After earning an MBA from a renowned business school in India, Nithya Shanti embarked on a promising career in the corporate world. It was then he felt a tug to go in a different direction — so in 2002, he became a Buddhist monk in the Theravada tradition, living in remote meditation centers in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and the U.S.
After six years as a forest meditation monk, he was guided to live, learn, and serve in broader ways than the traditional role of a monk, so he stepped out of the robes and began traveling the world.
“Each of us has the potential to shift from seeking happiness to being happy for no reason,” Shanti says. “To discover that what we are looking for, we already are. This is a shift from performance to presence, from perfection to connection. We might [learn] that we are whole and complete, and so is everything and everyone else.”
The sought-after speaker shares this message and other teachings in workshops, youth programs, corporate trainings, and meditation retreats with people from all walks of life. In 2021, Shanti began hosting “The Stories We Tell,” a weekly RoundGlass podcast where he and a special guest chronicle how they’ve moved through extraordinary challenges to find their life’s purpose.
