I mean, like we have more food. So materialism, I think, existed in the Stone Age. Existed in the Raja Maharaja's time and even now. So I think attachment is the problem. So I have a phone, right?

So whenever I upgrade my phone, the first thing I tell my Sivarimpuji, there is something called gravity and there's something called slipping. You know, so the phone might slip from your hand and because of gravity, it might hit the concrete and the screen might crack. So I remind myself that all compounded phenomena are impermanent. Compounded phenomena. Compounded phenomena. So anything that has been made together, materials, stuff, they are impermanent. So you need to remind yourself they are impermanent. Money is impermanent. Houses are impermanent. Even our meeting is impermanent. Even the money that we earn is impermanent. Everything is impermanent. So once you realize, once you understand and realize and keep reminding yourself that everything is impermanent, it kind of bakes into your consciousness.

So then you don't even have to think about it, like breathing. Like asking your name, what's your name? Divya. What's your name? You don't say like Dolly. You don't say, you know, I don't know, Sangeetha. What's your name? Divya. You know, after you inhale, you don't like, what should I do? Ah, exhale. You don't do that. It comes second nature. After blinking, your eyes open up, you know. So it becomes second nature to you. Likewise, this thing about realization of impermanence, by constantly reminding yourself also becomes second nature. So attachment, you lose. So next time, if you crash your car, if somebody steals your car, if you drop your phone, if you get some loss in your business, whatever.

Yeah, it's not very nice, but then it doesn't affect you that much. Because you know, this too will. Yeah, it will happen. Yeah, it will happen eventually. Money is to be spent. What is the point of having one billion dollars in your bank and dying 90 years old with your money? What's the point? You have to spend it. You have to buy cars. You have to buy houses. You have to, you know, travel. You have to donate. You have to do good things, whatever, however you want to spend it. So money is for spending. That's impermanent. And meeting people, whether you're separate by divorce, whether you're separate by mutual separation, whether you're separate by death, you have to separate.

So these are impermanent. So sooner or later, things are going to end and it's okay. It's not bad news. It's good news because it's liberating. So you know that it's going to end. So you appreciate it even more. Appreciate everything. Appreciate your friends. Tell them you love them. Hold their hands. Eat together with them. Scroll your phone. No problem. You know, do something productive. Respond to important messages. Check out some very important teachings given by people. Learn something new. Work out. Be happy. Enjoy. When you lift your weights, be happy that you're able to lift weights, that you don't have a, you know, injury that prevents you from lifting weights. When you're eating healthy, be thankful that you're aware that what to eat, what not to eat.

Many people don't know what to eat or what not. And yet we judge them for drinking too much Coca-Cola or eating too much junk food. They have no idea. They can't afford to eat healthy. So be thankful for these things. When you switch on the AC and it relieves you of the humidity and the heat, just feel the AC and just be happy and grateful. And enjoy that. Yeah. It's a beautiful place to be, you know. And it's okay sometimes if things don't go your way, no problem. It's okay not to be okay. The world doesn't end. Right? We're just a speck in this world, on this world. One person out of how many billions?

Three, four billions in the world? Roughly, I don't know what the population is. But yet we always behave like the world should spin around us. Around us. Our ego is that big. Right. Our ego is bigger than this. And if we don't do this, what will happen? Yes. And what's going to happen? Everything will be over. What's going to happen? We're so insignificant. We don't really matter that much. It's okay. Again, this is, I think that I think about a lot. Why we do certain things. Why we are in a certain place. Why am I shooting this podcast? Why am I running a particular business? And, you know, in this realm of reality, relative and existential, I'd love an answer to destiny versus free will.

Okay. Right? So how much of it is destined? That this was the dream, this is what was supposed to happen. And how much of it is something that you are controlling? And what do you control? And what just happens to you? So from a Buddhist perspective, whatever has happened until now is because of your past karma. Not only of your past life, but past lives. You don't know when a certain karma will come into fruition. It's like a bird flying in the sky. You don't know when the bird is going to land. But you do know that the bird has a shadow. But you don't know where the shadow is. You see the bird, right?

