Nakuul Mehta’s Human Revolution

The Instagram bio of Indian actor Nakuul Mehta reads, “Your mother’s favorite TV STAR.” And with 2.9 million followers, he just may be right. 

The Mumbai-based phenom is an acclaimed actor of Indian television and film, best known for his roles in the romantic drama series Ishqbaaaz and Bade Achhe Lagte Hain 2. Fans and admirers can follow along on Mehta’s unique showbiz journey through his active Instagram and Twitter accounts, where he gives a window into his busy life as a performer as well as a husband and father. Though Mehta is a household name in the Hindi film industry, much less is known about the Nichiren Buddhist practice that has helped to shape much of Mehta’s artistry and career.

Mehta discovered Nichiren Buddhism in his early 20s, and was drawn to its teachings of self-empowerment and inner transformation, known as “human revolution.” This practice became a guiding force for him, helping Mehta to navigate the sense of isolation he experienced as a youth constantly moving around as the son of a naval officer and, later, the challenges he faced as a burgeoning actor, offering him a proactive approach to overcoming life’s many obstacles and uncertainties.

As Mehta continues to inspire audiences with his work on-screen and off, he recently took the time to sit down with Tricycle’s Priyanka Aidasani to discuss new beginnings, the power of prayer, and the profound effect of the teachings of Nichiren Buddhism.

The following interview was edited for length and clarity. 

*

Can you tell me a little bit about your childhood? I was born in Mumbai at INHS Asvini, which is the Indian Naval Hospital in Colaba. I’m a defense brat, as they would call it. I’ve traveled a lot, and changed ten schools in my first twelve years because of my father’s affiliation with the Indian Navy.

Growing up, I didn’t understand life outside the naval cantonments. When you’re in the colony, you greet everybody, there’s a lot of natural brotherhood and sisterhood. When I left the colonies, I was faced with not knowing my neighbors; that took some getting used to. My father retired when I was in eighth grade, which is when I moved back to Bombay.

What was your first encounter with Nichiren Buddhism? I was shooting for my debut feature Haal-e-Dil in 2008, and I met a photographer on set who I instantly had a rapport with. After shooting, I would hang out with him, and on Sundays, he would often tell me that he was busy, saying, “I have a Buddhist meeting today.” His name was Toto Nandi, and he, in a way, was the conduit for me to deepen my spiritual practice, but I think I was always curious to learn about our greater purpose in life. Around that time, I was in my early 20s and going through a lot, questioning if I was on the right path, if the arts were for me, and if I would be able to make a career out of it and what the larger purpose of my life would be. I was in a phase of life where I needed a lot of validation. I hadn’t fully found myself. 

I was born into a Hindu family, and we grew up fairly religious. We would visit the temple (Hindi: mandir), and I would enjoy that, but also, I had questions. “Why is the high priest given the power to cleanse my house? Why is a fire ritual (havan) done once a year to bring peace?” I would question many things, including the rituals, and I wouldn’t find satisfactory answers necessarily. Before Nichiren Buddhism, my relationship with divinity was rooted in hopeful prayers for myself. But the Nichiren Buddhist path introduced me to the practice of tapping into my highest Buddha potential, and that really put the ball in my court. 

Previously, I was waiting for someone to give me answers, but through Nichiren, I learned to stop blaming my environment and start looking inward. While a lot of practices out there are about transforming your mind, I found this practice to be about transforming your heart. It speaks about a concept called “human revolution.” 

Human revolution is concerned with how you transform from within. How do you become a better version of yourself every day? Those teachings encourage taking accountability in your life, and that each and every human being is worthy of respect. In Buddhism, the teachings say that every human being—even people you may not like or agree with—have buddhanature within them. This puts the onus on each of us for a change. I liked how proactive this approach felt. This was the first practice I heard that told me that my human life has the same limitless potential as the cosmos. From this place of potential, I felt that the same power that moves the universe exists within our lives, and that each individual has immense potential and the power to touch other lives and transform society.

So everything begins with us. This approach to life just blew me away. I felt especially moved after reading the writings of my mentor, Sensei Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, a Buddhist philosopher and the president of the SGI organization, which I’m a part of. 

Given that the majority population of India practices Hinduism, how did those around you respond when you started on the Nichiren Buddhist path? My family was amazed to see the changes in me day by day, month after month. They had no apprehensions. And that is probably the reason they’ve continued to sort of support me. And I think to really test any spiritual or religious practice, the eventual goal is to see what it does to you as a human being: Does your conduct change? Do your actions change? You may speak about great things, but if you are not that person during individual interactions, your family will know, since they know you the best. 

In fact, over the years I’ve been able to shakubuku, which is to introduce my sister and wife to the practice. My mother has chanted, my father has chanted, and while they don’t actively practice, they have been very supportive of my practice. When my wife, Jankee, and I decided to get married, we, of course, had the big Hindu wedding, but we also decided to first have a Buddhist wedding because that’s how important it is to me. 

Jankee wasn’t an avid practitioner back then, but she was open to it. At the Buddhist wedding, people I have practiced Nichiren with since 2008 came to chant for the happiness and joy and value creation of our union. There was not one dry eye in the ceremony. We later went on to do the big beautiful Hindu wedding, and whilst it was beautiful, somewhere in the largeness of the ceremonies and rituals, I missed the sense of why were we there in the first place.

Do you recall any specific instances that strengthened your faith in daimoku? When I first started chanting, I felt the effects almost immediately. It’s important to clarify that this is not magic. What Buddhism really gives me is, number one—purpose in life—and number two—courage to take on every day. I am now in my sixteenth year of practice. While there have been many obstacles and challenges, the change in perspective that Buddhism has given me is to view every obstacle as an opportunity for personal growth.

