UCL Graduate Turned Monk: A Remarkable Life Journey

When you picture a monk, you often visualize them in saffron robes, with mala beads in hand, and a bright tilaka on their forehead. This attire symbolizes simplicity, spirituality, and devotion. You envision a person who has distanced themselves from the worldly pleasures and attachments and is emotionally balanced.

Meet S.B. Keshava Swami, popularly known as, “The monk who studied at UCL (University College London)". He serves as a reminder of how even monks experience the highs and lows of life, and it's how one confronts these challenges that truly matters. Importantly, he specifically states that you don’t have to be a monk to lead a spiritual life.

He has been an advocate of challenging societal norms and beliefs. Here are two his quotes that encapsulate this message:

“We are who we are because we’re wired in a certain way. We need to use the power of free will to change ourselves.

“To remember who we really are, we have to forget everything that the world told us to be. This is destructive enlightenment.”

Let's delve into Keshava Swami's 'wisdom that breathes' that can enrich your life. And don't forget, at the end of this blog post, you can find a short clip of his meditation series, a source of inspiration and guidance on your spiritual journey.

His Journey

Keshava Swami graduated from UCL in 2002 with a BSc Information Management and became a monk at the age of 21 years. Since then, he has authored 10 books, mentored hundreds of people and travelled around the world to teach at various institutions.

Swamiji wanted to study philosophy but his parents wanted him to pursue something more practical for his career prospects. So, he applied to management at different universities, including King’s College, London. UCL was his second choice.

He was attracted towards simplicity and minimalism from a very young age. He belonged to a religious family but wasn’t overly religious himself. Even in his time at UCL, he joined the Krishna Consciousness Society and became The President and welfare officer of that society. This served as the beginning of his spiritual journey. Reading books, organizing events, meeting different people and having conversations with different people in his time at UCL set a cornerstone for the spiritual path he’s leading today.

One day, while he was waiting at the reception to interview for a job, he had a moment of existential crisis. He didn’t want to be a part of corporate life and so, he left and travelled to India but since he had no money, he did the work of a baggage handler.

After contemplating for a long time, he decided to be a full time monk. He slept on the floor, meditated for two hours daily and served the monastery by doing some menial tasks.

He confessed that this “disrupted his life” as he began to question the society’s preconceived notions of success.

Understanding the real meaning of ‘success’

“Success should not be measured by results, achievements or outcomes. It should be measured by the investment of effort and the noble things that we do.”

Keshava Swami asserts that the reason why people are so stressed, demoralized or depressed is because they’re measuring success the wrong way. The right way of perceiving success should be through ‘karma yoga’ or the art of detached work as mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita. It says that you should focus on efforts without worrying about the results or comparing it to someone else’ success. In this way, you’ll find peace and contentment.

According to him, Bhagavad Gita is not a book of religious faith but is based on spiritual science. Faith is not the final destination of your spiritual path but it’s important for you to have faith to get started. This book teaches lifestyle as it should be in order to lead a good life.

Exploring wisdom in its true sense

Swamiji ponders upon the vast availability of information out there. He explains:

“Imagine that all the knowledge in the world is a circle. One small part of the circle is what one knows. A little bigger part is what one knows they don’t know. The largest part of the circle is what one doesn’t know they don’t know.”

You must be curious to go on a journey in order to explore knowledge and wisdom and identify what disrupts your life positively and what is it that you can apply to your life to uplift it and make it better in the long run. The journey will help you discover what resonates with you the most.

Also read:

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Dealing with the lows of life

Keshava Swami mentioned how important it is to have both highs and lows in life. He said:

“Even monks and spiritual leaders have difficult times.”

Instead of reacting, giving up or losing faith in yourself, you need to learn to be patient and respond to an unfavourable situation. “You need to learn how to turn problems to purpose and pain to progress,” he said.

The same concept applies to the fear of failure. Because you’re so scared of the uncertainty of the future, your mind tends to be diverted towards thinking negatively.

Being spiritual in the real world

Talking about the world’s chase towards being successful and adding feathers in their caps, S.B. Keshava Swami called out the society’s way of measuring success which doesn’t give heed to whether that particular job or profession you’re pursuing makes you genuinely happy or not.

“Every person has their own set of talents, abilities and psychological nature. It’s important to recognize this and utilize your own unique calling to contribute towards making the world a better place,” he said.

Start with the three concepts of compassion, tolerance and selflessness to incorporate spirituality in your daily life. As Jeff Weiner, the former CEO of Linkedin mentioned, compassion is being aware of others’ suffering and making an effort to help them. Tolerance is being at peace rather than arguing when people do things unexpectedly and seflessness is extending help to someone by keeping your own agenda aside.

“Spirituality is the essence of love, compassion, beauty and fulfillment and when you practice it with purity and dedication, you achieve higher states of consciousness and a deeper connection with the divine,” said Keshava Swami.

How to seek deep meditation?

Meditation is not about not thinking anything. It’s about being aware of what distracts you, acknowledging your thoughts and coming back to your meditation.

“Most of us are not bad spiritual practitioners, but just casual ones.”

Swamiji affirms that it’s completely normal to be distracted while meditating, especially when you’re just starting out. Using a point of focus like your breath or mantra to help focus during meditation. It’s essential to seek discipline, not perfection in your meditation journey.

“More important than perfection however is progress. A spiritually successful day is where we improve, refine and develop ourselves.”

S.B. Keshava Swami on Level Supermind

Keshava Swami embarked on his spiritual journey at a young age, seeking meaning and purpose in life. He’s a revered spiritual leader whose meditation series graces our app with his profound teachings.

Hare Krishna Mantra series: The Hare Krishna mantra is attributed to making real life changes like building inner strength, enhancing concentration, balancing emotions and harmonizing mind, body and soul. Elevate your life with this 7 day meditation series that focuses on the 6 elements to discipline your mind.

Here's a short clip of the meditation series for you:

The Bhagavad Gita Lessons: Overcome your doubts, fears and dilemmas through this wisdom story including 18 practical lessons from the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita.