It’s not often you come across someone who’s evolved beyond a multi-billion-dollar career to follow a deeper calling, but that’s exactly what Pushkar Anand did. Having led a banking business of $10 billion aged thirty-five and educated at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics, Pushkar had all the traditional markers of success. Then, in 2008, a profound moment of realization changed everything and he is now living his purpose of awakening one billion people.
That single moment set Pushkar on a fifteen-year journey of self-discovery, studying more than 500 books on human potential, going through numerous soul-searching experiences and learning from some of the most influential personal development practitioners of our time, including Jack Canfield (Co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul) and Blaine Bartlett a leading executive coach, whom he affectionately calls Grandmaster B². What Pushkar discovered along the way wasn’t just a new path, it was a new way of being.
Today, Pushkar is known around the world as The Awakening Alchemist™, author of the #1 international bestseller Manifest Your Infinite Riches, and founder of the Centre for Infinite Riches: a global movement dedicated to uplifting humanity by empowering everyone it touches to become the person they were always meant to be.
In this heart-to-heart conversation with WorldAuthors.Org, Pushkar opens up about his awakening, the deeper meaning of wealth, and how each of us can tap into our inner power to live with purpose, peace, and infinite possibility.
HEY PUSHKAR ANAND, WELCOME TO WORLDAUTHORS.ORG! IT’S SUCH A PLEASURE TO HAVE YOU WITH US. TO START, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR JOURNEY FROM A SUCCESSFUL BANKING PROFESSIONAL TO BECOMING THE AUTHOR OF MANIFEST YOUR INFINITE RICHES AND FOUNDER OF THE CENTRE FOR INFINITE RICHES?
Like with a lot of people, the work in the banking sector while rewarding in its own right, has been based on motivation or external validation. My work in the field of human potential on the other hand, has been based on inspiration or my internal soul compass. This alignment for the latter is best defined as working in a soul-aligned way.
The transformation is indeed monumental by any stretch of the imagination and took me fifteen years to complete. It also put me on a perpetual vibrational frequency of living my Dharma.
THAT MOMENT OF INSIGHT YOU HAD BACK IN 2008 HAS COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE. CAN YOU TAKE US BACK TO THAT DAY? WHAT REALLY HAPPENED, AND WHAT DID YOU FEEL IN THAT INSTANT?
In 2008, my wife and I were working in the banking sector based in New Delhi and were well-set in our careers. I however, had this calling to attend Cambridge for my MBA, and to fulfil that dream, we enchased all our savings and went into debt to the tune about $100,000. I was also at that point most keen to find that fool-proof formula of success!
However, once we took this decision, a part of me was really scared and thought to myself, “What if things don’t work out as planned? What will life look like? Will I even be able to provide for my new-born?”…and, I looked at her little angelic face.
That was the moment… and I said to myself, there has got to be something beyond all of this? Surely something beyond the fool-proof formula for success.
And, then started the fifteen-year journey….
YOU’VE READ OVER 500 BOOKS, BEEN THROUGH SOME REALLY SPECIAL EXPERIENCES, REALLY STUDIED HUMAN POTENTIAL AND LEARNT FROM THE BEST. WHAT WERE SOME OF THE MOST PROFOUND LESSONS THAT RESHAPED YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF SUCCESS AND PURPOSE DURING THIS TIME?
Earl Nightingale (who was called the Dean of Personal Development) and was perhaps the man who really started the personal development industry in the US as we know it today, defined success – The progressive realization of a worthy ideal. While I like Earl’s definition, I like building on his, to share mine – Success is the gradual manifestation of your life’s purpose or Dharma. You see, when you start to live your Dharma, you are on a magical vibrational frequency (one which ensures by virtue of the universal laws at play) that you are truly awake… and the money chases you. You don’t chase the money, it comes after you.
Another lesson is about trusting in a force bigger than you, that all will fall into place as you envisioned. The end result will definitely be there, the route though might be very different from what you’d thought of. The reason for that is that we think from the intellect, but the force at play, come from pure spirit or God and is much beyond the confines of our intellect.
MANIFEST YOUR INFINITE RICHES GOES BEYOND THE CONVENTIONAL IDEA OF WEALTH; IT TALKS ABOUT CONTENTMENT, FULFILMENT, AND AWAKENING. HOW DO YOU DEFINE “INFINITE RICHES” IN THE CONTEXT OF HUMAN LIFE?
My work whether through my writing, speaking or otherwise, is about awakening people. I believe you are truly awake when you are on the path to become the person you were always meant to be. Becoming the person you were always meant to be, is the same as manifesting your infinite riches.And, on this journey it is paramount that you are focusing on material abundance as much as on spiritual wealth. When this balance happens, you start to glow in the radiance of your own magnificence and a magical circle of the purest form of the life force encircles your very existence.
When that happens, what truly matters, begins to rise. This thing that rises, are your infinite riches: and these riches are within you, awaiting physical expression.These are unique to you and will always be. As I say when I start the book – ‘Yes, you are infinitely rich; you are infinitely rich because you are you!’.