One of my favorite passages from the Gosho (the individual and collective writings of Nichiren Daishonin) is “Winter Always Turns to Spring.” This is something that I have inscribed in my life. Sensei Ikeda gives a beautiful example of how it is important for us human beings to go through the winters or challenges of life. He also talks about cherry blossoms and how important winter is for them. The flower buds of cherry blossoms first form in the summer, then they enter a period of dormancy in autumn, but these buds must go through the cold of winter before they can begin their full growth, toward blossoming. This period of blossoming is known as breaking dormancy. But the chill of winter is absolutely necessary for the development of the bud, and if the period of the winter chill is not sufficient, the flowering of these buds is going to be affected, they will be irregular. I think the takeaways are that the winters of your life are very important, and how you live your winters, or how you develop yourself and hone your inherent potential during those winters, is how beautifully the cherry blossoms of your life will blossom.

I think what we forget is that how you live your life when you’re down is as important as how you live your life when you’re up. It’s very easy to be compassionate, to share, and to be optimistic when things are going great, but to be able to be the same human—to be able to give hope, courage, inspiration, love, and joy—when things may not be as great, is, I think, what makes you, or makes any one of us, a full human.

As soon as I started chanting, I took to it like a fish to water. I could feel my life condition soar from a phase where I was struggling with work.

This was in your mid-20s? Yes, I was 23 or 24 and going through a hard time because I wasn’t getting opportunities for the kind of work I was interested in. My first feature film had come and gone, and didn’t do much for me and wasn’t well received. I was at a point where I was questioning my life for the first time, when someone told me that your environment is a reflection of yourself. For me, that meant that I needed to work on myself, not from a place of pity or self-doubt but from a place of questioning what value I would be able to add for somebody who wants to cast me in a project. How can I be the sunshine on set?

I don’t think I believed in my prayers until I encountered Buddhism. I started my practice in December of 2008, and in January of 2009, my father had a heart attack. The closest Naval Hospital was two hours away. So I put him in the car and drove, while chanting under my breath. I was chanting that we got there in time, that the doctor would be available and that his life condition could be conducive to treatment. My father went into the operation, and the doctor asked me to make a procedural decision. But all I could think of was prayer. In that moment, wisdom and courage emerged.

Soon after, when my father was discharged from the hospital, someone came over to chant with me. The first thing my friend did after arriving was ask my father, “How are you feeling?” And I’m like, how did they know? And then I learned that the entire SGI district had been praying for his life. 

My father was taken aback. People who did not know him personally were praying for his recovery. I was also taken aback by the warmth and the love and the power of prayers. Each point of discovery felt like a surge of wisdom, and I believe that that happened as a result of my practice. 

Do you remember anything about your first Bharat Soka Gakkai meeting? My first impression was, “How are these people so happy?” And my second impression was, “How are they able to share such intimate personal details about their lives with each other? And how is everyone so welcoming and warm?”

The winters of your life are very important, and how you live your winters, or how you develop yourself and hone your inherent potential during those winters, is how beautifully the cherry blossoms of your life will blossom.

I think it took me a few months to understand that it’s a circle of trust that you create. And I think I came from a place where it would be hard for me to trust other people, it was hard for me to pray for somebody else. And so I had to transform that unwillingness, and to be able to place trust in anybody and everybody, and to believe in their buddhanature, which is the highest potential of every human being—even people I may have problems with or who may have wronged me in some way. It was extremely hard, and I initially did it mechanically. But eventually, at some point, it became heartfelt.

Are you able to keep up with the practice when you’re working on set? I make sure that I’m connected to the practice at all times, because I also realize that it’s a lifelong practice, and it’s not something you do once, build a good fortune, and then it’s done. It’s like going to the gym—if you don’t go to the gym, you will not have the body you desire, you will not be as fit. It’s the same for your spiritual practice. I feel like if I don’t chant every day, I may have theoretical knowledge of wisdom and such, but that doesn’t mean anything, because I’m not really lifting my life condition, so I try very hard to be in rhythm. 

Television can be particularly challenging, people come in bringing in all their issues. There are times on set when I have not been able to chant for weeks, and I have seen the difference in my life condition being on a set without maintaining my practice versus when I have been in full rhythm with my practice, and how different I am as a person. I try very hard to be in sync. Even if I can only put in ten minutes of daimoku, I will do that. 

I feel my life condition sets the tone for everybody else who I need to work with. It is so important for me to take on that mantle of responsibility. Sometimes I do fail, but there is no place for guilt or a sense of like, Oh, why didn’t you do it? Every day is a fresh day, and Buddhism is about making that determination. One of my favorite sayings of Sensei Dr. Daisaku Ikeda is: “When we change our inner determination, everything begins to move in a new direction.”

How has practice made an impression on your parenting style? Our son Sufi is 4 years old, and he can say Namu Myohorengekyo. In a sense, he’s been hearing daimoku since he was in the womb. He’s a Covid baby, my wife was pregnant with him while we were in a lockdown, and that’s also when Jankee and I poured in aeons of daimoku. 

Jankee and I feel that, as parents, our job is to model the people we want Sufi to be or can hope for him to be. I don’t know what I can really instill in my son, but I’d be very happy if he welcomed the realm of faith. It’s really his journey. 

We pray for him to find his own joy, his own purpose. But I think the practice has given me flexibility and understanding as a parent, versus being the kind of parent who’s always worrying, who’s passing on their worries. I am sure I still could be like that, but I’m aware of the fact that we are just facilitators. He’s his own sapling. We can help nourish that soil, but it’s his own soil. I think this understanding comes from the outlook on life that Buddhism has given us.