Highly Educated, Accomplished Indians Who Took Sanyas 
                     Highly Educated, Accomplished Indians Who Took Sanyas 
Chaitanya Kumari
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There are many individuals of Indian origin who, despite being 
highly educated, preferred to relinquish their thriving careers and 
take up sanyas. “Sanyas” stands for spiritual renunciation. Many of 
these individuals have graduated from prestigious institutions like 
IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) and IITs (Indian Institute of 
Technology). These real-life cases stress the aspect of prioritizing 
spiritual goals over materialistic growth. 
•First, let us take the example of Swami Mukundananda, who 
graduated from IIT Chennai in the discipline of electrical 
engineering. He also did his MBA from the IIM located in Kolkata. He 
relinquished a prosperous career in the corporate sector and 
established the Jagadguru Kripalu Ji Yoga Sansthan. The sansthan 
teaches meditation, yoga, and spreads awareness regarding the 
relevance of a holistic life. 
•Similarly, there is Sandeep Kumar Bhatt, who is now known as 
Swami Sundar Gopaldas. He did his M.Tech from IIT Delhi, which 
awarded him a gold medal for his academic brilliance. When he was 
just 28, he gave up a job that had a handsome pay packet; he then 
embraced monkhood. 
••Gauranga Das, who secured his graduate degree in metallurgical 
engineering from IIT Mumbai, renounced his promising career. He is 
now a senior monk in ISKCON. He is a proponent of sustainability, 
too.  
••Madhu Pandit Dasa is the current president of ISKCON, who also 
launched the Akshaya Patra Foundation. He is an alumnus of IIT 
Mumbai in civil engineering. 
••A mention needs to be made of Acharya Prashant while discussing 
highly educated Indians who took sanyas. Acharya Prashant is an 
alumnus of both IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Delhi. He is a renowned 
teacher of Advaita philosophy who founded the Prashant Advait 
Foundation, as well.
••We can also speak about Rasanath Das, who studied at IIT Delhi 
and graduated in the area of computer science. He did his MBA from 
Cornell University. Following his tenure in the corporate sector, he 
initially became a part of ISKCON. Subsequently, he formed 
UPBUILD. UPBUILD endeavors to adopt a spiritual approach to 
develop inner leadership. 
••A graduate from IIT Mumbai in the discipline of Aeronautical 
engineering, Baba Abhay Singh, had no hesitation in leaving a 
prosperous career in Canada and turning to sanyas. 
••Aviral Jain left a financially lucrative job at Walmart in the United 
States and took up monkhood as per the principles of Jainism. He 
did his graduation in computer science at IIT BHU. In the same way, 
we can talk about Sanket Parekh holding a chemical engineering 
graduation degree from IIT Mumbai. He too became a Jain monk. 
••There are many more individuals, such as Amitabh Gour and 
Swami Pranav Puri, who stepped away from promising careers to 
become ascetics.
•Lady Sanyasis
•These are a couple of related points. During the Maha Kumbh of 
2025, more than seven thousand ladies adopted asceticism. Many 
of these ladies hold high academic qualifications and are successful 
professionals. An example of Mahamandaleshwar Sahaja Yogini 
Shailaja Giri was a basketball player at the national level. She is now 
a sanyasini and a preacher. 
•Commonalities
•There are certain commonalities pertaining to most of the 
above profiles. 
••They achieved materialistic success before they took up 
sanyas. 
••A spiritual quest or a deeply spiritual experience made them 
arrive at the major decision of dedicating their lives to 
asceticism. 
••These ascetics now contribute to social welfare through 
preaching, providing spiritual guidance, and philanthropy. 
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