But you don't know where the shadow is. And you don't know what time the bird is going to land and when it's going to land. But when the bird lands, you say like, aha, the bird landed at 12 p.m. 1 p.m. at Naljuling in Ladakh. The bird does have a shadow. They touched. So we don't know when certain karmas will come into fruition. Only an enlightened being can know that. So whatever has happened until now, you've done a lot of things in the past. You've sown a lot of seeds. And you don't know which seeds will sprout when. So whatever has happened until now is because of your past karma. What is going to happen henceforth, it depends on your present karma or present actions.

That's where the teachings of morality, ethics, compassion, love, they really help. Because they teach you how to accumulate good karma, not only for Buddhahood, but also for this life. For the sake of your business, for the sake of your children, for the sake of your health. So that will be my answer. And in Buddhism, I don't know if you really believe in destiny, like you're destined to do that. You can change your destiny. You can change your karma also. So the way I see it is that, let's say you're suffering a lot, right? It basically means that you have accumulated bad karma from the past. Because if you accumulate good karma, you enjoy happiness. If you do bad karma, you suffer pain.

That is a direct correlation. So if you realize that you're suffering a great deal, you can actually change it. So it's not destiny. Destiny is something you cannot change. But karma is malleable. It can be changed. You can also cleanse your bad karma. It is like sowing seeds. Let's say you have seeds for flowers and seeds for cactus. And you've thrown a lot of seeds, flower seed, cactus seed. Now, obviously, you don't want cactus. They're painful, right? But you would much rather love like some flowers. So you have thrown a lot of seeds in the past. In this life and henceforth, if you continue to do bad things, if you continue to cause harm to others, it is like putting a rock on all the flower seeds and watering the cactuses.

So you're encouraging the cactus to grow and discouraging the beautiful flowers to not grow. But if you continue to do good things in this life, it's like putting a rock onto the cactus seeds and watering the flower seeds. So only flowers will sprout until the cactus seeds are rotten and they don't exist anymore. So karma can be cleansed. Karma can be changed. So good karma you do. So certain ways of cleansing karma and getting good karma is to do good things. Yeah, it is so many ways. You can be generous, help people. You can be kind to animals, help animals. You can be vegetarian. Yeah, become vegetarian. You can chant mantras. You can do certain meditations that are very powerful to cleanse your karma like the meditation of Vajrasattva.

It's specifically performed to cleanse your karma. It's a very powerful meditation that I once taught in Delhi at Green Park. And it's very powerful. We do it for many months. And it's very helpful to cleanse your karma. It's like cleaning your cup before you put some milk into it. What is this meditation like? This meditation is not very difficult, but you do need a qualified teacher who has the lineage to give you the transmission, to explain to you the procedure, to give you the oral transmission of the mantra. The mantra is a bit long and you have to memorize the mantra and recite the mantra. And there's a visualization that goes along with it. You have to perform it and you have to accumulate a certain number.

Yeah, so maybe next time. Rinpoche, you also spoke about suffering. And there's the anecdote of Buddha went, he was a prince, he went out, he saw suffering. And that's when he came back and he went on, he discovered the path of enlightenment. So I guess my question is that, and of course we talk about our current samsara full of suffering. So is suffering necessary for us to discover ourself? I mean, is pain a necessity? Can it be managed, controlled? How do you look at suffering? I really like your questions. Really thankful. Suffering is very necessary. One good aspect of suffering is that it gives you renunciation mind. It gives you the will to renounce certain things.

So when Buddha saw all these sufferings, it helped him renounce his palace and his princely estates, his riches. And then he went to the forest with his charioteer Chana. And then he cut his hair and donned some rags from a cemetery. So suffering inspires you. You can use suffering as an inspiration. Like I use my suffering to inspire myself to better educate myself. Like I said, I only went to school until the second grade and I had no option. If I wanted to study, I knew that I had to read. There's no other option. Nobody's going to explain to me how to read properly this and that. So I made lots of mistakes. While I was reading and conversing with people, I would sometimes say words that didn't make any sense, you know?

