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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview with podcaster and scientist Lex Friedman, recounted that he roamed the mighty Himalayas for two years during a period of self-experimentation. This journey, the Prime Minister said, played a pivotal role in strengthening him and enabling him to discover his "inner power."
The PM said he embraced the solitude of the mountains during these two years. "I spent time in the Himalayas, embracing the solitude of the mountains. I met many remarkable individuals along the way. Some were great ascetics, people who had renounced everything, but still, my mind remained restless. Perhaps it was my age of curiosity, of wanting to learn and to understand. It was a new experience, a world shaped by the mountains, by ice, by the towering, snow-covered peaks. But all of this played a huge role in shaping me. It strengthened me from within and enabled me to discover my inner power," the PM said. The PM further said that during his years in the Himalayas, he practiced meditation and served people with devotion, which became a seamless part of his personality. "Practicing meditation, waking up in the sacred pre-dawn hours, bathing in the cold, serving people with devotion and naturally tending to elderly saints became a seamless part of who I was. Once, a natural calamity struck the region, and I immediately devoted myself to helping the villagers. So, these were the saints and spiritual masters with whom I stayed from time to time. I never remained in one place for long; I kept moving, constantly wandering. That was the kind of life I lived," Modi said. Giving insights about his childhood, the Prime Minster said that he grew up in a small town where he spent time reading books, which inspired him and left him with the desire to experiment on himself. "I grew up in a very small town. Our life was all about being part of a community. We lived among people, surrounded by them. That was just how life was. There was a library in the village, and I used to go there often to read books." The Prime minister said he was drawn to the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. "Whenever I read something from the books, I often found myself feeling inspired, thinking, "Why shouldn't I shape my own life like that?" That desire was always there. When I used to read about Swami Vivekananda or read about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, I would often wonder, "How did they live? How did they build such remarkable lives?" And for that, I constantly experimented on myself. Most of my experiments were physical in nature, testing my body's limits," PM Modi said. The Prime Minister, drawing from his readings on Vivekananda, recounted how Swami Vivekananda had approached Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, seeking guidance from him on his mother's illness. Ramakrishna urged Vivekananda to seek blessings from Goddess Kali for his ailing mother, but Vivekananda found himself unable to ask for anything. The story said PM Modi left a deep impression on his life, reinforcing the idea that "true contentment comes from giving" and the recognition of the concept of non-duality. "I believe that perhaps that small incident in Vivekananda's life left an impression on me too. The thought of, "What can I give to the world?" Maybe true contentment comes from giving. If my heart is only filled with the hunger to receive, that hunger will never end. And within that realization came the idea of Shiva and living being as one," PM Modi said. Further, the Prime Minister "If you wish to serve Shiva, serve all living beings. Recognize the unity between the divine and the living. True non-duality is experience through this realization. I would often lose myself in such thoughts. My mind naturally drifting in that direction," PM Modi said. (ANI)
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