Ancient Wisdom, Modern Pressure: Mohanji In Conversation At Princeton University

Spiritual teacher leader and humanitarian Mohanji told an audience at Princeton University on 2 October that success means contentment, and that much of the stress people experience comes from believing they own things.

Many Princeton students, Dr Vineet Chander told the audience, have been "groomed and programmed and taught to just excel at everything they do." Some find it "quite a burden." They can excel at almost anything, yet still ask: "What actually makes me content? What is my contribution to the world?"

Chander, Assistant Dean of Hindu Life in Princeton's Office of Religious Life, raised this dilemma with Mohanji during an evening conversation titled "Beyond Stress and Success: Hindu Wisdom on Purpose and Contentment" at Robertson Hall. Chander noted that Princeton's Hindu Life Program was the first full-time programme of its kind at an American university, calling it "a bit of a point of pride."

The audience included students, faculty and people from various walks of life. Among those attending was the Consul General of Serbia, who had travelled from New York.

Before entering public spiritual life, Mohanji spent more than two decades in the shipping industry in the Middle East, eventually reaching the highest levels of management. His experience in the industry informed many of his answers during the discussion.

Fulfilment, every moment

"Success for me is contentment or fulfilment," Mohanji said, explaining that position, relationships and possessions cannot provide it. He said measuring yourself against who you were yesterday was fine. "But when it is with another person, that's not okay."

Chander questioned how this idea could work in practice. "What you're saying sounds very good in theory," he said. How could anyone in a place like Princeton stop caring about outcomes?

Mohanji put life in perspective by noting that someone who lives to 82 has only about 30,000 days, adding that "we have to leave everything and go." He described failure as part of the learning process. "We learn a lot from failure, much more than success. Sometimes when people are always successful, they become addicted to success."

Lessons from shipping

Mohanji recalled managing operations across five countries, including Iraq, Yemen and Sudan. His approach was to divide the business into smaller units and make each one financially sustainable. He explained that suppliers often increased their prices to account for months of credit. "I said I don't need credit. I'll pay immediately, but I need a better cost and better price. And everybody was happy."

Chander then moved away from the prepared questions. People might expect a spiritual teacher to be anti-capitalist, he said, yet Mohanji's account sounded like "pretty solid, pro-business advice." He asked whether business and profit were at odds with spirituality.

Mohanji focused on the importance of ethics in business. "Business is a grand collaboration," he said. "But the moment you look at anything selfishly, only for me, my company... then the others are not interested in you." He also stressed the importance of integrity. "When you have skeletons to hide, you're always compromised."

Where stress comes from

Asked what people misunderstand about stress, Mohanji's first word was "Ownership." He explained that people claim ownership over things while having little control over even basic bodily functions, such as their heartbeat or breathing. "The moment the ownership aspect changes, stress also changes."
He added that working against one's nature can create stress. Referring to the Mahabharata, he explained that Arjuna was taught archery because he could focus, while Bhima, known for his strength, was taught wrestling. Students today, he suggested, often follow popular trends instead. "Everybody is going to study AI now because that's the in thing." When asked why, he said, "Almost always the answer is good money."

"So we have a bunch of Bhimas who are doing Arjunas," Chander remarked.

"It's investment"

Chander raised a question about parents who steer their children towards a secure career and children who feel indebted to them for their sacrifices. Can someone choose a calling that is not their own simply to make someone else happy?

"I would say that's not even ethical," Mohanji replied. "This is not sacrifice; it's investment." He compared sacrifice to a bird giving everything for its young and asking for nothing when they fly away. "But the moment you expect something, even from our children, it's investment." If a child follows the plan and struggles anyway, he added, "they'll blame the parents."

Mohanji said finding one's own path begins with taking time for reflection. "It's not dhyana. It's not meditation. It's manana, contemplation," he said. He also offered a way to assess personal choices: "What expands you is right... Anger contracts you. Hatred contracts you. Compassion, kindness expands you."

Questions from the floor

An anonymous audience member asked what happens when someone's calling is painting or music, but it does not pay the bills. "Usually, it pays after your death," Mohanji said, half in jest. "It pays really well." He also cautioned, "Please don't expect that everybody will appreciate you."

His teaching, "Be you," rests on the idea that each person carries a "frequency nobody else has." "Nine billion people in the world are nine billion frequencies. Incomparable."

Asked about people who cause serious harm, Mohanji said, "You have to quarantine them." He described working with violent people consumed by self-hatred. "We directed them towards the idea that success is your real revenge," he said, explaining that they began to change. "We are busy punishing them. That is not going to solve the problem."

Thirty thousand days

Chander's final question was what one thing people should remember ten days after the conversation. "Ownership," Mohanji replied. "Biggest delusion in life is ownership. We own nothing. You're here for about thirty thousand days." Chander thanked him for sharing "one of those thirty thousand days" with the audience.

Earlier, in response to the question about art and money, Mohanji had described Mahavishnu lying in yoga nidra, absorbed in consciousness, with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, at his feet. "When you chase it, you may not get it," he said. "But when you are concentrating on your creativity and express it to the world, the right people come." He pointed to his own experience, saying, “I never started anything with a bank balance.”