0:00
Well, I think also when you're younger, the the attachments or the identifications to the things around you aren't so attached yet.
Search this video
0:08
It those things you predominantly get attached to those kinds of things later on in your life.
0:12
When you become really I your idea of yourself is very strong.
0:16
So, that's when you become very self-aware.
0:24
Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the best place in the world to learn, listen, and grow every single week.
0:31
Thanks to each and every one of you that tune in, that download the episodes, and that connect.
0:35
And you know that my promise to you is to try and find guests that are going to help you find awakening, find growth, learn new techniques, learn new skills, and even open your minds up to a new way of living.
0:49
And today's guest is going to do just that.
0:51
He's a very, very dear friend, someone who's I've had so many great offline conversations with him that I've been probing him to say, "Let's Let's record this and share it with the world."
1:01
So, today's guest is none other than Kunal Nayyar, best known for his incredible work as Rajesh on television's number one longest-running multi-camera comedy, The Big Bang Theory.
1:12
The series has been nominated for multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, Critics' Choice Awards, and won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Network TV Comedy 3 years in a row.
1:20
In 2015, Kunal made his New York theater debut in The Spoils.
1:26
He starred in the off-Broadway play alongside Jesse Eisenberg, who also wrote the play.
1:33
Today, I'm excited to talk about his career as an actor and also his philosophy on life.
1:36
Kunal, thank you for doing this, man.
1:39
rousing, rousing introduction. Wow. Thank you.
1:42
It's all honest, it's all true.
1:45
And the best thing about this is Kunal's had one of the busiest weeks.
1:47
He's flying off to London tonight, and he still found time to do this.
1:51
You're a real friend, Kunal. No, thank you. I'm so glad. Thanks for having me.
1:54
I'm a huge fan of everything that you're doing.
1:56
So, anything I can do to be a part of it. Thank you, man.
1:57
And And the way we met is so so fun because I remember there were just so many random touch points.
2:03
So, we have a lot of mutual friends who'd mention you to me and said, "Oh, you two would really get along.
2:08
You could talk You could talk for hours."
2:09
And then the crazy thing is I was at a Lakers game with my wife and she sees you. She's like, "Oh, look.
2:16
That's Kunal from Big Bang Theory."
2:16
And And you were far away, so we didn't we didn't get to say hello that day.
2:18
And then literally the week after we were talking. Yeah.
2:22
And it was like this beautiful series of events where you're just like the universe is trying to bring you closer to someone.
2:27
That's how I felt anyway. No, absolutely.
2:29
I call it the six degrees of separation from being Indian. That's what happens. That's what it is. That's what it is.
2:37
But, let's let's start with the Indian question cuz I know you have a passion for this.
2:40
When's When's the last time you played cricket?
2:41
Oh, this time I was home after Big Bang I've been home four times since May.
2:46
This time I was home we bought a cricket bat and in the driveway my cousin and I were playing and it was such a wonderful feeling because it brings back all the memories.
2:56
I watch cricket incessantly, too.
2:58
So, I'm a I'm a huge fan. Yeah.
2:58
I know you're a Premier League guy.
3:00
Yeah, I'm a Premier League guy. Yeah, yeah.
3:03
I'm a Premier League guy. But, no no.
3:05
It's always It's always fascinating to hear about people's interest.
3:06
And when you first moved to the US, you worked as a university housekeeper.
3:09
Yeah, I was in the housekeeping department.
3:11
I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but uh the the minimum wage in Oregon was uh slightly higher than most other states.
3:18
So, it was a nice amount of money for me.
3:20
Um and I just did it, you know.
3:22
I didn't think too much about it.
3:24
It wasn't such a big deal to me.
3:25
Um so, I did anything that was required of me.
3:28
Tell me some of the things that you had to do. Any fun stories any?
3:31
I mean, cleaning out, you know, the the dormitories is not a the the big trash compactor and you pull it out.
3:38
And the things you see people throw away, it's quite disgusting.
3:41
Um Especially in a university, that's like the worst time.
3:44
That's a And also cleaning out professors who had passed away.
3:46
Cleaning out their offices.
3:49
That was a very interesting experience.
3:51
But, the most fun I ever had was on What was it on?
3:55
I think Monday evening on Monday afternoons, we had to wash the church windows.
3:59
And I would get to use the power washer.
4:00
And that was like for me the most incredible experience ever, you know.
4:05
I was like Arnold Schwarzenegger like shooting down, you know.
4:08
It was It was It was really It was fun.
4:11
I I got fired, unfortunately, because Well, I didn't get fired, but I was got released because I forgot to put the lorry the little lorries that we drive in park.
4:21
And it rolled off the quad into the garden where all the students were like staying and stuff. Did anyone get hurt?
4:28
No one got hurt, thank God.
4:28
And then my boss, who's this guy named Greg, I'll never forget.
4:31
He had this tongue like a snake and he drove like old vintage cars.
4:35
He was the coolest guy I ever knew. He took the fall for me. It was really sweet. Wow.
4:39
Yeah, he was the sweetest guy ever. Why did he do that?
4:40
He's just a nice guy and he liked me.
4:42
Are you still in touch with him? No.
4:43
Okay, we have to get this to Yeah, exactly. Greg.
4:47
Greg, if you're watching this somehow, I want to get this mini here to you because this is special.
4:50
You You helped Kunal not have like a criminal record or I don't know what would have come with that.
4:55
Uh but no, that's amazing.
4:55
And the reason why I want to go back to the beginning and everything for you is because obviously you grew up in Delhi, right?
5:01
And what was life like growing up in Delhi for you personally?
5:05
Like what were the experiences there that you feel formed who you are today or maybe parts of you that you wanted to progress and change as well?
5:14
Yeah, that's a great question.
5:14
The beauty of growing up in India for me was the familial the idea of family is beyond just four people or five people.
5:25
You know, you don't grow up just with your parents.
5:27
You grow up with your cousins.
5:28
You grow up with your cousins' parents, aunts, uncles, uh friends, friends' parents.
5:32
The community around you is so large.
5:34
Every night someone is over at the house eating with you or at, you know, 8:00 p. m.
5:39
someone will knock on the door. Oh, they're coming. Come on.
5:40
What do you got in the fridge? You know, you eat.
5:42
So, uh it teaches you that It really You You feel so full.
5:48
You feel so emotionally full.
5:51
Uh which is a lovely thing and also not just socially but also grief when people die. Everyone shows up.
5:56
You know, so you get to experience death with people.
5:59
We were never shielded away from death at a young age.
6:03
young age. Anyone passed away, you went to the home the first thing whatever you were doing even if you were in school, you just leave school and you show up to people's homes and there's a you know, there's a dead body there and you you experience that first hand and how a community is built around that and um
6:19
and I miss that even to this day living in America for almost 20 years, I miss that you know, sometimes if I want to have a meal with someone it takes 2 weeks to schedule it and I understand everyone's busy but I miss that sort of everyone on top of each other all the time kind of love because it's very familiar to me. Yeah, absolutely. No, I Yeah, absolutely.
