Life Lessons on Success from Mattieu Ricard and Lord Hanuman

One of the questions I always asked myself was, what does a successful life look like for me? When I was very young, the life of the rich and the famous fit the definition of success. However, as I slipped into my thirties and rediscovered spirituality, success took a different meaning. A life full of joy and contentment became the hallmark of a successful life. The challenge was that I could not find many role models for it. The rich were busy protecting their wealth or generating more wealth. Hence, I hoped to find a role model in the spiritual world. However, most people I read or listened to could not provide me with a bridge from my world to theirs. My world was influenced by rationality and ambition versus theirs, which was all about surrender and bhakti.

That’s when I encountered Mattieu Ricard. I first heard him on Ted, where he talked about Habits of Happiness. A shy, gentle, yet forceful speaker, he spoke with the authority of a practitioner versus the practiced bustle of a professor. He spoke about his time meditating in the solitude of the Himalayas and his beginnings as a molecular biologist. He seamlessly dissected words like happiness, consciousness, and emotions with the practiced ease of a scientist. I was hooked and started researching more about him.

Ricard was born and raised in France. His mother, Yahne le Toumelin, was a pioneering abstract painter, while his father, Jean-François Revel, was one of France’s most prominent intellectuals. His parents hosted dinners that included some of the most creative and influential people in Europe.

Years later, when he talked about moving to Tibet and becoming a monk, Mattieu mentioned these dinners. He said he was amazed these celebrities had the same vulnerabilities and issues that bothered any ordinary person, and there was no apparent correlation between being a genius and being a good person.

His life changed when his friend showed him a documentary on Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leaders in exile. Mattieu claims he was reborn on 12 June 1967" at 21 — the day he met his first teacher, Kangyur Rinpoche. In a few years, Mattieu gave up his stellar postgraduate position at Institut Pasteur, home to 10 noble laureates, and joined his teacher to meditate in the Himalayas.

He spent years meditating in the Himalayas and emerged sporadically to contribute to special causes. He volunteered to get his brain examined under an electroencephalogram. When he meditated on compassion, his brain recorded unprecedented levels of gamma waves associated with well-being and focus, thus giving him the title of Happiest Man in the World.

Since then, he has written numerous books, given hundreds of talks, and contributed his time to countless altruistic causes. People hug him as he walks around, telling him how he has changed their lives, and he shrugs in embarrassment.

The transformation in his life struck home when he returned to Pasteur many years later and met a close friend who had been studying the regulation of the gene for maltose.

I asked him: ‘What are you doing research on?’ He was still working on the same research 25 years later. We looked at each other, and he laughed. He could see I was thinking: “Oh, poor you.”

The Glorious Life of Lord Hanuman

Imagine, for a second, that you are the most powerful being on the planet. You have been blessed by the gods that you are indestructible. Fire, water, weapons, and age cannot touch you. The Sun god himself is your Guru, and your knowledge is said to be equal to Brahaspati — the Guru of the devas. You are said to be the son of the wind god and an avatar of Lord Shiva himself. When you sing Bhajans, Maharishi Narada blesses you so that your voice can melt even stones, and you can change your size at will. The whole world is at your feet, yet the only identity you choose to embrace is the servant of Sri Ram.

Power corrupts and blinds almost everyone, yet Lord Hanuman always stated that only the name of Rama powered him. Maharishi Valmiki acknowledges that when he introduces Lord Hanuman in the Ramayana.

manojavam marutatulyavegam

jitendriyam buddhimatam varishtha |

vatatmajam vanarayuthamukhyam

shriramadutam sharanam prapadye |

(I take shelter of Shri Hanuman)

who is as quick as the mind and the wind,

One who is the master of the senses and is noted for his excellent wisdom, learning, and intelligence,

Who is the son of the wind god and the chief among the apes,

I bow down to the messenger of Shri Ram and go to his refuge.

When you read the Ramayana as a bhakta, you cannot help but fall in love with Hanuman for his love and wisdom. However, when you read Ramayana as a disciple, his true nature reveals itself. You see that the disciple Hanuman has completely transformed himself with his Bhakti of Sri Rama, and you cannot even find Hanuman. That’s why today, when you remember Hanuman, your mind simply jumps onto Sri Rama.

The only parallel I can think of today is Swami Vivekananda. After achieving everything, his last wish was to be remembered as a student of his guru, Sri Ramakrishna.

Siva, Oh Siva, carry my boat to the other shore.

After all, I am only the boy

who used to listen with rapt wonderment

to the wonderful words of Ramakrishna,

under the banyan tree in Dakshineshwar.

That is my true nature.

When you find your guru, you realize that the only measure of success in life is to be a worthy disciple of your guru. I offer this article at the lotus feet of my guru, Om Swami.