But then eventually by keep speaking to people, talking to people, meeting people, I kind of got better with my vocabulary, my grammar and everything. So my suffering inspired me to read. Buddha's suffering inspired him to become enlightened. So I don't know if we can really follow the Buddha the way he did things. And we don't necessarily have to. And we don't see some people when they say, follow the teacher, follow the Buddha. They don't mean literally. You can't. These are different times. You cannot, you know, just abandon your business that your forefathers worked so hard to build. And just say like, no, I'm going to become a sannyasin. I'm going to become a monk. I'm going to go to the forest.

You're not going to last more than two hours. Mosquitoes are going to bite you. Leeches are going to suck your blood. If you're lucky, a tiger might not attack you, you know? Snakes will not bite you. After one, two hours, you'll be a driver. Gare likana please, you know? And bring some band-aid and a bottle of water. So the thing is, it's not about, I think, renunciation in the same way that Buddha did. If you can do it, it's fine. I think it's more important to do inner renunciation, to renounce attachment to material things, to renounce grasping, to renounce jealousy. And instead of jealousy, to feel rejoice. Like if somebody is planning to buy a nice car, let's say a Porsche Boxster.

And you're happy that he's thinking of wishing to buy that car. So I'm going to tell him, like, I'm really happy you're buying that car. I feel very happy. I feel like I'm buying that car. So you also get good karma from that. So instead of jealousy, rejoice. Instead of anger, be patient. Instead of attachment, just let go. You know? Detachment. So on. So that's the real renunciation, Divya. It's not just, you know, cutting your hair and putting... Everybody can do that. When people are bad to you or nasty, and I think this happens with us so much, is when someone will... You know, and I don't like using the word. I don't understand the word enemy in current context.

But there are people around you who will hurt you for no reason of yours, who will talk badly. It could be a bad boss. It could just be someone going through, you know, who someone's hurting you. How do you treat that with compassion? And how do you, you know, how do you have a positive outlook and transformation towards this? How do you have compassion towards someone who's actively hurting you, your life, your career, your way forward? Another really good question. So. On the path towards enlightenment, according to Buddhism, you have to do certain deeds, take a generosity, discipline, etc. The hardest one is patience. As everybody knows, patience is very difficult. There is no worse sin than anger.

There is no harder merit than patience. Patience is very hard. So how do you practice patience? For example, you practice patience towards somebody whom you have never hurt before, who is hurting you for no reason, for no apparent reason. Obviously, you have started a cycle in your past life. So you are reaping, you know, the results of your own bad karma. That is the philosophy behind it. That is the reason behind it. But in this life, at least you cannot understand why somebody really just doesn't like you at all and keeps criticizing you. So Buddha said that in order to practice patience, you should practice patience towards somebody to whom you have never hurt, at least in this lifetime, consciously, and who just harms you for no reason.

He said those people are precious. Those people are more precious than jewels, diamonds. Cherish them because people usually don't harm you for no reason. There's usually a reason. You've poked somebody, he or she has heard something that you mentioned behind their backs. So usually people don't respond, you know, it's very rare for somebody to harm you without any reason. So when you find somebody like that, Buddha said, that's like a god. Cherish that person and really practice because those opportunities come very far and few. And there's so many techniques on how to do that. So that's one, that's the reason. And techniques you can do, for example, if somebody's harming you, somebody's, you know, being very unpleasant towards you.

Then you have to think, maybe in your past life, you have caused harm to this person. So you're just suffering the consequences. So if you respond, you're starting a new cycle. And then you're going to make him more angry. He will suffer from the consequences of the anger. You will also suffer. So basically, it's like boxing. You're just punching each other. You're just continuing. Yeah, you're just repeating the cycle over and over. You're like, this is eternal sparring in boxing. You know, you're going to get tired. Somebody's going to get hurt. Somebody's going to get hurt really bad. So, Russell Peters, I know. So the thing is that you have to break the cycle somewhere.

So you can break the cycle by being patient and by forgiving. So, yeah, if you find somebody who criticizes you for no reason, you should really cherish that person. Myself, you know, I've like, not many people who don't like me, but there are some. I don't know what karma I have with them in the past. But to those whom I don't know at all, and I know apparent reason, and they don't like me and they criticize me, I really usually you can check in the comments, you know, I try to defuse the situation when I can't, when they keep getting aggressive. And I know that maybe it's my fault from my past life. I fold my palms.

