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Imagine inheriting $10 million in debt when you are 18 years old. What would you do?

In February 2012,, I traveled to a city called Trivandrum in the southern state of Kerala (India).  There, I met a soul friend in Rajmohan Pillai – the son of a cashew baron.  But he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth – I was amazed to learn that he had inherited $10 million in debt at the ripe young age of 18!

Rajmohan graciously agreed to talk about his spiritual journey for an episode of Evolution of Passion. Check out the interview for more than the words – witness the calm matter-of-fact energy with which one can calmly accept and slowly tackle a seemingly impossible task!

This interview is not a lesson in finance or debt consolidation, it is a chance to observe the spiritual attitude that is needed to get through a long-term obstacle or commitment.   Rajmohan’s persistence is admirable in its longevity and his equanimity is inspiring in its authenticity.  Instead of complaining or feeling sorry for himself, he focused on the commitment and made the best of his situation.  And the ultimate feat -  he came out of this long journey more financially stable and fulfilled than many who never started off with such a debt!  (Continue reading below the video to see some interesting facts about his life)

12 facts about Rajmohan:
1. When he took over the company at age 18, he also inherited 175 legal cases, 50 of which were critical (meaning that any one could topple the company).
2. His father told him not to take on the debt yet his mother wanted to preserve the family honor. Rajmohan chose to protect the family name and took on the debt.
3. He was fully committed to the repayment of debt even though he didn’t know how it would happen.
4. Despite initial skepticism, he built people’s trust in his vision and in the growth of the company (creditors, buyers, sllers, employees, etc)
5. Growing the company’s success was his key strategy to repay the debt.
6. At age 44, he completed the payment of the debt and interest.
7. He is now running a 2.5 billon dollar company which employs approx 25,000 employees.
8. He has capped his own salary at 7 times the lowest salary in the company.
9. He considers himself simply a trustee of the wealth for all the employees.
10. One in every 3 cashews eaten world-wide comes from his family’s cashew business.
11.  He has written 3 books – including one about his brother’s tragic rise and fall.
12.  He usually gets up around 3:30am to start his day with a puja (Hindu ceremony) and some tennis (one of his greatest passions).

Spiritual advice from Rajmohan’s life experience:
1.  Do your work without expectation of results.
2. Play your part in the world as best as you can – be fully committed to your life path (to your dharma).
3. Understand that everyone has similar levels of trial and tribulation regardless of their chosen work or life.

As I thought about the popular notion of having a “soul family”, a larger hypothesis about the human condition started to form playfully in my mind.  Maybe it’s old news to sages across the ages or maybe it’s clever gibberish from my active imagination.  Either way, it is a ‘quick and dirty’ compendium of my perspective of energy dynamics. Some of this perspective was formed by my studies of the Laws of Manifestation while the rest was shaped by intuition and contemplation.

In this hypothesis, I envision our energetic realm being organized in what we would call “soul families, soul communities and soul nations” – somewhat like our physical realm except they are not grouped by blood, geography or country. Instead, they are aligned by vibrational essence.  In other words, diverse soul frequencies are grouped together through resonance or what I will call the “Resonance Factor”.  For example, a specific generation (born in the same era) is here to examine a set of high level themes and teachings together.  Thus an entire generation of humans is likely from the same “etheric nation” – having many commonalities despite obvious differences on an individual level.  At the same time, the Resonance Factor further organizes our energies into “soul communities” which may manifest as geographical communities, races or cultures.  This kind of vibrational sorting would continue down to the microcosmic level of “soul families” – the specific people we will actually engage with during our lifetime. Read more

The Amnesia of Time-Space

For some people, the idea of having a past life is absolute nonsense and for others, it is a meaningful fact.   For me, it is a yet another divine paradox because while I do feel the passage of linear time, it also feels like all reality is happening in the Now.  Parallel universes can often be glimpsed when we inhabit particular states of consciousness.  Yet if it’s all happening Now and not Later or Before, then what is actually happening when we recall a Past Life?  Is it a nugget we’ve somehow sifted from the sands of eternity yet it does not belong to us?  Or is it truly a journey that our soul has taken eons ago and when the veil is thin, we can remember the good old days?

