Living the Yogic Life in a Material World

Summary

Most of us have discovered that life is never a straight line. It actually resembles a series of zig-zags. We zig in order to strengthen our creative gifts. We zag in order to provide a roof over our head and food on the table. This conversation looks at the life adventures of a father, a husband, a writer, a corporate marketer, a world traveler, and a meditation and yoga teacher. Karan Bajaj’s life path has been a quest to answer the question: Does our search for spiritual fulfillment and creativity have to take a back seat to our livelihood? His answer is that he gives himself fully to his corporate work for an average of four years and then takes a year sabbatical to travel and replenish his creative well. This takes some planning and discipline. His practice of meditation and yoga support him in all his endeavors to create a meaningful life. He describes his process: “When I’m working in my corporate life or I’m writing, I’m trying to dissolve all sense of doership and just become a vessel to express myself. In some small way I’m trying to live in a meaningful way even if I’m in corporate environment. I’m trying to get to that point that I spontaneously become a medium for my work.” He also talks about a kind of purity of action and, as an engineer, he describes himself as very left-brained, so that yoga and meditation help to balance him, “[T]hese activities balance me out, make me much more intuitive, and that always has an effect on work and really spirals it up.” (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)