I send palm folding emojis. I send bowing emojis. I say, thank you so much. Thank you. And then they just disappear. They also get fed up, you know, this guy's not going to get angry. I can't provoke him. I'm trying to get under skin, but his skin is so thick. That he's not reacting. Yeah, and he's reacting, you know, like it's my fault. I'm the foolish. I tell them I'm the foolish. I'm the mad person. I'm not really likable, actually. I don't know why people like me. You know, I don't blame you. If I was you, I wouldn't like me either. Thank you for your comments. You know, please take care. They just lose interest.

They find somebody else to troll. Love that. So that last few last questions is, and this is a little bit more personal. And I will talk being a woman. You know, a woman takes a lot of roles, takes a lot of responsibilities. I also feel that the responsibilities and roles of women are changing in today's dynamics, in today's world. Maybe 50 years or 30 years later, a woman's role primarily was to be the caretaker. To be the mother, to take care of the house. You know, like auntie is really managing everything in the monastery today. But today, now women are also working. They are going out. They're equally involved in commerce, setting up businesses. At the same time, being moms, being daughters.

And it's a lot. And I feel that we are in this constant cycle of checking all the boxes. Of, you know, mom, daughter, child, this, that. And you're in this perpetual cycle of guilt. And this is something that literally, you know, any girl, any woman I speak to, is in. What is your advice to us? Guilt? Why? We're not doing enough. You know, we're not, you know, if it's at work, we've not. You're too kind. Yeah. You don't deserve that much love, actually. We're not doing enough. If you're, you know, with your child, if I'm in Ladakh, my kids are at home alone. So what is our advice and how do you think about it in today's context?

I would say that even though you might be a super mom, you're not Superman or superwoman. That you can't do everything perfectly. It is okay. That we all carry our individual karmas. Sometimes it's not the mother's fault. Sometimes it's just our fault from the past life. Whether it's the child, the husband, the grandfather, the uncle, the brother, whatever it is. It's quite complicated because we all have what I call karmic entanglements. Take care. So we can solve some of it with love and compassion and being there, fulfilling your role, like you said. As faithfully as you can. But we're not Buddhas. You know, we are ourselves bound. We are in the same cell of the jail of samsara with everybody else.

So we can't really do that much about it. Within the jail, you can share your food. You can alleviate somebody's suffering, but you can't sometimes solve all the problems. And it's okay. It's okay. But don't feel guilty. Yeah, don't feel guilty. I think being a mother, being a woman, I think it's a wonderful thing. Seriously. I really believe that I'm the closest, two people who are closest to me, my mother and my sister. Really. So if Balgharampuchi today is doing well, it's because of these two ladies, my mother and my sister. And all the ladies in my society who come here and help me in my monastery, all my members, all my followers. They're so hardworking.

We do have some really good men, but not as compared to women. Women are very powerful and times are changing. I think times are changing because I think the men's era is soon going to end, really. And it's good. And it's for good reason. I think it's high time that we have women. I think the she has a he, so there is definitely... Yeah. But also the thing is, I don't like the way that there should be a he and a she. You know, even in Ladakian language or Tibetan language, women is... Whenever you... The word woman, there is like none male. You know what I mean? Like there is a he, something has to do with the he.

I don't like it. So women have always been under the shadow of men. And men have brought the world to where it is right now. Because of too much arrogance, too much anger, too much fighting, too many wars. Women are more motherly. They think more long term. Right? They make really great decisions. So I think I really encourage women to step up and be more bold. Right. And not feel guilty. You know, you can't do everything perfectly. I can't do everything perfectly. Nobody can do everything perfectly. But yeah, so don't be too harsh on yourself. Keep boxing, keep gymming, keep swimming, keep driving, keep listening to music. You know, keep enjoying time with your child, with your husband, with your boyfriend, with your father.

