Latest / Revolution of Purpose Podcast / ROP Episode 35 John Street Interviews Raj Malhotra Purpose as a Way of Life

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ROP Episode 35 John Street Interviews Raj Malhotra Purpose as a Way of Life · Revolution of Purpose Podcast

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What if purpose isn't something that you're supposed to find?
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What if purpose is something you're supposed to live?
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My guest today is someone that I've gotten to know over the past several months,
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and one of the things that fascinates me about him is that I don't see
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his purpose confined to just one area. I see it in the way
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he talks about God and his, his faith. I see
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it in the way that he talks about being a father. I see it in
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the way that he runs his business, and he cares for people who work through
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his company. I see it in his discipline, his health, his leadership,
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and even in the way that he's navigating times in his life where he
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started over. And that's what I want to explore today, is what does it actually
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look like when purpose becomes a way of living? Welcome to
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the Revolution of Purpose podcast. I'm your host, John Street, and each week
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we bring you conversations with thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and individuals who
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have aligned their life with purpose and created extraordinary
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So, I'm going to live through it and accept it radically with grace and
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hope and love. I mean, I would be proud to be in this council.
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It was an honor. I had so much fun. Tune in every Monday for the
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Revolution of Purpose solo show and every Thursday for Revolution of Purpose Conversation.
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Welcome back to the Revolution of Purpose podcast. My guest
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today is Raj Malhotra. Raj was born and raised
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in India in a business family. His journey has taken him through some fascinating
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chapters. He trained as a commercial pilot in Australia,
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ran a successful business in India, and then later,
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later he started over as a student in Canada and eventually
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became an entrepreneur who built a multi-million dollar recruitment and staffing
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business from the ground up. But when Raj sent me his bio,
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something immediately caught my attention. With all of those accomplishments,
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he didn't begin by telling me about his company or his or
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all of the revenue, he described himself first and foremost as
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a man of faith and a devoted father. And I think that tells us something
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important about the conversation that we're about to have.
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So, Raj, my friend, welcome to the Revolution of Purpose
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podcast. Hey, John, thank you for inviting me here. It's a pleasure.
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For some months which we have known each other,
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it's always been a pleasure knowing you and
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talking to you as well. Over the phones and the
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content we share with each other. I'm really grateful for that. And I'm grateful
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for being here with you. Thanks again. Thank you.
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You're so welcome. I'm so glad you're here, Raj. And I'll tell you,
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I start every Conversations episode of this podcast with the
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same question. So I'm looking forward to hearing your answer to this. Who are you
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today that your younger self would be proud of? Well, one thing
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which I have figured out about me is that I'm a
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continuous learner and the journey of learning and developing myself
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and to use the resources to make other people better around me is
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something I think my younger self is gonna be so proud of me.
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So that's amazing. And that's true. I mean, just from knowing you as long as
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I have, you absolutely, you lead with a service-first
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mentality. And I think that maybe that comes from how you see
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success and how you've seen it for years. Like, when you were growing up in
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India, what did a successful life look like
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to you? See, when we are raised in India, in our
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family, we have always been focused on being spiritual and
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faith. Faith always came first, and then family
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itself, because we, we've been raised in a joint family where we have,
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you know, our grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters,
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sister-in-laws. We used to live together in one place.
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So being in India, for us, learning these basic
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concepts of being spiritual, being religious,
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that starts at 3:00, early as early as 3:30
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in the morning. Our parents used to wake up and they used to wake us
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up to do certain rituals. And then being there for,
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because we were doing our family business there, so we always had employees.
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So I've seen, I've grown seeing my parents,
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my grandparents, and how they dealt with people over there. So that
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has shaped my fundamentals even,
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even from the start, even from the childhood. Awesome.
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So how did you end up from India and
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Canada? And it seemed like from your bio, I was shocked.
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I didn't even know that at some point you trained to be a commercial pilot
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in Australia. I never told you that. I never told you that. Yeah. What an
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interesting path in your journey. I didn't even know about that. So the commercial pilot
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was one thing which I did in Australia, Melbourne. I was there
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for, and that was back in 2006 and 2007.
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So since my childhood, you know, I think most of
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the kids, being a pilot fascinates people.
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I think so. And being a kid, I always admired
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how the pilots used to dress up, how they are, you know,
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disciplined, how they carry themselves and the
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health, all those concepts. Like since even my, since I was a kid, maybe as
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far as I remember, when I was in grade 1 or 2, I started fascinating,
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manifesting that I'm going to be a pilot. That's how it is.
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And then after my grade 12, I was grateful that, you know,
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my family was able to support me because it's not like everybody
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is able to do it. My parents and my family supported me and they sent
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me to Australia specifically, you know, to get a good education over
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there in Melbourne. So yes, it is a very interesting facet of
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my life. I lived that life, so I spent
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time, and then I went back home after finishing and
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getting all the licenses in Australia. So do you, do you ever think
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to yourself, huh, maybe I should fly again? Like, have you
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ever thought about flying private or anything like that, or having your own small plane?
