In this podcast excerpt, the host (Speaker A) asks the author of The Practice of Immortality (Speaker B) about his upbringing in a monastery. Speaker B contrasts the regimented, clockwork routine of monastic life—rising at the same time, repeating protocols until mastery, and finding joy in simple, repetitive tasks—with the modern world’s constant novelty seeking, exemplified by trends like puppy yoga and endless Netflix choices. He explains how the monastery’s lack of material distractions forced children to create toys from sand and clay, cultivating patience, perseverance, and discipline. The conversation highlights how these early practices instilled a deep capacity for patience and a grounded character that persists today.
In your book The Practice of Immortality, you share insights of your early life. You grew up in a monastery. What was that like?
So monastery life is, is like clockwork. There is a lot of the same, um, you know. Sometimes I, I like to go to the Western yoga studios and just observe, and it's very nice. So my daughter, she She wanted to go to this class called puppy yoga. And it's the new thing right now, especially in California. So what they do is they get a bunch of puppies and then you do yoga. It's like the next big thing, it's the next new thing. And in the modern world, you're always looking for that, that newness, that novelty. Whereas life in the monastery, it was a lot of the same. Clockwork. We would do— get up in the morning at the same time, do the same protocols till the time we mastered them. And even after we mastered them, we saw there was so much that we could gain out of that protocol and what that protocol revealed to us about ourselves. So there was a lot of patience to be learned and a lot of joy in the mundane that can be derived, which I, I see there's a lot of stark differences in that life versus the life we live in the world right now, where we are spoiled with choices. I know children that I work with, they'll take half an hour to find something they want to watch on Netflix because there's so much of choice. And, and in the monastery, you didn't have anything, so You know, even when I was a kid, we wanted to make toys, we would make toys out of sand and, you know, wet them, use it as clay, and then heat them in the sun. So you derive joy from simple things, but a lot of patience, a lot of perseverance, and a lot of discipline. That's how you sum up monastery life. Yes.
So you spoke about the discipline in monastery life. How would you say that that has shaped your character today?
That is all that I know. And you know, how we live our life early on will decide how we interact with situations in the future. Discipline is a way of thinking. It molds you to look at a situation in a way that any problem or calamity can be conquered through perseverance. For example, a lot of the times we look at a situation and we think that, oh, the situation is stronger than us, oh, we are a victim of this situation, or oh, we don't deserve this situation, it has been thrown on us, and now we can't do anything about it. But discipline teaches us that with time and effort, anything can be attainable, anything can be achieved. Because the children in monastery, you know, they're shown a dream, and the dream that they are shown is the ultimate a human being can achieve, and that is enlightenment. So they are told simply in the beginning, in the beginning they are told just, just 4 simple sutras. The first sutra that they are told is, um, chetanya atma, which means all the children, you are God. Simple. You are God. You know, you, you are God. So anything that you'll ever learn about God, you are that. Anything that you will ever imagine God's powers to be, let lie within you. And the children get excited because which child does not want to be like God, like a superhero? And, and the second thing the children are told, that see, you are God but still you are God with amnesia. You have forgotten your powers and you will not have access to your powers because of, of, of your karmas, because of your belief systems, because of whatever mental attitude that, that you are growing up with. But the third thing that the children are told is, meaning discipline and effort. So correct effort and through discipline, if you continue, if you walk on the path with correct thought, with correct guidance, with discipline, with perseverance, then the outcome would be Shiv Tulyo Jayate. You will achieve that state in which you will become like you will become like Shiva. So imagine if this is the mindset with which you are raised, that it will be achieved. And the thing about enlightenment is you can't, you can't get it in a day or two days, you know, decades, decades of effort, years upon years of effort. So, so imagine if today I'm talking to a young, young child and then they say that, oh, I want to have a good physique, I want to have a good body. Yes, it takes effort. It will take a few years if you want to do it in a healthy, proper manner. But compare it to the effort of running after enlightenment— it is still less effort. But if that is the effort that you've done and you apply the same level of patience to anything else that will come in your life, then success will come easy. So, so yes, discipline has molded me to a great extent. Yes.
