Nachiketa, Manoj Muntashir, and Purity of Intent

Nachiketa was a small boy with a fearsome intellect. His father adored the curious nature of Nachiketa and often indulged him in many spiritual debates and discussions. One day, Nachiketa’s father decided to perform a Yagna — a fire ritual that is an ancient Vedic practice. He also donated many of his cows to Brahmins performing this ritual. Nachiketa noticed something odd. His father often spoke about detachment, purity of intent, and other esoteric concepts. However, he saw that his father was giving away old and sick cows and keeping all the healthy ones for themselves. Nachiketa could not stay silent beyond a point. He stood up and told his father that when he conducts a Yagna, he should give away some of his most precious possessions. He then challenged him by asking whom will he give him away to? Nachiketa’s father stood silent. How could a father think of giving away his son? Nachiketa did not relent. His father asked him the same question a few more times. In a fit of anger, his father spat out that he would give Nachiketa away to Yama — the god of Death.

Nachiketa bowed down to his father, requested his permission to leave, and walked off to find the halls of Yama. Since Yama was not there when he arrived, he waited outside the halls for three days and nights. He was so single-minded in his journey that a single drop of water did not pass through his lips during his wait. Finally, when Yama returned to his halls, he was amazed to see a little boy waiting for him. Since Nachiketa waited for three days and nights, Yama gave him three boons.

He used the first book to ask for his father’s material and spiritual welfare since he inspired him to make this journey.

He asked Yama for detailed explanations of all Vedic rituals as the second boon. Nachiketa wanted to spread this knowledge so people could walk the path to self-realization.

As the final boon, he asked Yama to reveal the secrets of Death. Yama balked and told him that he was not ready to receive such knowledge. Instead, Yama offered all the pleasures anyone could hope for in material life. The small child Nachiketa had such purity of intention and focus that he refused to be distracted by anything else that Yama promised. Finally, Yama realized that he could not sway this child and gave him the desired knowledge. If you are keen to learn more about what Yama shared with the child, I recommend reading A Dialogue with Death by Eknath Easwaran. It is a simple, practical, and beautiful book about the teachings of Katha Upanishad, which dates back to the 5th Century BC.

Applying this Wisdom At Work

Dr. Ken Robinson was one of the world’s foremost thinkers in education, exploring your passion, careers, and innovation. In his seminal book, Finding Your Element, he explores how you can discover your passion and nurture it. Here are a few beautiful quotes from his book.

You create your own life by how you see the world and your place in it. 

Ultimately, the two most important questions to ask yourself in the search for your passion are: what do you love, and what do you love about it?”

“The quest for your Element is really a two-way journey. It is an inward journey to explore what lies within you; it is an outward journey to explore opportunities in the world around you.”

We will use these three quotes to understand the life of Manoj Muntashir, a poet and writer whose life is an example of the single-minded pursuit of your passion. I have written 24 posts in the SD for Work series, and they have all been about corporate life. The next few weeks will focus on careers and life outside the corporate world.

Manoj Shukla was born in a village called Gauriganj in a brahmin family. His father alternated between farming and conducting religious rituals for neighboring families. He absolutely loved Urdu poetry and never compromised on his dream of painting the canvas of Hindi cinema with his words. He was twenty-one years old when he heard some poetry on the radio where the word “Muntashir” was mentioned. It meant “someone who is scattered.” He loved it so much that he adopted it as his pen name and started calling himself Manoj Muntashir. He now faced a dilemma regarding how to share this with the rest of the world. Manoj has seen his father live a very simple and humble life and knew he will never take Manoj’s dreams of poetry seriously. Since Manoj’s house was undergoing some modifications, he got his father’s permission to install a new nameplate. He then got the nameplate Manoj Muntashir installed in front of his house. The 21-year-old from Gauriganj has announced boldly that he was Manoj Muntashir and was coming to charm the country with his words in the future. His father got the shock of his life when he saw the new nameplate. He thought his son was going to convert to a different religion. It took a few days for him to conclude that his son had simply adopted a new pen name.

You create your own life by how you see the world and your place in it. 

Manoj was in class ten when he decided that writing and poetry would be the pillars of his life. He was a science student, and his parents were very proud of his education choices. After choosing poetry, he focused on his writing and studied barely enough to achieve passing grades. His father told him how much this decision would haunt him. Neighbors started suspecting he had lost his marbles because they would see him walking on his terrace in freezing winters mumbling to himself. Most creative professionals experience this state, called “State of Flow. Steven Kotler provides an excellent explanation about it.