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Yes, always. Why not? That's one of my vision dreams,
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actually. So when I moved to Canada, actually 2 years back, I did
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my medical as well. But due to some personal reasons, I couldn't pursue that
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as of yet. But that's already in my bucket list that probably the next
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year or the year after I'm gonna go for my PPL back again so that
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I can fly at least private. Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. It's already there.
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Yeah, I could totally see that. I could picture you in like
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the uniform with the wings and everything like that. Just, that seems to fit
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the Raj I know. Like we could create that with AI from— No,
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I have one picture. I will send you that over. I have that.
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Do that. From back from 2006. Yeah. So walk me
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through what life looked like once you got to Canada and
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you, You created your business there. What did
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that look like? How old were you at that time also, Raj? Well, funny thing,
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actually, I was doing my own business back home for 5, 6 years.
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When I finished my commercial pilot license there, went back
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to India. So we had family business. I joined my family business, grew that
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business on pan-India basis. But there were certain things happening because I lived
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in Australia for some time. I knew the quality of life. And the ideology
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in India, the people were a little different. I tried to adjust to that
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ideology. I tried, but for 5, 6 years when I was
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at the verge, it's like, because that started to change my value system doing business
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in India, which I was not liking. So that gave
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me an indication of, you know, I need to look somewhere else.
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That's when I took a couple of years to wrap up my business, and then
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I decided to come to Canada. The funny thing about what happened
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in Canada. So I came from a country where it
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was December, came from +10 and landed in Winnipeg in -40.
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Oh my God. So that night, Celsius, I'm assuming. That night I can
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never forget. You know, I stepped, I, you know, if you have never
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seen -40, if you have never been, you don't know how it feels like.
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I don't know if you know that. I didn't know.
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I don't think so. So I landed, I was like, okay, -40, we'll see.
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The moment I stepped outside the airport or,
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you know, outside just the gate, it was like a freaking
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hell, as in, you know, the continuous freezer. And within
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5 seconds, hands were freezing within 5 seconds. So I
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had to go back, put on more layers.
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That night I can never forget. So did you think at any point,
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what have I done? Did you wonder if you made the right
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decision? No, it was always the right decision, you know, because we made— when we
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make a decision, decision. See, this is what I follow. It's one of my principles,
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as in if I make a decision, I give it a very thorough— how
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about it? Like, I think about it, I make— put
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all the variables in there, then I make a decision, and then whatever the consequences,
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I'm gonna own it. So no, I never said, oh, what a decision I made.
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No, because I— then I got excited. It's winters,
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you know, it's okay. The very second or third day, I was walking in -40.
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There were people in Winnipeg The thing is, when you go there, you see
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other people are also living the life. So yes, you can
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be miserable. At the other end, if you can enjoy the weather,
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it is— you can enjoy the weather, go out. Just you gotta
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layer up properly, have the proper clothing.
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And then we did ice skating on the river there. We did
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a heckload of things. So no, so it was actually turned out
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one of the most memorable time for me in Winnipeg. And the other
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thing is, for me, I have another— I have a filter in my—
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I don't have that filter in my mind where people think it's some— something
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is hard. For me, it's as equivalent as we,
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we breathe or we eat. So it's something you have to do
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it, you have to do it. So, so I came, I landed,
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I came to Winnipeg as an international student. Uh,
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I did the master's in international business at Red River College there, and from
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there I pursued, you know, In the summers itself, I got
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a job. When I— then I moved to Toronto for some time for my summer
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job. Then I have, within the same job, I traveled Edmonton, Calgary,
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Winnipeg. Within the same job, I traveled a lot just within
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my summer job within 2 months. So back to your
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question, did I ever think it was— oh, what decision I made? No, I actually
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was lucky that I was able to see that weather of
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what real Canada is. That's a great thing. I mean,
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we talk about how nothing happens to us, it all happens for us, and that's
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a decision that we make. We have to keep that perception. It's the
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only way we can get off a plane and it's -40. You have
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to find the positive really quickly or you're going to be miserable until
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spring comes. So I think that's, that's a
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great way to kind of— one of the incidents I still remember because, you know,
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it was all snow for up to It was one of the harshest winters
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we had at the time. It was 2014 winter, up to 3 months,
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because, you know, that was the first time I landed in Winnipeg. And for up
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to 3 months, I couldn't even see any roads there. It was all covered with
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snow. So by the first week or second week of April, when the snow started
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to melt, I still remember I called up my friends at home.
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I sent them a picture. Guys, here is— there are roads
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in Winnipeg. So So for 3, 4 months,
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just all ice. Yeah, like, I was so happy to see that.