Theories abound about why most people have an earthly “amnesia” – where they cannot recall other “lifetimes” nor their multidimensional beingness.  But why do we forget who we are, much less who we might have been?   Explanations range from the existence of Maya (the veil of illusion) to quantum theories about the nature of reality.  Not studied in esoteric theory nor in quantum physics, I cannot debate on those terms.  However, I can share my intuitive perspective of why we lose many of our memories and levels of consciousness: Read more

“The Man in the Mirror”

Beyond the realm of theory, there is the realm of feeling and memory.  Whether we understand it or not, some of us have intuited some “alternate biographies” or “past lives”.  It fascinates me to hear other people’s past life memories because there is meaning in the recollection.  Even if our interpretation is inaccurate and it is not actually a past life, feeling a visceral connection to a particular story can reveal a truth about our current existence.  Of all the possible stories that exist in the collective consciousness, certain ones have grabbed us by the collar and demanded our attention.

In my case, I had past life memories surface through a variety of experiences.  My earliest one was a strange recurring nightmare in my childhood.  I was a man and I was being hunted by the military because I had been falsely accused of treason and murder.  In terror, I was running for my life and every time, I ended up hiding in the bedroom of a small house.  The armed soldiers would surround the house and the dream would end when they broke down the door to shoot me on sight. Read more

“Love You Long Time”

Another phenomenon that goes along with recalling past lives is the recognition of past life friends and family.  There are people we meet who strike us as oddly familiar and it’s not because they are just ‘similar’ to someone we know, it’s a very peculiar feeling of having known them intimately in another time, another place.  It’s different than simply having great chemistry or kinship.  In fact, it can even be someone that you don’t get along with.  In either case, you sense that you have interacted with this person in another form, another guise.  The fact that they have incarnated into a different body doesn’t fool you for long – you know their vibrational essence.

It’s a surreal moment because there is no evidence of your former ties – yet you cannot shake this feeling which is almost always reciprocated.  Neither of you may even believe in past lives but when this sensation happens, you start to think twice.  Interestingly enough, this recognition doesn’t guarantee that you will automatically be part of each other’s current lives.  Even though you may have spent a lifetime together before, this time it may only be a fleeting encounter.  If your destinies do weave together again, you will both hopefully cherish the incredible gift of this ‘second chance’. Read more

I’ll Have A Moksha To Go Please

In this lifetime, I have been told by several seers that I am here to be a spiritual teacher.  For example, on 5 occasions spread out over many years, I tested a specialist in psychometry and each time, he identified my life path despite the anonymity of the process.  Both my Western astrology chart and my Vedic astrology chart describe the same dharma despite using different approaches.  Another declaration that keeps showing up is my connection to Quan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion and Mercy.  While I take all readings with a grain of salt, I cannot argue that the soul urge to teach is deep within me and the spread of compassion is one of my key missions.

While in India this January, I decided to get another Vedic chart done for comparison – this time by an astrologer from Kerala state.  His reading reflected similar details as my other chart except for one major piece of news:  this is going to be my last earthly life as I will attain Moksha (liberation from the cycle of rebirth).  Read more

The question of Destiny versus Free Will has kept philosophers debating for centuries and on some level, each person must determine what they believe in order to proceed fully with daily life. I first encountered this conundrum as a child, when I wondered if the Universe had pre-ordained my lot.  Destiny seems to have the upper hand when you have no legal status and you must confer all your choices to authority figures.  Unpredictable and severe punishments were meted out regularly and though I defended my innocence, I could not escape the violence.  Instead of seeking short-term remedy, I changed my tactics toward long-term emancipation.  My iron will and my commitment to the strategy worked.  I found my independence at an early age and my life changed.  Did my will create this freedom or was it my destiny to find it?

From my perspective, Destiny exists as a divine contract with teachings we have come to explore and a purpose we are here to fulfill.  Our Free Will is our creative freedom within this contract.  My heart whispers that Read more

Even though many goals need a healthy dose of elbow grease, there is also the phenomenon known as Flow.  Most people are quite familiar with elbow grease:  being told from an early age to work hard and to do what it takes to be successful or to simply survive.  We are often pushed and prodded by family or society to forge ahead with blood, sweat and tears.  Very few of us were told to just relax and “go with the flow”.  (Maybe if we grew up in a hippy commune or had new age parents.)  At school or at work, our teachers or employers probably never told us to chill out and “trust the Universe”.

Though I was applying elbow grease as I was preparing for my trip, the Teachings of Flow are always in session.  Several unexpected circumstances occurred which Read more