Anshuman Sharma was an engineer until 2023, when he quit to become an independent singer. Years before, a viral cover with his mom brought an invitation from a Mumbai label, and he answered two years later. In Bir, Himachal Pradesh, we talk about finding your own voice as an artist in India, doubting yourself every day, love as the reason he writes, and why his comfort zone is his biggest distraction.

Still Human is an independent video podcast recorded around the world. Follow the show to support it for free, or donate here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/robsili

Anshuman: https://www.instagram.com/anshumanvocals_/

Robin: https://www.instagram.com/robinlehoff/

Still Human: https://instagram.com/stillhuman_podcast

Pema Wangel became a Buddhist monk in Nepal at seventeen. Twenty years later, he sometimes still catches himself comparing his life to the people running countries and companies.

In this conversation: what the monastic life actually teaches you, the Buddhist principles, about luck, purpose, the reason an ex-monk in Kathmandu chose to leave for love, and a surprisingly simple answer to what it takes to live a meaningful life.

(0:00) Intro

(2:04) The Monk Whose Path Began With Revenge

(5:32) Why He Became a Monk at Seventeen

(13:11) Monklife: More Peaceful, More Responsibility

(15:27) Buddhism, a way of living

(20:02) Why Isn't One Life Enough?

(31:56) The Trap of Comparison

(38:35) Is Comparison Ego?

(42:10) Karma, Explained

(55:23) When Do I Know If My Mind Is Broken?

(1:06:01) Buddhism Built the World's First Universities

(1:09:11) Becoming the Bridge Between Two Worlds

(1:12:38) One Question for the Universe

(1:16:09) What It Takes to Live a Meaningful Life

Recorded at Tergar Osel Ling Monastery, Kathmandu.

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Most people have never met an Aghori. The few who have heard the word know it through the scary version: ash, cremation grounds, eating human flesh. So I went to Varanasi and asked Sadhu Ji to tell it in his own words.

He was born in this city and started his spiritual path at an early age, renouncing society and living on the streets for years to detach from everything

In this episode:

• What an Aghori actually is and how life can be like.
• What he believes happens when we die, and why he is not afraid of it
• The teaching he lives by and his daily routine that

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LINKS Sadhu Ji / Aghor Foundation: https://aghorfoundation.org/

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Thank you to the Agor Foundation for making this possible.