You know, enjoy food. It will not always go according to plan and it's okay, no problem. Because it's not your fault. Everybody is carrying their own baggage of karma. Absolutely. It can be someone else's fault. Right? Why always blame yourself? Why always be so harsh on yourself? You're not the one exclusively carrying karma from the past. They didn't come with a clean sheet, you know. They also have a lot of baggage that they carry. That's really great advice. And any, I mean, what would your three teachings be in terms of three practices or four practices someone should start from now, taking forward, you know, to have that limitless mind and to have a life full of joy and happiness?

I would say meditate a little bit whenever you can find time, make time. Watching the breath meditation, very simple. You sit very still. You watch your breath. You can close your eyes while you're driving. You can watch your breath in between your sets while working out, while boxing, while you're resting. Just watch your breath, you know. While you're in a cafe waiting for your coffee to arrive, while the pilot has diverted your plane, waiting to take off from Chandigarh. Watch your breath. It really helps. Getting agitated and shouting doesn't help. So meditate. And when you meditate, you meditate for like five minutes or 10 minutes. And then you take a break. One, two minutes. And then you again meditate.

So you do short sessions multiple times because you're not used to it. The mind will resist. The mind is not used to sitting. The mind will resist. The mind will tell you, open your tablet. Watch Netflix. Respond to your call. Check your Instagram. Check the Reels. Blah, blah, blah. So you have to resist that. Mind is not used to sitting. The body can sit. So do it short sessions multiple times. First advice. Second advice would be to see the world not only through your eyes, but through your heart. You know, think from your heart. See from your heart. Use your heart more. You know. And try to see the world with the eyes of love and compassion.

Second advice. How you do it is up to you. Maybe in the next podcast, we can expand more upon it. Third one. Third one would be to chant some mantras. Yeah. Chant some mantras. The mantra of Avalokiteshwar, Om Mani Padme Om. Very powerful. The mantra of Maa Tara, Om Tara Tuttari Turi Swaha. Very powerful. The mantra of Guru Padmasambhava, Om Ahum Vajra Guru Padmasiddhahum. Very powerful. The mantra to cleanse your karma, Om Vajrasattvahum. The short one. Very powerful. So chant mantras. Doesn't matter what religion you belong to, what background. You're not converting, so don't worry. These are just universal tools to improve yourself. It's like a knife. It's like a spoon. It's like a fork.

Everybody needs knives, spoons, and forks. It's like haldi. It's like garam masala. You can't have tasty food without haldi and garam masala. It's like salt and sugar. So yeah, chant mantras. You're not cheating on your religion, you know. But you're improving yourself. You're transforming. Mantras are very transformative. So you're transforming yourself at a molecular level. At a very basic level. Chant mantras, meditate, be more compassionate, and be more loving. Beautiful. Guruji Rinpoche, can we maybe chant a mantra together now? Sure. I will chant the mantra of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion. Om Mani Padme Om Om Mani Padme Om Om Mani Padme Om So when you chant mantras, you can sing like I did. I'll be it with a bad voice.

But you can chant it normally like Om Mani Padme Om Om Mani Padme Om Om Mani Padme Om When you're driving, when you're walking, when you're running, when you're in the plane. Om Mani Padme Om Om Mani Padme Om Om Mani Padme Om Just chant. The resonance of the mantra itself, the frequency itself carries blessing. And it's very transformative. So don't think of the meaning. It's not necessary. It's like drinking water. You know, you know that water is good for you. It's good for your energy. Just drink it. It's good for your energy. Yeah. You don't have to think about how is water, why is water, you know. Why is water so strange? Why is it liquid?

You know, so on and so forth. So mantras are also like that. They're very essential. They're very natural. They're very fundamental. Just chant. Om Mani Padme Om Mani Padme Om Mani Padme Om Mani Padme Om That was beautiful. When you were chanting, I could feel the vibrations in my body, in this room. You know, I could hear that in my mind. That's because you have a compassionate heart. So you connect very fast with the mantra of compassion. It's beautiful. Because you're a mother and you're a daughter and you're a good friend, you know. You're a wife. You have a company. You work out. You take care of yourself. You take care of other people. So you're a very responsible person.

You're too kind. More people can aspire to become like you. Not at all. Thank you, Guruji. It has been absolutely exceptional. And so much learning for me personally, for our listeners. And this is definitely a transformational experience for me for my life. Thank you. Thank you.