Speaking on the final day of the event, Gauranga Das—an IIT Bombay graduate who left behind a promising engineering career to pursue a spiritual path—recalled his meeting with Pichai, who was part of the same IIT batch, albeit in a different branch. The two never crossed paths in college, but when they met years later, Pichai was quick to compliment the monk’s youthful appearance.
The spiritual leader attributed the difference in their looks to the contrasting lives they lead. Pichai, 53, who navigates the fast-paced, high-pressure world of global tech, apparently told Das, that the monk looks younger than him. To which Gauranga Das responded that Sundar Pichai deals with Google, “which creates stress,” whereas he deals with God, “who releases stress.”
The anecdote quickly resonated with the audience, serving as a segue into the monk’s broader message about digital addiction and its impact on mental health. Das warned about the growing psychological crisis being amplified by excessive screen time and social media use. Quoting alarming statistics, he said that 230 million people around the world are addicted to social media. He further claimed that in India alone, 70% of teenagers spend seven hours daily online and that one in seven people around the world is suffering from mental health issues.
Who is Gauranga Das?
Gauranga Das, an alumnus of IIT Bombay, is a spiritual leader, environmentalist, and educator. Currently a member of ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission, he serves as the director of Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV), a model of sustainable living founded by Radhanath Swami. Under his leadership, GEV received the UN World Tourism Organization Award in 2017 and gained accreditation with major UN bodies, including UNEP, ECOSOC, UNCCD, and CBD. Beyond environmental efforts, Gauranga Das plays a significant role in education and leadership development. He is on the board of the Govardhan School of Public Leadership, which prepares aspirants for the civil services, and he heads the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre, which preserves ancient Vedic manuscripts and offers postgraduate programs in philosophy.He is also the author of Art of Resilience and Art of Focus.
About Sundar Pichai
Sundar Pichai earned a metallurgy degree and silver medal from IIT Kharagpur in 1993, followed by a master’s from Stanford in 1995 and an MBA from Wharton in 2002. After working at Applied Materials, he joined Google in 2004, rising through the ranks to become CEO in 2015. In 2019, he was also named CEO of Alphabet, taking over from co-founder Larry Page.
