The Rich Monk and Spirituality

I live in two worlds that many people believe can’t coexist.

One is visible: awards, books, films, deadlines, money, survival.

The other is invisible: silence, awareness, detachment, the inner “me.”

I write. I direct films. I create content. I earn my living through creativity. I don’t apologize for that. Passion must feed itself to survive.

But none of this pulls me away from my spiritual center.

Spirituality, for me, is not an escape from work or ambition. It’s the lens through which I see them clearly. It reminds me that success is temporary, failure is instructional, and identity is far larger than a title or an award.

I don’t need to renounce the world to stay inwardly free. I engage fully—with cinema, writing, people, money—while remaining unattached to outcomes. I work hard, work smart, but I don’t let work own me.

The “Rich Monk” is not a contradiction. It’s a balance.

To create without ego.

To earn without fear.

To live outwardly active, inwardly still.

In the end, everything I write, every film I make, is just another way of listening to that quiet inner voice—and honoring it while staying in the world. 

- Manohar Chimmani