6:36
No, I I know if I can relate to that in a smaller way growing up in London but in an Indian background as well families families definitely a bigger part of that and since we moved to the US which has only been 3 and 1/2 years but it's the same but we're trying to build our our little family with friends and so I think we have to somehow bring it over here for sure.
6:56
But tell me about that that's really interesting what you said that because I think it's such a powerful point that's often missed that in that Eastern society you're so used to seeing death. Mhm.
7:05
Which is a really powerful point you made.
7:08
What was it about that that you feel was powerful for you personally?
7:12
Like what about that has less left such a lasting impression when I asked what did you learn from India?
7:17
That's one of the first things you remember.
7:19
I don't think that you you don't think about it at the time. Mhm. You just do it.
7:23
You know, it's not like oh this is something that I have to do or it just becomes part of your life.
7:29
So you're not sitting there saying this is so profound.
7:32
There's a dead body in front of me.
7:34
You know, no, it's not like that.
7:35
It's just the simplicity of the way the culture works.
7:39
You just show up in times of need and it's what I find sometimes in society right now what's happening is we're really sterilizing all experiences in life.
7:53
You shake someone's hand, you got to use antibacterial soap.
7:55
If someone coughs, you look at them like they're sick, you know.
7:59
This kind of a thing is really taking away the humanity from us as it is in the internet and social media and all these things are wonderful tools, but it also is sometimes taking away the humanity from us.
8:11
And I think now when I look back, I think the profound impact it had on me that it was it was messy.
8:17
And it was full and it wasn't sterile and empty, you know.
8:20
And I think that's maybe what that's why now when I look back it feels profound, but at the moment you're just like, "Wow, that woman is wailing way too loud and and you know, I I got to get to the badminton court at 4:00 p. m. I have to be here."
8:32
Like you're just like a child, you're not you're not so self-aware of the time, you know.
8:37
It just becomes part of your life.
8:39
Yeah, and I think that's a really good point.
8:40
I think most of our lives are processed in hindsight. Always.
8:44
Like most experiences are more powerful when we look back on them and we reflect and that's why if we don't look back and reflect, we often miss out. Yes.
8:52
Because it's quite hard, especially as a kid, to appreciate or introspect or reflect on any present moment that you're in.
8:58
Like you're saying you want to run to the badminton court or Yeah, well I think also when you're younger the the attachments or the identifications to the things around you aren't so attached yet.
9:10
It uh those things you predominantly get attached to those kinds of things later on in your life when you become really your idea of yourself is very strong.
9:16
So that's when you become very self-aware.
9:21
You know, but when you're young, you're just that's the way you should be actually.
9:23
You should not be attached to anything and you should go with whatever the universe is giving you. Yeah.
9:25
And you always wanted to be an actor?
9:27
That was always the plan? Yeah.
9:29
I was always a ham, that's what it was.
9:31
I mean, I was always just doing anything to be in front of the audience. Um no, I don't know.
9:36
You know, I think when I was like probably 19, I was in college, I really enjoyed acting.
9:40
I really enjoyed the There was a something about being an actor is you know, you're trying to find the truth in in in the moment.
9:53
That's really what That's why people get addicted to acting, in my opinion, is because it really forces you to dive within and find the truth in a moment.
10:00
And once you experience truth or you touch truth for the first time, it's an experience that I don't know. It's very addicting.
10:11
You want to find it all the time.
10:12
And there you can't find it all the time.
10:14
There are takes when you are not present and there are takes when you are present.
10:18
But once you experience it, once you truly are saying these words that you know you've learned, they're coming out of your mouth, but they're coming out of your mouth like the first time.
10:26
And this person who's been rehearsing with you for like, you know, a few months is saying these words and you know they're coming out of their mouth.
10:32
You know what's going to come, but it's like it's happening for the first time.
10:36
That is probably how you would define a spiritual awakening, almost, you know?
10:40
If you That's what happens, cuz you can recreate that on stage sometimes.
10:42
And that's what happened to me on stage and I was like, "Oh, this is it.
10:46
This is I have to I have to have this in my life."
10:50
And that was it for me, you Yeah.
10:50
And so, whenever you're acting, you're always trying to find that truth, find that moment where you can experience this again.
10:55
You're always just trying to find the moment where you're absolutely present.
10:59
And you're speaking and you're listening, you know, like this. What a good skill.
11:05
What an amazing skill for everything else in life.
11:06
Well, you know, that's the hard thing about being an actor, though, too, is that you you have this incredible intense experience and then you have to go back to your life.
11:16
You finish acting on set and then you show back up at work.
11:18
I mean, show back at home and how do you balance the two?
11:24
Tell me about that first experience of having this incredible experience on set and then actually have to walk back into your home.
11:31
I was doing a thing that I didn't realize until later where I wouldn't go home right after. Mhm.
11:37
I would always go out and have a drink.
11:40
I'd always go out and have a whiskey or a martini or hang out with someone.
11:44
Sometimes if no one was even around, I would just go up to the bar myself.
11:50
Um to wind down or whatever it was.
11:53
But I realize now in hindsight that there are much healthier ways to do that. Mhm. And I think it's hard.
11:58
I think it's hard to experience something so profound every evening or every moment and then come back and try to reinstall yourself into the reality of everyday existence.
12:10
I think that's why so many artists take to drugs or alcohol or other forms of staying high.
12:16
Cuz you experience this incredible high. Mhm.
12:21
And then you're like have to come home and how was your day?
12:25
I mean, how do I explain what my day was?
12:27
It was an infinite experience into the cos cosmos of reality.
12:30
I mean, how do I talk about that, you know?
12:32
So, at that time I was escaping.
12:35
Um so I was not doing it in a very healthy way and I seem to have I think found Yeah, absolutely.
12:39
Yeah, that's so that's so profound because we we forget that and I think not everyone sees that.
12:45
Like not everyone knows someone who is that much in the public eye. Yeah.
12:50
If you and and when you think about certain stars who become famous at 12, 13 years old, 15 years old and they're performing to audiences of like 80,000, 100,000 people at that age, like that's an incredible rush of adrenaline and you know, the the the chemical imbalance of that is just insane.
13:08
And then to go back to normality. Yes.
13:10
It it's And and it's the same for you going from set to that.
13:15
It sounds like one of the toughest things to do and it's Sometimes it's hard to empathize with for people because they're like, oh well, you have it all.
13:21
Like, you know, it's amazing. money. That's the thing.
13:22
The number one thing is if you if you talk about something like this, someone says, "Oh, what did your you know, did your paycheck not cash this week?" Yeah.
13:32
That's the standard answer. Right.
13:34
Um which is also understandable.
13:34
Yeah, I mean, what am I complaining about when obviously all the comforts of my life have been taken care of. So.
13:42
But let's let's dive into that transition because I know we've spoken about that before.
13:45
And the Kunal that I know and I've met uh you know, whenever we've spoken, we have really evolved deep meaningful conversations where we're both exploring and I absolutely love them.
13:54
But you also told me of a time when obviously what you're mentioning now like alcohol, self-medicating that.
13:59
Tell me about that transformation because I think that that's really important to people because no matter what financial situation people are in, no matter what status people are in, everyone goes through getting addictions, bad habits, and getting lost.
14:13
Like there's always that option in life and everyone's experienced that.
14:16
Tell us about that transformation and how you were able to to look for that gap and free yourself from that jail that you talk about.
14:22
Like you talk about finding keys. Yeah, yeah.
14:25
Tell me about that experience of like releasing yourself from that jail.
14:29
Um well, first of all, I'm so grateful that it happened because I never would have come home to myself.
14:38
Because ultimately what I was doing was just running away from myself.
14:43
I began to build a facade that I began to believe in. You know?
14:48
I began to believe a personality into reality that I have to be a certain way. I mean, I was young. I was at grad school. I was on this show. I was making money.
14:57
Um and I thought I had to be a certain way and I'm very lucky that I have a family that supports me and loves me and whom I can talk to.
15:06
But it got out of hand before I knew it was out of hand.
15:09
And I began to feel anxiety which I had never experienced in my life as a child or as a youngster.
15:14
And I didn't know what it was.
15:16
But I was feeling slightly uncomfortable.
15:18
And so when I did, I would drink.
15:22
Oh, I'm kind of feeling weird.
15:22
Let me just have a drink. Have a great time.
15:26
And that went on and on and on.
15:26
And it's not like I ever drank during the day or anything, but I couldn't wait for the evening to come so I could take the edge off.
15:34
And that one drink turned into five or six and that anxiety never went away.
15:42
In fact, the further I try to push it away, the more it rose and then it driving on the highway and I was having panic attacks and I was being a elevator in a tall building and I'd be having panic attacks, you know. And I was it was bad.
15:57
And I remember going home to India and talking to my parents and saying I'm in I'm something's wrong with me.
16:04
And yet I was very functional during the day. No one could tell.
16:08
Obviously I was working and that was the most important thing to me was working, but I was not in a good place and I was doing things and putting myself in situations which I shouldn't have been doing.
16:17
Um but all to run away from myself and I didn't know that at the time.
16:21
And I was given a pill to take in case I had another panic attack from someone.
16:28
And I remember I was feeling panic on the 17th floor of a building and I'm looking at this pill and I'm about to put in my mouth and a voice comes and says before you run away from yourself, I want you to experience yourself.
16:39
Something like this voice came and I threw it away.
16:42
I said even if I experience my own death in this moment, I just want to experience it.
16:48
And then that from that day on I said no more running.
16:52
If even if I'm feeling anxious, no more running from it.
16:54
Even if I'm feeling panic, no more running from it. You know. Mhm. No more running.
17:01
And that takes a lot of courage.
17:03
It I don't think it was courageous.
17:03
I think my house was on fire and there was nowhere else to go.
17:09
You know, it didn't doesn't I don't think of it as courage.
17:13
I think of it as everything burnt down.
17:15
I mean, there was no There was no other choice, you know?
17:20
There was no other There was no more running.
17:22
You see, there was no more running. I had to look within.
17:26
What is this anxiety about?
17:26
What is this panic about?
17:29
What is it that I'm so afraid of? What is it?
17:34
Why do I feel so separate from everything that is happening here?
17:36
Why are there two or three or four or five or six inside? What is this?
17:43
But it was so beautiful because it was the beginning of the end.
17:46
And so often that's what it is is it takes that I was describing it to someone yesterday.
17:51
It was like, you know, when when two people are boxing, there's a lot of dancing, there's a lot of movement, but then when one boxer gets the other boxer in a corner, then that boxer really has to figure out their way.
18:03
It's like when you're pushed into that corner, now you can't just dance and prance about and run away from it like you're saying, you have to figure out what your strategy is and how you're going to get close to that and figure out that person because now you're pent up in that corner and you're stuck.
18:14
And I feel like sometimes life has to Fortunately or unfortunately, some people say unfortunately, I say fortunately, sometimes life just has to put us in a corner where we stop running.
18:23
And you can't run like you're saying, you run out of options.
18:25
Instead of running, you run out of options.
18:28
And and then you have to look within, but I think so many of us struggle to do that because we struggle to know what the first step is to look within. And that's why we run.
18:36
Sometimes we run not only to get away, but because we don't even know where to start. Absolutely.
18:41
Where How did you figure out where to start for you personally or what is it that really helped you in that moment?
18:46
Cuz I love what you're saying, by the way.
18:47
This is No, but you're right.
18:47
I think there is that There's an overwhelming feeling within us that we need to figure it out right away.
18:58
And because of that, we want three steps to give us awakening or enlightenment or whatever it is that people are searching for, you know?
19:06
But I've been thinking lately that it's I don't think that awakening or enlightenment or spirituality is for everyone either.
19:20
Because you have to give up your opinions about the world.
19:28
You have to give up your ideas of the world.
19:31
You have to give up your ideas of who you are and how you view the world to truly be free. To truly be free.
19:39
People want to be more loving and more confident and more positive and more peaceful, yet they're not willing to exchange the one thing that is in the way, which is their idea of themselves.
19:50
So, how do you start, right?
19:50
How do you start breaking down the idea of yourself? You don't.
19:56
You just look and say, "Oh, am I doing this out of just a behavioral pattern that I've been doing for whatever amount of years?
20:06
Or am I doing this from a place of truth or reality, you know?
20:11
Is this what is actually happening in this moment?
20:13
Or is it only happening because of my perception of it?"
20:17
That's really where you start, is to become aware of yourself.
20:19
And it's actually very simple.
20:23
But because we then get indoctrinated by 10 steps to do this or 17 steps to do this or 105 steps to do this, it's the same thing that people are doing.
20:36
They're just using steps to again run away from what it is.
20:37
Ultimately, if you want to be free, you have to come back and have the conversation with the one that is in the way, and that's here.
20:47
I am in the way of my own freedom because I believe this one to be who I am.
20:54
And to truly find that one who you are, you have to lift the veil of that and see what's underneath.
21:01
And that's the hardest thing.
21:03
It's not where do I start, it's are you willing to put your opinions about the world and about yourself aside.
21:11
And that's the thing about awakening and enlightenment and all the things that people want.
21:14
No one gets to be excluded from your love once you're enlightened.
21:18
You can't be enlightened and kind of not enlightened. Okay?
21:23
You can't have faith and not kind of have faith.
21:27
You either have faith or you don't have faith.
