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00:00I am so deeply humbled and grateful for this honor
00:05to Variety, to the Coalition of Faith in Media,
00:09and I want to start off by thanking my dear friend, Justin,
00:14not just for an introduction that brought tears to my eyes,
00:19but for the work that you do every day,
00:22the stories that you share,
00:24the conscious messages that you choose to put out there.
00:28There's no one doing it like you are,
00:30and I know it comes from a deep heart full of love,
00:34service, and gratitude,
00:35and I'm honored and grateful to call you my friend,
00:37so thank you for Justin, everyone.
00:39Please.
00:44When you type in the words,
00:46will I ever into Google or chat GPT,
00:50the first thing that comes up is,
00:53will I ever find love?
00:56The second thing that comes up is,
00:59will I ever be enough?
01:02And the third thing that comes up is,
01:05will I am net worth?
01:08I'm being totally serious.
01:12And apart from the third one,
01:14or maybe that shows something as well,
01:16but it shows us our greatest worries about the future,
01:22how we feel about ourselves,
01:25and how we feel about love.
01:28Two questions that in my heart and mind and life,
01:32only spirituality and faith can truly answer.
01:37When I posted my first video eight years ago on social media,
01:41the things that went viral were gossip,
01:45cats and dogs,
01:47which I'm not mad at,
01:48babies, also not mad at,
01:51pranks and people taking their clothes off.
01:54Not much has changed.
01:57And at that time I had this naive intention of,
02:00how amazing would it be if ancient wisdom could be made relevant,
02:05practical and accessible to the modern person?
02:08How amazing would it be if tools like mindfulness and meditation
02:12were available to anyone and everyone?
02:16I believed at that time,
02:18and I still do today,
02:19that we'd all be better professionals, parents, partners,
02:23and people if we had access to this wisdom.
02:27But at the time,
02:28I was told that no one wanted spirituality and entertainment.
02:32There wasn't any demand for it.
02:36Obviously, that was wrong,
02:38thanks to Variety spotlighting this today.
02:41But what I realized was this.
02:44Even if there is no demand,
02:47there is and will always be a deep need
02:51for spirituality and entertainment.
02:54As humans, we're good at two things.
02:57Number one,
02:59idolizing,
03:00worshiping,
03:01and celebrating.
03:03And number two,
03:05demonizing,
03:06criticizing,
03:07and vilifying.
03:10And the monks taught me that there was a third way,
03:15spiritualizing.
03:17They explained to me what spirituality actually means.
03:22They said the word spiritual
03:24represents the spirit behind the ritual,
03:29the energy and the intention with which something is done,
03:33and a heart full of service.
03:35Two people can perform the same ritual, the same act,
03:39but the spirit with which they do it
03:42can be totally different.
03:44Every day I try to ask myself,
03:47how can I do what I do from a heart of service?
03:50How can I do this from a deeper spirit?
03:52Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I fail.
03:55And that's why I think it's also important
03:58that we humanize spirituality and entertainment.
04:02I am not pure,
04:05but I'm trying to purify myself,
04:08and I know you are too.
04:10I am not healed,
04:13but I'm trying to help others,
04:16and you can do both at the same time.
04:19And I am definitely not perfect,
04:22but I'm a work in progress,
04:25and aren't we all?
04:27In my culture, we don't accept awards for ourselves.
04:31We learn to accept them on behalf of all our teachers,
04:35our guides, our gurus who invested in us over the years.
04:40And so I dedicate this award to my monk teachers,
04:43my mentors, my team who work tirelessly every day
04:46to create the impact across the world,
04:49and to everyone who has ever watched or shared our work.
04:53I dedicate this award to them
04:55and to all the storytellers in this room.