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So yeah, things change. And by
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the summer, you're like, there's actually grass here, like green things
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grow. Yes, yes, yes. Otherwise, the winters were so harsh, so harsh
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that time. Wow. Well, I'm so glad that you had such a positive attitude,
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and I'm not surprised one bit because that's, that's from, from getting
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to know you so far, that's what I see in you so often. You know,
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one thing that's underneath sort of all the chapters of your life,
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whether it was from India, Australia, and Canada,
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starting a business, flying, all of that, I've noticed that
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your faith seems to be like what girds you, like your
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faith is your support. And I know, you know, from chatting, you were raised
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Hindu, and today you probably consider yourself more spiritual than
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religious. What has changed in what you believe about God?
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And maybe what even hasn't changed? Is there anything that you believe in
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even deeper now? Yeah, definitely. Yes, I have been born
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and raised as Hindu. So being Hindu actually gave us the foundation of
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prayer, gave us the foundation of discipline as well, gave us structure
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how to do certain things. And but at the same time,
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there are some taboos being, you know, follow a religion.
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And I don't believe— I believe in liberation, you know, the religion
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or anything which you follow should give you more free mindset,
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you know, you should be free, you should be not bound by
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certain things, certain foundations helped give you structure, but that's
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a good thing. But certain things where it's a fear-based system—
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you do this, it's gonna happen, you do this— sometimes I have seen
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people, they are really good, but their intentions are not good.
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They're doing good stuff, but they're being, you know,
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deceiving. They've been angry at home. So why is it
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that people, they try to show they are religious, at the same time
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they are not displaying the the character
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which it should carry on with that particular. So again, I'm not gonna—
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I'm not talking about everybody, but this is what I have seen.
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At the same time, when I came to Canada, I saw people—
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okay, let's put it this way. In India, if somebody is drinking or
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somebody's eating, even eating meat or even eating eggs,
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they've been labeled, you're the bad guys, or, you know, you're doing
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these things, so you're gonna be a devil. Kind of a thing. When I moved
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to Canada, or when I was in Australia as well, I saw people were
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doing all these things, but they are kinder, you know. They are behaving
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properly. They are not judging anyone. They are living their life happy. So I think
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that is one of the things which changed in me fundamentally
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when I saw those things. But at the same time, it's always
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in me as well, you know, to be a better person, to be a good
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person as well at the same time. So for me,
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what changed is then I started to see other people from
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different religions talking about the same things. So religion
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could be a part, but it should not control you.
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But so that's what— that's where I pivoted from
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being religious to being spiritual, you know, to work on yourself,
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to work on your inner self, to be a better person,
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to be a better father. Fatherhood changed a lot of things in me,
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actually. I think most of the transitions happened
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once after my fatherhood. Before that, even still, I was still a boy, you know,
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doing different things. Being a father, it's definitely
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the meaning of growth was changed. So to me, you know,
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you can teach somebody, you can tell them you can do this thing,
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you can do that. So what I believed is my son,
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awesome, he's watching me more than listening to me.
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Yeah. So to me, one of the big lessons which I learned immediately
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after being a father is sharing, actually, you know,
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that, you know, the kid is small. So first he's gonna feed,
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first we have to take care of him, then we're gonna take care of ourselves.
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So all these things have shaped me from
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a way, just not being religious, but being a better
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person and have faith and follow the spirituality.
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So that's huge. That fundamentally changed me. Mm-hmm. I love what you
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said about, about your son and, and how he's watching you
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too. And he's, you know, you're creating this example for him. I remember
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there used to be this old saying growing up in the Southeastern United States.
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My parents would say, little pictures have big ears, and they
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were referring to children. And so many times, you know, you'd have children and
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adults just forget they're even in the room. But they're listening, they're watching,
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they're seeing the things that adults are doing, and they're learning.
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And unbeknownst to the adults, they're instilling in those children beliefs
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that they're going to keep with them for years. Sometimes those are limiting beliefs,
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sometimes those are empowering beliefs, but they're putting beliefs
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in by how they're presenting their example in front of their kids. Yeah. So to
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me, as I said, you know, being a father has changed me overall.
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The way I see life, the way I see myself, the way I see others.
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At the same time, it gave me patience. One of the big things I think
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kids— if you are gonna handle the kids, you have to be very patient,
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you have to be loving, you have to be kind. And more importantly,
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you don't know you're eating something, the same time kid is gonna come and take
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the food from your, from your hand. So you cannot get angry
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on your, on your kid, you know. That's where you learn sharing.
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So yeah, that was one of the things actually used to be before
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my son. I was a person, if I'm eating my— if I'm
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eating something in my plate, I couldn't share it with anybody because, okay, this is
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the measured portion, this is what I'm going to eat. But after a son,
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things changed. That's awesome. And I'm sure you probably
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now are just like, whatever I have is his, you know.