21:29
You either are in this moment or you're not in this moment. Mhm. And that's the rub. Mhm.
21:37
That's why it is hard for people.
21:41
Because they The reason say I don't know where to start.
21:42
I don't know where to look in.
21:44
This I that's talking is the one that doesn't want to look at itself because it's skirting its own death in a way.
21:52
Cuz once it's got it's over. That's the thing.
21:56
Once you actually catch the lie inside, it's over. Mhm. You know? Yeah.
22:02
But that's where you start.
22:02
You just start becoming self-aware.
22:03
Wait, oh, I've always thought it's like this.
22:06
Oh, wait, it's not like that. Oh, okay, cool. Now I'm free.
22:09
I'm a little freer now, you know?
22:11
You begin to wear your personality a little lighter. Yeah.
22:15
Dude, that is so well articulated, man. I love that.
22:17
Literally everything you just said right now is just so well explained because I think so often these topics can get quite heady and we've talked about that before.
22:25
But you've really grounded it and when I'm listening to you, it sounds like it sounds like when you figure out how a magician does a magic trick. Yes. Right?
22:32
And once once you figured it out it's like it's not You're like, oh, oh, I get it now.
22:37
Like it totally makes sense.
22:38
But when they when you don't know how it's done and you don't know how they picked that exact card that was yours, you're like, whoa.
22:44
Like And it's the same with yourself.
22:45
Like once you figure out the trick Yeah, yeah.
22:49
that the mind is playing or like you said, the perception you've built up of who you are is playing.
22:52
All of these are just tricks.
22:54
And when you start to look beneath the tricks, Yeah.
22:58
you start seeing actually it's not You you feel free.
23:01
But that's why I made it That's why meditation is very important.
23:03
I I don't think that meditation is the only thing that's the important thing in all of this.
23:09
But it is important because it stills your mind. It gives you quiet.
23:14
When your mind is very noisy, it's very hard to look through the layers.
23:15
It's very important to even if you don't meditate, maybe it's just sitting in the car with no music, whatever it is, finding time to be still.
23:24
This is very very important.
23:24
Because through the stillness, you can see.
23:29
And in the storm, it's very difficult to see. You know? And you're right.
23:37
You're already the peace that you're seeking.
23:41
That's the truth about life.
23:41
You are already that which you seek. It was the St.
23:46
Francis of Assisi said, right?
23:48
What you're searching for What you're looking for is already where you're looking from. You're already home.
23:52
You just keep running in circles trying to find the home.
23:56
But the one trying to find the home is the one you have to give up. Yes.
24:00
This is the paradox of life. It's And it's beautiful.
24:03
And it You're right, it is simple.
24:04
But that's not the end, either.
24:07
Because even after you awaken, there's still a journey.
24:08
And that's the point of all of this is stop trying to find the secret elixir of life cuz even when you do find it, you'll realize it's unknown.
24:20
So, just give up and just enjoy.
24:20
Enjoy I mean, enjoy the fruits of what it is that you have here. Yeah.
24:24
You know, because even when you're enjoying, you're still like, "Oh, I'm enjoying, but I shouldn't be enjoying cuz I should be working harder. And why work harder?"
24:32
I'm sorry, but like just be peaceful. Yeah. Why work harder? It's all self-made.
24:36
Goals are lovely to have, but the more goals you have, when you achieve them, then you want more goals, then you want more goals, and then you want more goals.
24:43
You're trying to fulfill an ego that will never be filled. Live a simple life. Be peaceful. Be happy.
24:51
What more I mean, what more?
24:54
Because all the things you want to achieve are you want to achieve because it's going to make you happy. Just be happy now. It's really simple. I love it. It's awesome.
25:03
But I I want to dive into that now with you because I think simplicity is such an interesting concept.
25:08
And when I lived as a monk, both our internal and external lives were simple and simplified, I would say.
25:15
Not even simple, simplified.
25:15
You eat what you're given.
25:18
You don't choose what you eat.
25:20
You sleep in a different place every day on a mat, but you don't have one place that you sleep, so nothing is yours.
25:26
You wear the same style of clothing every day, so there's no, you know, all that kind of stuff.
25:30
But so that simplifies the outer layer.
25:34
But one thing that I found and and this is what I found profound and and I want to ask you this as well is as I came back into the real world, real world, we'll use that for now, the what I found simplicity and the definition of simplicity that really brings me alive is simplicity of intention. Mhm.
25:51
Because what I found is that sometimes you can be externally simple, but you're complicated up here.
26:01
And so some people live very externally simple lives, but really it's all complicated up here.
26:04
And then the opposite is true.
26:05
Where you're simple mentally, but then your externals are complicated.
26:08
And so for me, I was really seeking this definition of simplicity that I could live by. Yeah.
26:12
And I was also trying to and I want to talk to you about this because I know you talk about this, this this kind of never-ending cycle of obsession with what's next. Mhm. Right?
26:23
Like they're always chasing what's next.
26:26
And then I was like, but how do you continue to live in this world, be be in this world, keep being active because we can't all just sit down and do nothing. I understand.
26:35
And and you and you are too.
26:37
And that's what I want to figure out from you.
26:38
That's my question that how are you continuing to pursue any pursuit, whatever it may be, but continuing to connect with that simplicity and that happiness now.
26:47
How are you monitoring that balance in your own life of being ambitious, being open to new opportunities, but still remaining simple, happy, grounded, present?
26:59
How are you How are you juggling that?
27:00
Or how are you How are you thinking through that?
27:02
Yeah, I mean that's a good question.
27:03
Um I'm not saying not any of us have mastered it.
27:06
I mean I'm intrigued by No, I don't know. I don't know.
27:08
I I think that you said something interesting about the simplicity of intention.
27:13
I think that's where it lies.
27:16
I'm ambitious uh because I enjoy acting.
27:23
Uh you know, someone may be ambitious because they enjoy cars and they want a certain kind of car. Nice.
27:27
That's a beau- That Who cares?
27:29
That's a nice ambition, you know?
27:31
It is You're The problem is in actually the words and the language. Mhm.
27:36
Ambition is imbued with an emotion. I'm an ambitious person.
27:41
That person's not so ambitious, you know?
27:43
Um My goals are like that.
27:43
That person's goal is not like that.
27:45
Uh I want this kind of a life, so it means this kind of a thing for me.
27:51
You know, just do what you want to do.
27:54
If If If you want to be ambitious, be ambitious, but don't think I have to be ambitious a certain way of life or I need to be a certain way.
28:01
Just be what it is and do what it is that in here feels right.
28:07
If that means being ambitious, be ambitious.
28:10
If I don't think of it I have to balance my life.
28:14
My life is just the way it is.
28:14
It's just that I'm not looking at everything and attaching emotion to everything.
28:18
There's no resistance anymore within me to my life.
28:24
If I have to do something I'll do it in whatever manner is necessary for the situation. Mhm.
