Did you know spiritual leader and monk Gauranga Das and Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai are batchmates? Well, yes! The two of them studied from the revered IIT institute. However, the two of them were in different branches and never really crossed each other’s path. Gauranga Das shared a very beautiful anecdote recently at the India Global Forum 2025 in London. He shared that Pichai and he had many conversations centered around stress, spirituality and digital crisis. The ISKCON monk shared that when Pichai met him, he remarked that he looks much younger than him. To which Gauranga Das replied that Pichai deals with Google “which created stress” whereas he deals with God, “who releases stress”. Das extrapolated on this and pointed at he contrasting lives he and Pichai lead. While Pichai navigates through a fast-paced, high-pressure world of global tech, Das left his engineering career to tread on the spiritual path. Also read: Did You Know Queen Victoria Shared Unusual Closeness With An Indian Servant? Well, today Das is popular among the masses, with many of his followers residing in different part of the world. Apart from being a spiritual leader, he is also an environmentalist and educator. He is the member of ISKCON’S governing body commission and also serves as the director of Govardhan Ecovillage. He has also gained accreditations from many UN bodies like UNEP, UNCCD, CBD and ECOSOC. He is also the author of bestsellers like ‘The Art of Resilience’, ‘The Art of Focus’ and ‘The Art of Habits’. He speaks at international forums like MIT, Standord and Oxford; corporate events like Google, Intel and Salesforce and TEDx too. Wondering what prompted him to embrace spirituality? Well, he was deeply influenced by the teachings of Bhagavad Gita. In fact, he was also associated with ISKCON monks during his college years. He then started seeking answers to deeper questions like the nature of death and purpose of life. Today, he believes and advocates for it too that spirituality is the only solution to issues of mental stress and anxiety. For clarity and purpose in life, he says spirituality is what can help an individual. Besides, he also comes from a family that deeply believed in Sanatana Dharma. Also read: Meet This Mechanical Engineer From Brazil Who Got Padma Shri For Spreading Bhagavad Gita’s Teachings So, he was brought up with the virtues of being simple and respectful. Also, there was always a focus on education, as that is what helped establish a strong foundation and a sense of purpose in life.