How does Das, a monk and motivational speaker, define the concept of 'Pi' in relation to life? Read to find out.
Gaur Gopal Das stood among the crowd, his signature smile softening the room, his words laced with humour to disguise the weight of what he was about to say. “If you are born poor, it’s not your problem. But if you die like that, without having invested properly and planned for your future, I am telling you, you have made a blunder in life.’
There was a chuckle in the audience, but the message hit home. At the Outlook Money’s 40 After 40 Retirement Expo, Gaur Gopal Das, a personal coach, monk, lifestyle and motivational strategist, and author, wasn’t just speaking about financial literacy and retirement - he was talking about life. Resonating with his session theme ‘Path to holistic happiness’, Das’ words weren’t just financial advice but a thorough blueprint for how one should navigate the middle ground between birth and death - which is the journey we all must make between two segments ‘B’ and ‘D’, as he put it.
“Spiritual leaders often talk about the beginning and the end of life,” he mused, “but what about the in-between?” That segment - where we live, work, struggle, and hopefully thrive - requires careful investment, and not just financially.
Das’s words weren’t confined to investment advice related to the stock market, mutual funds, and retirement plans, though those are essential. “You start planning for a passive life when you are active,” he stressed. In other words, the time to think about your future is now, while you have the energy and the capacity to take full control of it. Too often, we get caught up in the storm of daily life and forget to prepare for the decades ahead. But, as Das pointed out, that’s where the real blunder lies - not in being born poor, but in dying unprepared.
Financial planning, in his eyes, is not just a matter of wealth accumulation but about security, freedom, and peace of mind. The world around us, the ‘Pi of uncontrollable forces like economic instability and unpredictable markets, will always be there. But our ‘X’ - the variables we can control and change, such as how we save, invest, and spend - is where our power lies.
For many sitting in the audience at the retirement expo, nodding along, the advice was practical: Save early, contribute to retirement savings. One can take this along the lines of diversifying their investments and building an emergency fund for unpredictable times.
But what Das wanted the audience to catch was not just a call to action for ‘financial security’ - but the whole aspect of investing wisely in every area of your life.
Das didn’t stop at money lessons. He spoke about something people often ignore until it is too late: Health. “You know what a good, healthy future is? A good, controlled tongue,” he joked. But the message was clear. We live in an age of unhealthy convenience - junk food at every nook and corner, lack of exercise, and poor sleeping habits, unhealthy screen-time habits are the norm for many (especially the young).
Das warned that by the time we reach 40, 50, or 60, the poor choices we make today could leave us physically wrecked.
“Invest in your X and your physical well-being,” he urged, equating our bodies to assets we must care for as much as our bank accounts. The logic behind is simple - what good is financial stability if you are too unhealthy to enjoy it? Investing in nutritious food, regular exercise, and restful sleep are the keys to ensuring that your golden years are not just financially secure, but also physically fulfilling as well.
And what is the best time to start? Right now.
As the audience sat, listening intently, laughing at Das’s little funny stories in between, he turned to another crucial element: mental well-being. “Stress is a fire,” he said, pausing to let the weight of his words sink in. Life’s pressures such as work, deadlines, and the inevitable toxic people we encounter - can wear us down heavily. No amount of money in the bank or fitness can help if our minds are in complete or partial turmoil.
While it is true that you can’t change every difficult situation - “Can you change a deadline that is not in your hands? Can you change a toxic colleague?” - Das questions. But, he says, you can change how you respond to it. Das offered simple, yet, profound solutions such as mindfulness, meditation, and journaling. These practices will calm the mind and provide clarity, much like how regular savings can stabilise finances. He linked these mental exercises to investing in emotional security, the same way we invest in our retirement funds.
The stress of life, if left unchecked, can rob us of the present and cloud our future. But through mindfulness and self-care, Das explains, we can carve out a space for peace in our active working lives. It’s an investment that pays dividends, not in Rupees, but in indeed calm and resilience.
As Das neared the end of his session, his tone grew much softer, and more reflective. He spoke about a universal truth that often gets overlooked: we spend so much of our lives caring for others - our parents, our spouses, our children - that we forget to care for ourselves. “The burnout in living for others is so high,” he states. And when we grow older, when the children have moved out and the responsibilities of family life fade away, many of us find ourselves feeling lonely.
His advice to tackle this? “Turn your loneliness into solitude.” This, too, is a form of investment - emotional self-care. Learning to enjoy your own company, to find fulfillment in activities that nourish your spirit, is essential. It is not selfish to prioritise your own emotional health, in fact, it is necessary for a balanced, fulfilling life.
In his concluding words, Das summed up his philosophy on life. “Invest in financial, physical, mental, and emotional well-being,” he said. These four pillars are interconnected, and success in one area often supports success in others. A secure financial future is important, but what good is wealth without health? What's the point of physical fitness if your mind is full of fire i.e., Stress and your heart is weighed down by loneliness?
“The balancing act in life is a myth,” Das implores. He urges everybody to never, ever live in ‘guilt’. The audience at the retirement expo left with more than just financial tips. They walked away with a deeper understanding of what it means to invest in life holistically. Das didn’t ask them to simply save for retirement - he asked them to save themselves, to focus on the X of life and not on the Pi.
In the end, if you are born poor, it is not your problem. But if you die poor, whether financially, physically, mentally, or emotionally - that, as Das would say, is entirely within your control.