28:31
You know, if I have It doesn't mean I'm impervious to anger or anxiety or anything.
28:36
I'm sometimes happy, sometimes I'm sad.
28:40
I just have stopped thinking so much about What happens is because of our perception of the world, something bad happens and an old tape starts playing.
28:51
And when an old tape starts playing, we get pissed off at that old tape, so we add another tape on top of that.
28:57
I am pissed off because of the old tape is playing.
28:59
So, now you've got two tapes that are playing, right?
29:03
Then you read 3,000 books about how to stop that tape to stop that tape, and that's a third tape.
29:09
So, now you have three programs running when in the first place you could have been said, "Oh, you know what?
29:12
Yeah, I'm just having a shitty day and I'm pissed off." Cool. Next.
29:19
And right there, it's over. Yeah.
29:19
It's the resistance to what is is where it li- where all of the that comes from. Mhm.
29:29
Yeah, so y- yeah, I yeah, totally. I completely agree.
29:31
This is the resistance to not accepting what is happening in that moment.
29:36
But even in the acceptance, it can add another tape.
29:39
I'm not accepting what's happening.
29:40
Yeah, so it's the resistance Exactly.
29:43
Every time you're resisting, avoiding, running away from, not accepting.
29:46
Yeah, if you can just be fully here, Mhm.
29:53
someone passed away and I'm feeling horribly sad. What's wrong with that?
29:58
You know, I just made a lot of money.
29:59
I'm feeling incredibly happy. What's wrong with that? Mhm.
30:02
Sometimes you achieve what you want to achieve and there's still a butt attached to it. Why?
30:10
You know, that's the simplicity of intention that you're talking about. Mhm.
30:15
You don't have to go to a cave and sit for 10 years to meditate.
30:19
You know, you probably your bum will start hurting sitting on the rocks. I mean, it's it's okay.
30:23
You don't You can sleep in a comfortable bed and just be as peaceful. It's true.
30:26
You can drive a really nice car and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
30:33
And what's wrong with that?
30:33
Do you have to say, "Well, there's a starving child in in Sudan or India or or even in America or anywhere, so I shouldn't enjoy the fruits of my life? Why not do it all?
30:46
Why not give back and enjoy? Mhm.
30:46
It That is the simplicity.
30:53
Is to accept the totality of what you are. You are all. Mhm.
30:56
You know, I am um I can have a cup of coffee and have a very profound moment or I can be dancing on a table till 3:00 in the morning and have a profound moment also.
31:08
Why can't I be anything that is that I want to be? No resistance. No resistance. It's my life.
31:18
It's my expression of this consciousness.
31:19
It's my chance to experience this beautiful thing that is here. Mhm.
31:26
And and every one of those choices that are made in alignment with that will only reveal more. That's the point.
31:30
That that that's that's a very good point. Yes.
31:33
If you're doing it to run away, it can be very messy.
31:37
But the beautiful thing about living this life awake is you begin to enjoy those things so much more because they're coming from a place of freedom, not from a place of being trapped. Mhm.
31:46
You know, and that's that sticking thing that's in here, it's not like when I achieve this then I'll be free.
31:52
No, it'll just be another sticking point. That's not the answer.
31:56
It's just this thing that's in here that's stuck.
31:57
You just have to be like, oh, what is this? What is this?
31:59
And you'll realize I don't want to say it, I guess.
32:03
You'll realize whatever it is that you realize for yourself, you know, when you look within. But it starts here. Mhm.
32:09
And it doesn't start with a Reading really helped me. Books really helped me. Really helped me.
32:15
It really helped me think my way into here. Mhm.
32:19
But the final step you have to take yourself.
32:22
Any any books that you recommend or anything that really worked for you that one coming out in April that I'm dying to read.
32:29
I'm excited to share it with you, too. I'm excited to share it.
32:31
I'm excited to share it. There's a lot of what we're talking about that's in there, so Yeah, you know, I I I started reading um like The Secret The Four Agreements a lot of those books I read a lot of Deepak Chopra's Seven Laws of Spiritual Success which I
32:47
love and that started the sort of psychological journey within right to and then I read The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer that was the jumping off point for me because that helped me understand that there is a separation between who I am and my mind. My mind is recycling thoughts and I can
33:04
My mind is recycling thoughts and I can sit back and look at them.
33:06
Oh my God when I experienced that I thought I have this is it. I'm free. Yeah, boy was I wrong.
33:15
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember the first time I read that in the Bhagavad Gita like you're not your clothes.
33:20
You know that and like like we you know we just change our clothes every day and you can change your thoughts every day and I was like wow like that makes so much sense like I can look at my clothes and say I don't like those clothes and I can change them and I can put on clothes and be like I like those clothes and you can do the same with your thoughts every day. I like those thoughts.
33:33
I don't like those thoughts.
33:35
Let me change those thoughts. Yeah.
33:36
Or you can even sit and not listen to any of them. True. True.
33:41
You only listen to the ones that you're attached to.
33:43
Cuz your mind has a 3,000 thoughts that you probably don't even pay attention to but you only pay attention to the ones like for me even to this day because I've had a even in my family genetic fear of heights of from generations ago even to this day I remember growing up and my father wouldn't take an elevator and
34:01
that sort of probably came now he's doesn't now it's he's over that but at that time that's probably where it came from for me but even now when I you know I don't want to go on the 65th floor of a building because my body the trauma in my body is still fresh and it's still there. I may not have resistance to it
34:15
I may not have resistance to it but it's not a nice feeling. Okay.
34:19
I don't sit here and say I have to climb Mount Everest to be free. Yeah. I'm free.
34:26
It may it can all exist in here and I'm still free. It's okay.
34:29
It's okay to have You don't have to scrub yourself clean of everything and then become free.
34:38
You are free once you realize that it's all okay.
34:43
You can continue to work on it.
34:45
You can continue to work on it. It's fine.
34:48
So, even to this day I'll still have like a moment of Now, the anxiety is very rare, but anything that comes up, it comes up.
34:55
I was telling you right before this I was moving this weekend.
35:00
I said, "If you ever think you're spiritually realized, you should move."
35:03
Yeah, or help a friend move. Or help a friend move. You didn't ask me.
35:05
I would have helped you move. No, no, no, no.
35:07
I'll spend one week with family. That's right.
35:10
Baba Ram Dass, who I think he just passed away, lovely spiritual teacher, just always said that he's a Every time you think you're enlightened, spend one week with your family. Yeah.
35:19
Which I think is so it's so funny and so profound in a way, you know.
35:21
Your your your biggest There was a a teacher Mooji who I loved who was very important for me to experience emptiness for the first time in a meditation.
35:30
I experienced nothingness and it was very beautiful.
35:33
But, Mooji said when he experienced his awakening, it was most profound, you know, all these things happened to him and he sat down to eat and the first thought that entered his mind is, "Why are you eating potatoes?