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You're, you're just so willing to give because he's a part of you, you know.
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Your son. There's— that's so important. So how would you say
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you describe God today? Wow, that's a difficult
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question. That's a difficult question, defining God. God.
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So I think there are different concepts
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out there. We say God, we say universe, we say oneness.
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At the same time, we say it's one, but at the same time, we say
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it's infinite. At the same time, we hear it says nothingless.
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So I don't know how do you define God. I think God is your faith.
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If you believe he exists, then he exists. If you don't
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believe, it doesn't exist. To me, if we talk about energies, if we talk
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about, you know, those aspects, because now it's
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science proven that we are particles, you know, particles are vibrating.
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If the things vibrate, they carry the frequencies.
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Frequencies carry energy. Energy carries information. So I think there is something
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which is happening, which is which even science is not
18:06
able to figure out. So God or faith, I think your
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faith represents your God. And I believe in universe
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now. You know, the universe is something we are all connected.
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We say we come from oneness, from one soul,
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right? Then the souls get separated from the one main
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soul. I think that's how we are able to connect. Maybe we
18:30
had that sort of connection back then. So when did we get separate
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at the same time? I don't know. These are different concepts. But if you try
18:39
to make sense out of it, it will make sense. If it's nonsense, it's nonsense.
18:42
So to me, I think faith is the God. Yeah.
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One of my favorite quotes, and I think you and I have talked about this
18:48
once before too, is from Rumi. You know, we are not
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a drop in the ocean. We are the entire ocean in one drop. Yeah.
18:56
And I think that goes so well with what you're saying. We are all connected.
19:00
And I, you know, I think that it even comes
19:04
back down to like quantum entanglement or, or things,
19:08
you know, where, you know, you can, you can affect
19:12
an atom in one place and then it's felt in another. And like you said,
19:15
it's— we're just all connected. And, you know, I think
19:19
that when we are trying to live our highest selves, when we're trying to live
19:23
our purpose, then we are showing God, at least through the best nature
19:27
of humans that we can. Yep. Does that make sense? Definitely.
19:31
You know, it's the same way to say, actually, you know, I was reading about—
19:35
so we are the spiritual being having human experience.
19:38
It's not that we are the humans have the spiritual experience. No, it's we
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are this. Because see, look at the timeline. Having this human experience
19:46
could be what, 80 years, 90 years, max 100 years? But we talk about
19:50
spirit or soul that has no age. So we are spiritual, we are
19:54
passing through this human experience. So we have to make sure
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we are blessed to have this human experience and we make the best out of
20:02
it. So yeah, we are all connected. I love that. So one way
20:06
that you connect to Source, to God,
20:10
from what you've told me, is your meditation practice. Can you kind of tell us
20:14
what that looks like? Like, what is a morning for Raj? You know, what time
20:18
does it start and what does it look like? Please pardon this interruption to your
20:21
podcast episode. This will not take but a minute. Before we continue, I want to
20:24
ask you something. Do you know that you're capable of more, but your life
20:28
right now just isn't fully reflecting the person you know
20:32
you can become? Then I want to personally invite you to schedule a Shift
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Mindset call with me. This Shift Mindset experience is
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something that I created to help you identify one decision
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that you can make that will shift your life. And when I say that this
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is a call with me, I mean exactly that. This is a live,
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one-on-one personal call between you and I.
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This is not prerecorded. This is not a member of my team. It is
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you and I having a real coaching conversation about your life, and it does
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not cost you any money. It is a 45-minute exchange
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of time. I'll give you 30 minutes of my best mindset coaching to help you
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someone else to create their best life through also living
21:46
their own revolution of purpose. Now let's get you back to
21:50
the Revolution of Purpose podcast. I'll start with it. But I don't— I've never
21:55
said that I connect to God. It's I connect to myself, to my inner
21:59
self. So my practice is pretty much I— every morning I
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wake up around 3:30, 3:40 in the morning, I wake
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up. And the first thing is, so there are some steps I do. I always
22:11
make sure when I wake up, the first thing, I don't put on any footwear.
22:14
I have to be barefoot for some time. Then right away— grounding,
22:18
grounding, you can say it's grounding. So you start with grounding. Then the second
22:22
thing is either I take a cold shower or I take a cold
22:26
face wash right away so that we get connected to the
22:30
pineal gland. That's how the nerves work so that you get activated.
22:33
Then I do a couple of physical exercises so that I
22:37
prepare myself for So there is a very
22:41
thin line because you need to make sure you're not going to wake up
22:44
fully at the same time, but your body has to be in a state
22:48
where you can observe things. Otherwise you're going to fall asleep as
22:52
well. So it takes time actually. Every day it
22:56
takes me a good time to practice that. And so that's
22:59
then, and then the 4th thing which I do is,
23:02
you know, I grab a glass of water. It's an overnight water.
