What is spirituality concretely in your life? 

It’s really been a search for understanding. 

On my father’s side I come from the Sikh tradition. The Bedis are descendants of Guru Nanak so there always was a strong Sikh influence in my life. My mother on the other hand became a Buddhist and spent the last fifteen years of her life ordained as a Buddhist nun. My earliest and most formative years were spent in Kashmir with many Muslim friends and families. My schools were Christian — Sherwood and St Stephens. And of course the whole ethos in which I lived has been Hindu. So there have been a number of religious influences in my life.  

Through my growing up years I simply was like a sponge, absorbing everything. Then in my first college years I started listening to J. Krishnamurti. Then in Bombay I got familiar with the teachings of Osho. And I always was interested in philosophical questions. How did this all begin? How did we all come here? Is there a God, is there rebirth, is there karma? What’s the truth of it all because everyone is saying different things and not everyone can be right.

I was very heavily influenced by Buddhism because of my mother, and also as a child, I had gone with her to Burma. There, I was ordained as a Buddhist monk with the whole attire — shaven head, orange robe, begging bowl.  

What kind of an experience was it? 

It was a very pleasant though hard experience. It’s completely different from what you are used to doing. We would wake up at four, meditate, have a cup of tea then take a begging bowl and walk through the streets of Rangoon in a file of monks. People would be standing there at five o’clock in the morning to give us food, one handful for every family. All of the monks’ begging bowls would thus get filled. Once back, we would meditate some more before the midday meal — the only meal of the day; then do some studies, then a little time off, then some tea and more meditation, then back to bed. It was very difficult to get used to it initially.