35:42
You're going to be diabetic."
35:44
And he just said, "I just freed you from my mind.
35:47
Why is How can that still exist, you know?"
35:48
And that's funny and because that's just That's the play, you know. Yeah, absolutely.
35:53
Yeah, I remember when we were monks, one of the reasons the path that I lived as worked so well is half of the day was very much about your growth, self, and and going trying to find going beyond the self.
36:03
And the other half was with people, with other monks, with villagers, with community.
36:10
And because we're always told that if you're when if you're alone all the time, your ego will convince you that you're humble.
36:17
It's only when you're around people yeah.
36:19
Like what you're saying about spending time with family.
36:20
Like you If you're always alone, you'll think you've become really enlightened.
36:24
But, actually when you then re-interact with people, then you realize where you're really at.
36:31
Well, in the ancient yogic tradition, when you did experience realization, Yeah.
36:35
uh you would have to be very carefully taken away and and sort of molded and shielded because it's kind of like when the worm is sheds when the when the caterpillar sheds the skin and becomes the butterfly, it's very vulnerable for that time.
36:50
And if you experience awakening and you have no guide or nothing to hold on to, it can be a very, very unnerving experience. Yes. It can be.
36:59
So, you you should do it in a way that you have someone who you can talk to or someone who can help you through it or a book or a guru or something because I never really had that, but I had people that I listened to and I spoke to, you know, through this process, but I think it can it's very important and I think that's where that comes from.
37:17
That's why people go high away from people because they want to fully understand what this is and mature into that awakening. Yes.
37:24
Because if you get thrust back into this world full of ego, you shut back right up. Mhm.
37:28
You know, it's like a you have this beautiful ocean and you're this drop and you drop in, but a big drop drops in and it comes back out a bit and it drops back in and it drops back, you know, it goes like this and then until you finally merge.
37:39
But, in that dropping going away, it can just shut. Yeah. And it's very hard. That's so true. You know.
37:45
Yeah, that's a really good point.
37:47
But, uh I know a lot of people listening to this probably just want to be like, "Yeah, I know you're talking about all this, but how do I just be happy?
37:52
How do I just be peaceful?
37:54
How do I just like I just want to wake up and you know, and shut my mind off?"
37:57
And I'm just here to tell you you can't shut your mind off.
37:59
It's a beautiful tool to use. You need your mind.
38:03
It's created this incredible thing in this world, you know, this this microphone, I mean, this thing, it's all because of people's minds.
38:08
Some guy and some girl saw the moon and put up a rocket ship and went to it. It's just incredible.
38:14
Why would you not want to use that?
38:16
That's It's just that it's using you. Correct.
38:18
And you have to figure out how to use it. Mhm.
38:21
And that only comes with a little bit of looking at it and training and looking at it and training and and and takes time.
38:28
You know, it's like learning the alphabet.
38:32
You start with the ABCs by being aware, then you start using language, and then you understand sarcasm and how to put sentences together and all that, you know.
38:40
Yeah, we forget that that's a beautiful example.
38:41
We forget that as kids how much patience we had, how much non-judgment we had.
38:46
Like no one remembers, you know, messing up as a kid on something at home or like falling over and walking again and you just don't remember it in a negative way.
38:56
You never looked at yourself and said, "I fell over 10 times today." You know, right? Oh, no.
39:01
Like you don't you don't you never did that to yourself.
39:04
You just allowed yourself to naturally engage with something and for it to naturally progress.
39:09
At least I'm talking about like between zero to five. I understand.
39:13
I mean, if I was to fall over 10 times right now, it'd be weird.
39:17
I should probably go to the doctor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably probably true. Probably true.
39:20
But but but different challenges now. Yeah.
39:22
It is different challenges.
39:22
It's also it's I will say that I think that we drive ourselves on cells crazy about all of this, I think.
39:29
Like I go back to my earlier point.
39:33
Just stop the stop the obsessive search so much.
39:36
It might be in front of you.
39:39
It might be right here and you're just looking everywhere else, you know. Yeah.
39:42
It's the obsession with perfection, I find.
39:44
Well, that you'll never get. Yeah. Unless I know you can.
39:46
I mean, I think to be honest, you can get perfection.
39:50
But to get that, you have to be willing to swap yourself out.
39:54
And it's and it's almost like to get obsession, you have to to get perfection, you almost have to you have to lose the obsession for perfection.
40:00
Yes, or the idea of perfection.
40:00
And what it looks like to you.
40:03
Because that's the attachment.
40:05
Yeah, the attachment also it's because you kind of want to push away the ugly parts of you and you want to pull in the beautiful parts of you.
40:15
But that's just ugly and beautiful is also just kind of a concept.
40:17
Take those words away for a second.
40:21
And just take away all concepts and see what's left. It's all of it.
40:27
So if we take something I like let's pursue that.
40:29
So if we take something like say envy. Envy.
40:30
Let's take envy or or anything you like.
40:34
Let's take one of those things.
40:35
Envy is a good envy envy is a good start.
40:38
How do you process that then?
40:40
How does how do we look at that?
40:41
How do we change our view of that?
40:41
Or what do we do with that? As a thought.
40:44
If you look at someone else's life and you think oh that would be you know they are living a nice house and they look like they have a nice family. I want that. What's wrong with that?
40:56
But if you look at someone else's life and you say oh I want that. Oh why do I want that?
41:00
Does that make me envious?
41:03
Oh I want that because I'm envious. Oh no wait am I envious? I'm not envious.
41:07
It's just like this entire tape starts playing. What's wrong?
41:09
If you see something that you like and you want it.
41:11
Does that make you what's wrong with wanting that?
41:15
Now the rub lies in if you don't have that does that make you unhappy?
41:20
And the other challenge is which which often comes up is do you want that just because now every time you see someone with something you want more?
41:28
Because then it's just it's what you're exposed to right?
41:29
Or is it that you really want that?
41:32
Like you really feel that's going to make a difference because I think so many people and I agree with you.
41:36
I love what you said about the non-judgment of it because you're right that if you see something and you like it and you think it's important to you and with that intention you pursue it.
41:43
There's nothing wrong with that.
41:44
It's when you either take it away from that person where it becomes malicious Yeah.
41:48
or whether it becomes a never-ending pursuit just because you see shiny things all the time.
41:56
Going back to exactly what you just said about the the malicious and you want to take it away.
42:02
I was thinking about this the other day.
42:04
I think that inherently it is in human nature to be good.
42:07
It just is inherent in our nature because we come from nature.
42:13
I mean, in nature this is the way we are.
42:15
We we have communities and we build communities and we live together in harmony.
42:23
And that's why I think it feels so bad when someone is mean to us.
42:27
Or when we feel like we want to be mean to someone because it feels very unnatural.