23:06
I keep it for at least 12 hours. So water has to be stable.
23:09
Because if we drink water right from the tap, it carries
23:13
the vibrating energy. You want the water to be very stable,
23:18
calm in the morning. Then I put it in a glass
23:22
and then I hold it with both of my hands close to my heart.
23:26
Then I do a prayer. Since my grade 4, I follow
23:31
a guru. We have some mantras with us which I'm not at
23:34
the freedom to say here because that's only been given by the
23:38
guru. So I do that morning mantra, which is around 5 minutes, so that
23:43
I give that energy to the water. Then you have to make the
23:46
water alive as well at the same time. Then I do some breath.
23:50
I pass on some breath to water so that water becomes alive at
23:55
the same time. Then you drink it slowly, sip by sip, so you can
23:59
feel the water. At the same time, you are being grateful to
24:03
the water. Just think about what is life without water. Nothing. So that's
24:08
what I do. And then I go on to, so I do Wim
24:11
Hof. Before that, I do something called, before Wim
24:15
Hof, I do that we call in India called Nadi Shuddhi. So it's like
24:19
balancing of the left and right nostril. Then I go
24:23
into the Wim Hof breath. So the Wim Hof breath, actually the fun, you know,
24:28
I started the Wim Hof breath for immunity. I was,
24:32
because I was already doing my own practices, but I was not doing meditation
24:36
before. I didn't know even meditation. What meditation was. For me, I never
24:41
practiced meditation. If you would have asked me before, do you do meditation? No,
24:44
I don't do meditation. I do breathwork. I do breath because
24:47
to me breath is— but breath is the part of meditation which
24:51
helps you go there because that's what you do in meditation. You control your breath,
24:55
you monitor your breath. For me, I did the Wim Hof breathwork
24:59
to increase my immunity, to work on my cells, for my lungs.
25:03
It was— I started it after having my 4th COVID shot.
25:07
My immunity went way down. So that's when I came to
25:11
know about Wim Hof. So for me, I practice Wim Hof for at least 25
25:15
to 30 minutes every morning. In that, you do double breath in, 2 breaths in,
25:18
but in a very different way. And then you exhale.
25:21
After those 30 breaths, after the exhale, you stop breathing.
25:25
It's more like practicing being dead. So when you do that, see,
25:29
initially when I used to do it, I used to have so many thoughts initially.
25:34
Now I've been doing it for more than 3 years now.
25:38
So when I have done it now, for me going into the nothingness
25:42
is I go right away, like probably in the second or third practice.
25:45
So there are programs, so there are sets. So one set, second set,
25:49
third set, fourth set. So before I used to take, it used to take me
25:52
5, 6, 7 sets to go there, to calm down my mind,
25:56
you know, to all the thoughts come in, the past thoughts,
25:59
the future thoughts, you're not being present. That we call the sweet
26:03
spot of being present. You're not linking yourself
26:07
to what's going to happen in the predictable future. You are not linking yourself to
26:11
what happened in the past. You are going into the unknown of
26:15
being present. When you go there, you open up the abundance.
26:19
You're letting the unknown get into your life. I didn't know these things
26:23
before when I started these things. That's the big part. So after
26:27
that, I do a grateful— so once Wim Hof breath is done, Then I
26:31
do a grateful practice. And after grateful, there comes 5 minutes
26:36
of stillness with eyes open, which you're just being there,
26:40
nothing else. So this is my whole practice. Then I go back
26:43
into some sort of 10 to 15 minutes. I don't say it's
26:48
a sleep, but you know what you have felt in all these processes,
26:52
then you go back and then you can have some visions actually.
26:57
Either you can have the visions or once recently I traveled 30
27:01
years in the future. I don't want to say what exactly happened,
27:05
but I, and I was so shocked that it happened. And then
27:08
I, in one of the time I faced, I was in the 4th or 5th
27:12
realm somewhere where I was, you know, there are layers of your mind.
27:16
I was in the 4th or 5th layer of my mind because every time I
27:20
was dropping back, dropping back, I was still not waking up. I was like,
27:23
what is going on? And when I finally woke up,
27:27
I called up my mom to confirm whether I am back or not,
27:30
because I was not able to figure out that what's
27:34
happening here, because I kept on, you know, it's like falling back from
27:38
the flows and you're still not at that deep meditation when you have to call
27:41
someone to make sure that you've come back. It was, it was scary.
27:45
Very deep. Yeah, it was very scary for me. And the thing is, I was
27:49
not sleeping. I was not lying on the bed. I was in my— like,
27:53
how to put it? It's not sleeping because I have some music going on in
27:56
the back. I'm listening to the music, and these things, all these things were happening.