MANY READERS SAY YOUR BOOK FEELS LIKE BOTH A MIRROR AND A MAP; IT REFLECTS WHERE THEY ARE AND GUIDES THEM TO WHERE THEY CAN BE. WAS THAT AN INTENTIONAL DESIGN WHILE WRITING, OR DID THE MESSAGE EVOLVE ORGANICALLY DURING YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?
It is a bit of both, actually. The book is based on my fifteen-year journey: the time it took me to manifest my infinite riches. My intention for the readers was (and continues to be), that they complete the journey to manifest their infinite riches much quicker than the time it took me to complete mine. However, as I wrote the book and built it part-by-part, there were components that naturally evolved as well, but the core idea of empowering my readers was I reckon what drove me in that direction.
THE CENTRE FOR INFINITE RICHES HAS SUCH A POWERFUL MISSION: TO UPLIFT HUMANITY AND HELP PEOPLE BECOME WHO THEY WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE. WHAT INSPIRED THIS VISION, AND HOW DO YOU PLAN TO REACH A BILLION PEOPLE?
Whether it my book or the Centre, both of these are an extension of me, of my core purpose.
The Centre in particular, is a social enterprise serving humanity in the form of a personal development educational digital platform with a presence in every continent.
My vision for the Centre includes aligning with hundred like-minded practitioners in the field of personal development or human potential and building on that foundation to progressively touch more and more people in at least hundred countries (if not more) such that this human chain reaches a billion in due course.
YOU ARE KNOWN AS THE AWAKENING ALCHEMIST™. WHAT DOES THAT TITLE MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY, AND HOW DOES IT CONNECT TO YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF TRANSFORMATION?
While our planet has some eight billion people and they are all ‘living’, very few are ‘truly alive’. You are truly alive when you are awake, and you are awake, when you know who is the person you were always meant to be… and how to become that person.
To be someone whose life’s purpose is devoted to awakening people and to continue the legacy of those I directly learnt from, is indeed a privilege and a pleasure. It is both the biggest inspiration for me on a daily basis and a most humbling feeling.
Great the responsibility, more the humility I believe is essential.
PUSHKAR, AS SOMEONE WHO’S WALKED THE PATH FROM MATERIAL SUCCESS TO SPIRITUAL AWAKENING AND STUDIED DIRECTLY WITH SOME EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE, WHAT MESSAGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAVE FOR OUR READERS WHO ARE STILL SEARCHING FOR MEANING AMIDST THE RUSH OF MODERN LIFE?
Dissatisfaction lays the seeds of progress. It is only when we truly yearn for more, that we decide to go out of our comfort zone. I would ask our readers to go within and spend time in quietude to listen to that little voice within, which always speaks to us; we just need to learn to listen.
This listening will open the path to the next step, and the cycle will continue. As Martin Luther King Jr. said – ‘Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the entire staircase’.I would also urge them not to just read, but really study the book. It will help them ascend their frequency in a completely different manner altogether.
BEFORE WE WRAP UP, PUSHKAR, FOR READERS WHO ARE EAGER TO START MANIFESTING POSITIVE CHANGE IN THEIR OWN LIVES, WHAT’S THE VERY FIRST STEP YOU WOULD RECOMMEND THEY TAKE TODAY TO BEGIN ALIGNING WITH THEIR INFINITE POTENTIAL?
Take a sheet of paper, write down a description of the person you’d really like to become. Add 3-4 images that reinforce that feeling and then, see this 2-3 times a day for a few minutes. Generate the feeling within you, that you already are this person. This is a great way to kick things off with a minimal time investment every day.
YOU’VE TOUCHED MORE THAN 100,000 PEOPLE IN THE FIRST 6 MONTHS AND THAT TOO IN 55 COUNTRIES. THAT IS A COMMENDABLE STATISTIC! WHAT IS THE YOUR MODEL TO REACH LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE AND HOW CAN PEOPLE LEARN DIRECTLY FROM YOU?
As I started my global practice, one factor I wanted to consider and work towards was being able to speak one-on-one to millions of people on an on-going basis. Obviously, this is not possible if done the traditional way, and so, I came up with the two-pillar approach. The first pillar is for those, who’d like to go beyond the book and hear directly from me but in bite-sized small lessons, while the second is for those who’d like to go much deeper.
For those who are more aligned with the first approach, the Infinitely Rich Podcast is best as are the Infinitely Rich Blogs.
For those who’d feel more aligned with the latter, there are five courses or programs, where I work with and speak to people on a one-on-one basis. This a phenomenal way to learn, study and exponentially grow in a setting which is the same as working one-on-one with me. The programs with lifelong access are: (i) The Six Statutes of Money (ii) Living Your Purpose: Dharma (iii) Your Vision Board (iv) Your Affirmation Kit (v) The JJ Method.
In addition, for the most serious seekers, those who’d like to go beyond this and really immerse themselves into the gamut of my work, there is the Diamond Club, which gives lifelong access to all of these five programs at a special discount along side two complimentary one-on-one coaching sessions with me.