42:31
When someone says something very mean to you, it feels very like oh, that's that's not something within you automatically is like wait, that's not that's not how it should be.
42:42
And vice versa, if you're mean to someone It never feels good. It never feels good. But why? Why?
42:49
Because inherently in our nature it is to be good.
42:57
You don't have to work to be good.
42:58
That's what I keep saying, you don't have to work to be loving. You actually are that.
43:02
You just have to get rid of the one that is trying to be loving, you know? Yeah. You stop. You are loving.
43:13
It's very easy to be closed off and tough and mean and it's very hard to be loving.
43:22
It's very hard to be loving.
43:24
Because it takes a lot of courage cuz someone who doesn't agree with you you still have to love them in a way.
43:32
You know, that's why it's hard to be loving because like I said earlier, no one gets to be excluded.
43:35
Everyone wants to be loving. Yeah.
43:38
Well, if you really want to be loving, turn on the television and watch the news and pick out the one person or two or three people that you find are the most abhorrent people and see if you can love them. Love that. It's a good challenge.
43:50
Then you'll know if you've actually become that which it is that you seek.
43:57
You want to be loving, but you want to be peaceful, but you want to like everyone, but remove this but and there it is, your peace. Mhm.
44:07
That's actually how simple it is.
44:10
You don't have to run away somewhere.
44:13
Right now, in this moment, if you remove the butt, there you are. You're right there. Everything you wanted. You know? Yeah. I love that, man. That's beautiful. This is great. This is awesome.
44:24
See, now you can see what we do when we get together. Yeah, yeah.
44:28
We also go to basketball games. Yeah, we do that, too. We like the Lakers.
44:31
We're also really fun in real life.
44:34
We're fun and we hang out.
44:34
We make jokes and Yeah, well, Kunal, let's Kunal, let's talk a bit about that.
44:38
Let's We've had a really deep dive.
44:39
Let's talk a bit about I want to go back because, you know, it's it's easy for us and to look at I'm I'm going back to some material conversation, but because it's linked to you it's virtual.
44:49
You know, the people can look at you and think that, you know, your career's been this huge success and everything worked out.
44:55
Tell me about some of the key failures that happened before this big moment in your career where things took off because I think it's so easy for everyone to sit back and be like, "Oh, yeah, we found out about Kunal through Big Bang Theory.
45:06
Like, life just went Like, tell us about some of the big moments that you remember now when you look back on you're like, God, that was a moment where I just Yeah.
45:12
You know, that's the one I remember and that's what makes this now so much more meaningful."
45:17
Yeah, I mean, look, I in I I got my bachelor's in theater and in business.
45:23
I never got a degree in theater cuz Marketing specifically?
45:26
Marketing was my degree and I told my parents I wanted to be an actor and their advice, which was very sound at the time, said, "Look, become an actor, but have something to fall back on because it's a very difficult industry and it is a very difficult industry to make it."
45:37
And I did that and then I got my master's in acting.
45:39
And all through grad school, all through undergrad, you know, this is a very different time in America.
45:44
I never got any of the roles I wanted, really.
45:47
I was always the funny guy or the older guy or the the sidekick, you know, and I would sit We were doing The Seagull, a great play by Chekhov, and I wanted to play the lead role and I didn't get it. Mhm.
46:01
And I would sit in the wings every in the side of the theater every every performance and mouth his words.
46:09
You know, and I did it with a with a lot of plays and I kept dreaming that this is going to be me one day.
46:13
This is going to be me one day.
46:14
And you know, I only had 10 months left on my visa.
46:18
Otherwise, I'd have to go back to India and work or England and work, which is fine, too.
46:25
And I auditioned for a play in the basement of the Mac store on 5th Avenue. Remember that glass box?
46:31
Cuz I didn't have a computer. I didn't have the money.
46:32
And this director was in LA and she said, you know, this they were setting up I chat I don't even know what it was called at that time.
46:40
AOL video AOL video maybe I just something it was called in the Mac store they had that thing.
46:44
And I auditioned for this lady director in LA in the basement of the Mac store.
46:51
And I got the part on the on the spot and I look over I was like crying in this audition. It's like so funny.
46:57
30 Asian tourists are taking pictures of me. That was a joke.
47:00
Um, so they don't have to be Asian. They could be Indian. They could be any.
47:06
Uh, and then And then I moved to LA for $7 a play. And I didn't have a car. $7 a play?
47:14
It was a non-equity show.
47:14
And then I and I was living on a friend's couch and I was taking the bus, which if you live in Los Angeles, you it would take me an hour and a half from Santa Monica to Pico.
47:25
And um and I was working in a raw food restaurant.
47:30
Can you believe I didn't even know raw what raw food was?
47:31
No offense to anyone at that time.
47:33
At that time it wasn't as trendy then.
47:35
Yeah, and I remember cuz I got the job off Craigslist and she said, "Do you know about raw food?"
47:38
I was like, "Yeah, you you use less cooking oil, right?"
47:40
Or something like dumb like that.
47:42
And she was like, "No, we use no oil."
47:43
I was like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Less no. I mean, same."
47:50
And then I ended up working there and um it was a whole comedy of errors.
47:54
I remember I rented for my final audition of Big Bang, I had to rent a car to drive to the studio, and I went to the cheapest car, and they didn't have it, so they upgraded me to a Toyota Solaris.
48:05
If you've ever seen this car, and it was a convertible, white.
48:09
I mean, I drove one of that a lot.
48:09
Like, I was like Yeah, I was like P.
48:11
Diddy or something, you know, and I was playing California, and I was like driving. I was like, "Yeah."
48:16
So, it was really fun, and and then when I booked the pilot, I bought a car from the auction, a Nissan Altima with a broken light, and I drove up on the first day of Big Bang, and I said, "I got to get a new car." You know.
48:32
So, it was It was a There's so many stories about, but it was Yeah, everyone comes from somewhere. Everyone.
48:38
I stopped ever looking at anyone who's successful and think they've been given it.
48:44
Because even if they have been given it in some way, there's a lot of internal struggle even in that.
48:51
The feeling that they don't deserve it is worse than struggling, to be honest.
48:55
Cuz when you struggle, you have a real righteousness about it. I'm struggling.
49:00
But when you're handed it, the feeling of inadequacy is horrible. Wow, man.
49:03
Thank you for sharing those.
49:05
I I feel like I feel like we're going to need a part two and three just to dive into each of those stories.
49:11
we talk about the Lakers and how they need another piece to win the championship.
49:14
They need a three-and-D guy. Yeah.
49:17
But that's my point is sometimes we get so inundated with this thing about spirituality, but it's just a word. Yeah.
49:23
To be truly spiritual means to actually live a very full life that in here it's very simple and peaceful and here in here it can be very dynamic.
49:32
You can drive a beautiful car and and I and like to travel and like nice clothes and and also help the poor and also do service and do it all.