28:00
So this is what happened. So this is my whole everyday practice
28:04
of being there, and it all started in the last 2 and a half
28:09
years. It was not there before, John. I had the strong foundation
28:12
of being faith, spiritual, being religious. Those things have helped
28:16
me to get into that, to get into the connection of these things
28:20
that we could get connected. But I had no idea what meditation
28:24
is. As I said, I never did meditation. I started with breathwork
28:28
for my immunity. And that, yeah, in one of the
28:32
times when I was doing breathwork, I felt nothingness. And I still remember
28:37
that visually. I was like, what happened? Where was
28:41
I? Very different, very different experience. So that's amazing. You know, and there
28:45
is so much power in breathwork. And I think a lot of people don't realize
28:49
that. We hear about meditation and maybe we even hear about visualization,
28:52
but especially if people are listening to this from the Western type
28:57
societies like the United States, Canada, places like that, even Great Britain,
29:01
you don't hear as much about the breathwork. But I did a very powerful
29:06
retreat at Art of Living, which is in North Carolina, but they also
29:10
have another Art of Living in India. With Gurudev, and we did
29:14
sky breathing, and we did, we, you know, we did some Wim Hof,
29:17
and it kind of got us ready for sky breathing and things.
29:20
And I mean, for 3 days, that, that just ended up being one of the
29:23
most powerful retreats I've ever done, all about breathwork. And then I
29:27
loved it, and I still carry those principles and those, those actions
29:32
with me, you know, and, and have incorporated
29:36
them into part of my morning routine as well. I don't think to the same
29:38
level maybe as you have, but I, I do. And, you know,
29:41
there's some other breathing practices that, you know, if people have trouble going to
29:45
sleep, just even some box breathing, things like that will help just settle
29:49
their nervous system, help them be able to calm and enter that state
29:53
of rest. And there's a lot to be said for water,
29:57
like you said, for breathing, like the basic tenets of what
30:02
gives us life. But we get so busy with life that we
30:06
don't give the proper respect or time to the actual life
30:09
that is giving us the life force. And so Yeah, I think that's an amazing
30:13
part of your journey, you know. And I'm fascinated, you know,
30:16
not just by what people believe and the different beliefs
30:20
that we have, but I'm also fascinated to how those beliefs transform
30:24
us into our identity and who we become. And so how would
30:29
you say your, your meditation practice is transforming
30:33
how you live the rest of your life, like especially your business,
30:37
for instance? You know, I think we could probably see the fingerprints
30:40
of God and your purpose all over your business.
30:44
And you've built a very successful staffing and recruiting company
30:48
across Canada. When we talk about it, how would you say that your
30:51
faith is helping you run your business? See, how to
30:55
put it? If I do meditation, you know, my buddy's meditation—
30:59
meditation is bringing you at the moment, right? And it's
31:03
a continuous practice. So meditation is not something which you do in the morning.
31:07
Meditation has to carry forward the whole day. So that's what
31:11
our guru told us all the time. If you are praying, you should pray
31:15
while eating, you should pray while breathing, you should pray while sleeping. So we
31:19
have to practice. Why? What happened is then you started to observe
31:22
things rather than immediately reacting. So it's not only business, it's every
31:27
aspect of life. When you are— because, okay, in business, let's talk
31:31
about that. In business, you're dealing with people, you know, and things can
31:35
go south, things can go north. But if you are not at the present moment,
31:39
then just reacting to those situations, how are you going to
31:43
end up being? So it helps. And especially in today's
31:47
environment, we don't know what's happening with the economy all around the
31:51
globe right now. And it's every business, the people who are doing IT
31:55
jobs, they are so much insecure.
31:59
So if we start reacting to that rather than observing them,
32:03
what happens is it blocks us to see the opportunities as well at the same
32:06
time. Because you have just this much energy. Now all
32:10
that energy is wasting in reaction.
32:14
It's also called power of noticing. So if you don't have that spare
32:18
energy with you, you're gonna stop reacting or stop
32:21
observing the positive things which are gonna happen in front of
32:26
you because you are only gonna expect the negative thing. So the meditation
32:29
taught me how to observe rather than immediately react.
32:34
I think that's what I can explain. And the faith, which is one
32:37
thing which helped me to understand that we don't
32:41
control everything. We can only control what we— so this is how
32:45
I work. So I started making a box.
32:48
So if I think of anything, I put it, is it inside the box
32:52
or outside the box? If it's outside the box, that's not in my control,
32:56
so I don't worry about it. Yes, it gives me chills. I'm not going
33:00
to say it doesn't. But how long I'm gonna stay with that emotion, that matters
33:04
a lot. So before, I used to spend the whole day, maybe a whole 2
33:08
days. Now, if something happens, yes, I feel it, I sit through it,
33:12
but I spend that much energy which I think is meant
33:16
for it. I process it because at the end, you have to take certain steps.