Flow is defined as an optimal state of consciousness, a state where you feel your best and perform your best. More specifically, the term refers to those moments of rapt attention and total absorption when you get so focused on the task at hand that everything else disappears. Action and awareness merge. Your sense of self vanishes. Your sense of time distorts (either, typically, speeds up; or, occasionally, slows down). And throughout, all aspects of performance, both mental and physical, go through the roof.

Flow is addictive, and it powers your creative pursuits. Manoj encountered it when he wrote and spent the rest of his life in pursuit and service of the flow.

“Ultimately, the two most important questions to ask yourself in the search for your passion are: what do you love, and what do you love about it?”

Manoj moved to Mumbai to try and fulfill his dream of being a poet and writer in the Hindi film industry. Since he needed a place to stay, he tried approaching a few acquaintances who could not help him. He stayed for a couple of days in a paint godown where he did not even have enough space to stretch his legs. The chemicals in the paint also reacted with his skin and caused blisters. Finally, he decided to sleep on the road with the beggars of Mumbai city. He spent months with them. During the day, he would visit various studios or production houses to try and sell his work. The evenings would be spent writing and waiting for his “friends” to come back and join him on the roadside. He talks about how civilized society disappointed him daily, and these beggars supported him amazingly. He visited acquaintances, and they did not offer him a plate of food. The guards outside the production studios insulted him and chased him away.

Yet every day, these beggars took out a portion of their earnings and bought him his favorite food because they loved listening and talking to him. Manoj spoke of how he decided he deserved better than the footpath one fine day and ended up at a distant relative’s place. This person was a drunkard who mistreated him. Manoj almost gave up on his dream before realizing that the love he got from the beggars in the city should shape him and give him strength. Manoj finally met with a few key people, including Anup Jalota and Amitabh Bachchan, and launched a career that spans a wide range of television and cinematic work. He is the lyricist for this song which sends waves of emotion through every patriotic Indian. Today, Manoj lives the dream life with more money and recognition than he could ever have imagined. However, all that was a mere byproduct of the reward an artist gets when he continuously works on his craft with single-minded devotion.

“The quest for your Element is really a two-way journey. It is an inward journey to explore what lies within you; it is an outward journey to explore opportunities in the world around you.”

Spiritual Wisdom from This Tale

If you want to learn more about the story of Nachiketa or about Death, I recommend the following resources.

Death by Sadhguru

Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche

However, in this article, I want to focus on why Nachiketa got answers from Yama, or my Manoj succeeded in his quest while millions give up on their dreams every day.

My guru Om Swami once gave a beautiful discourse on the purity of intention. He gets many requests from people who request initiation, Sanyasa, or other spiritual blessings. He talks about purity of intention as the most critical criterion he looks for when he initiates anyone or gives Deeksha.

He says that if you want to do Mantra Sadhana, you need to find a place conducive to it where you can practice silence and be away from people. He adds that the social environment of an ashram is not the place for Sadhana. I want you to take a second to absorb this. In an age of social media influencers and growth hackers, my guru is driving people away from his ashram because he knows that true meditation and Sadhana requires a level of solitude and silence that cannot be found in social settings.

Swamiji narrates a story where a young man wants to trek to a temple on top of a mountain. This man wants to plan his journey, so he asks an old woman how much time it would take to climb this mountain. The old lady just stares blankly and remains mum. He repeats the question twice, and the lady just smiles at him. Puzzled, he starts walking, and she calls after him that it will take three hours. Surprised, he walks back to her and asks her why she did not tell him this earlier. She smiles and tells him it’s only after he begins walking that she can look at his speed and give him an accurate estimate. In a nutshell, my friends, that is the role of a guru in your lifetime. He will show you the path, define milestones based on your effort and speed, and pick up when you stumble. However, he can only do all this if your intention to walk the path is pure.

Nachiketa’s intention was pure, his focus was razor-sharp, and he had only one goal. In that case, even Yama, the god of Death, could not hold back knowledge from him. It’s the same case with Manoj Muntashir, who simply wanted to soak in the beauty of his craft and share it with the world.

In all honesty, I could have shared my learnings from the Tibetian Book of Living and Swamiji’s video of Death with you. However, that’s simply the knowledge I have acquired, not my realized experience. The state of flow in writing or the importance of a guru in life is a realized experience; hence it’s easier to share it with you.