49:44
Why are we living in such a limited perception of the infinite beings that we are. Why? Why?
49:54
Because the limited perception can never truly understand what it is to be infinite.
50:01
So, to become infinite, which you already are, you have to take the one that believes in the limited perception and put them aside and finally step into everything that you are.
50:14
There you go, he's being spiritual again. Went back to it.
50:17
Yeah, no, no, and I I was so close.
50:20
Yeah, and I and I experienced that too.
50:22
I think, you know, when I when I came back and hence my book's called Think Like a Monk because the whole point is that you can think this way and this is how to change your thinking and everything. Yes.
50:29
But I'm not telling you to live like a monk.
50:31
I'm not I'm not telling anyone to Or if you want to, you could. Of course.
50:36
I mean, that's another thing. Why not?
50:39
I think that people think, "Oh, you're spiritual.
50:40
Why do you live in you know, why why aren't you in in a in a cave wearing, you know, only cotton made from a worm?"
50:47
I'm like, "Because that would be very unspiritual of me if I was doing it for a reason to prove a point."
50:51
If I wanted to do that, I would. Absolutely. Absolutely. live it. That is the point.
50:56
Being spiritual is being who you are. Yes.
51:00
Following that intuition. Yes. From here. Yeah, from here. Once you're free, Yeah. be who you are. Yeah.
51:05
I've always said that I felt that when I became a monk, I felt that when I left, I felt that when I started making videos, I felt that when I'm sitting with you today.
51:13
Like, I'm constantly following that.
51:15
Even when I get the smallest inkling to message someone.
51:17
And we've done that sometimes.
51:20
from meditation and I message you and there'll be like an interesting point where we're like, "Oh, I was just thinking about you."
51:23
Or I was just talking about you.
51:25
Whatever it is and I I just follow it at all times and I've seen it never let you down. It's so fascinating. Yeah.
51:30
When you when you actually get that inkling, not impulse.
51:34
I'm not talking about impulse at all. But everyone has it. Yeah. Everyone has it.
51:37
Yeah, it's I'm not special. Yeah. Everyone has intuition. Everyone has instinct.
51:42
Everyone has Just stop trying. Stop trying to have it. Yes. You already have it. Yes. You already have it. Yeah. Believe.
51:52
I mean, you can't kind of believe.
51:52
I hope if anything after this video is that one thing, you can't kind of believe and kind of not believe.
51:58
Today, do one thing, just believe.
52:02
Believe you are incredible, actually. Believe it.
52:07
Why waste 1 second in a small narrow perception anymore?
52:13
You are universally infinite. Believe it.
52:19
It's right in front of you.
52:19
You are running everywhere trying to find. You are that. You are already that.
52:22
You are perfect and loving and peaceful.
52:24
And you're also crazy and loud and angry. It's okay. It's okay.
52:30
I was just like I said, you know, I went nuts this weekend while I was moving on something and I was like, "Ah!"
52:36
And then it felt so good, too.
52:36
I was like, "Ooh, there's a tiger in me, too."
52:40
You know, if I need to, like if there's There's There's a tiger in me, too.
52:44
Yeah, well, you can learn There's a Buddha in me, too, and there's a tiger in me. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I love it, man.
52:50
So, we're going to end today's interview.
52:51
I know you've got to rush off as well with the final five, which is our final five rapid-fire round.
52:54
You have to answer in one word to one sentence maximum.
52:58
Okay, one Say that again.
53:00
One word, ideally, but I let people go to one sentence if it's expansive and it's, you know, you want to say I get them right, do I get a gift basket?
53:08
No, no, there's not This is not a Coffee with Karan.
53:09
There is no There's no gift That's what I thought when you said gift basket.
53:15
There's no gift basket, but we will send you your gift afterwards. Either way, either way. chapstick would be nice.
53:19
It's oddly dry in Los Angeles. Either way, okay, cool.
53:23
So, the first question is, the last kind thing you've done for a stranger.
53:28
I gave a a home Oh, no, I can't Well, I just yeah.
53:34
Oh, I We went and bought some food for a homeless person who was outside right here the other day. Great. Okay, second question.
53:41
What's something you once took for granted that you value now? Time. Mhm. Nice. Good answer. Question number three.
53:50
What's the one question you ask yourself the most? Is this for real? Nice.
53:59
Uh and that can work in so many ways. I love that question.
54:00
That works in so many ways. Awesome.
54:01
All right, question number four.
54:04
Uh what's something about you that most people don't know that would surprise them? I love dancing.
54:12
I'm a I love being on the dance floor.
54:13
And you're a great dancer.
54:13
I don't know if I'm a great dancer. I just I love it.
54:16
So, if you see me out in a night club somewhere, don't judge me. I just love dancing. I love that.
54:21
All right, and question number five, the final five question is if you could create a law that the whole world would have to follow, what would it be?
54:29
If I could create a actual a law yeah.
54:31
An actual law that everyone had to follow. Like a law, yeah. Yeah.
54:36
I can't actually make any of this happen.
54:37
I'm just I don't know, man.
54:38
You don't know where you're going. Anything is possible.
54:40
I mean, Oprah and Jay Shetty for president and vice president, that's what I'm thinking.
54:45
Like that's going to be great.
54:47
I don't think they'll ever allow a Brit to run for president.
54:48
But there was one law seriously that if we could That you could institute that everyone had to follow, yeah.
54:55
You have to love yourself first. Beautiful. I love it.
55:00
Kunal, thank thank you, man. We have to do part two. No, no.
55:04
so much we can dive into.
55:05
Oh, well, if the universe wills it. But thank you, man.
55:07
Thank you so much for coming.
55:08
I know you've had a busy week.
55:09
I know you're traveling today and it's a lot of fun.
55:11
I think we we covered a lot of ground.
55:13
do a podcast at the Lakers game. I'd love that.
55:15
That would You know what I mean?
55:16
Yeah, that I don't know how it work for sound.
55:17
You you you'll be able to hook it up. Yeah, exactly.
55:21
Yeah, let me just text LeBron James. Yeah, court side. Court side. It has to be court side.
55:24
We have to have the the full view.
55:26
And we have to have LeBron on the podcast at the same time. Yeah, yeah. Okay, great.
55:30
It's got to be a three-way. While he's playing. Great, great. I love it.
55:33
Kunal, thank you so much.
55:34
You've been an amazing guest on On Purpose and just really grateful for your friendship, man.
55:37
Honestly, thank you for Thank you for allowing me into your life.
55:41
Thank you for helping us build a great friendship and I'm excited for many more good times together. wait for April. Yeah, thank you, man. Thank you. Thank you so much.
55:50
If you want even more videos just like this one, make sure you subscribe and click on the boxes over here.
55:54
I'm also excited to let you know that you can now get my book Think Like a Monk from thinklikeamonkbook. com.
56:04
Check below in the description to make sure you order today.