Cultivating Positive Ego Controlling Karma
The three lines of ash he wears stand for ego, karma and delusion: cultivate a positive ego, control both your actions and your reactions, and keep bringing your focus back to who and what matters.
Dandapani explains the three lines of ash worn in the oldest of the four sects of Hinduism, and what each one represents. He also describes the difference between being an ordained monk for ten years and living now as a priest, householder and entrepreneur with the same chaos as anyone else.
What this talk covers
- The first line represents ego, and in the philosophy he follows everyone has one, so the goal is to cultivate a positive ego that is kind, compassionate, empathetic and charitable.
- The second line represents karma, the law of cause and effect, where thought, word and deed account for half of it and your reactions account for the other half.
- The third line represents delusion, getting distracted by the things and people that are unaligned with your priorities, when life is finite.
- He wears the ash and the shawl out of love for his culture, tradition and faith, having been an ordained celibate monk for ten years before his vows expired and he became a priest, which in Hinduism is a householder who can marry and work.
- His life has the same chaos and the same highs and lows as any entrepreneur's, and the only difference is that he was given tools and chooses each day whether to apply them.
So by controlling how we act and react, we determine so much of our outcomes in life.Dandapani
Questions
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In the sect Dandapani belongs to, the three lines represent ego, karma and delusion: cultivating a positive ego, understanding cause and effect, and not getting distracted from your priorities.
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Dandapani describes thought, word and deed as fifty percent of karma, and your reactions as the other half. Controlling how you act and how you respond determines a great deal of your outcomes.
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No. He says he has the same chaos every entrepreneur has and the same struggles as anyone with a family. The difference is that he was taught a set of tools, and he still has to choose to apply them.
Transcript
890 words · 4:41
What is the three stripes? Monk Wi-Fi. Good signal to God. Three lines, one line, not so good.
No, it's good. So in Hinduism, they are four sects. And I belong to the oldest one. And we wear ash representing the three lines.
The first line represents ego. So a lot of times in spirituality, they say you should not have an ego. In the philosophy we subscribe to,
we believe everyone has an ego. And the goal is to cultivate a positive ego. So someone who is kind, who is compassionate, That's empathy, serious, charitable.
So that's the first one. It's not get rid of the ego by cultivate a positive ego. And the second one has to do with karma, which is the law of cause and effect that every thought, word and deed has a repercussion.
So that's 50% of karma. And if you can control your thoughts, your words, your actions, you can control a lot of the outcomes. The second half of karma is your reactions.
So if you came up to me and said, you know, Dandapani, your shawl is ugly. I could choose to pinch you or say, what a great opportunity to go shopping. And how I respond also determines my outcome. So by controlling how we act and react, we determine so much of our outcomes in life.
And then the third one is delusion, meaning that quite often in life, we get distracted with the things and people that are unaligned with our priorities. So always bringing our focus back to who and what matters. that life is finite and, you know, it's easy to get distracted with things.
It is. Is it ever hard to be a spiritual person, especially with like such an external representation of it, the marks, the shawl, the beads, in a world where that's not quote unquote normal? Do you ever get self-conscious? No, because I don't wear this because it's cool. I wear this because I love my culture,
I love my tradition, I love my faith. And this is a traditional outfit of a Hindu priest and also a Hindu monastic. So it's very hard to tell the difference between monks and priests because they pretty much dress the same, but I'm very proud of my culture.
So it's hard for people sometimes looking at me and they don't know how to respond. Interesting. You know, and they see all this and they go like, Yeah, what does that mean?
Yeah, what does that mean? And for some people, it makes them extremely uncomfortable and others are very curious and want to know more. You know, it's one of the things that I liked
when I first started following your teachings and got on your app, which I love. Thank you. Yeah.
I really liked following you because you're of the world as well as, you know, of a spiritual practice. And I would aspire to, you know, meditate and to do all the things that I read
in books from spiritual leaders, but then I'd go back and a company would be losing money and somebody would have stolen from me, and fraud would have happened, and it just felt so far away from a monastery. And yet you have kind of chosen to come out and build
businesses, not normal for monks. Or do you even call yourself a monk? No. So I was an ordained Hindu monk, celibate Hindu monk in a cloistered monastery. And then when my vows expired after 10 years, I left the monastery. So now I'm a priest. And in Hinduism, priests are considered householders, so we can get married, have a family, work
and McDonald's or being an entrepreneur, and I chose to be an entrepreneur. So this is a traditional way for Hindu priests, and now I run my own business and work with entrepreneurs and athletes. Yeah, but I love that because you bring some of these ideas into everyday life, and then
you get to practice it too. You know, you have, I'm sure have many moments where an app costs a ton of money to build, and then all of a sudden it's not working. And then your users hate you, but you're like, wait, I thought I was just, you know, one was God. Like what happened? Right?
of those and a lot more. I think, you know, Cody, people see the dress and their first perception is that, you know, he lived as a monk, so he's got it all figured out, his focus, his whole day is zen. But yes, I have the same chaos that every entrepreneur has and all the highs and lows and the same struggles that anyone that has a family has.
Why would it be different for me? I would say the only difference would be that I I was given a set of tools in the monastery and taught how to use those tools and apply it in my life. But that doesn't mean that my life is free of chaos. I have the choice every day to choose whether I want to apply those tools or not.
And if I don't apply those tools, then I reap the repercussions. If I apply the tools, then I handle my challenges better.