33:20
And spirituality, if we talk about that,
33:23
see, it helps me to process your ego. I practice
33:27
detachment. Detachment is a very different word. You know, people have different
33:32
meanings of detachment, which I can tell you what it means to me. You know,
33:35
it helps me control my fear and the need for control.
33:38
So the detachment to me is, I see, I love making money. I'm not
33:42
gonna say that, man, because, you know, I'm in the business. But at the same
33:45
time, I love creating results. I'm a system
33:49
operator. Like, how to put it? If I get good
33:53
results, that makes me happy. I totally understand. If the results are not
33:57
going to be there, it's going to make me sad. But how about think about
34:00
this thing? You focus on your efforts. If you have done the efforts,
34:04
don't attach yourself with the consequence there. But you want
34:08
the outcomes, but you should not affect your
34:12
mindset. It's just craving for something, but at the same time,
34:16
you're not worrying about losing too.
34:19
It takes a lot of work, actually, a lot of work. And it
34:22
came from me When I went through some family issues and then
34:26
it came, my son came into the picture and I have been
34:30
able to process those emotions when I use these formulas. I put it,
34:34
I'm saying formulas, people can say framework, whatever it
34:39
is. So that's what, that's how meditation,
34:43
faith, and spirituality helped me, not just in business, but being
34:47
fatherhood, being a leader, being someone who can be
34:50
present for others and how to be a better person
34:54
every day. Being able to let go of that worry and practice detachment
34:58
that you mentioned is a key to people living in
35:02
contentment, I truly believe. And I think a lot of us don't realize
35:06
that we're so worried about the outcome in the future,
35:10
or we're so guilt-ridden from something we've done
35:14
in the past. Both of those things are keeping us from living fully contented and
35:18
enlightened in the present. And so if,
35:21
if what you are doing and the way that you practice your faith and
35:25
the meditation and the breathwork and all of that is leading you to
35:29
let go of worry, to let go of outcomes and
35:33
live in the present, I think that right there shows why you
35:37
are seeing so much success and why your light is shining so bright,
35:41
you know, from your business and everybody else that you come in contact
35:46
with. John, I'm being very grateful and I just say one thing. I'm just doing
35:49
my work, but it's God's grace. Which is helping me to passing through it.
35:54
Honestly, in the last 2-3 years, I've gone
35:57
through some hard time. And when I went through that, I practiced
36:01
how to surrender. So I surrendered everything. When I
36:05
surrendered everything, everything grew actually. I'm like, what,
36:09
what is this going on? I surrendered and things grew.
36:13
Before, I was, I was, you know, I was running towards
36:16
them, they were running away from me. Then when I surrendered, they started
36:20
coming back. I was like, okay. So that's amazing. I practiced
36:24
that. Almost like it's not all up to you, right? So one thing I always
36:27
tell my team, you know, when I practice these things, this is the line
36:32
I always use. When the waves come, become the rock.
36:36
Not because the rock controls the ocean, but because it
36:40
learns how to remain grounded while the ocean moves around.
36:43
So the chaos in calmness, that is a big formula for me
36:47
right now. Yeah, I love that. The chaos and calmness.
36:51
And I got, you know, people told me this thing, came to me on my
36:54
feed. You know, everybody's talking about it. I think so
36:59
many people have, and this is something I was practicing it. I didn't know that
37:03
people are start to observing it as well at the same time. They came to
37:06
me and said, how come in, like all these things are happening and
37:10
you're still so calm? Because that's
37:13
like, at the same time these things happen, this happened, personal,
37:17
business, and, you know, I'm in the middle of the chaos and I'm still sitting
37:20
silently. So I was actually surprised with it that
37:24
people start to see that. And I want to keep working on it because I
37:27
want to stay humble. We are human beings, mistakes are going to happen.
37:31
So I always ask for forgiveness. I always ask for
37:36
to growth and to be grateful at the same time. That's amazing. I think
37:40
it's so important to stay surrendered and also to have
37:45
that humility, like you said, that we're growing, but we're growing with grace
37:49
and we're growing with mercy. And I think that's amazing that you see that in
37:54
your own life. And one other question that I, I want to make
37:58
sure that I touch on today that I think is important to your story and
38:02
important to you is Being an immigrant in Canada
38:06
and being an immigrant in general, has that affected the
38:10
way that you run your business? I know advocacy
38:13
for immigrants is very important to you and close to your heart. How has
38:17
being an immigrant kind of affected the way that you, you operate?
38:22
It's a big part being an immigrant because we come— when we
38:26
come, we have seen the pain, you know, settling into a new
38:30
country, leaving your country behind and adjusting yourselves with the
38:34
new culture, things take time. So during
38:38
one of my initial years when I was working for a company,
38:42
I was a national recruitment manager for them. I didn't
38:45
know about, honestly,
38:48
that how the people can exploit immigrants because I never faced that
38:53
myself. By God's grace, I was always, I always got the right opportunity
38:57
and I got in. So I didn't know the other
39:00
side of how the immigrants sometimes being treated.
39:04
And during one of the, one of the time there,
39:08
I was paying the workers, I hired them, and they were, they came to collect
39:12
the payments from the office. And I still remember that, like, it's so visual
39:16
to me is there were 2 guys,
39:19
20, 19, 20-year-old boys, they were in front of me,
39:22
and I'm giving them the checks. Okay, you know, this is your last week's pay.
39:26
Friday is the payday. They got tears in their eyes. This is very
39:30
close to me because when I saw like, why are they crying?
39:33
Not crying, but tears in their eyes. They said the previous employer
39:37
they were working with, they didn't pay them for at least 3-4
39:41
weeks and their pay is still pending. And they didn't know
39:45
that they are going to be being treated with that respect.
39:49
So that changed my life in a way that,
39:52
that gave me a purpose of staying in this business,
39:56
actually. Yes, I want to make money at the same time. This business is an
40:00
opportunity, but on the other hand, that gave me a sense
40:04
of purpose, you know, being a connection between the people.
40:07
I've been doing business since September 2019,
40:11
and John, not even one week went by that the workers didn't
40:16
get paid on Friday. In our company, it's a
40:20
formula here. Every worker is getting paid every Friday.
40:24
Regardless. So since September 29th,
40:28
not even one week went by that, you know, that a pay is missed.
40:32
No, never. So that I can proudly say. That's amazing.
40:35
And so many people listening to this may not even understand that that is an
40:39
issue until they hear that. But, you know,
40:42
I, I know in the States I've seen that happen as well.
40:46
And I told you that I've seen where people have told me, you know,
40:49
hey, I My, my employer hasn't paid me for several weeks.
40:53
And especially if there's someone who is immigrant, they don't even have the power
40:57
to speak up. They don't have the voice to speak up. And so the fact
41:00
that you're leading by example with your company, not only are
41:03
you giving them a place to work where they're going to be paid
41:07
well and they're appreciated and you're serving in that way,
41:10
but you're also giving them hope and inspiration of what they
41:14
can aspire to, that they can also come to this country, start a
41:18
business, that they can grow it as well. And I think that's also part
41:22
of your purpose too. Yes. And I'm, as you
41:26
said initially as well, you know, John, that the purpose is not something you discover
41:29
and discover one day. It's something you live into it.
41:34
So yes, so I'm living into it and I'm still exploring what
41:38
it is. Well, and you may have just answered my final question for
41:42
you with that answer, but I was going to ask you, what is one thing
41:44
about purpose that you think most people are missing? Again, as I said,
41:48
you know, purpose is something you're gonna keep exploring yourself and
41:52
you're gonna keep living into it. You know, if you find something today,
41:55
believe in that. Don't think that you have figured out your life in that
41:59
particular moment because life is changing, everything is changing.
42:03
You know, we say every 6 months or something our body is
42:07
totally changed. So if our body is new, why not the other things
42:10
are gonna change? And we should Embrace the change. We should embrace
42:15
the change. People are fearful of the change. So I think that's—
42:20
that's the purpose. Change is what brings about new opportunities,
42:23
and change is the only constant.
42:26
Absolutely. So Raj, if people are listening today
42:30
and they want to connect with you, what is the best way? They can always
42:33
go to our company's website, which is mancohr.com.
42:39
I am on LinkedIn. Well, Raj, I just want to thank you so much
42:43
for sharing your story, for being here today, for sharing your heart
42:47
with us and, and shining your light. It's, it's been such an amazing
42:51
episode. I knew that it would be. And for everyone who's
42:55
tuned into this episode, I hope that you'll check actually the solo episode that aired
42:59
right before this, about the film. It is on detachment. So it's amazing that we
43:03
talked about that today. But to everyone who's listening on on, you know,
43:07
through Apple and Spotify or Amazon
43:11
and everyone who watches this on YouTube. I really appreciate it. I hope that you
43:14
will continue to share and grow this podcast so that it can help other people.
43:19
And until next time, keep becoming who you were created to be.
43:23
Keep awakening to your purpose and living your own revolution of
43:27
purpose. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. If this
43:31
episode encouraged you, if it challenged you, or if it helped
43:35
you see your life a little bit differently, Would you do me a favor?
43:38
Subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review,
43:42
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Every share helps us reach more people who are searching for hope,
43:49
purpose, and a life of greater meaning. And if you're ready
43:53
to stop wondering what's next and start living with greater clarity and purpose
43:57
in your own life, I would love to meet with you personally.
44:01
Visit johnstreet.org right now to schedule your complimentary
44:05
live purpose and clarity call. With me. Until next
44:09
time, remember, your purpose is not something you find. It is
44:12
something you awaken to, and then you choose to
44:16
live it. Go make today another step in your own revolution of
44:20
purpose.